The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-05-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Appropriate to the
Centennial.

A Discourse Appropriate to the
Centennial.
The Glorious Condition of These United
StateA-The American Colonies
and tho Great Rev
olution.
last Sunday Dr.. Talmage preached in
the Brooklyn tabernacle to vast audi
ence. His texE was II. Kings vi Il: s:And
the Lord opened tho eyes OF the young
man; and he saw: and, behold, the noun
tain was full of horses and caariots OF fire
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 whole army to
capture one minister of religion-perhaps
$1,000 men to take Elisha During tha
the village OF Dothan, where the prophes
was staying At early daybreak the man
servant Of Elisha rushed in and said:
ssWhat shall we do? there is a whole army
come to destroy you We must die, we
must die" But Elisha was not scared
bit, for he looked up and saw the
mountains all around full Of super
natural forces. and he knew that
If there were 50, 09O 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
fire pulling reiaS OF fire on bits of rre; and
warriors Of IRE with brandishel sword OF
fire, and the br!l.iance OF that morning
sunrise was ec:iosed by the gallopins
splendors Of tho celestial cavalc !de. And
the Lord opened the eyes OF the young
man; and he saw; and, behold, the noun
tain was full Of horses and chariotS OF fire
round about Elisha" have often spoken
to you Of the Assyriaa perils which threat
en- our American institutions. but now as
we are assembling to keep centen nnial
celebration Of the Inauguration OF Wash
ington, I speak of the upper forces Of the
text that are to fight on ou: side. II all
the low levels are filed with armed
threats, have to tell you tnat thes-s aAsssa-''
tains Of onc- hepeand Courage and faith
~xfe full Of the horses and chariots OF Di-
vine rescue.
You will notice that the Divine equipage
is always-represented as a chariot OF ire.
Ezekial and Isaiah and John. when they
come TO describe the Divine equipage. al
WAYS represent it as q wheeled, Il har-
messed, an upholstered confagration 1t
is not chariot like Kings and conquerors
Of earth mount but al organized and
compressed fire. That means purity, JUS
tics, chast;sement, deliverance through
burning escapes. Chariot Of rescue? yes,
but chariot of fire. All our national dis
entertainments have been through scorch-
ing agoaies and red disasters. Through
tribulation the individual rises. Through
tribulations nations rise. Chariots OF res
cue, but chariots Of FIRE.
But how do j know that this Divine
equipageis on the sids 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 ITO
The colonies without Ships, withonts-serh
vdaSa ition, without guns, withc1t trained
sssss, without money, without prestige.
S5sB ther side. the /mIghtiest nation OF
a, the largest armies, aud the
~ ~ sS$n syIes, and the most 6istin-
e sSA AZ ISommanders, and resources in
haustible, and nearly ell 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; quarveling OF the Generals
and through the jealousies at small sue
eesses, and through the winters which
surpassed ALI predecessors in depth, Of
snow and horrors of congealment Elisha
surrounded by the whole Assy<ian army
did not seem to be worse OFF than did the
thirteen colonies encompassed and over
shadowed by foreign assault What de-
cided the contest incur favor? The upper
forces, the upper armies. The Green and
White mountains OF New England.
she. Highlands along the Hudson, the
mountains Of Virginia, all the App
lachian ranges were fnll OF resent force-
1nenS which she yong man WASH
ington saw by faith; and his men endured
the frozen feet and the gangrened wounds,
and the exhausting hunger, and the long
march because athe Lord opened the eyes
ofthe young man; and he saw: and. be-
hold. thsssSSslaifsa -Eero Fun 81 horses
and chariots Of fire round about E!isha-"
Washington. .himselfwas miracle. What
Joshua was insacred history the FIRST
American President was in secular history.
A thousand other men exce.Isd him in diff
ferent things, but he excelied them all tn
roundness and completeness Of character.
The world never saw his like, and pro5a-
bly, nexer will see his like again. because
there probably never will De another such
exigency. He was let down Divine in .
terpositioa. He was from God direct
I 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 1854, when our civil wac opened,
many at the North and a. the South pro-
nounced it national suicide. It YVES not
courage against cowardice. it was not
wealth against poverty, it was not large
States against small States. It was hero
: ism against heroism, it was The resources
OF many generations against the resources
OF generations, it was the prayer OF the
North against the prayer Of the South, it
was ons-haR o: the nation in armed wrath
meeting the other hat Of the nation in
armed indignation. What could come but
determination?
At the opening Of the war the command
er.in-cbief Of the United States forces
was man who had been great in battle,
but OLD age had come with many intrm-
tiles, and ne had right to quietude. He
could no. mount a horse, and ne rode on
the battle field in carriage asking the
driver not to Jolt it too much. During the
most of the folr years OF thu contest, on
the Southern siie was man In mio-iiie,
who had in his veins the bicot OF many
; generations Of warriors, himself one o.
the heroes Of Cherubusco and Cerro Gocoo
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