The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-05-02
A CENTENNIAL SERMON.
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY REV.
DR.. TAlMAGE.

Than the United States-The Cause OF the |
American Colonies and the Great Revo- |
Acknowledgement Varieties of Lies.
BROOKLYN, April 28-At the Taber-
nacle to day, the Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, D. D., preached sermon ap-
propriate to the coming centennial.
The vast congregation sang the hymn
beginning:
Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Yc nations, bow with sacred Joy.
DR.. Talmage's text was IL 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 England many regiments
and two million dollars a year to keep
safely a troublesome captive at st.
Helena, 50 the king of Syria sends out
a whole army to capture one minister
of religion-perhaps so, 900 men TO take
Elisha. During the night the army OF
Assyrians came around the village OF
Dothan, where the prophet was stay
ing. At early daybreak the man SER
want of Elisha rushed in and said:
"What shall we do2 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
the mountains all around full of SUI
pernatural forces, and he knew that
If there were $4,000 Assyrians against
him there were 100, 600 angels for him;
and in answer to the prophets prayer
in behalf Of his affrighted man ser
want, the young man saw 1t too.
Horses of fire harnessed to chariots 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 galloping splen-
dors of the celestial cavalcade. And
the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man: and he saw: and, behold, the
mountain was full of horses and char
lots of fire round about Elisha" |
have often spoken TO you of the Assy-
rian perils which threaten our Amer
ican institutions, but now as we are
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. If all the low levels are filled
with armed threats, | have to tell you
that the mountains of our hope and
courage and faith are full of the horses
and chariots OF Divine rescue.
ALLEGoRY or THE CHARIOT OF FIRE.
You will notice that the Divine
equipage is always represented as Q
chariot of fire. Ezekiel and Isaiah ano
John when they come to describe tho
Divine equipage, always represent
Ut as wheeled, harnessed, an uphOl
aesed connagration. 1t is not chariot
like kings and conquerors of eartl
mount. but an organized and com
pressed Gre. That means purity, jus
tice, chastisement, deliverance through
burning escapes. Chariot of rescue
yes, but chariot of tire. All our ma
tional disenthrallments have beel
through scorching agonies and red dis
;asters Through tribulation the indl
widual rises Through tribulation ma
Sions rise Chariots of rescue, bu
chariois of fire.
But how do know that this DIVINE
equipagc is on the side of our institu
Aions2 | know it by the history of th'
last one hundred and eight years. TIL
American Revolution started from tn
peia of John Hancock in independence
hali in 1176. The colonies withou
ships, without ammunition, withou
guns, without trained warriors, with
out money. without prestige. On I'll
other side, the mightiest nation OF th
earth, the largestarmies, and thegran6
,est navies, and the most distinguishe
commanders, and resources ineXlfAus
ibge. and nearly all nations ready
back them up in tho fight. Nothln
rs against immensity.
The cause of tie American colonie:
which started at zero, dropped stl
Hover through the quarPcling of tn
gencyals, and through the jeaiopsies {
ssnall successes. and through the VII
ters (WHICH surpassed all predecessors
depth OF snow and horrors OF congea
ment. Eiisha surrounded by I'll
whole Assyrian army did not seem
be worse oif than did the thirteen COLI
MES encompassed and ovcrshadowe
by foreign assault. What decided Il
.contost in our favor2 The upper force
the upper armies. The Green an
White mountains Of New Euglan'
the Highlands along the Hudson, Il
mountains of Virginia, all the App
lachian ranges were Tu.! OF re-enlorc
ments which che young man Was
ington saw by faith; and his mep g
durcd the frozen feet, and tie ga
grcnetl wounds, and the cShaustiI
hunger, and the long march becau
'-the Lord opened the eyes OF Il
young maa, and he saw; an
behold. the MOUNTAINS were n
of horses and chariots OF ii
Tound about Elisha" Nnshln
ton. himself was n miracle. Vh
Joshua was in sacred history the iii
Americas president was in secular n
tory. \ thousand other men eXcell'
Aim in different things, but he eXceli
TheIHalI in roundnesse and complctene
of character The world never 50
his like. aul Probably never viii S
his like aeaia. .,;'rause thcro rrobab
never viii bo anoti4eg such eXigenc
lie was let down u Disipe interpo
ton. lie was from God direct,
/ do noi know how any man q
read the history of those times witho
admitting that the. contest was dec
.ed by the upper forces.
THE SIGNIFICANCE or THE CIVIL "
Then in 1861. when our civil W
opened, many al the north q
at the So4th pronounced 1t natloi
guicide. X was not courage aGall
oowardice. il WAS not wealth aEal
poverty, it was not large states agar
small states. il was berolsm agai'
heroism. it was the resources OF ma
generations against tho rcsouIIces
generations, it was tho prayer of
saorth against tho prayer of the sou
1t was ono half of tho nation in arm
wrath meeting iiic other half OF
nation in armed indignation. WI
could come but eXterminaliGpt
At the opening OF the war the .' e
mander-in-chief of the United Sha
forces was man who had been gf
in battle, but old age had como v
many iufirmities. and he had
right 10 quietude. lie could
mount horse, and he rode on
battle field in carriage asking
driver not TO jolt it too much. Dur
the most of the four years OF the {
test, on ihe southern side was 4
in mid-lfe, wlo had in his veins
blood Of many generations OF '
1iors, himself one of the heroes
Cherubusco and Cerro GoPdo, Con
las and chapultepec. As the "
passcd on and the scroll of earn
nnnolIed, there came out from
sides hcroism and a strength and 1
termination that the world had II,
seen masslsaled. And what but
termination could come when ri
Sheridan and StoDewall jackson
and Nathaniel Lyon and Sid
Johnston rode in from north
south and Grant and &c the