The Penn's Grove record., 1894-11-23
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
TIE BROOKLYN DTvIvh. SUN.
DAY SERMON.


Here we have a warrior siok, not with
pieurisies or rheu nrfisms or consumDfjons.
but with a disease worse than all these pui
together. AIRED mark has come out IN tbs
forehead. precursor OF co rplate disfgure.
ment and dissolution. I hava sometime
awtn to tell yop. General Naeman. tbs
commander in chief Of all the Syrian forces,
has the leprosyi It Is ON his hsuis, on his
face, on his feet. on his entire person. The
leprosy! Get out of the way OF the pesti.
lence! II HE breath strike you. you are
dead man. The commander in chief o. all
the foEces Of SYRIA And yet he would b.
glad TO exchange conditions with the hoy al
his stirrup or the hostler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wiidhre all
through the realm, and the people are svm-
pathetic. and they cry out, els 1t possible
that our great hero, who slew Ahab and
around whom we came with such vocifera-
tion wi en- he returned from victorious bat.
tle--can II 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 ; Pau, a thorn to sting him JOB, car
huucles to plague him ; Samson, a Delilah
to shear him ; Ahab. a Naboth to denv him
Hamar, q Mordecai to irritate him ; George
Washington, a ohildlessness to afiist him
John Wesley, q termagant wife to poster
him; Leah, weak eyes; Pope, a crooked
back; Byron, a club foot John Milton,
blind eyes ; Charles Lamb, an insane sister,
and you and you and you something which
you never bnrgained for and would Ike ia
get rid o.. The reason OF this Is that God
does not. want this world to be too bright. .
Other wise we would always want to stay and
eat these fruits and lie on these lounges and
shake hands In the pleasant society. WI
are only in the vestibule OF a grand temple.
HnA Inoo nrt urank Ne - uknnA - kknA1Anr
step, and therefore He sends aches and annoy
nnces and sorrows and bereavements of all
sorts TO push us on and push as up toward
ripper fruits and brighter society and more
radiant pros oaritiee. God Is only whipping
us ahead. The reason that Edward Payson
and Robert Hallhad more rapturous views oil
heaven b other people had was because,
through their aches and pains. God pushed
them nesrer up to it, II God dashes out enc
brighter one. II He sting your foot with
govt, your brain with neuralgia, your tongue
with an inextir. ushable thirst, II is only be-
cause He is preparing to subst; tute q better
body b you ever dreamed OF, when The
mortal shall put on Immortality.
It Is to push you on and to push you up
something granier and better that
God sends upon you, al He did upon Cen
eral Nasman, something you do not want.
Seated In HIS Syrian mansion. all the walls
glittering with the shields which he had cap
tured in battle, the corridors crowded with
admiring visitors who just wanted to see
him once, music ard mirth and ~banqueting
filing all the mansion from tessellated floor
TO pictured ceiling, Naaman would have for.
gotten that there was anything better aut
wonld have been clad to stay there 10, 900
years, But, oh, hossxshe shields dim, and
how the visitors fy 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 eulogium "He was a leperI
He was a leper"
There was ons person more sympathetic
with General Naamau than any other per-
son. Naaman's wife walks the ioor. wiring
her hands and trying to think what she
can do to alleviate her husbands suffering.
All remedies have failed, The surgeon gem
e-al and the doctors OF the royal STAFF have
met. and they have shaken their heals, as
much as to say. hNo cure, no cure" l think
that the ONCE seekers had all folded up .beir
recommendations and gone home, Probably
most of b employees of the establishment
had dropped their work ami were thinking
OF looking for some other situation. What
shall now becor1S of poor Naanan's Wlfe2
She must have sympathy somewhere. In
her despair she goes to a little Hebrew cap
i've, a servant girl In her house, to whom
u 9 tells the whole story, as sometimes,
wien overborne by the sorrows OF the world
and finding no sympathy anywhere else, you
have gone out and found in the sympathy
some humble domestic-Rose or DineA OF
Bridget--a help which the world could not
give you.
What a scene 1t wns--one OF the grannest
women In all Syria in cabinet council with q
waiting maid over the declining health of
mighty general IT know something"
saws the little captive maid, ~ know some.
as she bounds to her bare feet. hIl
the land fro wlich / was stolen there is q
,eriain prophet known by the name Of
Elisha, who can cure almost anything, and
I shouldn't wonder II he could cure my
master. Send for him right away" "0i,
hush - you say. 'If the highest medical
.alent in all the land cannot sure that leper,
here is no need of your listening to any tale
,f a servant girl" But do not SCOT, do not
,peer. The finger OF that little captive mail
S pointing In the right direction. She might
said ssrhis is a judgment upon you
or stealing me from my native land. Didn't
hey snatch me off in the night. breaking my
and mothers hearts. and many q
ime l have lain and cried all night because
was so homesickY" Then, flushing up
INTO childish indignation, she might haye
aGood for them. I'm glad Naaman's
rot the leprosy. ! wish all the Syrians had
he leprosy." No. Forgetting her personal
,orrows, she sympatnizes with the suffering
IL her master INC commends him to the
iamous Hebrew prophet.
And how often It Is that the finger OF
.htldbood has pointed grown persons In the
light direction o Christian soul. how long
. ii since you got rid Of the leprosy OF sin?
You say, LET ms see. 1t must be five years
- - z nf-... :. HkA x-aa IL Rka4 n4s.fa
'ou to the Divine Physician2 "0a," you
ay, s.it was my little Annie or Fred or
Jharley that clamered up on my knees and
ooked into my face and asked me why /
become a CHRISTIAN, and, all the
stroking my cheek, SO l could
lot get angry, insisted upon knowing why
didn't nave family prayers" There are
grandparents wac have been brought to
thirst by their little grandchildren, There
re hundreds of Christian mothers who had
attention Arst called TO Jesus by their
eprosy OF sin? How did you flnd your way
o the Divine Physician? SOB" you say,
my child, my dying child, with wan
nd wasted finger, pointed that way.
)h, I never shall forget" you say, ''that
at the cradle and the crib that awful
light. 1t was har,, har very hard, but Il
little one on its dying bed had not
ointed me TO Christ I don't think | ever
rould have got rid oil my leprosy." Go into
be Sabbath-scnool any Sunday, and you will
nd hundreds OF little fingers pointing in the
direct on, toward Jesus Christ and to-
ard heaven.
gears ago the astronomers s~,,e-iated fha
mere must be a " rid hanging at a certain
ONT IN the heav ,as, and q large prizs WIS
Tered for some one W 10 could discover that
-orid. The telescopes from the great OBJ
sryatories were pc nted IT, vain, but a girl
/ Nantucket. Mass, las lions1 a telescope,
nd looking throug1 il discovered that star
nd won the pr z > and the admiration Of alt
he astronomical world. that stool amAz "a
/ her genius. And sc il is often the cslsa
lat grown people cannot see the light.
bile soms little eaild beholds the stae OF
the sta Of hope, the star OF conso-
ltiun, the star OF Bethlehem. the morning
OF Jesus. mot many mighty men, not
wise men are called, but God nath
tossn the weak things OF toe world 10 ron- |
the mighty aud base things and things
lat ara I1t 10 brlny to nauHht things that
rev o., do not dssRIse the pratttie Of
oil and Christ aRd heaven. Xou $50 the
ouresildis pointipz. Wllyou takethat
o'nting or wait until. In 1.-THE wrench 0 fsorne
bereavement. Col shall LIT fhat childl
, another world. and then II will beokonl
gu upw4ri2 Will you take that pointing,
+ will you wait for the 1~eckontng2 Blessa.
Goifis' the lit 8 Hehrsw cap.ivs potAt-
1 Il the M / aivtsfiAs, D.asssd bs God
" tn ,r'nx n ns-trvof Christian ehi.cran.t
" van rr .as aiyiro OF this little He