The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-12-16
"THE PROUD INVALID"
REV. T. DEWITT TALMAGE'S SER
MON AT THE TABERNACLE.

Everybody Has Something He Wishes
He Had Not-God Does Not Wish to
Make this World So Bright that We
Shall Forget the Brighter.
BROOKLYN, Dec l2-The Rev T. Dewitt
Talmage, d. D., preached this morning from
the text, II Kings, v, /: ale was leper."
He said:
here VIC have warrior sick, not with
pleurisies or rrheumagisnls or consumptions, but
with disease worse than all these put to-
gether. A red mark has come out on tho fore
head, precursor Of complete Disagreement
and dissolution. have something awful to
tell you. Gen. Naaman, the commander-ln-
chief Of all tho Syrian forces, has the
leprosy. 1t is on his hands, on his face, on
his feet, on his entire person. The lcprosy!
Get out Of the way Of the pestilence! If his
breath strikes you you are dead man. The
commander-in-chief of all tho forces Of
Syria! And yet he would be glad to ez-
change conditions with the boy at his stirrup
or the hostler that blankets his charger. The
news goes like wildfre all through tho realm,
and tho people are sympathetic, and they cry
out: ais it possible that our great hero who
shot Ahab, and around whom we came with
such vociseration when he returned from
victorious battle-can it be possible that our
grand and glorious Naaman has the leprosyT
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, Delilah to
shear him; Ahab, Naboth to deny him;
Hamen, Mordecai to irritate him; George
Washington, childlessness to afflict him;
John Wesley, termagant wife to poster him;
Leah, weak eyes; Pope, q crooked back;
Byron, club foot; John Milton, blind eyes;
Charles Lamb, an insane sister; end you, and
you, and you, and 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, wc would always want to stay and eat
these fruits and lie on these lounges and
shake hands in this pleasant society. We arc
only i'll the vestibule Of q grand temple. God
does not want US to stay on the doorstep, and
therefore he sends aches, and annoyances,
and sorrows and bereavements Of all sorts to
push us ON and push us up toward ripper
fruits, and brighter society, and more radiant
prosperities. God is only whipping US ahead.
The reason that Edward Payson and Robert
Hall had more rapturous views Of heaven than
other people had was because, through their
aches and pains, God pushed them nearer up
to it, Il God dashes out one Of your pictures
it is only to show you brighter one. II He
sting your foot with gout, your brain with
With inpytiOp1licE-
able thirst, it is only because Ho is preparing
to substitute better body than you ever
dreamed Of, when the mortal shall put on i'm
mortality. tits to push you on and push you
up toward something grander and better that
God sends upon you as He did upon General
Naamsn, something you do not want. Seated
in his Syrian mansion-all the walls glitter
ing with the shields which he had captured
n battle: tho corridors crowded with ad-
miring visitors who just wanted to see him
once; music and mirth and banqueting filling
all the mansion, from tesselated floor to PIC
tured ceiing-Naaman would have forgotten
that there was anything better, and would
have been glad to stay there 10000 years
But, oh, how the shields dim, nnd how the
visitors ly 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 or the
eulogium: aHe was q leper! He was
leper!"
There was one person more sympathetic
with Gensral Naaman than any other person.
Naamans wife walks the floor, wringing her
hands and trying to think what she can do to
alleviate her husbands suffering. All reme-
dies 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: "No cure; no cure" think that the
Office seekers had ell folded up their recon-
mendations 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 wifel She
must havo sympathy somewhere. In her do
spair she goes to little Hebrew captive, a
servant girl in her house, to whom she tells
the whole story, as sometimes, when over
borne with the sorrows Of the world, and
finding no sympathy anywhere else, you have
gone out and found in the sympathy OF some
humble domestic-Rosa or Dinah or Bridget
"a help which the world could not 1--WE you
What scene it was One Of the grandest
women in all Syria in cabinet council with
waiting maid over the declining health Of the
mighty general: II know something" says
the little captive maid, II know something"
rs she bounds to her bare feet sin the land
from which was stolen there is a certain
prophet known by the name Of Elisha, who
can euro alnoyt everything, and l shouldn't
wonder if he could cure my master. Send
for him righ. away" "Oh, hush!" you say.
aIf the highest medical talent in all the land
cannot cure that leper there is no need of
your listening to any talk OF a ser
want girl" But do not SCOT, do not
sneer Tho finger Of that little captive
maid is pointing i'll 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 mothers heart? and many
time 1 havo laid and cried all night because
was so homesiclsn Then flushing up into
childish Indignation she might have said:
GGood for them; I'm glad Naaman's got the
leprosy; 1 wish nll the Syrians had the
leprosy" No. Forgetting her own personal