The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-12-16


Naaman does as Elisha commands him he viii
die of his awful sickness. And unless yon do
as Christ commands you, you will be seized
upon by an everlasting wasting away. Obey
and live; disobey and die. Thrilling, over
arching, under-girding, stupendous alterna-
tivel
Well, Gen. Naaman could not stand the
test. The charioteer 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. @Hs turned and went away In
a 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 doing? Only trying to cure their
death-deaiing 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 Naamanl 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: "1t's
easy. If the prophet had told you to walk
for a 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 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 admires you. Come,
my lord, just try this Jordanic bath"
| @WelI, /" he says, "to please you 1 win do as
you say" The retinue drives to the brink of
| the Jordan. The horses paw and neigh to
| get into the stream themselves and cool their
| hot flanks 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 the water comes to the gtrdle, and
now standing so far down In the stream
Just a little inclination of the head will thor
oughly immerse him. He bows once into the
food, and comes up and shakes the water out
| of nostrils and eyes; and his attendants look
at him and say: 'Why, general, how much |
better you do look" And he bows a second !
time into the food and comes 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 food 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 flood |
snd comes up, and the hoarseneSs has gone |
out of his throat He bows the sixth time and |
comes UP, and all the soreness and anguish |
bave gone out of the limbs, "Why,n he says, !
II am almost well, but I Will make a I
complete cure" and he bows the seventh time |
into the flood and he comes up, and not so |
much as tester or scale or eruption as big |
hoo of r1fY icf ha Of,h Ha
steps out on the bank and says: as it pos
sible?" And the attendants look and say: as |
1t possible?" 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 "HuZza huzzaT" OF course they |
go back to pay and thank the man of God |
for his counsel, so fraught with wisdom. |
When they left theprophet's house they went
off mad; they have come back glad.
People always think better of minister
after they are converted than they do before
conversion. Now are to them an intoler-
able nuisance because we tell them to do
things that go 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 ia
natics or terrorists or enemies; now they call
US friends. Yonder is mani speak lit
eral fact-who said that he would never come,
into the church 1gain. He said that two
years ago. He said: "My family shall never
come here again If such doctrines as that are
preached" But he came again, and his fam
lily came again. He is n Christian, his wife
a Christian, all his o6ildren Christians, the
whole household Christian, and shall dwell
with them in the house of the Lord forever.
Our undying djutors are those who once
heard the gospel and "went away in a rage"
Now, my hearers, you notice that this Gen.
Naanan did two things in order to get well.
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 en-
broidered 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
cannot 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
be compImented by your coming. Oh, no;
you poor, miserable, scaly, leprous sinner, get
down out of thatl We all come in the 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 unhorsed US, uncharioted u.s. Get down
out of your pride Get down out of your self
righteousness and your hypercriticism. We
have all got to do that. That is the journey
Internal pride that keeps us from getting rid
of the leprosy of sin Dear Lord, what have
we to be proud off Proud of our scalesl
Proud of our uncleanness2 Proud of this kill
ing infectionl Bring us dFWn at Thy feet,
weeping, praying, penitent believing suppli-
cantsl
For sinners, Lord, Thou camest to bleed,
And I'm sinner vile, indeed;
Lord, believe Thy grace is free,
Oh, magnify that grace IN mel
But he had not only to get down out of his
chariot; he had to wash. "Oh," you say, 'I
am very careful of my oblutions Every
day 1 plunge into bright and beautiful
bath" All, my hearers, there is a food
brighter than any other. 1t is the flood that
breaks from the granite of eternal hills. 1t
is the food of pardon, and peace, and life,
and heaven. That flood started in the tears
of Christ and the sweat of Gethsemane, and
rolled on, accumulating flood, until all earth
and heaven could bathe in it. Zachariah
called 1t "the fountain open for sin and un-
cleanness" William Cowper called it @the
fountain filed with blood" Your fathers
and mothers washed all their sins and sorrows
away in that fountain. Oh, my hearers, do
you not to-day feel like wading into it?
Wade down now into this glorious flood
deeper, deeper, deeper, Plunge once, twice,
thrice, four times, five times, six times, seven
times. 1t will take much as that to cure
your soul Oh, wash, wash, wash, and be
eleanl
suppose that was great time at Damas-
Gus when Gen. Naaman got back The char
ioteers did not have to drive slowly any
longer lest they jolt the invalid; but as the
horses dashed through the streets Of Damas-
Gus think the people rushed out to hail back
their chieftain. Naaman's wife hardly recog-
nized her husband; he was so wonderfully {
&