The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-15
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Upper Forces in Ameri-
can History"

the uo1sno man; and he sa1; and, beaold,
the mountain ,cas full of horses and char
lots of fire round about Elisha."-u Kings
vi, II.
As it cost England many regiments and
two million dollars O year TO keep safely
troublesome captive at st. Helena, SO the
King Of Syria sends out whole army to
capture one minister of reGgion-perhaps 90
600 men to take Elisha. During the night
lage Of Dothan, where. the prophet was
staying. At early daybreak the man
servant of Elisha rushed in and said:
sWhat shall we do? there is
whole army come to destroy you. We must
die. we must die" But Elisha was not
scared bit, for he looked up and saw
tho mountains all around full Of super
natural forces and he knew that if there
were $4,000 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 harnessed to char
lots 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 brill.
lance Of that morning sunrise was echpsed
by the galloping splendors Of the celestial
cavalcade. HAnd 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" I have often
spoken to you Of the Assyrian perIs which
threaten one American institutions, but now
as we are assembling to keep centennial cele-
bration of the inauguration of Washington,
I speak of the upper forces Of the text that
are to fight on our side. If all the low levels
are filed 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 equipage is
always represented as chariot of fire. Eze-
kiel and Isaiah and John, when they come to
sent it as wheeled, harnessed, an uphol-
stored confagration. 1t is not chariot like
Kings and conquerors of earth mount, but an
organized and compressed fire. Thetmeans
purity, justice, chastisement, deiverance
through burning escapes. Chariot Of rescue?
YES, but chariot of fire. All our national
disenthralments have been through scorching
agonies and red disasters. Through tribu-
lation the individual rises. Through tribu-
lation nations rise. Chariots of rescue, but
chariotS Of fire.
But how do know that this Divine equi-
page 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 indie
pendence Hail. in 1776. The colonies without
ships, without ammunition, without guns,
without trained warriors, without money,
without prestige. On the other siGe, the
mightiest nation of the earth, the largest
armies and the grandest navieS and the most
distinguished commanders, and resources in
exhaustible, and nearly oil 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 Dwer through
the quarreling Of the Generals, and through
the jeelousies 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
full of re-enforcements which the young man
Washington saw by faith, and his men
endured the frozen feet, and the gan
graned wounds, and the exhausting hun
ger, and the long march because 'the
Lord 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 a mira
cle What Joshua was in sacred history the
6rst 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 sec his like again, because there
probably never will be another such exi-
gency. He was let down a Divine interposi-
ton. He was from God direct.
I do not know how any man can read the
history of those 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. It was heroism against
heroisn, it was the resources Of many gener-
ations against the resources Of many genera
tions, 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
of the nation in armed Indignation. What
could come but determination?
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 infrmities, and he
had O right to ouietude. He could not
mount a horse, ana he rode on the
battle field in carriage, asking the
driver not to jolt it too much. During the
most Of the four years of the contest, on the
Southern side was man in mld-hfe, who
had in bis veins the blood Of many genera
lions Of warriors, himself one Of the heroes
Of Cherubusco and Cerro Gordo, Contreras
and Chapultepec. AS the years passed on
and the scroll of carnage unrolled, there
came out from both sides heroism and
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, clashed? Yet we are
nation, and yet we are at peace. Earthly
courage did not decide the conflict. The up
per forces Of the text. They tell lsthere was
O battle fought above the clouds on Lookout
Mountain; but there was something higher
than that
Again the horses and chariots Of God came
to the rescue of this nation in 1876, at the
close of a 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 infuriated
politicians. but I ascribe it to the upper
forces Of the text Chariots of mercy rolled
in, and though the wheels were not heard and