The Brookhaven leader., 1886-12-16

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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,
ana the hoarseness has gone out Of his
throat. He bows the sixth time and comes
up, ana all the soreness ard. anguish have
gone out of the limbs. "Why," he says,
II am almost we'll, but will make a com.
plete cure,n and he bows the seventh time
into the food and comes UP, and not SO
much as tester, 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 1t possiblel' And the attendants look
and say: Is it possible!" Andsas, with
the health OF On athlete, he bounds back
into the chariot and driycs on, there. goes
up from all his attendants q wild Huzza!
huzzaW OF course, they go back to pay
and thank the man OK God for his counsel,
SO fraught with wisdom. 4 When they left
the prophets hauseF they went off mad;
they have come back glad
People always think better of a minister
after they have been converted than they
do before conversion. Now we are to them
an intolerable nuisance because we tell
them to do things that go against the grain;
but some OF us have Il great many letters
from those who tell us that once they were
angry at what We preached, but aftcrward
gladly received the Gospel mt our hands.
They once called us fanatics or terrorists
or enemies; now they call us friends Yon-
der is a mani speal- literal fact-who
said that he would never come into the
church again. He said that two years ago.
He said: MY family shall never come here
again if such doctrines as those are
preached" But he came again, and his
family came again. He is a. Christian, his
wife a Chrisliin,, all his children Chris
tians, the whole household Christian, and
shall dwell with them in the house of the
Lord forever. Our undying coadjutors arc
those who once heard the Gospel and
went away in rage"
Now, my hearers. you notice that this
General Naaman did two things IN order to
get we'll. The first was, he got out of his
chariot. He might have staid there with
his swollen feet on the stuffed ottoman,
seated on that embroidered cushion until
his last gasp, he would never have got any
relief. He had to get down out of his chariot.
And you have got to get down out of the
chariot OF your pride if you ever become a
Christian. You can not drive up to the
cross with coach and four and be saved
among all the Spangles. You seem to think
that the Lord is going to he complimcnted
by your coming. Oh, no; you poor, msera-
bic, scaly, leprous sinner, get down out of
that, We all come nthe same naughty way.
We expect to ride into the Kingdom
of God. Never until we get down
on our knees will we find mercy. The
Lord has endorsed US, uncharioted us. Get
down out of your pride Get down out Of
your self-righteousness and your hyper
criticism We have ali got to do that. That
is the Journey we have got to make on our
knees. 1t is our internal pride that keeps
us from getting rid of the leprousy of sin.
Dear Lord; what have we to be proud of!
Proud of, 6nr scales. Proud OF our un,
claannesss Proud of this killing iafcc-
:ions er:-e - >cwn uJ Thy feet, weeping,
praying, penr,ent, believing suppliants!
For sinners, Lord, Thou camcst to bleed,
And I'm a sinner, vile, indeed;
Lord, believe, Thy grace is free,
Oh magnify that grace In me!
But he had not only to get down out OF
his chariot; he had to wash" "Oh," you
say, II am very careful of my ablutions.
Every day plunge into bright and beau
Uilui udIH AN, HoaItlS, tucTc - u
flood brighter than any other. 1t is the
food that breaks from the granite OF eter-
hal hills It ID tie Hood of pardon, and
peace, and life, and Heaven. That flood
Started in the tears of Christ and the sweat
of Gethsemane, and rolled on, an accumu-
lating food, until all earth and Heaven
could battle in it. Zachariah called it '.tha
fountain open for sin and unclcanness."
William Cowper called it 'sthe fountain
filled with blood" Your fathers and moth
ers washed all their sins and sorrows away
in that fountain. Oh, my hearers, do you
not to-day feel like Wadng into it! Wade
down now Nto this glorious flood, Deeper
deeper, deeper. Plunge once, twice, TIN ict
| four tlme:, five times, six times, seven
times. 1t viii take as much as that to cure
your soul Oh; wash, Wash, wash and be
cleanl
suppose that was a great time at Da
mascus when General Naaman got back.
The chariotears did not have to drive slow
ly any longer lest they jolt the invalid;
but as the horses dashed through the
streets or Damascus l think the people
rushed out to hail back their chieftain.
Naaman's wife hardly recognized her hus-
band; he was so wonderfully changed she
had to look at him two or three times be,
fore she made out that it Was her restored
husband. And the little captive maid she
rushed out, clapping her hands and shout
ing: did he cure you? Did he cure you."
Then music woke up the palace, and the
tapestry of the windows was drawn away,
that the multitude outside might ming!e'
with the princely mirth inside, and the feet
went up and down in the dance, and all the
streets of Damascus that night echoed and
re-ochoed with the news; "Naaman's cured!
Mammals cured.'' Is 81
But gladder tune than that it would be
in all this place, or wherever this sermon
shall be read, if the soul should get cured
of its lepresy. The swiftest white horse
hitched to the Kings chariot would rush
the news into the Eternal City. Our loved
ones before the throne would welcome the
glad tidings. Your children on earth with
more emotion than the little Hebrew cap
tive would notice the change in your look
and the change in your manner, and would
put their arms around your>neck and say:
Mother, guess you must have become
Christian: Father, think you have got
rid of the leprosy." o, Lord God of Elisha,
have mercy on US! N-zf
A CZAR'S WAIM