The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-12-13
The NCONGRESS
Rev. Dr. Talmage Gives It Greet
ing to the Capital
The Glories Of the American Republic
The Spirit Of the Lord Behind
Our Cherished Traditions
and Institutions.

Il i
The following discourse by Rev. T
Z Dewitt Telwage was delivered before
his Washington congregation, which
I included many Of the nations legisla'
tors, on the eve of the assembling O.
the Fifty-fourth congress. He took fol
his text:
And the Lord opened the eyes Of the younl
man and he saw; and, behold the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire arount
about Elisha.-IL Kings. vi, IT.
The American congress is assem-
bling. Arriving or already arrived
are the representatives of all sections
of this beloved land Let us welcome
them with prayers and benedictions.
A nobler group of men never entered
Washington than those who will to
morrow take their places in the SEN
ate chamber and the house of repre-
sentatives. Whether they come alone,
or leave their families at the home
stead far away, may the blessing
of the 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
A God has blessed SO mnch in the past
that propose to show you and show
them SO far as may now reach their
ear, or tomorrow their eye through
their printing press, that God will be
with them to help them as in the text
He filed the mou ntainS with help for
Elisha.
As it cost England many regiments
and twenty million dollars year to
keep safely troublesome captive at
st. Helena. so the king of Syria sends
out whole army to capture one
minister of religion-perhaps fifty
thousand 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 man servant of
Elisha rushed in and said: "What
shall we do? There is whole
army come to destroy you We
must die! we must die!' But
Elisha was not scared a bit, for
he looked up and saw the noun
tains all around full of supernatural
forces, and he knew that if there were
fifty thousand Syrians against him
there were one hundred thousand
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 the galloping splendors of the
celestial cavalcade. "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" I speak of
the upper forces of the text that are
to fight on our side as nation. If all
the low levels are filed 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. .
You will notice that the Divine {
equipage is always represented as
<hariot of fire. Ezekial and Isaiah
and John, when they come to describe
the Divine equipage always represent
1t as wheeled, a harnessed, an up ;
holstered confagration. 1t is not a I
chariot like kings and conquerors of I
earth mount, but an organized and 4,
compressed fire. That means purity,
Justice, chastisement, deliveranee t
through burning escapes. Chariot of s
rescue? yes, but chariot of fire. ALI our
national observation-disclosures have been c
through scorching agonies and red dis {
asters. Through tribulation the indi- t
vidual rises. Through tribulation ma c
ions rise. Chariots of rescue, but
,hariots of fire. But how do 1 know L
hat this Divine equipage is on the t
tide of our institutions? / know it by t
5he history of the last one hundred
Ind nineteen years. The Anne rican C
evolution started from the pen of t
John Hancock In Independence hall O
n 1776 The colonies, without f
ships, without ammunition. without 9
runs, without trained warriors, with G
nut money. without prestige. On the v
'ther side, the mightiest nation of the il
arth, the largest armies, the grandest C
lavies, and the most distinguished r,
and resources inexhaus- Z
ible, and nearly all the natins ready v
. back them up in the fgll. Moth o
ug, as against immensely.
The cause of the American colonies, Il
which started at zero, dropped still IL
over through the quarreling of gen. t,
rails, and through the jealousies W
t small successes, and through the CT
ginters which surpassed all predeces- Of
l.. II L L -