Milford chronicle., 1895-12-06

tics and Protect the Ballot Box In thu
End.
WASHINGTON, Dec. las tomorrow thu
congress Of the United States assemblies
and many Of the members were present al
the delivery Of this sermon. Or. Talnagl
took a most appropriate themo, showing
that in all their work they might realize
that God has always been on the side Of
this nation. Text, II Kings vi, ~ "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,
The American congress is assembling,
Arriving or already arrived are the ropro'
sentatiyes Of all sections Of this beloved
land. Let us welcome them with prayers
and benedictiona A nobler group Of men
never entered Washington than those who
will tomorrow take their places In the
senate chamber and tho house Of repre-
/ sentatives. Whether they come alone or
leave their families at the homestead far
away, may the blessing of the Eternal God
be upon themi 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 reaoh their car or to-
morrow their eye through the printing
press, that God will be with them to help
( them as in the text he filed the mountains
with help for Elisha,
As it cost England many regiments and
SO, 600, 600 year to keep safely trouble
some captive at St. Helena, SO the king Of
Syria sends out a whole army to capture
one minister Of religion-perhaps $4,000
mon to take Elisha. During the night
TINS army Of sXFiana came ground the vii
iage of Dothan, where the prophet was
staying. At early daybreak the manserv-
ant of Elisha rushed in and saidi "What
shall we do? There Is a whole army come
to destroy you We must diel We must
diam But Elisha was not scared bit
fQe he looked up and saw the mquntRins
all around full of supernatural forces and
he knew that if there were 80, 600 Syrians
against him there were 100,0 600 angels for
him. and in answer to the prophets pFayep
IN behalf of his alfrighted mgnsarvant tho
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,
and warriors of fire with brandished
swords of fire, and tho brillianeo Of that
morning sunrise was eelipsed by the gal.
Looping splendors of the celestial cayalcade.
Sand the Lord opened the eyes Of the
young man, and he saw, and, behold, tho
mountain was full of horses and chariots
Of fire round about Elisha, / speak Of
the upper forces of the text that are to
lighb on our side rs nation. II all the
low levels arc filed with arned 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.
The Divine Equipage.
You will notice that the divine equipage
Is always represented as q chariot of fire.
Ezekiel and Isaiah and John, when they
come to describe the divine equipage, al
ways represent it as a wheeled, "a harness.
ed, an upholstered con1agration. 1t is not
chariot like kings and conquerors Of
earth mount, but an organized and com
pressed fire. That means purify, justipe
chastisemeut, deliYerance through burning
escapes. Chariot of rescue? Yes, but
chariot of fire All our national olsen
thpalmepts have been through searching
agonies and red disasters. Through trih
ulation the individual rises, Through
tribulation nations rise, Chariots of res
cue, but chariots Of fire. But how do l
know that this divine equipage Is on the
side Of our institutions? l know it by the
history Of the last 1l9 years. The Ameri-
can Revolution started from the pen Of
John Hancock IN Independence hall, in
1776. The colonies, without ships, with
out ammunition, without guns, without
trained warriors, without money, without
On the other side, tine mightiest !
nation of the earth, the largest armies, the !
gFandest payias and the most distinguish |
cd commanders and resources inexhausti- |
BILE, and nearly all nations ready to back |
them up in tho fight. Nothing as against /
immensity.
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, and through the winters which sur /
passed ali predecessors in depth Of SNOW |
and horrors Of oongealhent, Elisha sur |
rounded by the whole Syrian army did not /
seem to be worse of than did the 10 colo /
MES encompassod and overshadowed by |
foreign assault. What decided the contest
in our favor? The upper forces, the upper
armies. Tho Green and White mountains
Of New England the highlands along the
Hudson, the mountains OF Virginia, all
the Appalachian ranges were full Of re-en-
which the young man Wash
ington saw by faith, and his men endured
the frozen feet, and the gangrened wounds,
and the exhausting hunger, and tho long
march, because "the Lord opened the eyes
Of the young man, and he saw, and, be-
hold, tha mountain was full Of horses
and chariots OF ire round sbout Elisha.
Washington himself was a miracle. What
Joshua was in sapred history the first
American president was in secular history
A thousand other men excelled him in
different things, but he excelod them all
In roundness and completeness of charac-
ter Tho world never saw his like, and
never viii sec his like again, boz
cause there probably never will be another
such exigency. He was let down a divine
lnterposition. He was from God direct.
Code Chariot to tho Rescus,
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 yer opened
many at the north and nc the south pro
nounced 1t national suicide, II was not
against cowardice; It was not
wealth against poverty; it was not large
states against small states, It was hero
ism against horoism; it was the resources
If many generations against the resources
IF genefationsi 1t was the prayer Of the
north against the prayer Of the southi it
vas one half Of the nation in armed wrath
Meeting the other half Of the nation IN
armed Indignation. What could come but
At the opening of the war the com
mandcr in chief Of the United States forces
gas o man who had been great in battle,
lut old age had come, with many inflrmi-
les, and he had right 20 quiofude. lie
,ould not mount a horse, and 10 rode on
The battlefield in u carriage, asking the
lriypr not to Jolt 1t too much. During
iho most Of the four years Of tho contest
IN the southern side was a man in midlife
Tho had in his veins tho bleed OF many
generations of warriors. himself enc Of tho
leroes Of ChurubGsco and Cerro Gordo,
fff Ia & 1. !