The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-05-27
@tscellmenns.
THE SICK C~HIEFTAIN.

nounced that on next Sunday he would
preach a sermon on national affairs, and
say who ought to be President of this
nation. The opening hymn commenced
"oh, could l speak the matchless worth,
Oh, could l sound the glOries forth"
After which he commenced the fol-
lowing sermon:
sU~BJECT-"THE SICK C%HIEFTAIN."
Text: II Kings 81. "A mighty man
in valor, but he was a leper."
Here we have a warrior sick, not with
pleurisies or rheumatisms or consump'
tions, but with a disease worse than all
these put together. A red mark has
come out on his forhead, precursor of
complete Disagreement and dissolution,
I have something awful to tell you,
Gen. Naaman, commander.iu'chief of
the Asyrian forces, has the leprosy 1t
is on his hands, his feet, his face, on his
entire person. Get out of the way Of
the pestilenCel The commander in
chief of all the Asyrian forces! And
yet he would be glad to exchange Condi'
tions with the boy at his stirrup, or the
hostler that blankets his charger. The
news goes like wild-6re through the
realm, and the people are sympathetic
and they cry out us it possible that
our great hero, who shot Ahab, and
around whom we came with such vocif'
Grafton when he returned from viCtori'
GUS battle ?" Yes. Everybody has some.
thing he wishes he had not Pope had
a crooked back, Byron a club foot, John
Milton was blind. The reason of this is
that God does not want this world to be
too bright, otherwise we would always
want to stay and eat these fruits, and lie
on these lounges, and enjoy this pleas
ant society. We are only in the vesti-
bule of a grand temple, and God does
not want US to stay on the doorstep, he
therefore sends arches, and ~annoyanCes,
and bereavements to push us on, to push
us toward ripper fruits and brighter soCi.
ETY.. God is only whipping us ahead, If
he sting your foot with govt, your brain
with neuralgia, your tongue with great
thirst, it is because he is preparing to
substitute a better body than you ever
dreamed of, when the mortal shall put
on immortality. 1t is to push you up to-
ward something grander that God sends
upon you as he did upon Gen. Naaman,
something you do not want. Seated in
his Assyrian n4ansion-the corridors
crowded with admiring visitors who had
Just wanted to see him once, music and
birds and b%anquetting f. lingall the nan
sion. Naaman would have forgot there
was anything better, and would have
been glad to stay there ten thousand
years. But, oh how the shields dim,
and how the visitors fly the hall, and
how the music drops dead from the
strings, the gates Of the mansion slam
shut with sepulchral bang as You hear
the closing words "He was a leper ~
There was one person more sympa.
thetic with Naaman than any other per.
son. His wife walks the floor, ~wringing
her hands and trying to think what she
can do to relieve her husbands suffer.
ings. All remedies have failed. The
Surgeon General and doctors of the Roy.
al staff hold a C unci'j they shake their
heads, as much as to say, mo cure"
Probably most of the employees of the
establishment has dropped their work,
and were thinking Of looking for some
other situation. What will become of
Nlaman's wife. In her despair she goes
to a little Hebrew captive, a %servant'girl
in her house to whom she tells the at ry.
One of the grandest women in all Assy-
ria in council with a waiting maid over
the declining health of the mighty Cen
eral! 81 know something" said the lit
tie captive, as she bounds to her 5are
feet. SIN the land from which l was
stolen there is a certain prophet named
E isha, who can cure almost anything
l should not wonder if he could cure my
master. Send for him right away"
"Oh, hushn you say. IF the best med.
iCal talent in all the land can not cure
that leper, there is no use in your listen.
ing to a servant girl" But do not sCof
or sneer, The finger of that little cap.
tive girl is pointing in the right direC.
ton. She might have said: This is a
judgment on you for stealing me from
-o, ,nhtVva lad nilnit khau annknh mn
off in the night, breaking my parents
hearts, and many a time | have cried all
night because l was 80 homesiCk." Then
flushing up with childish indignation,
she might have said: Good for them; l
am glad Naaman's got the leprosy; l wish
all the Assyrisns had it." No. Forget
ting her own personal sorrows, she sym.
pathiz9d with the sutferings Of her mas.
ter, and commended him to the famous
prophet.
And how often it is that the finger of
childhood has pointed grown persons in
the right direction, Oh, Christian soul,
how long ia it since you got rid Of the
leprosy Of SIM You say: Let me see.
II must be FIVE years now" Who was it
pointed you to the Divine Physician?
"0h," you say, lit was my little Annie
or Fred. that Clsmbered up on my knees
and looked up in my face, and asked me
why l didn't become a Christian, and all
the time %stroking my neck 80 I couldn't
get angry; insisted on knowing why l
didn't have family prayers" There are
grandparents here who have been bro't
to Christ by their little grandchildren.
There are hundreds of mothers here
who had their attention first called to
Jesus by their little children. How did
you get rid of the leprosy Of sin? How
did you find your way to the Divine
PhysiCian2 oh" you say, my child,
my dying child, with wan and wasted
finger, pointed that way. l never shall
forget that scene. / don't think l ever
should have got rid of my leprosy but for
my dying child" Go into the Sabbath
school, and you will see hundreds Of