Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-13
THE PROUD INVALID.
EVERYBODY HAS SOMETHING HE WISHES
HBHAD NOT.
DR.. Talmags Illustrates Bible Lesson That Zones
Home 10 All-The LsprOsy Of General Naa-
man-Ths Little Hebrew Slave
The Only Real Cure.


man-Ths Little Hebrew Slave
The Only Real Cure.
Special Ttiegraia TO the Register.
NEW YORK, December 12.-The Rev. L.
Dewitt Talmage, d. D., preached this
morning from the text II Kings, ", i: HE
was leper." He said:
Here we have warrior sick, not with
pleurisies or rhematisms or consumptions,
but with a disease worse than all these put
together; a red mark has come out on the
forehead, precursor of complete disfgure
ment and dissolution. 1 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 leprosy! Get out Of the way Of
the pestilence! If his breath strike you,
you are q dead man. The COMMANDMENTS
chief of all the forces in Syria! And yet
he would be glad to exchange conditions
tn the boy at his stirrup, or the hostleI
that blankets his charger. The news goes
like wildfire all through the realm, and the
people are sympathetic and they cry out
'sIs 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
leprosy?'
Yes.
EVERYBODY HAS SOMETHING
he wishes he had not-David, an Absalom
to disgrace him; Paul, thorn to sting
him; Job, carbuncles to plague him; Sam
son, a Delilah to shear him; Ahab, Ma
both to deny him; Haman, MOrdecai to
irritate him; George Washington, childless-
ness to afflict him: John Wesley, terma-
CANT wife to poster him; Leah, weak
ewes; 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,
something 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 a grand temple.
God does not want us to stay OH the door
step. and therefore he sends aches, and
annoyances, and sorrows, and bereave-
ments of all sorts to push us on, and push
up toward ripper fruits, and brighter So
ciety, and more radiant prosperities. God
is only whipping us ahead. The reason
that Edward Payson and Robert Hall had
more rapturous views of heaven than other
people had was because, through their
aches and pains, God pushes them nearer
up to it, If God dashes out one of your
pictures, it is only
TO SHOW YOU BRIGHTER ONE.
If he stings your foot with the gout, your
brain with neuralgia, your tongue with an
inextinguishable thirst, it is only because
he is preparing to substitute better body
than you ever dreamed of, when the NOR
tai shall put on immortality. 1t is to push
you on, and push you up toward some
thing grander and Letter, that God sends
upon you as He did upon General Naaman,
something you do not want. Seated In
his Syrian mansion-all the walls glitter
ing with the shields which he had captured
i'm battle; the corridors crowded with ad-
miring visitors who Just wanted to see him
once; music, and mirth, and banquettlng
filling all the mansion, from tesselated
floor to pictured ceiling-Naaman would
have forgotten that there was anything
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 sep ulchral bang, as you read
the closing words of the eulOgium. "He
was a leper! He was leper"
There was one person more sympathetic
with General Naaman than any other per-
son. Naaman's wife walks the
floor. wringing her hands
ord trying to think what she
can do to alleN. het n''""Tu M,
All remedies had lad. The surgeon
General and the doctors of the rC.Sal s!aI
have met, and they have shaken the.
heads rs much as to say: mo cure, no
cure" Think that the oflice-seekers had
all folded up their recommendations and
gone home. Probably most of the em-
ployces of the establishment had dropped
their work and were thinking
of looking for some other
situation. What shall bee ONE o.
poor Naaman's wife? She must haye sym
pathy somewhere. In her despair she
goes to little Hebrew captive. servant
girl in her house, to whom she tells the
story: as sometimes, when oyerbOrne witt
the sorrows of the world, and finding NJ
sympathy anywhere else, you have gont
out and found in the sympathy of some
humble domestic-Rose, or Dinah, OF
Bridget help which the world could
not give you.
What q scene it was?
ONE OF THE GRANDEsT WOMEN
in all Syria in cabinet council with wait
ing maid over the declining health of The
mighty General al know something,
says the little captive maid, 81 know
something" as she bounds to her bare
feet. "In the land from which wa:
stolen there is certain prophet known by
the name of Elisha, who can cure almost
everything, and shouldn't wonder if ht
could cure my master. Send for him righ
away" ''Oh, hushr you say. "If tn
highest medical talent in all the land can
not cure that leper, there is no need OF you
listening to any talk of servant girl.
But do not scof, do not sneer
The finger of that little eaptlv
maid is pointing in the right direction
She might have said: This is Judg
ment on you for stealing me from my ma
tive land. Didn't they snatch me of II
the night, breaking my fathers and moth
er's heart? and many a time have lat
and crisd all night because was so home
siek'' Then flushing up into childis
indignation, she might have said. Coos
for them; I'm glad Naaman's got tn
Ileprosy." No. Forgetting her owo pei
.nnol sorrovs che symnathiyes with th