The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-12-06
CONGRESS- SALUTED.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE BREACHES A SER
MON UPON A TIMELY THEME.


He Shows How We Have Been blessed by
God In the Past-Earth,y Comfort and
the Rest That Shall Come to Those That
Believe,
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1.-As tomorrow
the congress Of the United States assem-
bles and many Of the members were
present at the delivery Of this sermon,
DR.. Talmage took most appropriate
theme, showing that in all their work
they might realize that God has always
been on the side of this nation, Text, III
Kings vi, II, "And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and no saw,
and, behold, the mountain was full of
horses and charicts and chariots of fire
round about Elisha"
The American congress is assembling.
Arriving or already arrived are the rep
resentatives of all sections of this be-
loved land. Let us welcome them with
prayers and benedictions. A nobler
group of men never entered Washington
than those who will tomorrow take
their places in the senate chamber and
the house Of representatives Whether
they come alone or leave their families
at the homestead far away, may the
blessing of tho Eternal God be upon
them We invite them to our churches,
and together they in political spheres
and we in religious circles will give the
coming months to consideration of the
best interests of this country which God
has blessed so much in the past that
propose to show you and show them, so
far as | may now reach their ear or to-
morrow their eye through the printing
press, that God will be with them to
help them as in. the text he filled the
mountains with help for Elisha.
The Upper Forces.
As it cost England many regiments
and $4,000 900 year to keep safely
Troublesome captive at st. Helena, so the
king of Syria sends out whole army to
capture one minister of religion-per
haps $4,000 men to take Elisha. Dur
ing the night the army of Syrians came
around the village of Dothan, where the
prophet was staying At early daybreak
the manservant of Elisha rushed in and
said: "What shall we do? There is
whole army come to destroy you'll 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 were so, 900 Syrians against
him there were 10000 angels for him,
and in answer to the prophet prayer in
behalf of his affrighted manservant the
young man saw it 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 brandish-
ed swords of fire. and the brilliance of
that morning sunrise was eclipsed by
the galloping splendors 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 chariots of fire round about Elisha.
speak of the upper forces of the text
that are to fight on our side as nation.
If all the low levels are filled with arm
ed 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.
You will notice that the divine equi-
page is always represented as chariot
of fire. Ezekiel and Isaiah and John,
when they come to describe the divine
equipage, always represent it as
wheeled, a barnessed, an upholstered
confiagration. It is not chariot like
kings and conquerors Of earth mount,
but an organized and compressed fire.
That means purity, justice, chastise
ment, deliverance through burning es-
capes. Chariot Of rescue? Yes, bnt
chariot of fire. All our national disin-
thrallments have been through searching
agonies and red disasters Through trib-
ulation the individual rises. Through
tribulation nations rise. Chariots of
rescue, but chariots of fire But how do
know that this divine equipage is Oh
the side Of our institutions? l know it
by the history of the last 119 years.
The American Revolution started from
the pen of John Hancock in mdepend-
ence hall in 177G. The colonies, with
ont ships, without ammunition, without
guns, without trained warriors, without
money, without prestige On the other
side, the migEtiest nation of the earth,
the largest armies, the grandest navies
and the most distinguished commanders,
and resources inexhaustble, and nearly
all nations ready to back them up in the
fight. Nothing, as against immensely.
Divine Interposition.
The cause of the American colonies,
which started at zero dropped still lower
through the quarreling of the generals,
and through the jealousies at small sue
cesses, ard through the winters which
surpassed all predecessors i'll depth of
snow and horrors Of congealment Elisha
surrounded by the whole Syrian 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 Highlands along the Hud-
ION, the mountains OF Virginia, all the
Appalachian ranges were full of re-en-
forcoments which the young man Wash
ington saw by faith, and his men en-
dured 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 mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round
about Elisha. Washington himself was
a miracle. What Joshua was in sacred
history the first American president was
IN secular history. A thousand other
men cxcelled 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 see his like again, because
there probably never will be another
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