The Brookhaven leader., 1886-12-16

seeking sculpture amid the lamentations Of
an admiring nation Goodbye, Naamani
Let the charioteer drive gently over tho
hills Of Hermon, lest he jolt the invalid,
Here goes the brayest man of all his day,
captive Of horrible disease As the am
bulance winds through the streets Of Da-
mascus the tears and prayers Of all the
people 60 after the world renowned inva-
lid. Perhaps you have had an invalid 60
out from your house on q health excursion.
You know how the neighbors stood around
and said: "Ah, he will never come back
again aliyep Oh, it was q solemn moment,
Itell you, when the invalid had departed,
and you went into the room to make the
bed and to remove the medicine walls from
the shelf, and to throw open the shutters
so that the fresh air might rush into the
long-closed rooml Goodbye, Naamanl
There is only one cheerful face looking
at him, and that is the face of the little
Hebrew captive, who Is sure he will get
cured, and who is so glad she helped him.
As the chariot winds. out and the escort Of
mounted courtiers, and the mules, laden
with sacks of gold and silver and embroi-
dered suits of apparel, 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 by the battle-felds where
Naaman in the days Of his health, used to
rally his troops for fearful onseti and then
the procession stops and reclines awhile in
the groves of olives and oleander, and Gen.
eral Naaman 80 sick-so very, very sicki
How the countrymen gaped as the pro-
cesson passed. They had seen Naaman go
past like Il whirlwnd in the days gone by,
and had stood aghast at the clank of his war
,fo.s lint, aiSca
him. They say: "Poor man, he will never
get home alvel Poor man!'' General
Naaman wakes from restless sleep in the
chariot, and he says to the charioteer:
"How long before we shall reach this
| Prophet Elisha's" The charioteer says to
| the waysider. ''How far is it to Elisha's
| house!' He says 1.-TWO miles" 1.-TWO
miles" Then they whip up the lathered
| and faggcd-out horses They drive up to
the door of the prophet. The characters
shout "Whoan' to the horses, and the
| tramping hcofs and grinding wheels cease
shaking the earth.
Come out, Elisha, coma out, you have
company; the grandest company that ever
came to your house. Tho fact was, the
Lord had informed Elisha that the sick
Captain was coming and just how to treat
him. Indeed when you are sick and tho
Lords wants you to get we'll, He always
tells the doctor how to treat you; and the
reason we have 50 many bungling doctors
is because they depend upon their own
strength and instructions and not on the
Lord God, and that always makes mall
practice. Come out, Elisha, and attend to
your business. General Naaman aud his
retinue waited, and waited, and waited.
The fact was Naaman had two diseases
pride and leproSy; the one was as hard to
get rid of as the other Elisha sits quietly
in his house and does not go out. After
awhile, when he thinks he has humbled
this proud man, he says to q servant: Go
out and tell General Naaman to battle
seven times in the River Jordan, out yon-
der five miles, end he will get entirely
| well.''
The message comes out. 'swhat!h says
the Commant.er-in.Chit of the Syrian
forces his eye kndling with an animation
which 1t hal not shown for weeks, and his
swollen foot stamping on the bottom of the
chariot, regardless of pain: What! Isn't
he coming out to see ne' Why, Thought
certainly he would come and utter some
cabaiistic Words over me, Or make some
enlglnatical passes over my wounds. Why,
don't think he knows who l am. Isn't he
coming out' Why, when the Shunammite
! ""eAAaH SstuiS W INN lie rushed out ana
cried: is it well with tl.,el Is it well
with thy husbands Is it well with thy
childn And will he treat po5r unknown
woman like that, and let me, a titled
parsonage, sis here in my chariot and
wait Aid wait! l won't endure it any lon
ger C2larioteer, drive on. Wash in the
Jordan Ia! ha! The Shiny Jordan-the
| muddy Jordan-the monotonous Jordan
wouldn't b. seen washing in such d river
as that. Why, we watered otiT horses in a
better river than that On obF Way here-the
beautiful river the Jasper-paved river of
| Pharpar. Besides that, we have in our
country another Damascene river-Abana
with foliage bank and torrent ever
swift and over clear, under tho fiictefiligg
shadows of sycamore at{, oleander. Are
not Abana AID fharpar, rivers OF Damas-
Gus Better than all the waters Of Israeli"
suppose Naaman felt very much as we
would feel if, by way medical prescription,
some one should tell Us TO 60 and wash in
the Danubr or the Rhina We would an
sw2ff Are not thu Connecticut or the
buison just as good!' Or, as an English
man would feel if he We're told, by way &C
medical prescription, he must go and wash
in the Mississippi or St Lawrence. He
would cry out: Are not the Thames and
the Shannon just as well!'
The fact was that naughty Naaman need
ed to learn what every Englishmar and
every American needs ID learh-that when
God tells Sos; to do thing, you must 90
| ami DO 1t, whether you understand the rea-
son or not. One thing is certain, unless
| naughty Naanan does as Elisha commands
| him he will die of his awful sickness. And
unless you do as Christ commands you YOU
Will be seized upon by an everlasting vast
ing away. Obey and live; disobey and die.
Thrilling, over arching, under grdng,
stupandous alternative!
We'll, General Naaman could not stand
| the test. The clarioteer gives Jerk to the
right line until the bit snaps in the ho>se's
mouth, and the whir of tho wheels and
| the lying 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 Chris
tan people. One would think from their
| iratc behavior that God had been studying
! how to annoy and exasperate and dcmolish
| them. What has he been doing! Only
trying to cure their death dealing leprosy.
That is all. Yet they whip up their horses,
they dig in their spurs, and they go away
in rage.
So, after all, it seems that this health ex-
cursion of General Naaman is to be dead
failure. That little Hebrew captive might
as well not have told him OF the prophet,
and this long journey might as well not
have been taken. Poor, sick, dying Naaman!
are you going away in high dudgcon, and
worse than when you came! AS his char.
lot halts moment his servants Chamber up
in it and coax him to do as Elisha said.
They say: tits easy. If the prophet had
told you to walk for mile on sharp spikes
in order to- get rid of this awful disease
you would have done it. 1t is easy. Come,
my lord, just get down and wash in the
Jordon. You take bath every dav any