Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-12-13
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington pivine'S
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: ga welcome to Congress"

The mountain was full OF horses aud chariots
of fire round about Elisha. III Kings W., II.
The American Congress Is assembling.
Arriving or already arrived are me repre-,
sentatives OF all sections OF TINS pe'oVel
land. Let us we'cone them with prayers
and beneiictior. A nobler group OF men
never entered Washington than those VINO
will tomorrow take their places in the Sem
ate Chamber and the House Of Represe nta-
tives Whether they como alone or leave
their families at the homestead far away,
may the b'essing o. tho Eternal God be upon
them we invite them to our churches, ana
together they III political spheres and we I'D
religious circles will give the coming
months 10 consideration OF the best Interests
OF this coun ~ which God has blessed so
much III the past that purpose to show you
aud show them, so far as l may now reacD
their ear or tomorrow their bye through the
printing press, that God will be with them TO
hep them as in the text He fille1 the noun
tains with help for Elisha.
As 1t cost England many regiments and
81, 000, coo year to keep safely trouble.
some captive at ST. Helena, so the king OF
Syria sends out whole army to capture one
minister OF religion-parhaps $4,000 men TO
take Elisha. During the night the army oil
Syrians came around the village Of Dothan,
where the prophet was staying. At early
daybreak the man servant of Elisha rushed
In and said: "What shall we do? There Is
a whole army come to destroy you! We
must die! We must diel' But Elisha was
not scared bit, for he looked up and saw
the mountains all around full OF super
natural forces. and he knew that II there
were 81, 900 Syrians against him there were
100. 900 angels for him and in answer to the
oIo43o I'M ,oh0 n QffriOhfp1
man servant 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. anil warriors OF fire with brand
ished swords Of fire. anil the brilliauce OF
that morning sunrise was eclipsed by the
galloDing spendors OF the celestial cava!-
cade. "Apd the Lord opened the eyes o!
the young man, AMI he saw, and behold the
mountain was full Of horses and chariots Of
Are round about Elisha" 1 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 armed threats, have to tell
YOU that the mountains Of our hope and
courage aud faith ara full OF the horses and
chariots of divine rescue.
You will notice that the divine equipage is
always rearesanted as chariot OF fire.
Ezekiel aud Isaiah and John, when they
come to describe the divine eqnipage. always
represent It rs wheeled harnessed. an
upholstered connagration. 1t is not a char
lot like kings and conqueror5 Of earth
mount, but an organized and compressed
fire. That means purity, justice. chast1se-
ment, deliverance through burning escapes.
Chariot of rescue? Yes, but chariot OF fire.
All our National observation-disclosures have been
through searching agonies and red disasters.
Through tribulation the individual! rises
Through tribulat.on Nations rise. Chariots
of rescue. but chario.5 of fire. But how do
know that this divine equipage is On the side
OF our institutions? know it by the history
of the last 119 years. The American Revolu-
ton started from the pen OF John Hancock
In Independence Hall in 1776. The colonies,
without ships. without ammunition, without
guns, without trained warriors, without
money, without prestige. On the other side,
the mightiest Nation OF the earth, the larg-
est armies, the grandest navles and the
most distinguished commanders. and re-
sources inexhanstibie, and nearly all Ma
tons ready TO back them tip III tho fight.
Nothing, as against i'm nensity.
The cause OF the American colon'e which
started at zero; droppel still lower through
the quarreIling Of the generals, and through
the jeaousies at small successes. and through
the winters which surpassed all predecessors
in depth OF snow and horrors OF CONCEAL
ment. Elisha surrounded by the whole
Syrian army did not seem to be worse Oh
than did the thirteen colonies encompassed
and overshadoWed by foreign assault. What
decided the contest in cur favor? The upper
forces. the upper armies. The Green and
White Mountains of New England the
Highlands 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, AMI the
gangrened wounds, and the eXhaustlng
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 AID chariots of fire round about
Elisha" Washington himself was miracle.
Whit Joshua was in sacred history the first
American PresGen- was in secular history
| 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, ard probably
never will see his like again, because there
probably never will be another such eX-
igency. He was let down divine inter
position. Re was from God direct.
1 do not know how many can read the
history of those times without admitting 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-
rounced it National suicide. 1t was not
courage against cowardicc, it was not wealth
AGAINST poverty, it was not large States
against small States. It was heroism agalns.
heroism. it was the resources OF many gen
creations against the resources Of generations
n was The PRAYER of the North against the
nrayer of the South, it was oDe-half OF the
| Nation in armed wrath meeting the Other
half OF the Nation in armed Indignation
What could come but eXtermationI
At the opening OF the war the commander
In-chief of the Unitel States forces was
man who had been great in battle but ole
ace had come. with many inflrmities, and h
had right to quietuie. He could no
mount a horse, AID he rode on the battle
ne,d in q carriage, asking the driver not t
Jolt II too much. During the most Of the
four wears OF the contest on the Southern
side. was man in midlife, who had in hi
veins the blood Of many generations O.
warriors, himself one of the heroes o
Churubusco and Cerro Gordo, Contreras anC
Chapultepec. AS the years passed on anc
the scroll of carnage uHrolled there CAM
out from both sides heroisn. and strength
and deter nination that the world haC
never seen marshaled. And what but ex
Termination could come when Philil
Sheridan and stonewall Jackson met, anC
Nathaniel Lyon AMI Sidney Johnston rod
in from North and South, and Grant ant
Lee, the two thun ier5olts OF battle, clasnea
Yet, we are Nation, and yet we are
peace. Earthly courage did not decide tn
confiic:. Tae upper forces OF the text-tne.
tell us there was battle fought above tn
clouds on Lockout Mountain, but there wa
something higher than that.
Again, the horses and cnariots Of Cos
came to the rescue of this Nation in 1876.
the close OF Presidential election famou;
orferocity. Adarker cloud yet settled dow
mon this Nation. The result OF the election
was in dispute. and revolution. not oetweei