Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-24

No wonder the a1Vlce OF JnlS little Hebrew
captive threw all Naaman's mansion and
Ben-hadads palace into excitement Good
bye, Naaman! With face scarified and ridged
and inilamed by the pestilence and aided
by those who supported him on either sida,
he staggered out to the cha ut Hold fast
the fiery coursers of the royal stable while
the poor sick man lifts his swollen feet and
paiu-struck limbs into the vehicle. Bolster
him up with the pillows and let him take a
lingering look at his bright apartment, for
perhaps the Hebrew captive may lie mistaken,
and the next time Naanlan comes to that
place he may he q dead weight on thu shoul-
degs of those who carry him-an expired
chieftan seeking sepulture amid the lamenta-
tions of an admiring nation. Good bye, Naa-
mani
Let the charioteer drive gently over the
hills of Hermon lest he jolt the invalid. Here
goes the bravest man of all his day captive
of horrible disease. As the ambulance
winds through the streets of Damascus the
tears and prayers of all Tire people 60 after
the world-renOwne inv~dde Perhaps you
have had an invalid go out from your house
on health excursion. You know how the
neighbors stood around and said: "Ah, he
will never come back again alive Oh,
1t was a solemn moment | tell you when
the invalid had departed and you went
into the room to make the bed,
aud to remove the medicine phi ais from the
shelf and to throw open 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 fare of the little Hebrew captive, who is
sure he will get cured and who is 50 glad she
helrel him. As the chariot winds out and
the escort of mounted courtiers aud the
mules ladened with lacks of gold and silver
and embroidered suits of apparel went
through the gates of Damascus and out on
the long way, the hills of Naphtali and Eph
rain look down on the proce sion, and the
retinue goes right past the battlefields where
Naamau, in the days of his health used to
rally his troops for fearful onset, and then
the procession stops and recliues while in
the groves of olives and oleander-and Gen
eral Naaman so sick; SO very, very sickl
How the countrymen ga ed as the process
sion passedl They had seen Naaman go past
like whirlwind in days gone by, and had
stood aghast at the clank of his war eIuio-
ments but now they commiserats him.
They say: "Poor man, he will never get
home alive Poor man!n General Naaman
wakes up from restless sleep in the chariot,
and he says to the charioteer: "How long
before we shall reach this Prophet Elisha'S"
The charioteer says to a wavsider: How
far is it to Elisha's house" Hesays: 1.-Two
miles" 1.-TWO miles" Then they whip up
the lathered and fagged-out horses. The
rect of speedy arrival. They drive up to
the door of the prophet. The charioteers
shout whoa" to the horses, and the tramp
ing hoofs and grinding wheels cease shaking
the earth.
Come out, Elisha, come out; you have
company; the grandest company that ever
came to yo1r house has come to it now, No
stir inside Elisha's house. The fact was, the
Lord had informed Elisha th t the 81 * cap
tain ppT1inu nn1 bo, =
Indeed, when you are sick ami thu Lord
wants you to get well, He always tells the
doctor how to treat you; and the reason we
have so many bunglng doctSrS is because
they depend upon their own strength and in
Structlons ami not ON the Lord God, and
that always makes malpractice. Come out,
Elisha, and attend to your business. Gen
eral Naaman and his retinue waitad 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 Eli
sha sits quietly in his house and does not go
odt After while, when he thinks he has
humbled this prold man, he says to SER
want: "Go out and tell General Naaman to
bathe seven times in the river Jordan, out
yonder five miles, and he will get entirely
welln
The message comes out "Whatn says the
Commander-in- Chief of the Assyrian forces,
his eye kindling with animation which it had
not shown for weeks, and his swollen foot
stamping on the bottom of the chariot, re-
gardless of pain. what Isn't he coming
out to see me! Why, | thought certainly he
would come and utter some cahalistc words
over me or make some tnigmatica passes
over my wound. Why, | don't think he
knows who am; Isn't h ,omiug OUT Why,
when the Shunamte woman came to him, he
rushed out and cried: IS it well with thee! Is
it well with thy husband: Is il well with the
chiIdP and will he treat a p or unknown
woman like that and lot me, titled p,rson-
age, sit here in my chariot and wait aud
wait3 | won't endure it any longer. Chariot
eer, drive on Wash in the Jordan Ha!
ha! The Shiny Jorlan--the muddy Jordan -
the monotonous Jordan. i wouldn't tie seen
washing in such river as that Why, we
watered our horses in better river than
that on our way here, the beautiful river, the
jasper-p paved river of Pharpar. Besides that,
we have in our country another Damascene
river, ALBANIA, with foliaged bank and torrent
ever swift and ever clear, under the flicker
ing shadows of sycamore and oleander. Are
not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers OF Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israeli
l suppose Naaman felt very much as we
would feel if, by way of medical prescrip
tion some one should tell us to go and wash
in the Danube or the Rhine. We would an
swer! Are not the Connecticut and the
Hudson just as good" Or, rs an Englshman
would feel If he were told, by way of me IL
cal prescription, he must go and wash in the
Mississippi or the St Lawrence He would
cry out: "Are not the ThaTes and the Shan
non just as well!' The fact was, that naughty
Naaman needed to learn what every Eng
lishmen and every American needs to learn
that when God tells you to do a thing, you
must go and doit, whether you understand
the reason or not. Take the prescription,
whether you like it or not. One thing is cer-
tain; unless naughty Naanan does as Elisha
commands him, he will die of his awful sick
ness. And unless YOU do as Christ COM
mands you, you will be seized upon by an
everlasting wasting way Obey and live
disobey and die. Thrilling, over-archng,
under-girding, stuuendous ALTERNATIVES
Well, General Naamau could not stand the
test. The charioteer gives jerl 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 indi 3nation of the great
commander. He turned and went away in
rage" SO people now often get mad at re-
ligion. Tdey vituperate against minister's
against churches, sgainst Christian people.
One would think from their irate behavior
that God had been studying how to annoy
and eyasperate and demolish them. What
has He BEEN doings Only trying to cure
their death-dealing leprosy. That i, all. YET
they whip up their horses, they dig in the
spurs and they go away in rage.
So, after all, it seems that this health OK
cursion of General 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 as we'll not have
been taken. Poor, sick, dying Naamanl
Are you going away in high dldgeon an
worse than when you came! AS his chariot
halts moment, his servants Chamber up in
it and coax him to do as Elisha said. They
say: "Its easy. If the prophet hal told
you to walk for mile on sharp spikes in or
der 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. Yon
take bath every day anyhow, and in this
climate it is so hot it will do you good. Do
it on our account and for the sake of the
n,.n,,- ,tn,, no,,,u,and nrd Co. the sal.n 81 IL.