The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-17

those who carry hiin-an expired chieftain
seeking SCRIPTURE amid the lamentations Of
an admiring nation. Goodbye, Naaman!
Let the character drive gently over the
hills of Hermon, lest he jolt the invalid,
Here goes the brayest man of all his day, .
captive OF horrible disease As the am
baiance winds through the streets of Da-
mascus the tears and prayers Of all the
people go after the world-renowned inya-
lid. Perhaps you have had an invalid go
out from your house on a health excursion.
You know how the neighbors stood around
and said: ''Ah, he will never come back
again aliye!' Oh, il was a solemn moment,
/ tell you, when the invalid had departed,
and you went into the room to make the
bed and to remove the medicine walls from
the shelf. and to throw opeu the shutters
so that the fresh air might rush into the
long-closed room! Goodbye, Naaman!
There is only one cheerful face looking
at him, and that is the face of the little
Hebrew captive, who is sure he will 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 embroi-
dered suits of apparel, went through the
gates of Damascus and out on the long way,
down on the procession, and the retinue
goes right by 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 awhile in
the groves of olives and oeander, and Gen.
eral Naaman so sick-so very. very sick!
How the countrymen CAPPED as the pro-
cession passed, They had seen Naaman go
past like whirlwind in the days gone by,
and had stood aghast at the clank of his war
equipments; but now they commisserate
him. They say: sPoor man. he will never
get home alive! Poor manr' General
Naaman wakes from a restless sleep in the
chariot, and ne says to the charioteer:
SLOW long before we shall reach this
Prophe, Elisha'sr' The charioteer says to
the waysider: "How far is it to Elisha'5
houses" He says: 1.-TWO miles" 1.-TWO
miles, Then they whip up the lathered
and fagged-out horses. They drive up to
the door of the prophet. The characters
shout: "Whoar' 10 the horses, and the
tramping hcofs and grinding wheels cease
shaking the earth.
Come out. Elisha. come out. you have
company; the grandest company that ever
came to your house. The fact was, the
Lord had informed Elisha that the sick
Captain was coming and just how to treat
him. Indeed, when you are sick and the
Lords wants you to get well, He always
tells the doctor how to treat you; and the
reason we have SO many bungiing doctors
is because they depend upon their own
strength and instructions and not on the
Lord God, and that always makes NAL
practice. Come out. Elisha. and attend to
your business. General Naaman and mis-
retinue waited. and waited, and waited.
The fact was Naaman had two diseases
pride and leprosy; the one was as hard to
get rid of as the other. Elisha sits quietly
in his house and does not go out. After
awhile, when he thinks he has humbled
this proud man, he says to a servant: Go
out and tell General Naaman to battle
seven times in the River Jordan, out yon-
der five miles, and he will get entirely
Well"
The message comes out. "What ~ says
the CommanGer-in-Chief of the Syrian
forces, his eye kindling with an animation
which it had not shown for weeks. and his
swollen foot stamping on the bottom of the
chariot, regardless of pain: "Whatl Isn't
he coming out to see me. Why, thought
certainly he would come and utter some
cabalistic words over rae, or make some
don't think he knows who am. Isn't he
coming outl Why, when the Shunammite
woman came to him he rushed out and
cried: is it well with thees Is it well
with thy husbandl Is it we'll with thy
child' And will he treat poor unknown
woman like that, and let me, titled
parsonage, sit here in my chariot and
wait and wait! won't endure it any lon
ger. Charioteer. drive on, Wash in the
Jordan! Ha! ha! The shiny Jordan-thc
muddy Jordan-the monotonous Jordan. /
wouldn't be seen washing in such river
as that. Why, we watered our horses in a
better river than that on our way here-the
beautiful river, the iasper-paved river of
Pharpar. Besides that, we have in our
country another Damascene river-Abana
with foliage bank and torrent ever
swift and ever clear, under the Pickering
shadows Of sycamore and oleander. Are
not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers of Damas-
Gus, better than all the waters of Israeli"
suppose Naaman felt very much as we
would feel it, by way medical prescription,
some one should tell US to go and wash in
the Danube or the Rhine. We would an
swer: Are not the Connecticut or the
Hudson Just as goodl'' Or, as an English
nan would feel if he We're told, by way Of
medical prescription, he must go and wash
in the Mississippi or st. Lawrence. He
would cry out: Are not the Thames and
the Shannon just as well!"
The fact was that naughty Naaman need
Ell to learn what every Englishman and
every American needs to learn-that when
God tells you to do a thing, you must 90
and do it, whether you understand the rea-
son OF not One thing is certain, unless
naughty Naaman does as Elisha commands
him he will die of his awful sickness. And
unless you do as Christ commands you, you
Will be seized upon By an everlasting vast
ing away. Obey and live; disobey and die
Thrilling, over-arching, under-girding,
alternative!
Well, General Naaman could not stand
the test. The charioteer gives jerk to the
right line until the bit snaps in the horSe's
mouth, and the whir 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 religion. They vituperate against
ministers. against churches, against Chris
tan 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 doing, 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 ex-
cursion of General Naaman is to be dead
failure. That little Hebrew captive might
as well not have told him Of the prophet,
and this long journey might as well not
have been taken. Poor, sick, dying NaamanI
are You going away in high dudgeou, and |
worse than when you came! As his char.
lot halts moment his servants Chamber up |
in it and coax him to do as Elisha said |
They say: Its easy. If the prophet had |
told you to walk for mile on sharp spikes |
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