Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-12-23

= went
through the gates Of Damascus and out on the
long way, the hills Of Naphtali and Ephraim
look down on the procession, and the retinue
goes right past the battle fields where Naaman
In the days OF his health, used TO rally his
troops for fearful onset; and then the process
sion stops and reciines while In the groves
oi olives and olesnder, and General Naaman
30 sick-and so very, very sick
How the countrymen gaped as the process
sion passed They had seen Naaman 20
past like whirlwind In days gone BY, aud
had stood aghast at the clank Of his war
equipments; but now they comiserate him.
They say, "Poor man, be win never get home
alive Poor man !" General Naaman wakes up
from restless sleep In the chariot, and he
says to the cbarloteer: SLOW long before we
ioteer says to waysider; "How far is 1t to
Elisha's housein lie says: 1.-TWO miles"
Two miles" Then they whip up the lather-
ed and fagged-out horses. The whole process
sion brlghtens, up at the prospect Of a speedy
arrival. They drive up to the door Of the
prophet The cbarioteers shout: "Whoa ~ to
the horses, and the trampng hoofs and grind
Ing wheels cease shaking the earth
. come out, Elisha, come out, you have
company; the grandest company that ever
came to your house has come TO 1t now No
stir inside Elisha's house. The fact was the
Lord had informed Elisha that the, sick cap
tain was coming and just how to treat him.
Indeed when you are sick and the Lord wants
you to get well, He always tells the doctor
how to treat you; and the reason we have so
many bungiing doctors Is because they depend
upon their own strength and instructions and
notion the Lord God, ard that always makes
malpractice. Come out, Elisha, and attend
to your business, General Naaman and his
retipue waited, and waited, and waited The
fact was Naaman had two dlseases--pnde and
leprpsy; the one was as hard to get rid of as
the other. Elisha sits quietly in his house
aud does not go out After while, when he
thinks he has humbled this proud man he
says to a servant: go out and tell General
Naainan to battle seven times In the River
Jordan, out y9nder five miles, and he viii get
.
The message comes out 'sWhatp says the
commander -in-chief of the Syrian forces, his
eye kindiing with an animation which 1t had
not shown for, weeks, and his swollen foot
stamping on the bottom Of the chariot, regard
less Of pain: "Whatl Isn't he coming out to
see met Why, thought certainly he would
come and utter some caballstic words over me
or make some enigmatical passes over my
wounds. Why, don't think he knows who'll
am Isn't be coming outi Why, when the
out and cried: is it well with theei Is it
well with thy husbandi Is ii well with the
childP And will he treat a poor unknown
woman like that, and let me, a titled person.
age, sit here In my chariot and wait aud waltz
won't endure it any longer Charioteer,
drive on Wash in the Jordan Hal hal The
8 limy Jordan-the muddy Jordon-the
monotonous Jordan. wouldn't be seen wash
ing in such river as that Why, we watered
our horses In better river than that on our
way here The beautiful RIVER the Jasper
paved river of Pharpar. Besides that we have
In our country another Damascene river
ALBANIA, with folllaged bank and torrent ever
swift and ever clear, under the Pickering
shadows of sycamore and oleander. Are not
ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, bet
ter than all the waters of lsrael!n
| suppose Naaman felt very much as we.
would feel II, by way of medical prescription,
some one should tell us to 90 and wash In the
Danube or the Rhine. We would answer:
care not the Connecticut or the Hudson Just
as goodr Or, as an Englishman would feel
II he were told, by way OF medical prescrip-
tion, he must 20 and wash in the Mississippi
or st. Lawrence lie would cry out: Are
not the Thames and the Shannon just as welis
The fact was that naughty Naaman needed
to learn what every Englishman and every
American needs TO learn-that when God tells
you % do thing, you might 90 out and do
1t, whether you understand the reason or not
Take the prescription, whether you like it or
not. One thing is certain: Unless naughty
Naaman does as Elisha commands him, he win
die of his awful sickness. And unless you do
as Christ commands you, you will be seized
upon by an everlasting wasting away. Obey
and live-dsobey and die. Thrilling, over,
arching, under-girding, stupendous alter-
nativel
Well, General Naaman could not stand the
test The charioteer gives a jerk to the right
line until the bit snaps in the horses mouth,
and the whirr of the wheels and the flying OF
the dust show the Indignation of the great
commander. HE turned and went away in
rage" SO people now often get mad at
religion. They, vituperate against ministers,
against churches, against Christian people.
One would think from their irate behavior
that God had been studying how to annoy and
exasperate and demoish them What has He
been doingi Only trying to cure their DEATH
dealing leprosy. That is all. Yet they whip
up their horses, they dig in the spurs and
they 20 away in a rage.
So, after all, 1t seems that this health excur-
sion Of General Naaman is to be dead fail
ure. That little Hebrew captive might as well
have not told him of the prophet, and this
long journey might as well not have been
taken. Poor, SICK dying Naamanl are you 60
ing away in high dudgeon and worse than
when you camel As his chariot halts a mo-
ment, his servants Chamber up in it and coax
him to do as Elisha said They say: "It's easy.
If the prophet had told you to walk for a mile
on sharp spikes in order to get rid of this aw-
full disease you would have done 1t. 1t is easy.
Come, my lord, just get down and wash in the
jordon. You take a bath every day, anyhow,
and in this climate ii is so hot that it will do
you good. Do it on our account, and for the
sake OF the army you command, and for the
m, lord, just try this Jordanic bath" "Well,"
he saws, ito please you | will do as you say"
The retinue drive to the brink of the Jordon.
The horses paw and neigh to get into the
stream themselves and cool their hot TANKS.
General Naaman, assisted by his attendants,
gets down out OF the chariot and painfully
comes to the brink Of the river, and steps In
until the water comes to the ankle, and goes
on deeper until the water comes to the girdle,
and now standing so far down in the stream,
just little inclination of the head will
thoroughly immense him. He bows once into
the flood, and comes up and shakes the water
out of nostrils and eyes; and his attendants
look at him, and say: "Why, General, how
much better you do look" And he bows a
second time into the food and comes up, and
the wild stare Is gone out of his eye. He
bows the third time into the flood and comes
up, and the shnVelled flesh has got smooth
aga.n. He bows the fourth time into the
flood and comes up, and the hair that had
fallen out is restored in thick locks again all
over the brow. He bows the fifth time into
the food aud comes up,and the hoarseness has
gone out of his throat. He bows the sixth
time and comes up, and all the soreness and
anguish have gone out of the limbs. "Why,"
lie says, 81 am almost well, but l will make
complete cure, F" and he bows the seventh time
into the food and he comes up, and not so
much as tester, or SCALE or an eruption as
big as the head Of a pin, is TO be seen on him.
He steps out on the bank and says: rs 1t
possiblen And the attendants look and say:
Els 1t possiblem And as, with the health OF
an athlete, he bounds back into the chariot
and drives on there goes up from all the at
tendants a wild "Huzzal huzza' Of course
they go back to pay and thank the man OF
God for his counsel so fraught with wisdom.
When they left the prophets house, they went
off mad; have come back glad.
People always think better OF minister
after they are converted than they do 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
ms rahat once they were angry at what We
preached, but afterwards gladly received the
gospel at our hands They once called us
fanatics or terrorsts or enemies; now they
call us friends. Yonder is mani speak a
literal fact-wbo said that he would never
come into the church again. He SAID that
two years ago. He said: "My family shall
never come here again IL such doctrines as
that are preached.n But he came again, and
his family came again. He Is a Christian, his
wife Christian, all his children Christians,
the whole household Christians, and l shall
dwell with them In the house Of the Lord
forever Our undying coadjutors are those
who once heard the Gospel and went away In
q rage.
Now, my hearers, you notice that this
General Naaman did two things In order to
get we'll The first was--he got out of bis
chariot He might have stayed there with his