The Brookhaven leader., 1889-05-09
TALMAGE7S SERMON.
4 Discourse Apropos to the Gen.
tennial Celebration.
Evidence OF the Divine Hand In the shap-
Ing the Desttny OF Our Nation-Rs-
hgton the Only Foundation
OF Real Prosperity.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
Following centennial sermon at the
Brooklyn Tabernacle, taking for his text.
ana ,ae Lord opened the eyes OF the yoaps
man; and he saw; and, behold the mountain
vas full Of horses and chariots Of fre round
about Elsha-rf Kings VI, II.
As 1t cost England many regiments and
two million dollars a year 10 keep safely
a troublesome captive et st. Helena, so
the King OF Syria sends out whole army
to capture one minister Of religion--per.
haps fifty thousand men to take Elisha.
During the night the army Of Assyrians
came round the village of Dothan, where
the prophet was staying. At early day
break the man servant Of Elisha rushed
in and said:
"What shall we do. There is O 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 supernatural forces, and
he knew that IL there were fifty thousand
Assyrians against him there were one
hundred thousand angels for him; and in
answer to the prophets prayer in behalf
OF his affrighted man servant the young
man saw 1t, too. Horses Of fire harnessed
to chariots OF fire, and drivers Of fire pull.
ing reins Of fire on bits of FIRE, and war.
rfors OF fire brandished swords OF fre;
and the brilliance of that morning sun
rise was eclipsed by the galloping splen-
1ors of the celestial cavalcade,
And the Lord opened the eyes OF the young
MAJ; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain
was full Of horses and chariots OF fire round
about Elisha.
have often spoken to you Of the Assy.
rian periis which threaten our American
Institutions, but now, as we ere assem-.
olinTs to keep centennial celebration Of
tho Inauguration of Washington, speak
Of the upper forces Of the text that are to
fight on our side, II all the low levels ere
filed with armed threats, 1 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 equipage
is always repr esented as o chariot OF Are.
Ezekiel and Isaiah and Ieha, when they
come to describe the Divine equipage, al :
ways represent it as q wheeled, q har-
messed, an upholstered confagration. 1t
is not chariot like Kings and oonquerors
OF earth mount, but an organized and
compressed fire. That means purity,
justice, chastisement, deliverance through
bTrning escapes. Chariot of rescuei yes,
but chafiot Of FIRE. All our national dis
enthrallments have been through scorch.
ing agonies and red disasters. Through
trihulation the individual rises. Through
tribulation nations rise. Chariots of res
cue, but chariots of fire.
But how do l know that this Divine
equipage is on the side Of our institutionsf
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, without
prestige. On the other side the mightiest
nation on earth, the largest armies. and
the grandest navies, and the most dis
tinguished commanders, and resources
inexhaustible, and nearly all nations
ready to back them up in the fight. Moth
ing as against immensity.
The cause Of the American colonies,
which started at zero, dropped ;stin lower
through the quarreling Of the Generals,
and through the jealousies at small sue
cesses, and through the winters which
surpassed all predecessors in depth OF
surrounded by the whole Assyrian 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 in our favor? The up
per forces, the upper armies. The Green
and White mountains of New England,
the highlands along the Hudson, the
mountains of Virginia, all the Appala-
~, To-, full ~ nfn AMI ta
which the young man Washington saw
by faith; and his men endured the frozen
feet, and the gangrened wounds, and
the exhausting hunger, and the long
march, because
The Lord opened the eyes OF the young man;
and he saw; and, behold, the mountains were
fall of horses and chariots OF fire round about
Elisha.
Washington himself was q miracle.
What Joshua was in sacred history the
frst American President was in secular
history. A thousand other men exceled
him in different things. but he exceled
them all in rounduess 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 exigency. He was let
lown a Divine interpOsition. 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 1851, when our civil war opened,
many at the North and at the South pro-
uounced it National suicide. 1t was not
courage against cowardice, it was not
wealth against poverty. it was not large
States against small States. 1t was hero
ism against heroism, 1t was the resources
Of many generations against the resources
Of generations, 1t was the prayer OF the
North against the prayer Of the South, 1t
was one-half of the Nation In armed
wrath meeting the other half of the Ma
ton in armed indignation. What could
come but exterminationi
At the openin ng of the war the Com
mander- in Chief Of the United States
forces was q man who had been great in
battles, but old age had come with many
lnimities, and he had right OF quietude.
He could not mount horse, and he rode
On the battle field in q 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 mid
| life, who had in his veins the blood or the
heroes of Cherubusco and Cerro Cor
| do, Contreras and Chepultapec. AS the
years passed on and the scroll OF the car
mage unrolled, there came out ON both
sides a heroism and strength anda de-
termination that the world had never
marshaled. And what but determination
could come when Phillip Sheridan and
stonewall Jackson met and Nathaniel