Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1895 — TALMAGES SERMON. [ARTICLE]

TALMAGES SERMON.

The Great Preacher’s Greeting to the New Copgrgsa. ■ I Drawn from the Prophet Elisha’s f Chariots of 1 ire—The Glories of the American Republic ' ~ VlvUHj Set Forth. 1 ■ Kev. T DeWitt Talmage, on the eye ? ©f the assembling of the new congress, delivered a sermon appropriate to the occasion to his Abashing ton congregation, which included many of the nation’s legislators. —He took for his | teXt:.. ' _ Anff the iLord opened tho eves of the young nan: ami he saw, ami. iu-hoki. tin* mmmtaiii i ■was full of horses and chariots of "fire around abOfut Elisha.—ll. KiuKS.<*vt. r l7. T The American congress is assembling. Arriving or already arrived (. are the representatives of all sections of tit is beloved land. Let ns welcome them with prayers and benedictions. A nobler group of men never entered - 'Washington than-tho’&e wild will to morrow take their places- in the senate chamber and the house of Fepre- i sentatives. Whether they come alone, j or leave thejr families at the Irrrrmr- ■ stead far away, may the* blessing of the Eternal God be upon ,j,hein! 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 mnch in the past that 1 propose to show you and show them so far as I may now reach their ear, or to-morrow their eye through their printing'- press, that God will be TEi.th.them._tb help them asjn tha-.tcxt__ He filled the mountains witli help for Elisha. As it cost England many regiments end twenty million dollars u yeai’ to keep safely a trbubfesoipe captive at St. Helena, so the king of Syria sends ■ out a whole army to. capture—ooe-1 minister of religion—perhaps fifty ' thousand men—to take Elisha. Dut-‘ ing _ the. night the army ofi Syrians’ eame 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 j must die! -We- must die!” Ilut' Elisha was not scared a bit, for he looked up and feaw the mountains all around full of supernatural.• forces, and he knew that if there were fifty thousand Syrians against him there were 15 one hundred thoUsmrd \ angels for him; and in answer to the*! prophet’s prayer in behalf of his affrighted 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 stvords of fire, and the brilliance of that morning sunrise was eclipsed by the galloping splendors of the celestial cavalcade. “And the Lordopened the e\’es of the young man; and he saw; and. behold, the mountain 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 a nation.' If all the lofv levels are filled with armed threats, I haye 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 a chariot of fire. Ezekial and Isaiah and John, when they come to describe the Divine equipage always represent it as a wheeled, a an upholstered conflagration. It is hot a chariot like kings and conquerors "of earth mount, but an organized and compressed fire. That means purity, justice, chastisement, deliverance through burning escapes. Chariot Of rescue? yes;but a chariot of fire. All our national disepthralments have been through scorching agonies and red disasters. Through tribulation the individual rises. Through tribulation nations rise. Chariots of rescue, but chariots of fire. But how do I know that this Divine equipage is on the side of onr institutions? I know it by the history of the last one hundred and nineteen years. /The American revolution started from the pen of John Hancock in Independence hall in 177 ft. 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 largest armies, the grandest havies, and the most distinguished commanders, and resources inexhaustible, and nearly all the nations ready to back them up in the fight. Nothing, as against immensity. The cause of the American colonies, which started at zero, dropped still lower through the quarreling of generals, -and through the -jealousiesat.small successes,, and through the, winters which surpassed, all predecessors in depth of snow and horrors of congealment Elisha surrounded by the whole Syrian army did not seem 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 Hudson* the mountains of /’’Virginia, all the Appalachian ranges were full of re-enforcements' which the yonng man Washington saw by faith; and 1 1 V meffeminted the frozen feet, and the wonnds, and the exhausting hunger, and the' long march, tyrt aiise “the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he Saw: and, behold, the juquntains were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” Washington himseli was a miracle. What Joshua was in sahistory, the first American pre-d----derit was in secular hijstory. A thou-, •and other memexcelled him in different things, but he excelled theih all jn roughness and completeness of character. The world never saw his like, anil probably never will see his like again, because (here probably never S ■

will be another —such exigency. He tvas Set down a Divine Interposition. I do not know how many can read the history of those times- with'>\i t akK [mitting the contest was deckled hv the I upper forces- Then* in 1861, when our civil war opened, many north and at the south pronounced it national suicide. It was not courage against cowardice, it was not wealth against poverty, it was not large states against small states. It was heroeism against * 1 heroisin, it was the-re-' sources of many generations against the resources of generations, it was the prayer of the north against the prayer of the south, it was one-lialf of 1 the hation in armed wrath, meeting the other half of the nation in armed , ; lpiiignation. What could corn#.' but extermination? 1 .... At the oneningoL-the war the com-mander-in-ehief of the United States forces was a man who had been grqa.t j in battle, but“old“ age had come, with many infirmities, and he had a right to .quietude. He could not mount I a . horse.,.—.and—he— r-pde-—on—the-j battle-field in a carriage, asking ! the driver not to jolt it too ; i much. During the most of - the four! years of tini contest,- on —the south- ' I ern side, was a 1 man in midlife, who had in his veins the blood of . many generations of warriors, himself i one of the heroes of Cherubuseo and : 'V" , Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Chapulte-" pec. As the years passed on and the I scroll of carnage unrolled there came out from both sides a heroism, and a strength, and a determination' that the world had • never seen marshaled. And Avhat bu.J, extermination could come when Philip Sheridan and StOnejyall 'Jackson met. and Nathaniel Lyon and Sydney Johntson rode in from north and southl and (Irant and Lee, the two thunderbolts of battle, clashed! Yet we are a nation, and yet we are at peace.' Earthly snnin-gp did not excite the conflict. The upper forces of the 1 text. , They tell us there was a brittle ■ fought above the clouds rm Look out . mountain; hut there was. something , higher than that. Again, the horses and chariots of. God came to the rescue of the nation '.in 1876, at the- 'close of a presidential , election-famous for ferocity.. A darker cloud vet .settled down upon this nation. The result of the . election was in dispute, and revolution, not be- j j tween two or three sections, bu.t revo- | lution in evpry town and village and ; City of the’ United States seamed iinminent. The prospect was that New York, would throttle New 1 York, and New Orleans would 4 j grip .New Orleans, and Boston, Boston, rind- Savannah, Bava nnah, and Washington, 'Washington. Some said Mr. Tilden was elected; .others said Mr. Haves was elected; and how near we came to universal massacre soAe.of us guessed; but God only I ascribe our escape not to the honesty ami righteousnessjof infuriated politicians, but 1 ascribe it to the upper forces of the text. Chariots of mercy-' rolled, in, and, though the Wheels were not heard, and the. flash was note seen, yet all through tlie the north and the south and the- east and the West, though the hoofs did not clatter, tin) ■ cavalry of God galloped by. 1 tell you God is the friend of this nation. * Intiie awful excitement at the massacre of Lincoln, when there was a prospect that greater slnugliter would si upon the nation-, God hushed tintempest. In the awful excitement at the time of Garfield’s assassination God put His foot on the„ neck of the cyclone. To prove God is on the side of this nation, I argue from the last eight or nine great national harvests, and from the national health of the last quarter of a century, epidemics very exceptional, and ffiom the great revivals of religion and from the spreading of the Church of God, and from the continent blossoming with asylums and. reformatory institutions, and from an Edenization which promi ses that this, whole land is to be a paradise. where God shall walk. 1 am encouraged' more than I can tell you as I see the regiments wheeling down the sky, and my jeremiads turn into doxologies, aud .that which was the. Good Friday of the nation’s crucifixion becomes the Easter morn | of its resurrection. Of course, God ! works through human instrumen-! talities, and this national betterment is.tocome among other things, through a scrutinized ballot-box Bv the law : :of registration it is almost impossible now to have ~ illegal voting. There was a time—you and I remeiu- | her it very well--when droves of vagabonds wandered up aud down on election day, and from poll to poll, and voted here, and voted there, and voted' everywhere, and there was no challenge; or, if there were, it 'amounted-i to nothing, because nothing- could so -suddenly—he-—proved-—upmp—t-hp~ vagabonds. - Now, ill ..every weil"orgnTiTzed neighborltodd, every voter is watched with severest scrutiny. If I am in a region where I am alhnveiKa j vote, I must tell the registrar my narte. and how old I am, and how long I have | resided in the state, and how long 1 have resided,in the lvarj or towqslfip, i and if I misrepresent, fifty witnesseswill rise and shut me out from the bal-lot-box. Is not that a great advance? And then notice the law that prohibits a man voting if lie ha-, bet ,onthe electloq. A step further needs to be taken, and that man forbidden a vote who has < ffered or takeii a bribe, whether it tie in the shape of a free drink, or CttS[h paid-down,'.The suspicious cases, ohLige I to put the r hand orK,the..llttileahil swear their i in if they'vple at ali. S->, through fT--sacred. cl.estJLpf our nation's suffrage, "rehem otiou' will come. “W Goi will save this nation through aq aroused moral sentiment mi-nr-cr Veen so uiiichi d wAi-s >.i) ..'.|n«>rals j.aud - immnrals. M mi. w. i r >r not t hev ac-k iowlede’e wha< ha ve Ink what srign. , ■ men who i avc had the r : piitdic treasury the ip >i t ine, stealing all they yf>al l i-v < hands on, discoursing eloqm , • ‘

I ’ flishonesty in public servants; and • men with two or —throe families •of | their own preaching eloquently about th@ beauties of tire seventh cominandthis nation, as never-Ix-fore, and takes a part in our political contests. The question of national sobriety is going tp be, respectfully and deferentially heard at the bar of every legislature, and every house of representatives, and ■■ vcry JlTate senale; and an omnipotent voice will,ring down the sky and across this land and hack again-saying to these rising tides of drunkenness which threaten to whelm home and church and SStion: ~‘‘Xh»s far.-nhail-.1h.0n coine, Imt nofa-r-■ , _thery and here-sball xby-proud waves_ “be stayed.” . I have not in. my mind a ' of dishearten men! as large as the shadow of,a housefly’s wing, 'My faith is in the upper forces, the- upper krmies of the text. Upd is not deadty The chariots are not unwheeled. ; I f you would only pray'more, and wash your eyes iin the coorr'“brigh t watgr from ! the well of Christian rC'orm, it wonld--he said of you, f th is one of 'the t text: "The Lor i opened tltCmyes <>f ' the yonngman, and he saw; and die 7 hold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Eli- | sha.” When the army of Antigonus went * into battle, his soldiers were very | much discouraged, and they rushed | up to the general, and said to him: “Don’t you see we have a few forces, | and they have so many 'more?” and the soldiers were affrighted at the smallness of their number and the greatness of the enemy. Anti- . gondis, their, commander, s-trig-h-te-acd himself up, and said, with indignation and vehemence: “How many do you reckon me to be?” And when we see the vast armies arrayed against the cause of sobriety, it may soiigK times be very discouraging, but-Task you in - making up ynui- estfiternr ofthe forces of righteous ness —I. .'ask you how many do you* reckon the Lord pfifod Almighty to be? lie, is our commander. The . Lord of Hosts Ms 11 is name. I have authority for j saying that the chariots gi God are j twenty thousand, and the mountains are tell of them. , Have you a’u'v doubt about the need* of the I "Christian religion to purify an 1 msike decent polities? At every yearly or ..quadrennial eU*cji<tn | we have in this counts-y greaJL 'lnaniifactorios—manufactories of lies; and they are run day and night, and they turn out half a dozen a day, all f-quipped and ready for full sailing! Large lies aiu.U* small _lfes. Lies private’ and lies public • Mfifa iie-r prurient. Lies cut bias, and liescwt diagonal. Long-limbed lies, and lies with double-back action. Lies complimentary and lies defamatory. . Lies that some people believe, and iies that all the peopled believe, and lies that nobody believes. Lies with humps like camels and scales like crocodiles, and necks as long his stoiks, and feet as swift as antelope's, and stings litre adders. Lies raw and scalloped and panned -arid, stewed. Crawling lies, and jumping lies, and Soaring lies. Lies with attachment screws and millers arid -braiders and ready-wound hobbies. Lies by Christian people! who never lie except during elections, and lies by pe<>phe who al ways lie, but beat them_selves i.n a presidential campaign. L confess, I am ashamed do have a foreigner .visit this country in such times. I should think he would - stand dazed, his band on Iris- cpoeketltoqk, and dare not go out nights. What will the hundreds of thousands of foreigners; who comeAmrcfto live .us? What a disgust they must have-for tile land of their adoption! The only good thing nbTVut it is, many of .them can not understand the English language. But I suppose German, and Italian, and Swedish, and French papers translate it all, and peddle out the infernal stuff to the subscribers; Do you say that this is impracticable? No. The time is coming just a* certainly as there is a God, and that this is His‘Book, and that lie has.strength and the honesty to fulfill His promise. One of the ancient omperors used to pride himself •ten performing | that which his counselors said | was impossible, and I / have to | tell you to-day that' mpn’s impossi- | bilities are Gorf%easies. '“Hath-Blfsaid. ; and shall He not do it? Hath He.commanded, and will He not hritrg it., to pass?” The Christian religion is com- ; ing to take possession yf every balb>tbox, of every school house, ' Sf every : home, of every valley, of every, limun- • tain, of every acre (if onr national domain. This nation? notwithstanding, all the evil influences that are trying to destroy it, is going to live. By the mightiest of all agencies, the I potency of prayer. 1 beg you national welfare. Some t ime ago there 'were four mjjhop-bi.v him Ired- thorp sand letters in tin; dead-letter post office in tills city--letters- that Tost I their way—but not one prayer ever : directed ..to the heart, o{ Go t mscarried. ; The way i , all clear for Lie of your supplications heaven--1 ward in behalf of'this nation. Before the |X)stal"cbmihunication Was so easy, and long ago. on, a rock nqe'junfiTrgd feet h gh, on H | lie r .noe-'-t 'ot Ehglii.n i, : th ov was a barrel fastened to a posty and in great.-letters on the side df'r.ie , rock, so it could bo-set?n far out at -c:i, were the words “PysKofliee;” vfhcii ships ea me by a boat Out om t> take- an : frteh ‘letters: ArrnjzTaT -.wuvTL - Were those deposi tsof a ff-cl hm in' Sj rißiirivl that no lodt was ftvi-r put. nunfit that, in re), ajthniigii it.c-imtaio.- \ messa .-s ;AnA uierica. aml .Europe, an I A r-i; »«• HSJrfrnranrt ail tbfi i- an r- 7 - t e s-a. Many a*stut'm f"--e-l i ..r. ■h' 'tnc -icli, :.ot uies-iie -of kin - b. t iiat l*sK'k, -H il l fw ; M \*'ll ho:-.. ~ i ln-ar I :>ni-> ■ oevya/r. mij , ' v nl i: ‘ I loj .■■'hi-J gh Vs - ti’ r<> in' ity wpre in Ti’Vi . 1,.- * -<* f■ r - a h ..••*> —priiveo w-iijii; in:: - .--v.iagM tmtimg . --j; , c*‘te. -r ttfff bv asi- - . -., j i J - y«ry eiytst, "biD by l lie H c A a—. ; . *