The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-12-06
GREETING TO CONGRESS.
Subject Of the Latest Sermon by
DR.. Talmage.
Lessons Drawn from the Prophet ElIsha's
ChsriOts of FIre-GIOries OF Our Re-
public-The Spirit OF the Lord
Behind Our Institutions.

u COhBEcSSs many OF wnOm were
present, that in all their work they
might realize that God has always
been on the side of this nation. The
text was from III. Kings, vi, II: And
the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man; and he saw; and, behold, the noun
tain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha" DR.. Talmage
said:
The American congress is ASSEMBLING.
Arriving or already arrived are the
representatives of all sections of this
beloved land. Let us welcome them
with prayers and benediction. A no.
bier group of men never entered Wash
ington 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 the Eternal
God be upon them! We invite them to
our churches, and together, they in po-
litical spheres and we in religious cir
cles, 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 tomorrow 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.
As it cost England many regiments
and 100000 a year to keep safely a
troublesome captive at st. Helena, so
the king of Syria sends out a whole
army to capture one minister of re-
liPion-perhaps $4,000 men-to take
Elisha. During the night the army of
Syrians came around the village of
Dothan where the prophet was stay
ing. At early day break the man serv-
ant of Elisha rushed in and said:
"What shall we do? There is a whole
army come to destroy you! We must
die! we must dier' But Elisha was
not scared a bit, for he looked
up and saw the mountains all
around full of supernatural forces.
and he knew that if there were so, 600
Syrians against him there were 100, 600
angels for him; and in answer to the
prophets prayer in behalf of his af-
frighted man servant, 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 brandished
swords of fire, and the brilliance of
that morning sunrise was eclipsed by
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
You will notice that the Divine
equipage is always represented as a
chariot of fire. Ezekiel and Isaiah and
John, when they come TO describe the
Divine equipage always represent it as
a wheeled, a harnessed, an upholstered
conhagration. 1t is not 4 chariot like
kings and conquerors of earth mount,
but an organized and compressed fire.
That means parity. justice, chastise-
ment, deliverance through burning es-
capes. Chariot of rescue? yes. but a
chariot of fire. All our national olsen
thralments have been through scorch-
ing agonies and red disasters. Through
circulation the individual rises.
The cause of the American colonies,
which started at zero, dropped still
lower through the quarreling of gem
erals, and through the jealousies at
small success, and through 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 off than did the thirteen
colonies encompassed and overshad-
owed by foreign assault What de-
cided the contest in our 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, and the gangrened wounds, and
the exhausting hunger, and the long
march. because the Lord opened the
ewes of the young man; and he saw;
and, behold, the mountains were 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. He
was let down a Divine interposition.
He was from God direct.
l do not know how many can
read the history of those times
without admitting the contest
was decided by the upper forces.
Then. in lS6l, when our civil war
opened. many at the north and at the
south pronounced it national suicide.
It was not courage against cowardice,
IT was not wealth against poverty, 1t
was not large states against small
states. 1t was heroism against hero
ism: it was the resources of many gen.
erations against the resources of gem
erations; it was the prayer of the north
against the prayer of the south; 1T was
one-haIf of the nation in armed wrath,
meeting the other half of the nation
in armed Indignation. What could
come but determination?
At the opening of the war the com
rnander-in-chief of the United States
forces was a man who had been great
in hattie. but old age had COME, with
:e,,,;+;aS and he had q right