The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-05-10
NATIONAL WELFARE.
Centennial Sermon Delivered bv
Rev. T. Dewitt Talnage.
A Hundred Years OF Divine Guidance Re
vieweu-rhe Destiny OF Our Nation
Not the Work Of Man
God Is with Us.

Centennial occasion, was delivered by
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle. His text was:
And the Lord opened the eyes OF the young
man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain
was full OF horses and charicts or fire round
nbout Elisha.-II. Kings, vi, Il.
As 1t cost England many regiments and
two million dollars year to keep safely
troublesome captive at St Helena, so
the King Of Syria sends out a 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 DOthau, where
the prophet was staying. AT early day
break the man servant OF Elisha rushed
an and said:
''What 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 supernatural forces, and
he knew that if there we're fifty thousand
Assyrians against him there were one
hundred thousand angels for him; and in
answer to the prophets prayer in behalf
of his afrighted man servant, the young
man saw it, too. Horses of fire harness ed
TO chariOts OF fire, and drivers Of FIRE pull
ing reins OF fire on bits of fire, and war
Tiors Of fire braadished swords of fire:
and the brilliance Of that morning sun
rise was eclipsed by the galloping splen-
dors OF the celestial cavalcade
And the Lord opened the eyes OF tho young
man; auI he saw; and, behold the mountain
was fun OF horses and chariots or Gre roun-1
about Elisha.
have often spoken to you of the a ssy-
rian perils which threaten our American
institutions, but now, as we ore assem-
bling 20 keep centennial celebGation OF
HFs.v. o.
OF the upper forces OF the text Ehat 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
courage and fash are fun Of the horses
and chariots Of Divine rescue,
You will notice that she Divine .nuina pc
Is always represent d as ckaSiat of fire.
Ezekiel aud lsaia 4 AMI John, when they
come TO descrlo tho Divine equupage, al :
ways represe,dt Il as wheeled, a har-
messed, an upholstered conhagration. II
Is not '@nsriotlille Kings and sonquerors
Oh eaLcb mount but an organized and
c"-npressed fire. That means purity,
2Gstce, chastisemeut, deliveranee through
burning escapes. Chariot Of rescuey yes,
but chariot OF FIRE. All our national dis.
'enthrallments have been through scorch
ing agonies and red disasters. Through
tribulation the individual rises. Through
AuaTlOLS
cue, but chariots of fire.
But how do l know that this Divine
equipagc is on the side Of our institutions!
know it by tho history ot the last one
hundred aud eight years. The American
Revolution started from the pen Of John
Hancock in Independence Hall in 1776.
Tho colonies, without ships, without am
muuttiOn, Without guns, without trained
warriors, without money, without
nation on earth, the largest armies, and
tho grandest uavies, and the most dis
fi3guished commanders, and resources
dneNhaustible, and nearly all nation,
rOady TO back them up in the fight Moth
ing as against immensity.
The cause OF the American colonies
which started at zero, dropped isGll dover
through the Uuarroliug of the Generals
and through the jealOusies at small sue.
oesses, and through the winters which
surpassed all predecessors in depth OF
SNOW and horrors ef CouCealment Elisha
surrounded by the whole Assyrian army,
did not seem 90 be worse off than did tht
thirteen colonies cuoompassed and over
shadoWod by foreign assault. What de.
cide3 the contest in our favOrg The up.
yer forces, the upper armies, The Greer
and White mountains OF New England
the highlands along tho Hudson, this
mountains OF Virginia, all tho Appala-
chian ranges We're full OF re- endorsements
which the young man Washington saw
by faith; and his men endured the frOsen
feet and the gaugrened wounds, and
the eNhaustiug hunger, and the long
march, because
The Lord opened the cyos Of the young man;
and he saw; aud, bohoid, the mountains were
full OF horses and chGviots OF fire round about
Elisha
Washington himself was a miracle
What Joshua was in sacred history the
Arst American President was in secular
history. a thousand other men excelod
him in different things, but he exceled
them all in roUnlness and completeness
of character. The world never saw his
like, and probably never will see his like
again, because there probably never will
be ano.ner such eNigenCy, He was let
down n Divine interpretation. He was
from God direct
/ do not know how any man can read
the history of those times without admit,
ting that tho contest was decided by tn,
upper forces.
Then in 1861, when orr civil war opened
many gt tho North aud at the South pro-
nounced It National suicide. It was not
courage against cOwardics, it was not
wealth against poverty, it was not large
States against small States. 1t was hero
ism against hcroism, it was the resource
of many generations against the resources
of generations, it was the prayer of the
North against the prayer of the South, il
was one-half OF the Nation in armed
wrath meeting the other half OF the Ma.
tion in armed Indignation. What coulC
come but determination?
AT the opening OF he war the Com
mander-in- Chief OF the United State,
forces was a man who had been great il
battles, but old oge had come with many
Iufimitios, and he had a right of quieuude
He could not mouEt a horse, and he rode
on tho battle field in carriage, asking
the driver not 10 jolt il too much. During
the most Of the four years Of the cOntes
on the Southern side was a man in mid
life, who had in his veins the blood Of the
heroes OF Cherubusco and Cerro Cor
do, Coutreras and Chepultapec. As the
years passed on and the scroll Of the car
mage uurolled, there came out on both
sides q herOism and n strength and de-
termination that the world had never
marshaled. Aud what but determination
could come whom Phillip Sheridan and
Stonewall Jackson mot and Nathaniel
Lyon Sydney Johnston rode in from
North and South, aud Grant and Lee, the
two thuuderbolts of battle, clashed? Yet
we are n Nation, aud yet we are at peace
Earthly courage did not decide the con-
fiict. The upper forces of the text. They
tell us there was a battle fought above
the clouds on Lookout mountain; but
there was something higher than that.
Again. the horses and chariots of God
came to tho rescue of this Nation in 1876,
az the close OF presidential election
famous for devilish ferOcity. A darker
- cloud yet settled down upon this Nation
The result OF the election was in dispute
the revolution, not between two OF threg
sections, but revolution ia every town and
village aud city Of the United States
seemed immleent. The prospect was tina
Aew York would throttle New York, anl
- nrIaana mnulL --L-n Now n-lo.us ar-