The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-05-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Appropriate to the
Centennial
he Glorious Condition Of These United
States-The American Colonies
and the Great Rev
OlutiOn.


6tates-The American Colonies
and the Great Rev
Oluti0n.
Last Sunday Dr. Talmage preached in
he Brooklyn Tabernacle to a vast audi
'nce. His text was II. Kings vi II: Sand
he Lord opened the eyes Of the young
nan; and he saw: and, behold, the noun
tain was full Of horses and chariots Of fir
round about Elisha" He said:
AS it cost England many regiments and
Two million dollars a year to keep safely
troublesome captive at St Helena SO the
king of Syria sends out a whole army to
capture one minister of religion-perhaps
30. 900 men to take Elisha. During the
night the army Of Assyrians came around
the village of Dothan, where the prophet
was staying. At early daybre the man
servant of Elisha rushed in and said:
''What shall we do? there is whole army
come to destroy you. We must die, we
must die" But Elisha was not scared q
bit for he looked up and saw the
mountains all around full of super.
natural forces, and he knew that
If there were 50, 900 Assyrians against
him there were 100000 angels for him;
and in answer to the prophets prayer in
behalf of his affrighted man servant, the
young man saw it, too. Horses Of fire har-
messed to chariots Of fire, and drivers of
IRE pulling reins of fire on bits Of fire; and
warriors of fire with brandished sword Of
a. ho hr;l oe thof vvoOputnn
sunrise was eclipsed by the galloping
splendors OF the celestial cavalcade. 'And
the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man; and he saw; and, bshold, the noun
tain was full of horses and chariots Of fire
round about Elisha" have often spoken
to you of the Assyrian perils which threat
on our American institutions, but now as
we are assembling to keep centen NAL
celebration of the Inauguration Of Wash.
ington, l speak Of the upper forces of tho
text that are to fight on our side II all
the low levels are filed with armed
threats, have to toll you that the noun
tains OF our hope and courage and faith
are full Of the horses and chariots Of Di-
vine rescue.
You will notice that the Divine equipage
Is always represented as chariot OF fire.
Ezekial and Isaiah and John, when they
come to describe the Divine equipage al
ways represent it as wheeled har-
messed, an upholstered confagration. 1t
is not chariot like Kings and conquerors
OF earth mount, but an organized and
compressed fire. That means purity, JUS
tice, chastisement, deliverance through
burning escapes. Chariot of rescue? yes,
but chariot of fire. All our national dis
entertainments have been through scorch =
ing agonies and red disasters. Through
tribulation the individual rises. Through
tribulations nations rise. Chariots OF res
Gus, but chariots Of fire.
But how do l know that this Divine
equipags is on the side Of our institutions?
know it by the history of the last one
hundred and eight years. The American
Revolution started from the pen Of John
Hancock in Independence Hall in 1776.
The colonies without ships, without am
munition, without guns without trained
warriors, without money, withoutprestige.
On the other side. the mightiest nation OF
the earth, the largest armies, and the
grandest navies, and the most distin-
guished commanders, and resources in
exhaustible, and nearly all nations ready
to back them up in the fight Nothing as
against immensely. reaH
The cause OF the American colonies,
which started at zero, dropped still lower
through the quarreling Of the Generals,
and through the jealousies at small suc-
cesses, and through the winters which
surpassed oil predecessors in depth of
sn ow and horrors of congealment Elisha
surrounded by the whole Assyrian army
did not seem to be worse off than did the
thirteen colonies encompassed and over.
Swallowed by foreign assault What de-
cided the contest in our favor? The upper
forces, the upper armies. The Green and
White mountains of New England,
the Highlands along the Hudson, the
mountains Of Virginia, all the App
lachian ranges were full OF re.enforce.
ments which the young man Wash
ington saw by faith; and his men endured
the frozen feet, and the gangrenod wounds,
and the exhausting hunger, and the long
march because "ths Lord opened the eyes
of the young man; and he saw: and, be-
hold, the mountains were full Of hors OF
and chariots of fire round about Elisha. .
Washington himself was miracle. VIVA
Joshua was in sacred history the frs,
American President was in secular history
A thousand other men excelled him in diff
ferent things, but he excelled them all in
roundness and completeness of character
The world never saw his like, and proba
bly, never will see his like again. becaus,
there probably never will be another sucl
exigency. He was let down Divine in
terposition. He was from God direct
do not know how any man can reat
the history Of those times without admit
ting that the contest was decided by tn,
upper forces.
Then in 1861, when our civil war opened
many at the North and at the South pro
nounced it national suicide. 1t was no
courage against cowardice. it was no
wealth against poverty, it was not larg,
States against small States. 1t was hero
ism against heroism, it was the resources
Of many generations against the resources
Of generations, it was the prayer of tn
North against the prayer Of the South,
was one half OF the nation in armed wratl
meeting the other half Of the nation il
armed indignation. What could come bu
determination?
At the opening Of the war the command
| Or. in. chief Of the United States force
was man who had been great in battle
but old age had come with many iufrm
titles, and he had right to quietuda H
could mo- mount horse, and he rode Of
the battle field in a carriage asking tn
driver not IN Jolt IL too much, During tn