The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-12-17
LEPROSY AND PRIDE.
Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, 2. D.
The Sick Warrior and How He Was
Cured-Obedience and Life-The
One Flood of Pardon. Peace, q
Life and Heaven. 81 y

BROOKLYN, N Y, Dec. 12-Rev Dr.
Tal1nage took for hls 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
| pIeurisy or rheumatism or consumption,
but with disease worse than all these put
together A red mark has come out on his
| forehead, a precursor of complete disfgure-
ment and dissolution. I have something
| awful to tell you; General Naaman, the
| Commander-in- 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 leprosyl Get out of the way of
| the pestilence If his breath strikes you you
are a dead man. The Commander-in-Chief
Of all the forces of SYRIA 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
| wildfre all through the realm, and the peO-
! pie are sympathetic, and they cry out rs
| it possible that our great hero who shot
| Ahab, and around whom we came with
| such vOciferatiOn when he returned from
| victorious battle-can it be possible that
| our grand and glorious Naaman has the
| leprosy2"
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, a Delilah
to shear him; Ahab, a NabOth to deny him;
| Haman, a 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, a club foot; John Milton,
blind eyes; Charles Lamb an insane sister;
and you, and you, and you, and you, some
! thing 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 otherwise we would always
want to stay and eat these fruits, and lie
on 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, and sorrows, and
! bereavements of all sorts, to push up
! toward ripper fruits, and brighter society,
! and more radiant prosperites. God is only
| whipping us ahead. The reason that Ed
| ward Fayson 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 one. If He sting your foot with
! gout, your brain with neuralgia, your
tongue with an inextinguishable thirst, it
/ is only because He is preparing to substi-
! tUte a better body than you ever dreamed
! of, when the mortal shall put on immOr-
! tality.
Seated in his Syrian mansion-all the
| walls ylittering with the shields he had
| captured in battle, the corridors crowded
/ with admiring visitors who just wanted to
! See him once, music and mirth and BAN
quoting filing all the mansion, from tessel-
atea 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 leperP'
There was one person more sympathetic
! with General Naaman than any other per-
/ son. Naaman's wife walks the floor,
| wriuging 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: ''NO cure;
! no cure" I think that the offlce-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 Wife2 She must
| have sympathy somewhere. In her de-
spair she goes to a little Hebrew captive,
a 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 III the sympa-
thy of some humble dOmcstic-ROsa, or Di-
nah, or Bridget help which the world
could not give you.
What a scene it wasl One of the grand
est women in all Syria in cabinet council
with a waiting maid over the declining
health of the mighty General. Il know
something" says the little captive maid,
Il know something as she bounds to her
bare feet '.In the land from which I was
stolen there is a certain prophet known by
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" ooh, 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 q servant girl" But
do not scoff do not sneer. The finger Of that
little captive maid is pointing in the right
direction. She might have said: 9 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 time l 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; 1 am glad Naamaus got the leprO-
=
No Forgetting her own personal sorrows,
she sympathzes with the suffering Of her
master and recommends him to the famous
Hebrew prophet.
Years ago the astronomers calculated
that there must be a world hanging at a
certain point in the Heavens, and a 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
ioned a telescope, and 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 behods 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 confOund the /
mighty; and base things and things that /
are not to bring to naught things that are"
On, do not despise the prattle Of little chill /
dren when they are speaking about God, |
and Christ and Heaven You see the way /
your child is pointing; VIII you take that /
pointing, or wait until, in the wrench Of +
some awful bereavement, God shall lift /
that child to another world. and then II /
VIII beckon you upward VIII you take /
the pointing, or will you wait for the be OK
7ningi Blessed be God that the little /
Hebrew captive pointed in the right direc-
toni Blessed be God for the saving min
istry Of Christian childrenl
No wonder the advice Of this little He
brew captive threw all Eaaman's mansion 1
and Ben-hadad's palace into excitement
Goodbye, Naamsui With face scarifed /
and rigid and inflamcd by the pestilence, /
and aided by those who supported him on