The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-15
aTHE PROUD INVALID
REV. r. DEWITT TALMAGE'S SER
MON AT THE TABERNACLE.

Everybody Has Something He wi-hes
he Had Sot-God Does Not Wish to
Make this World So Bright that We
Shall Forget the Brighter.
BROOKLYN, DEF 12-The Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, d. D., preached this morning from
the text, III Kings, v, I: HHe was leper
He said:
Here we have warrior sick, not with
pleurisics orrheunatisrns or consiiYnrt ioIls but
with disease worse than all these put to
gether A red mari; has come out on the fore
head, precursor OF complete Disagreement
and dl solution. / have something awful b.
tell you Cen. Eaaman, the corlmander-in-
chief Of ali the Syrian forces, has the
leprosy. II IS on his hands, on his face, on
hi5 feet, on his entire person. Tho leprosy.
CT out Of the way OF the pestileucoi II lis
breath strikes you you are a dead man. The
commander in--hief Of all the forces Of
SYRIA And yet he would be glad TO ex-
change conditions with The boy at his stirlup
OF the hossler that blankets his charger. The
news goes ike wiidire all through tho realm,
and the people are sympathetic and they cry
out: as it possible that our great hero who
shot Ahab, and around whom we came with
such vOciferation when be returned from
victorious battie-can IL be possible that our
grand and glorious Naaman has the leprosyl7
Yes. Everybody has something he wishes
he had nos-David, an Absalon1 to disgrace
him; Paul a thorn TO sting him; job, car
buncles TO plague him; Samson, a Deliah TO
shear him; Ahab, a Naboth 70 deny him;
Haman, Mordecai TO irritate him; George
Washington, ehildlessness to afFlict him:
John Wesley, a termagant wife 10 poster him;
Leah, weak eyes; Pope. a crooked back;
Byron, club foot; John Milton, blind eyes:
Charles Lamb, insane sister; and you, and
you, and you, and you, something which you
never barGained for and would like to get
ril o. The reason Of this Is, that God does
not want this world 70 be too bright; other
wise, we would always want 10 stay and eat
these fruits and Ito on these lounges and
shake hands In this pleasant society. We are
only ia the vestibuie Of grand temple. God
docs not want US 70 stay on the doorstep, and
therefore be sends aches, and annoyances,
and sorrows, and bereavements Of all sorts to
push u7 on and push us up toward ripper
fruits and brighter society, and more radiant
properties. God is only whipping US ahead.
The reason that Edward Payson and Robert
Han had more ropturous views Of heaven than
other people bad was because, through their
aches and pains, God pushed them nearer up
~ it. II God dasbes out one Of your pictures
st is only % show you brighter one. If He
sting your foot with govt, your brain with
neuralgia, your tongue with an incxtinguisb-
abe thirst, 1t is only because lie is preparing
g substitute n better body than you ever
dreamed OF, when the mortal shall put ON inn
mortality. 1t is 10 push you on and push you
M toward something grander and better that
Cod sends upon you as Ho did upon General
Naanan, something YOU do not want. Seated
iu his Syrian mansioI--all the walls glitter
iny with the shields which lie had captured
In battle: the corridors crowded with nd
mi ing visitors who just wanted to sec him
orc; music AMI Eirta and bauqueting filing
ali the INFUSION, from tesselated floor to pic
III. ed eeiiing-Nannan would have forgotten
that there was anything better, and would
have been glad TO stay there 10000 years.
But. oh, how the shields dim, and how the
visitors ~ from the hall and how the music
drops dead from the string and how the
gates Of the mansion slam Shut with sepulchral
bang, as you read the closing words Of the
euosum: "He was a leperl He was
lepcr"
There was one person more sympathetic
vi General Naaunn than any other person.
Naamlns wife walks the floor, wrinGing her
hlnds and trying % think what she can do to
alleviate her husbands suffering All RENE
d e. have failed The surgeon general and
thu doctors OF the royal staff have met, and
they have shaken their heads much as to
say: No cure no cure" / think that the
office seekers had all folded up their recon-
nlenlati0ns and gone home Probably most
OF the employees of the establishment had
d. Popped their work and were thinking of
looking for some other situation. What shall
nov become Of poor Naaman's wifei She
must have sympathy somewhere. In her de
spair she goes to n little Hebrew captive, n
servant girl in her house, 10 whom she tells
tho whole story, as sometimes when over
borne with the sorrows of the world and
finding no sympathy anywhere else, you have
gone out and found in the sympathy of some
humble domestic Rosa or Dinnh or Bridget
IA help which the world could not give you.
What a scene It was One OF tho grandest
women in all Syria in cabinet council with a
waiting maid over the declining health of the
mighty general Il know something says
the little captive maid, Il know somethingS'
as she bounds 20 her bare feet. an the land
from which was stolen there is a certain
prophet known by the name of Elisha, who
can cure almost everything, and shouldn't
wonder II he could cure my master. Send
for him right away" "Oh, hushg" you say.
"If the highest medical talent in all the land
caunot cure that leper there is no need of
your listening TO any talk Of SER
want girl" But do not scott, do not
sheer The finger of that little captive
maid is pointing in the right direction. She
might have said This is d Judgment on you
for stealing me from my native land Didn't
they snatch me Off in the night breaking my
fathers and mothers hearth and many n
time have laid and cried all night because /
was SO homesick' Then flushing up into
childish Indignation she might have said:
"Gool for them; I'm glad Haamans got the
leprosy; / wish oil the Syrians had the
leprosy.' No. Forgetting her own personal
sorrows, she sympathizes With the suffering
OF her master and recommends him to the
famous Hebrew prophet
And how often it is that the finger Of child
hood has pointed grown persons in tho right
direction. o Christian soul, how long is ii
since that you got rid Of the leprosy of sini
You say; LOT me see. 1t must be five years
now" Five years. Who was it that point
ell you TO tho Divine Physicianr "Oh," you
say, 1T was my little Annie or Fred or Char
ley, WHO clambered up on my knees and
looked in my face aud asked me why didn't
become q Christian, and, all the time strok-
ing my cheeks l couldn't get angry, in
sistel upon knowing why | didn't have fam
Dy prayers" There are grandparents hero
who have been brought 10 Christ by their
little grandchildren. There arc many
Clris.iln mothers here Who had their
attention first callel to Jesus by their
littlo children. How did yoa get rid
Of tho lcprosy o; sial 10. did you fad your
way to tho Divine Physician: ~Ua," you
say, any child, ny dying child. with wan
and wasted finger pointed that wayl Oh,
shall never forget You say, 'taat scene as
the cradle and tho crib that awful niShs 1t
was hard, harl, worry hard; bus il that little
ono on its dying bed had not pointed me to
Christ, don't think / ever would have got
rid OF my ieprosy." Go into the Sabbath
school this afternoon and you win find hun
dreds of little fingers pointing in the same
direction toward Jesus Christ and toward
heaven
Years ago the astronomers calculated that
there must be a world hanging at a certain
point IN the heavens, and large prize was
offered for some one who could discover that
world. The telescopes from the great OBJ
servatories were pointed in vain, but a Girl
at Nantucket, Mass, fashioned a telescope
and, looking through it, discovered that star,
and won the prize and the admiration Of all
the astronomical world, that stood amazed at
her genius. And SO it is often the case that
grown people cannot see the light. while
some little child beholds the star of pardon,
the star OF hope, the star Of consolation, the
star of Bethlehem, tn morning star of Jesus.
Not many mighty men, not many wise
men arc called; but God hath chosen
the weak things of the world TO
confound the mighty; and base things
and things that are not to bring to
naught things that are Oh. do not despise
the prattle of little children when they are
speaking about God. and Christ, and heaven,
You SEQ the way your child is pointing; win
youatake that pointing or wait until, in the
wrench of some awful bereavement, God shall
lift that child to another world, and then it
viii beckon You upwardl win you take the
pointing or viii You wait for the beckoninga
Blessed be God that the lissle Hebrew captive