The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-12-17

is gone out of his eyes. He bows the
third time into the food and comes
up, and the shriveled flesh has got
smooth again. 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 flood and 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" he says,
~ am almost well, but / will make COM
plete cure,' and he bows the seventh time
into the flood and comes up, and not so
much as a tester, or scale, or eruption as
big as the head Of pin is to be seen on
him. He steps out on the bank and says:
" Is it possibleP' And the attendants look
and say: 4" Is it possibIel" And as, with
the health of an athlete, he bounds back
into the chariot and drives on, there goes
up from all his attendants wild &c Huzzal
huzzaV' 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 of mad;
they have come back glad.
People always think better of a minister
after they have been converted than they
do before conversion. Now we are to them
an intOlerable nuisance because we tell
them to do things that go against the grain;
but some of US have great many letters
from those who tell us that once they were
angry at what we preached, but afterward
gladly received the Gospel at our hands.
They once called US fanatics or torrorists
or enemies; now they call US friends. Yon-
der is mani speak u literal fGct-who
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 if such doctrines as those are
Oh
family came again. He is q Christian, his
wife q Christian, all his children Chris
tians, the whole household Christian, 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 a 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 his
chariot. He might have staid there with
his swollen feet on the stuffed ottoman,
seated on that embroidered cushion until
his last gasp, he would never have got any
relief. He had to getdown out Of his chariot.
And you have got to get down out Of the
chariot OF your pride if you ever become
Christian. You can not drive up to the
cross with a coach and four and be saved
among all the spangles. You seem to think
that the Lord is going to be complimented
by your coming. Oh, no; you poor, misera-
bic, scalY, leprous sinner, get down out Of
that We all come in the same haughtyway.
We expect to ride into the Kingdom
of God. Never until we get down
on our knees will we find mercy. Thor
Lord has unhorsed US, uncharioted US. Get
down out of your pride. Get down out OF
your self-righteousness and your hyper
criticism. We have all got to do that. That
is the journey we have got to make on our
knees. 1t is our Internal pride that keeps
Dear Lord, what have we to be proud oft
Proud of our scalesl Proud of cur un-
cleanness2 Proud Of this killing infec-
tionl Bring us down at Thy feet weeping,
praying, penitent, believing supplants
For sinners, Lord, Thou camest TO bleed,
And I'm a sinner, vile indeed;
Lord, believe, Thy grace is FREQ,
Oh, magnify that grace in mel
But he had not only to get down out Of
his chariot; he had to wash. "Oh," you
say, Il am very careful of my ablutions.
Every day plunge into a bright and beau
tiful bath" All, my hearers, there is
flood brighter than any other 1t is the
food that breaks from the granite Of cter-
nal hills 1t is the food of pardon, and
peace, and life, and Heaven. That food
started in the tears Of Christ and the sweat
of Gethsemane, and rolled on, an accumu-
lating flood, until all earth and Heaven
could bathe in it. Zachariah called il ''the
FOUNTAIN open IOE SIN ana unGlCHuntSS.f ~
William Cowper called it "the fountain
filed with blood" Your fathers and moth
ers washed all their sins and sorrows away
in that fountain. Oh, my hearers, do you
not to-day feel like wading into it, Wade
down now into this glorious food deeper,
deeper, deeper. Plunge once twice, thrice,
four times, five times, six times, seven
times. IT win take as much as that to cure
your soul Oh, wash, wash wash, and be
clean
/ suppose that was a great time at Da-
mascus when General Naaman got back.
The charioteers did not have TO drive slow
ly any longer lest they jolt the invalid;
but as tho horses dashed through the
streets Of Damascus / think the people
rushed out 10 hail back their chioftain.
Naaman's wife hardly recognized her hus-
band; he was so wonderfully changed she
had 20 look at him two or three times be-
fore she made out that it was her restored
husband And the little captive maid, sho
rushed out, clappinR her hands and shout
ing: "Did he cure youl Did he cure you2"
Then music woke up the palace, and the
tapestry Of the windows was drawn away,
that the multitude outside might mingle
with the princely mirth inside, and the feet
went up and down in the dance, and all tho
streets of Damascus that night echoed and
re-cchOed with the news "Naaman's cured
Naaman's curedp'
But gladQer tune than that III would DO
in all this place, or wherever this sermon
shall be read, if the soul should get cured
Of its leprosy. The swiftest white horse
hitched to the Kings chariot would rush
the news into the Eternal City. Our loved
ones before the throne would welcome the
glad tidings Your children on earth with
more emotion than tho little Hebrew cap
tive would notice the change ia your look
and the change in your manner, and would
put their arms around YOUR neck and say.
81 Mother, guess you must have become Is
Christian. Father / think you have got
rid Of the leprosy" o, Lord God Of Elisha.
have mercy on usl