The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-05-27

BOWS the IOurJu Lln6i anu Nuo uniA 49,
had fallen out is restored in thick locks
all over the brow. He bows the NTH
time. and the hoarseness has gone out OF
his throat. lie bows the sixth time, ana
all the soreness and anguish have gone
out of his limbs. Why, | am almost
well, but l will make a complete cure"
he SAYS, and he bows the seventh time
into the food and comes up, and not 30
much as a tester or a scale as big as a piu
head is to be seen ON him He steps
out on the bank and says, rs 1t posi-
ble?" The ~attendaRts look and say, Is
it DO sibleP" And as, with the health OF
an athlete, he bounds back into the char
lot and drives on; there goes up from his
attendants a wild "Huzzi!' OF course
they @ back to pay and thank the mar
Of God for his counsel 80 iraught wllh
wisdom. When they left he prophets
house they were mad; they have come
back glad. People always think better
of a minister after they are converted
than before conversion. Now we are an
intolerable nuisance because we tell
them to do things that go against the
grain; but some of US have a great many
letters from those who tell US they were
once angry at what we preached, out al,
terward gladly received the Gospel az
hands They once called us tanat'
les or terrorists, now they call us friends
Wonder is mani speak a literaI fact
who said he never would come into The
church again. He said that severa, years
ago. He said. MY family shall never
come mere again il such doctrines as
that are preached" He is a CHRISTIAN
his wife a Christian, all his children
Christians, and shall dwell with them
in the the house of the Lord forever,
Now, my hearers, you notice this zen.
Naaman did two things in order to get
well. First, he got out of his chariot
He might have stayed there with his
sore feet, seated on that embroider d
cushion, until his last gasp. He would
never have got any relief. And you
have got to get down out Of the chariot
of YOUR pride if you ever become a
Christian. You cannot drive up to the
cross with your coach and four, You
seem to think the Lord will be compll-
mented by your coming. On, no. you
poor, miserable, scaly, leprous sinner,get
down out of that. We all come in the
same naughty way. We expect to rlde
into the kingdom of God. Never, until
we get down on our KEGS will we q
pardon. Get down out of your PRIDE;
out of your self righteousness; out OF your
hypocritism. We have all got to do 3d.
That is the Journey we have got to make
on our knees. 1t is our internal pride
that keeps us from getting rid OF the Iep,
rosy of sin. Dear Lord, what have we
to be proud of? Bring US down at my
feet, weeping, praying, penitent, oeIleV'
ing s~upplianta.
But he had not only to get down out
of his chariot. he had to wash. "Oh.
| am very careful with my additions.
Every day l plunge into a bright and
beautiful bath" you say. An, my hear
err, there is a food brighter than Croton
or Ridgewood. 1t is the food that breaks
from the granite of the eternal hills; the
| food of pardon, and peace, and life and
| heaven. That food started in the tears
of Christ aud the sweat Of Gethsemane,
and rolled on, accommodating food, until
all earth and heaven could battle in 1t.
Zachariah called it "the fountain open
for sin and uncleanness." William Cow
per called it "the fountain filled with
blood" Your fathers and mothers all
washed their sins and sorrows away IN
that fountain. Oh, my hearers, do you
not to day feel like wading into 1t? 20
down into it, deeper, deeper, deeper, and
plunge once, twice, thrice, four, five, six
seven times. 1t will take as much as
that to cure your soul, Oh, wash, wash
and be clean.
suppose that was a great time at Da'
mascus when Gen Naaman got back.
The characters did not have to drive g.
slowly any more, lest they jolt the in
valid: but, as the horses dashed through
the streets of Damascus, | think the
people rushed out to hail back their
chieftain. Naaman's wife hardly reCog-
nized Ter husband; he was so wonder
fully changed she had to look at him two
or three times before she made out that
it was ner restored husband. And the
little captive maid, she rushed out, clap
ping her hands and shouting: Did he
cure you? Did he cure you?" Then
music woke up the palace, and the doors
and windows were thrown open, so that
the multitude outside could join in the
mirth, and the streets of Damascus that
night echoed with the news; "Naaman's
curedn Buta gladden. time than that it
would bell Brooklyn, or wherever this
sermon shall be read, if the soul should
get cured of it's leprosy. The swiftest
white horses hitched to the Kings char
lot would rush The news into the eter-
nal city. Our loved ines before the
throne would welcome the glad tidings.
Your children on earth, with more emo
ton than the little Hebrew captive,
would notice the change in your looks
and in your manner, and would put their
arms around your neck, and say: Moth
er, l guess you have become a Christian.
Father, l think you have got rid of the
leprosy." o, Lord God of Elisha, have
mercy or usI