The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-17
I.EPROSY AND PRIDE.
Serm On by Rev. Z. Do Witt Tai.
mage, D. d.
The Sick Warrior and How Tie Was
Cured-Ooedience and Life-The
One Flood of Pardon. Peace,
Life and Heaven.


One Flood of Pardon. Peace,
Life and Heaven.
BRooKLYN. n. V. Dec. Prev. DR..
Talmage took for his text this morning the
first verse of the fifth chapter Of Second
Kings: "He Was a Leper." The preacher
said:
Here we have a warrior sick not with
pleurisy or rheumatism or consumption,
but with disease worse than all these put
together A red mark has come out on his
forehead. precursor Of complete distgure-
ment and dissolution. / have something
awful. to tell you: General Naaman. the
Commander in-C Chief of all the Syrian
forces, has the leprosy: 1t is on his hands,
on his face, on his feet. on his entire per-
son. The leprosy, Get out of the way of
the pestilence, If his breath strikes you you
are a dead man. The Commander-in-Cb Chief
of all the forces of Syrial And yet he
would be glad to exchange conditions with
the boy at his stirrup or the hostler that
blankets his charger. The news goes like
wildfire all through the realm. and the peo-
pie are sympathetic, and they cry out: is
it possible that our great hero who shot
Ahab, and around whom we came with
such vociferation when he returned fror,
victorious battle-can it be possible that
our grand and glorious Naaman has the
leprosyl"
Yes Every body has something he wishes
he had not-David. an Absalom TO disgrace
him; Paul, thorn to sting him; Job. car
buncles to plague him; Samson, Delilah
to shear him; Ahab. a Naboth to deny him
Haman, Mordecai TO irritate him: George
Washington, childlessness TO affiict him;
John Wesley. termagant wife to poster
him; Leah, weak eyes: Pope, a crooked
back: Byron. club foot: John Milton,
blind eyes; Charles Lamb. an insane sister;
and You. and you, and you, and you. some
thing which YOU never barganed for. and
would like to get rid of. The reason of this
is. that God does not want this world to be
600 bright; otherwise we would always
want to stay and eat these fruits, and lie
or these lounges, and shake hands in this
pleasant society.
We are only in the vestibule of grand
temple. God does not want US to stay on
the doorstep, and, therefore. He sends
aches. and annoyances, aud sorrows. and
bereavements of all sorts. to push US up
toward ripper fruits, and brighter society,
and more radiant properties. God is only
whipping us ahead. The reason that Ed
ward Payson and Robert Hall had more
rapturous views of Heaven than other
people had was because, through their
aches and pains. God pushed them up
nearer to it. If GOD dashes out one of
your pictures. it is only to show you a
brighter ere. If He sting your foot with
govt, your brain with neuralgia. your
tongue with an inextingUishabie thirst. it
is only because He is preparing to su6sti-
tute better body than you ever dreamed
al cIa1t
tality.
Seated in his Syrian mansion-all the
walls giittering with the shields he had
captured in battle. the corridors crowded
with admiring visitors who just wanted to
see MIN once, music and mirth and BAN
quoting filling all the mansion, from tessel-
ated floor to pictured ceiling -Naaman
would have forgotten that there was any
thing better. and would have been glad to
stay there ten thousand years. But, oh,
how the shields dim, and how the visitors
fly from the hall, and how the music drops
dead from the string. and how the gates Of
the mansion slam shut with sepulchral
bang, as you read the closing words Of the
eulogium: He was leperr'
There was one person more sympathetic
with General Naaman than any other per-
son. Naamans wife walks the floor,
wringing her hands and trying, to think
what she can do to alleviate her husbands
suffering All remedies have failed. The
Surgeon General and the doctors of the
royal staff have met, and they have shaken
their heads as much as to say: mo cure;
no cure.'' / think that the offce-seekers
had all folded up their recommendations
and gone home. Probably most of the
employees of the establishment had dropped
their work and Were thinking of looking
for some other situation. What shall now
become of poor Naaman's wifei She must
have sympathy somewhere. In her de-
spair she goes TO little Hebrew captive.
d servant girl in her house, to whom she
tells the whole story, as sometimes, when
overborne with the sorrows of the world,
and finding no sympathy anywhere else,
YOU have gone out and found in the sympa-
thy of some humble domestic-Rosa, or Di-
nah, or Bridget-a help which the world
could not give you.
What a scene it was, One of the grand
est women in all Syria in cabinet council
with waiting maid over the declining
health Of the mighty General. Il know
something" says the little captive maid.
81 know something as she bounds to her
bare feet. I'm the land from which was
the name of Elisha. who can cure almost
every thing, and l shouldn't wonder ii he
could cure my master. Send for him right
away" ''Oh, hush" you say. If the
highest medical talent in all the land can
not cure that leper. there is no need of your
listening to any talk of servant girl" But
do not SCOT, do not sneer. The finger OF that
little captive maid is pointing in the right
direction. She might have said: This is
Judgment on you for stealing me from my
native land. Didn't they snatch me off in
the night, breaking my fathers and moth
er's heart, and many a time / have laid
and cried all night because was so home
SICK Then flushing up into childish in.
dignation she might have said: Good for
them; l am glad Naaman's got the lepro-
sy; wish all the Syrians had the leprosy"
No. Forgetting her own personal sorrows,
she sympathizes with the suffering of her
master and recommends him to the famous
Hebrew prophet.
Years ago the astronomers calculated
that there must be world hanging at a
certain point in the Heavens, and large
prize was offered for some one who could
discover that world. The telescopes from
the great observatories were pointed in
vain. but girl at Nantucket. Mass, fash.
1oneo Telescope, anu looking through IT,
discovered that star, and won the prize and
the admiration of all the astronomical
world, that stood amazed at her genius.
And so it is often the case that grown peo-
pie can not see the light, while some little
child beholds the star of pardon, the star
OF hope, the star of consolation, the star Of
Bethlehem, the morning star Of Jesus.
'-Not many mighty men, not many wise
men are called: but God has chosen the
weak things Of the world to ccnfound the
mighty; and base things and things that
are not to bring to naught things that are"