Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-24
pR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject of Discourse: "The Proud In,
valid"

TEXT: "Hc Wd3 a leper." II. Kings, v, |.
Here we have a warrior sick; not with
! pleurlS!es or rheumatisms or consumptiors,
| but with disease worse than all these put
| together A red mark has come out on the
forehead, precursor of complete disflgure-
ment and dissolution l have something aw-
tul to tell you. General Naaman the Com.
mander-in- Chief of all tie Assyrian forces
has the leprosyl 1t is on his hands, on his
lace, ON his feet, on his entire person The
lepresyl Get out Of the way of the pestilence!
| II his breath strikes you, you are dead man.
The Commander-in-Ch Chief of all the forces of
Assyria. And yet he would be glad to ex-
change conditions with the boy at his stirrup,
or the other that blankets his charger The
news goes like wild fire all through the realm
and the people are sympathetic and they cry
out: rs 1t possible that our great hero who
| shot Ahabe, around whom we came with
such vociferaton when he returned from vic
torlous battle-tan it be possible that our
grand and glorious Naaman has the lep-
rosy!
Yes. Everybody 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, Deliah to
shear him; Ahab, a Naboth to deny him;
Haman, Mordecai to irritate him; George
Washington, childleSsness to aff1ict him /;
John Wesley, termagant wife to poster him !;
=
Byron, club foot; John Milton, blind eyes; /;
Charles Lamb, an insane sister, and you, and
you, and you, ami you, something which YOU
never bargained for and would like to get
rid of. The reason of this is that God does
not want this world to be too bright other
wise, we would always want to stay and eat
these fruits, and lie on these lounges and
snake hands in this plea ant society. We are
only in the vestibule of u grand temple. God
does not want US to stay on the doorstep, and
therefore he sends aches and annoyances and
sorrows and bereavementS and all sorts to push
US on and push us up toward ripper fruits and
brighter society and more radiant prosperi-
Ties, God is only whipping us ahead. The
reason that Edward Payson and Rob
ert Hall had more rapturous views of
heaven than other people had was be-
cause, through their aches and pains, God
pushed them nearer up to it. If God dashes
out one OF your pictures it is only to show
you brighter one. If He sting your foot
with gout, your brain with neuralgia your
tongue with an lnextinguishable thirst, it is
only because lie is preparing to substitute
better body than you ever dreamed of, when
the mortal shall put on immortality. 1t is to
push you on and push you up toward some
thing grander, that God sends upon Won as
He did uron General Naaman something YOU
do not want. Seated i'll his Assyrian man.
slor-all the walls giCtering with the shields
Nhi-h HO udI "a JUuteu Ill DdUUIe, the cOrrl-
dors crowded with admiring visitors who lust
wanted to see him once; music and mirth and
banquetlng filling all the mansion, from ,s-
selated floor to pictured celing-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 sh ,ells 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 a sepuchral bang, as you
read the closing words of the eulogium: "He
was leper! He was a leper!"
There was one person moro sympathetic
with General Naaman than any other person.
Naamans wife walks the floor, wr nging her
hands and trying to think what she can do
ITO alleviate her hush lnds suffering. All
ren e1ies have faile1. The Surgeon-General
and the doctors of the royal staff have met,
and they have shaken the L heads as much as
to say: "No cure; no Cure.n | think that
the ofice-seekers had all folded up their
recommendations gone home. Probably
most of the employees of the establishment
had dropped their work and were thin ling
of looking for some other situation. What
shall now be come of poor Naaman's wife
She must have sympathy somewhere In her
despair She goes to little Hebrew captive, a
servant girl in her house to whom She tells
the whole story; as sometimes, when over
borne by the sorrows of the world, and find
ing no sympathy anywhere else. YOU have
gone out and found in the sympathy of some
humble domestic-Rose or Dinah or Bridget
"a help which the world could not give YOU.
What scene it was! One of the grandest
women in all ASSyria in cabinet council with
q waiting maid over the de lining health of
the mighty General II know Something y
says the little ca 1tive maid. 81 know some-
thing" as she bounds to her bare feet Sin
the land from which was stolen there is n
IlDnhnt lNNy IL, II
Elisha, who can cure almost everything, and
| shouldn't wonder if he could cure my mas
ter. Send for him right awayn ''Oh,
huShl" you say. "lf the highest medical
talent in all the land cannot cure that leper.
there is no need of your listening to any talk
of a servant girl" But do not scof, do not
sneer. The finger Of that little ca aDtive maid
Is pointing in the right dire ton. She might
have said: "I his is judgment on you for
stealing me from my native land. Didn't
they snatch me off in the night. breaking nv
father and mothers heart! And many a time
| have laid and CT ed all night because was
so homesick." Then, flushing up into child
ish Indignation she might have said: "Good
for them; I'm glad Naamans got the leprosy
wish all the Assyrians had the leproSy"
No. Forgetting her own personal sorrows,
she sympathizes with the suffering of her
master and commends him to the famous
Hebrew prophet.
And how often it is that the finger or
childhood has pointed grown persons in the
right direction. Oh Christian soul, how long
is it since you got rid of the leprosy of sin!
You say: LET me see. 1t must be five years
now" Five years. Who was it that pointed
you to the Divine Physician9" oh" you
say, lit was my little Annie or Fred or
Charley, that clambered up on my knees and
looked in my face and asked me why didn't
become Christian and all the time strolSing
my cheek SO | couldn't get angry, ins st9d
upon knowing why didn't have family
prayers" There are grandparents here who
have been brought to Christ by their little
grandchildren. There are many Christian
mothers here who had their attention first
called to Jesus by their little children. How
did you get rid of the leprosy o. SIM How
did you find your way to the Divine Physi-
cian! "Oh, you say my child, my dying
child, with wan and wasted finger pointed
that way. Oh, | shall never forget" you
say, that scene at the cradle and the crib
that awful night 1t was hard hard, very
hard; but if that little one on its dying bed
had not pointet me to Christ, | don { think
ever would have got rid of my leprosy" Go
into the Sabbath-school this afternoon and
you will find hundreds Of little fingers point
ing in the same direction, toward Jesus Christ
and toward heaven.
Years ago the astronomers calculated that
CueFe must Dc world hanging at n certain
| point in the heavens and q large prize was
offered for some one who could discover that
world. The telescopes from the great OBJ
servatories were pointed in vain; but a girl
at Nantaucket Mass. fashioned telescope,
and looking through it, discovered that star
and won the prize and the admiration Of all
the astronomical world that stood anna zed at
her genius And so it is often the case that
grown people cannot see the light, Will o
some little child beholds the star Of pardon,
the star of hope, the star Of consolation, the
star of Beth chem, the morning star of Jesus
''Not many mighty men, not many wise men
are calle |; but God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the mighty
AMI base things and things that are not, to