The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-15

lace OF tine little hebrew captive, WHO
is sure he win 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 embroidered suits of apparel, went
through the gates Of Damascus and out on
the long way, tie hills Of Naphtali and Eph-
RAIN look down on the procession, ard the
retinue goes right past the battle fields where
Naaman, in the days Of his health, used TO
rally his troops for fearful onset: and then the
procession stops and reclines a while in the
groves OF olives and oIeander, and Gen.
Naaman 50 sicz-and 81 very, very sicki
How the countrymen Gaped as the pro
cession passed. They had seen Naaman go
past ike whirlwind in days gone by, and
hal stood aghast at the clank Of his war
equipments; but now they coInmiserate him
They say: Poor man, he viii never get
home alivel Poor manl7 Gen. Naaman
wakes from restless sleep in the chariot,
and be says to the charioteeF: "How long be
fore we shall reach this Prophet Elisha'sP
The charioteer says 10 a waysider: slow far
Is il 10 Elisha's housefn He says: 1.-TWO miles. y
Two miles" Then they whip up the
lathered and tagged out horses. The whole
procession brightens up at the prospect Of
speedy arrival They drive up to the door
OF the prophet The charioteeTs shout:
whoa to the horses, and the ira ping
hoofs and grinding wheels cease shaking the
earth.
Come out Elisha. come out, you have
company: the grandest company that ever
came TO your house has come to it now 10
stir inside Elishas house. The fact was, the
Lord had informed Elisha that the sick cap
tain was coming and just how to treat him
Indeed. when you are sick and the Lord
wants you 10 get well, He always tells the
doctor how to treat you and the reason we
have so many bungling doctors is because
| they depend upon their own strength and in
structions and not on the Lord God and that
always makes malpractice. Come out, Eli
sha, and attend to your business. Gen Naa-
man ard his retinue waited, and waited, and
waited. The fact was Eaaman had two diseases
pride and leprosy; tde one was as hard to get
rid Of rs the other Elisha sits quietly In his
house and does not go out. After a while,
when be thinks he has BUNDLED this proud
man, he says to a servant: go out and tell
Gen. Naaman 10 battle seven times in the
River Jordan. out yonder five miles, and he
will get entirely well
| The message comes out. "Whatl" says the
commander in chief OF the Syrian forces. his
| eve lCndling with animation which it had
not shown for weeks, and his swollen foot
| stamping on the bottom of the chariot.
| gardless Of pain: "Whati Isn't he coming
Gu, 10 see rnel Why, I thought certainly he
would como and utter some cabalistic words
over me or mako some enigmatical passes
over my wounds. Why, | don't think he
knows who am. Ism he coming out9 Why,
when the ShunamIuitc woman came to him
he rushed out and cried; is it well with
theel Is it with thy husband1 Is il well
wit1 thy child And viii lie treat poor I'M
known woman like that, and let me, n titled
parsonage, sit here in my chariot and wait
and waltz l won't endure it any longer.
Charioteer, drive OIL Wash i'll the Jordanl
| Ia! la! The Shiny Jordan-the muddy
Jorlan-thc nlonotonous Jordan. / wouldn't
be seen washing in such a river that.
| Why, We wltered our horses in better
river than that on our way berc-the beau
tiful river, tho jasper paved river OF Phar-
par. Besides that, we have in our country
another Damasceue river Albania with
folia~e1 banks and torrent ever swift and
ever clear, under the Pickering shadows Of
sycamore and oleandor. Are not ALBANIA and
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all
the waters of Israeli
| suppose Naaman felt very much as we
would feel il, by way Of medical prescription,
some one should tell US TO 60 and wash in the
Danube or ths Rhine We would answer:
"Are not the Connecticut or the Hudson just
as EoodY" Or, as an En-lishman would feel
il he were told, by way OF medical prescrip-
ton, he must 60 and wash in the Mississippi
or St Lawrence. He would cry out: Are
not the Thames and the Shannon Just as
vellY" The fact was that naughty Naaman
needed to learn what every Englishman and
every American needs to learn-that when
God tells you to do thing, you must so and
do it, whether you understand the reason or
not. One thing is certain, unless naughty
Nasman does as Elisha commands him he win
die of his awful sickness And unless you do
as Christ commands you, you viii be seized
upon by an everlasting wasting away. Obey
and live; disohey and die. Thrilling, over
arching, under girding, stupendous alterna-
tivel
We'll, Gen. Naaman could not stand the
test. The cha-ioteer gives jerk TO the right
line until the bit snaps in the horses mouth,
and the whirr of the wheels and the flying Of
the dust show the indignation of the great
commander, "He turned and went away in
rage" So people now often get mad at re-
ligion. They vituperate against minister's
against churches, against Christian people
One would think from their irate behavior
that God had been studying how to annoy
and exasperate and demolish them. What
has He been doingl 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 excur-
sion of Gen. Naaman is TO be dead failure.
That little Hebrew captive might as well
have not told him Of the prophet. and this
long journey might well not have been
taken. Poor, sick, dying Naamani are you
going away in high dudgeon, and worse than
when you camel As his chariot halts
moment his servants Chamber up in it and
coax him to do as Elish said They say: Its
easy IL 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 Jordan. You take a bath
every day, anyhow, and in this climate it is
so hot that it viii do you good. Do
it on our account and for the sake of
the army you command, and for the
sake of the nation that edmires you. Come
my lord, Just Try this Jordanic bath"
"Weu," he saws, "to please you will do as
you say" Tho retinue drives to the brink OF
the Jordan. The horses paw and neigh to
get into the stream themselves and cool their
hot TANKS General Naaman, assisted by his
attendants, gets down out of the chariot and
painfully comes to the brink of the
| river, and steps in until the water
comes to the ankle, and goes on deeper
until tho water comes to the grille, and
now standing far down in the stream
just little inclination of the head will thor
oushly immerse him He bows once into the
food, AMI comes up and shakes the water out
of nostrils and eyes; and his attendants look
at him and sqy; "Why, general, how much
better you do look And he bows a second
time into the food and GENES up, and the
wild stare is gone out of his eyes. He bows
the third time into the flood and comes up,
and the shriveled flesh has got smooth again.
He bows the fourth time into the flood and
comes up, and the hair that had fallen out is
restored in thick locks again all over the
brow. He bows the fifth time into the food
and comes up, and the hoarseness has gone
out of bis throat. He bows the sixth time and
comes up. and all the soreness and anguish
have gone out of the limbs. WHY he says,
Il am almost well, but / will make
complete cure and he bows the seventh time
into the flood and he comes up, and not SO
much as foster or scale or eruption as big
as the head of pin is to be seen on him. He
steps out ON the bank and says: is it pos
sibleF And tho attendants look and -ay: lis
it possiblef" And as, with the health of an
athlete, he bounds back into the chariot and
drives on there goes up from all his attend
ants wild "Huzzal huzzar or course they
go back to pay and thank the man of God
for his counsel, so frau9ht with wisdom
When they left the prophets house they went
off mad; they have come back glad
People always think better of a minister
after they are converted than they do before
conversion. Now we are to them an intoler-
able nuisance because we tell them TO do |
things that so against the grain. but some of
us have great many letters from those who |
tell us that once they were angry at what we |
preached, but afterward gladly received the |
gospel at our hands. They once called us fa- |
natics or terrorists or enemies, now they call !