The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-10-18

and over all nations That which men TOOK
for the sound OF cannonading at Sehastopol,
Bunker Hill, were only the rumbings Of the
black chariot Of the Almighty. Ave, II Is
the chariot OF stormcloui armed with thun.
derbolts. and neither man nor angel nor devu
nor earth nor hell nor heaven can resist Him:
On those boulewards OF blue this charioo
never turns out for anything Aye, no one
else drives there Under one wheel OF
that chariot Babylon was crushed and Baal'
beck fell dead and the Roman Empire was
prostratel and Atlantis, a who'e continent
that once connected Europa with America,
sank clear out of sight so that the longest
anchor of ocean steamer cannot touch the top
NJ its highest mountains The throne OF ths
CAESARS was less than n pebble under the
right wheel OF this chariot, and the Austrian
despotism less than snowflake under the left
wheel And over destroyed worlds on worlds
that chariot has rolled without jar or Jolt
This black chan lot of war cloud rolled up
to the northwest Of Europe in 1872 and four
hundred thousand men marched to take Mos
cow, but that chariot of clouds rolled back,
and only twenty five thousand out of the four
hundred thousand troops lived to return. No
great snow storm like that had ever befone or
has ever since visited Russia, Aye, the chariot
of the Lord is irresistible. There is
only one thing that can halt or turn any of
His .chariots, and that Is prayer, Again and
and the chariot Of black clouds under that
sanctified human breath has blossomed into
such brightness and color that men and
angels had to veil their faces from its bright
ness. Mark you, the ancient chariot which
David uses as q symbol in my text had only
two wheels, and that was that they might turn
quickly, two wheels taking less than hal
the time to turn that four wheels would
have taken. Aud our Lords chariot has
only two wheels, and that means instant re.
verSal and instant help, and instant deliver
ance. While the combined forces of the
universe in battle array could not stop his
black chariot second or divsrge it an inch,
Ne in the day Of trouble and I will de.
liver thee while they are yet
speaking will hear" Two wheeied
chariot, one wheel Justice and the other
wheel mercy. Aye, they are swift wheels.
A cloud, whether it belongs to the cirrhus,
the clouds that float the highest; or belongs
to the stratus, the central ranges; or to the
cumulus, the lowest ranges, seems to move
slowly along the sky il it moves at all. But
many clouds go at speed that would make
a vestibule limited lightning express train
seem lethargic, so swift is the chariot of our
God; yea, swifter than the storm, swifter
than the light Yet child ten years old has
been known to reach up, and with the hand
of prayer take the courser of that chariot
by the bit and slow it up, or stop it, or turn
it aside, or turn it back, The boy Samuel
stopped it. Elijah stopped it. Hezekiah
stopped it. Daniel stopped it. Joshua
stopped it. Esther stopped it. Ruth stopped
it. Hannah stopped it. Mary stopped it,
NY sister stoppei it. We have in s'o our Sab:
bath-schoo!s children who again and again
and again have stopped it.
Notes that these old-time chariots, which
my text uses for symbol, had what we would
call high dash board at the 'front.' but were
open behind. And the king would stand at
the dash. board and drive with his own hands,
And | am glad that He, whose chariot the
clouds are, drives Himself. He does not let
natural law drive for natural law is deaf. He
does not let fate drive for fate is merciless,
But our Father King drives Himself,
and He puts His loving hand on the reins of
the flying coursers. and He has loving ear
open to the cry Of all who want to catch His
attention Oh, lam so glad that my Father
drives. and never drives too fast, and never
drives too slow, ard never drives off the
precipice, and that He controls, by bit that
never breaks, the widest and most raging
circumstances. | heard of a ship captain
who put out with his vessel with a large
number of passengers from Buffalo on Lake
Erie very early in the season and while
there was much ice. When they were wei
out the captain saw to his horror that the ice
was closing in on him from all sides, and he
saw no way out from destruction and death.
He called into the cabin the passengers and
all the crew that could be spared from their
posts, and told them that the sh p must be lost
unless Cod interposej, and although he was
not Christian man he said: Let us pray"
and they all knelt ASKING God to come for
their deiverance. They went back to the
deck, and the man at the wheel shouted: "All
right, cap'n, it's blowing nor by hor west
now" While the prayer was going on in the
ind .ira0 of
the way. The mate asked: Shall Iput on more
sail, capnN "No" responded the captain.
Don't touch her. Some one else is managing
this ship"
Oh, men and women, shut in on all sides
by icy troubles ard misfortuGes, in earnest
prayer put all your affairs in the hands Of
God. You will come out all right. Some one
alse is managing the shin! 1t did not merely
happen so that when Leyden was beseiged,
and the Duke of Alva felt sure of his tri.
umph, suddenly the wind turned, and the
swollen waters compelled him to stop
the siege. and the city was vas saved Cd.
coast of the Netherlands in a black chariot
of storm cloud Itdid not merely happen SO
| that Luther rose from the place where he
was sitting just in time to keep from being
| crushed by stone that the instant after fell
| on the very spot. Had he not escaped where
would have been the Reformations It did not
was saved from drowning by an oar
that was floating on the waters. Other.
| wise, who would have unveiled America.
1t did not merely happen so that when
George Washington was in Brooklyn great
fog settled down over all the place where this
church stands, and over all this end of Long
| Island, and that under that fog he and his
army escaped from the clutches of Generals
Howe and Clinton. In chariot of mist and
| cloud the God of American Independence
rode along here On that pillow of consolation
l put down my head to sleep at night.
On that solid foundation build when see
this nation in political paroxysm every four
years. not because they care two cents about
whether it is high tariff, or low tariff or nc
tariff at all, but only whether the Demo.
Gratis or the Republicans shall have
the saaried offices. Yea, when Eu'
ropean nations are holding their breath,
wondering whether Russia or Germany will
launch war that will incarnadne con
tinent, fall back on the faith that my
Father drives. Yes, l cast this as an anchor,
| and plant this as a column of strength, aud
| lift this as telescope, and build this as q
fortress, and propose without any perturba
ton to launch upon an unknown future trium-
| plant in the fact that my Father drives. Yes
| He drives very near. | know that many OF
the clouds that you see in summer are far
| off, the bases OF some of them five miles
above the earth. High on the highest peaks
| of the Andes travellers have seen clouds far
higher than where they were standing,
Gay Lussac, after he had risen i'll q
balloon twenty three thousand feet, still
| saw clouds above him
But there are clouds that touch the earth
and discharge their rain, and, though the
clouds out Of which gods chariot is Eade
may sometimes be far away, often they are
close by, and they touch our shoulders, and
they touch our homes, and they touch us all
over. have read of two rides that tie
Lord took in two different chaliots
of Clouds and of another that He
will take. One day, in chariot OF
clouds that were mingling of fog and
smoke and fire. God drove down to the tor
of terrible crag fifteen hundred rect nlgn
now called Jebel- Musa, then called Mount
Sinai, and He stepped out of His chariot
among the split shelvings of rock. The
mountains shook as with an ague, and there
were ten volieys of thunder, each of the tel
emphasizing a tremendous Thou shalt" OF
Thou shalt not" Then the Lord resumed
His chariot of cloud and drove III
the hills of heaven. They were
dark and por:entous clouds that made tina
chariot at the giving of the law. But ont
day He took another ride, and this time dow
to Mount Tabor. the clouds out Of which Hi
chariot was made were bright clouds, roseat
| rod ,.lo nd