Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-04-29
A DIVINE ARCHITECT
DESIGNED AND BUILDBD THE AMERICAN
NATION.
Dr.. Ialmags's Eloquent Tabernacle Sermon Ysstsr-
day-Ths Hand Of God in the History
Of the United Statss-How 1t
Will Be Saved.


]
Special -slegTaR 70 ne Register.
BROOKLYN, April 2s.-At the Tabsrna-
Gle to-day, the Rev. T. De Witt Talmaee.
d. D., preached sermon appropriate to
the coming centennial. The vast copgre-
CATION sang the hymn beginning:
Before Jehovshs awful throne,
fe nations, bow with sacred JOY.
DR.. Talmsge's text was III Kings vi, II:
And the Lord opened the eyes of the
young man; and he saw; and, behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots
Of fire round about Elisha" He said:
As it cost Eugland many regiments and
two million dollars year to keep safely
troublesome captive at st. Helena, so the
king OF Syria sends out whole army TO
capture one minister of religion
perhaps $4,000 men to take Elisha.
During the night the army of AS
syrians came around the village eff
DOthan, where the prophet was staying.
At early dsybreak the manservant of
Elisha rushed in and said: "What shall
we do? there is whole army come to de-
stroy yeu. We must die, we must die. "
But Elisha was not scared bit, for he
looked mp and saw the mountains all
around full of supernatural forces, and he
knew that if there were so, 600 Assyrians
against him there were 100, 600 angels for
him; and in answer to the prophets prayer
in behalf Of his aTrighted msnservan t, the
young man saw 1t, 500. Horses of fire
harnessed to ohariots of fire. and drivers of
FIRE pulling reins of fire on bits of fire; and
warriors of fire with brandished sword of
fire, and the brilliance of that morning
sunrise was eclipsed by the gallo ping
splendors of the celestial cavalcade. "And
the Lord opened the eyes of the Young
man; and he saw; and, behold, the noun
tain WIS full of horses and cha riots of fire
round about Elisha" have often spoken
to you of the AssyIian perils which threat.
en- our American institutions, but now as
we ara assembling to keep centennial cele-
bratiOn of the inauguration of Washington.
speak OF the upper forces Of the text that |
are to fight on our side. II all the low |
levels are filled with armed threats, l |
have to tell you that the mountains of
our hope and courage and faith are full of
the horses and chariOts of
DIVINE RESCUE.
You will notice that the Divine equipsge |
is always represented as chariot of fire. |
Ezekiel and Isaiah and John when they |
come To dssoribO tbo Divine eqviPaEe, I
always represent it as wheeled, har- |
messed and upholstered confsgratiop. 1t |
Is not chariot like kings ard conquerors
OF earth mount, but an organized and COM
pressed fire. That means purity, justice, |
chastisement, deliveTanee through burning |
escapes. Chariot of rescue? Yes, but
chariot Of fire. All our national Olsen
thrallments have been through scOrching |
agonies and red disasters. Through tribu-
latiOn the individual rises Through tribu
lstiOn nations rise. Chariots OF rescue, but
chariots Of fire.
Bat how do I know that this Divine
equipsge is on the side of our institutions? |
I know il 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
mupition, without guns, without trained |
warriors, without money, without prestige. |
On the other side, the mightiest nation of
the earth. the largest armies and the
nd ha rmnaf NJ
guished commanders, and resources mex |
haustible, and nearly all nations ready to |
back them up in the fight. Nothing as
against immensity.
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 sue
cesses. and through the winters which |
surpassed all predecessors in the depth OF
snow and horrors of congealment. Elisha |
surrounded by the whole Assyrisn army |
did not seem to be worse off than did the |
thirteen colonies encompassed and over
sbsdowed 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 High |
lands along the Hudson, the mountains of
VIRGINIA. all the Appalachian ranges were
f,u of re-en 'orcements which the young |
man Washington saw by faith; and his
man endured the frozen feet. and the gan
yrened wounds, and the exhausting hun
Ger and the long march because "the
1oId opeped the eyes of the young man;
and he saw: and, behold, the mountains |
,-sra full of hors and chariots Of fire |
ronnd about Elisha Washington him
self 1Vas miracle. What Joshua was in |
sacred history the first American president
was in secular history. A thousand other
men excelled him in different things, but
he excelled them all in roundness and
completeness of character. The world
never saw his like, and probably never |
will see his like again, because there |
nrobsblv will never be another such exi-
gsney. He was let down Divine inter
Dosition. He was from God direct.
do not know how any man can read |
the history of those times without admit |
ting that the contest was decided by the
upper forces.
Then in 1861, when our civil war open
al many at the North and at the South |
nronounced it national suicide. 1t was
mt courage against cOwardice, it was not
wealth against poverty, it was not large
s+,tes against small states. 1t was hero
Ism AGAINST herOism, it was the resources
Of msnv generations against the resources
Of generations; it was the prayer of the
North against the prayer of the South, It
was oue-hslf of the nation in armed wrath
meeting the other half of the nation in
armed indignation. What could come but
determination?
IN THE CIVIL STRIFE.
At the opening of the war the commsn-
dsr.iu-chief of the United States forces was
man who had been great in battle, but old
AGE Rad come with many infrmities, and he
had a right to quietude. He could not
monnt a horse, and he rode on the battle
deld in carriage, asking the driver not to
;oIt it too much. Daring the most of the
four wears of the contest, on the Southern