The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-05-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourses Of the Great
BROOKLYN Preacher,
Snh.icci; s'Fhe Upper Forces in
American History"

American History"
1Exr: "And the Lord opened the eyes OF
the young man; and he sato; and, behold,
the nountain toas full Of horses and char
vi, II.
As y cost England many regiments and
Two million dollars a year to keep safely a
troublesome captive at St. Helena, so the
King oil syria sends out whole army to
capture cnofMinister of religion-perhaps 90.
O00 men TO take Elisha. During the night
the array of Assyrians came around the vii.
iage of Dothan, where the prophet was
Staying. At early daybreak the man
"What shall we dor there is a
whole army come to destroy you. We must
die, we must dien But Elisha was not
scared a bit, for he looked up and saw
tho mountains all around full of super.
natural forces, and no know that il there
were $4,000 Assyrians against him there
were 100000 angels for him; and in
answer ,in S, 70 the prophets prayer in behalf of
MS affrighted man servant the young man
saw it too Horses of fire harneSsed to char
lots OF fire and drivers Of fire pulling reins
of fire on bits OF fire; and warriors of fire
with brandsshed sword of fire, and the brill
vance OF that morning sunrise was eclipsed
oy the ,galloping splendors Of the celestial
cavaleaate. And the Lord opened the eyes
OF we young man; and he saw; and, behold,
1ps mountain was full of horses and chariots
OF fire round about Elisha" l have often
spoken to you of tho Assyrian perils which
threaten one American institutions but now
as we are assembling to keep centennial ceie-
bration of the Inauguration of Washington.
lspeak Of the upper forces of the text that
are to fight on our side. If all the low levels
are filled with armed threats / have TO tell
you that the mountains of our hope and cour-
age and faith are full of the horses and char
lots of Divine rescue,
You will notice that the Divine euuipage Is
always represented as chariot of fire. Eze-
iSiel and Isaiah and John, when they come to
describe the Divine equtpago, always repre-
sent 1t as wheeled, a harnessed, an uphol-
stored confasrston. 1t is not chariot like
Kings and connqnerors of earth mount, but an
organized anf. a compressed fire. That means
purity. T,stice, chastisement, deliverance
througri burning escapes. Chariot of rescues
yes out chariot of fire. All our national
dSenthralments have been through scorching
egonles and red disasters. Through tribu-
Cation tho individual rises. Through tribu-
lation nations rise. Chariots of rescue, but
chariots of fire.
But how do know that this Divine euui-
page is on the side of our institutions? know
1t by the history OF the last one hundred and
eight Years. The American revolution started
nom the pen Of John Hancock, in hide
pendence Hall, in 1776 The colonies without
ships without ammunition, without guns
without trained warriors, without money
without prestige. On the other side the
mlghtiest nation of the earth, the largest
armies and the gIandeSt navieS and the most
distinguished commanders, and resources in
exhaustihla, and nearly all nations ready to
back them up in the fight. Nothing as against
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 successes, and through
the winters which surpassed all their prede-
ceSSors IN depth of snow and horrors of con.
gealment. Elisha, surrounded by the whole
Assyrian army, did not seem to be worse off
than did the thirteen colonies encompassed
and overshadowed by foreign assault. What
decided 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
tuil of re-enforcements which the young man
washington saw by faith, and his men
endured the frozen feet, and the gam
grened wounds, and the eShausting hun
gess and the long march because 1.-THE
Cord opened the eyes OF the young man; and
he saw; and, behold, the mountains were full
of horses and chariots Of fire round about
Elisha" Washington himself was mira
gle. What Joshua was in sacred history the
first American President was in secular his
tory. 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
probably never will be another such ext
gency, He was let down Divine interposi-
don. He was from God direct
do not know how any man can read the
history of these times without admitting
that the contest was decided by the 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 not cour-
age against cowardice, it was not wealth
against poverty, it was not large States
against small States. 1t was heroisn against
heroism, it was the resources of many gener-
ations against Tie resources Of many genera
lions, it was the prayer of the North against
the prayer of the South, it was one-half of the
nation in armed wrath meeting the other half
Oh the nation iii armed indignation. What
could come but determinations
At the opening Of the war the commander
in-chief Of the United States forces was
man who had been great in battle, but old
age had come with many infirmities and he
mount a horse, and he rode on the
battle field in carriage, asking the
driver not to jolt 1t too much. During the
most of the four years of the contest, on the
Southern side was q man in mid-life, who
had in his veins the blood Of many genera
tions of warriors, himself one of the heroes
of Cherubusco and Cerro Gordo, Contreras
and Chapultepcc: As the years passed on
and the scroll of carnage unrolled. there
strength and determination that the world
had never seen marshaled And what but
determination could come when Philip Sheri-
dan and Stonewall jackson met, and Nathan
lei Lyon and Sidney johnson rode in from
north and south, and Grant and Lee, the two
thunderbolts of battle, FLASHED? Yet we are
a nation, and yet we are at peace. Earthly
courage did not decide the conflict. The up
per forces of the text. They tell us there was
q battle fought above the clouds on Lookout
Mountain; b'At there was something higher
than that
Again the horses and chariots of God came
to the r~-cue of this nation in 1875, at the
close OF u Presidential election famous for
devilish ferocity. A darker cloud yet settled
down upon this nation. The result of the
election was in dispute, and revolution, not
between two or three sections, but revolution
In every town and village and city Of the
the United States, seemed imminent. The
prospect was that New York would throttle
New York, and New Orleans would grip New
Orleans, and Boston, Boston, and Savannah,
Savannah, and Washington, Washington.
Some said Mr.. Tilden was elected others
said Mr.. Hayes was elected; and how
near we came to universal massacre
some Of US guessed, but God only knew.
I ascribe our escape not to the hon.
esty and righteousness of Infatuated
politicians, but l ascribe it to the upper
forces of the text. Chariots Of mercy rolled
in, and though the wheels were not heard and
the fash was not seen, yet all through the
mountains of the north and the south and
the east and the west, though the hoofs did
not chatter, the cavalry of God galloped by.
/ tell you God is the friend of this nation. In
the awful excitement at the massacre of Lin
coin, when there was prospect that greater
slaughter would open upon this nation, God
hushed the tempest. In the awful excitemen.
at the time of Garfelds assassination, God
put His foot on the neck of the cyclone.
To prove that God is on the side of this ma
ton, argue from the last eight or nine great
national harvests. and from the national
Eealth of the last quarter Of a century cpl
aemics very exceptional from the great
Fevivals Of religion, and from the spreading
of the Church Of God, and from the continent
blossoming with asyluns and reformatory in.
stitutions, and from an Edenization which
xrnnnicee fhat fI;c xxyIolo land &c IN, 10 poro-