The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-11-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOK DIV INES SUN
DAY FERN N.
Subject: "The Sick General"

| pIanrisies or rheumnticms or consumptions.
Int with d'soase worse than all these put
| together re5 mark hns come our on the
| forehead. procuraor OF conplete disfcure-
| ment anl dissolution. ! have something
! awful TO toll Won. General Naeman. the
| commander in ch ief % all the Syrian forces.
! has the leprosv, II is on his hands on h's
! free. on his foot on his entire person. The
| rpurnsv, Get out of the way Of the pesti-
| lence, II HE breath strike YOU. Won are
| dead man. The commander in CHIEF o. ALL
| the forces ~ Syria, And vet he would ba
| glad TO EXCHANGE conditions with the hoy at
| his etirrup or the hostler that blankets his
| charger THE news goes like wildfre all
| through the realm. and the people are syn,-
| pathetic. and they cry ont, "Is II possible
that our great hero, who slew Ahah and
around whom we came with snch vocifera-
lion when he returned from victorious bat
tle--ran 81 he noesihle that our Grand and
glorious Naar an has the leprosy?'
Yes. EVERYBODY has something he wishes
he had no'-David. an Absalom to disgrace
him Paul. thorn to sting him job. car
hunces to plague him Samson. n Dalilah
10 shear him Ahab a Nahoth to denv him
Hanan. n Mordeca TO irrtate him George
Washington a chidlessness to affict him
John Wesley, a terma0ant wife to poster
him Leah. weak eyes; Pope. a crooked
hack; Byron. a club foot; John Milton.
blind eyes Charles Lamt an insane sister.
YOU never bargained for and would like to
ret rid o.. The reason of this is that God
does not want this world to he too bright.
Otherwise we would always want to stay and
eat these fruits and lie on these lounges and
shake bands in the pleasant society. We
IRE only in the vestibule Of n grand temple.
God 5ops not want ne to stand on the door
step, and therefore He sends aches and annoy
arces and sorrows and hereavaments of all
sorts o rush us on and push us up toward
ripper fruits and brighter society and more
radiant prcsnerities. 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 pushed
them nef rer mp to it. n God dashes out one
of your pictures. it is only to show TO You q
brighter one. If He sting YOUR foot with
rout Your brain with neuralgia, vourtongue
with an inextingushable thirst, it is only be-
cause He is preparing to suost tute better
body than Won ever dreamed Of when the
mortal shall put on Immortality.
1t is to push YOU on and 10 push you up
toward something grander and better that
God sends upon you. as He did upon Gen
eral Naaman. something you do not want.
Seated in his Syrian mansion. all the walls
glitterng with the shields which he had cap
,ured in battle. the corridors crowded with
admiring visitors who Just wanted to see
him once, music and mirth and hanqueting
1lling all the mansion from tessellated floor
10 pictured ceiling. Naaman would have for
gotten that there was anything better and
would have been glad to stay there 10, 900
years. But. oh, how the shields dim, and
how the visitors fly the hall, and how the
music drops dead from the string, and how
the gates OF the mansion slam shut with
sepuchral bang as you read the closing
words OF the eulogium "He was a leper
He was a leperp
There was ons person more sympathetic
with General Naaman than anv other per-
son. Naamnn's wife walks the floor, wiring
ing her hands and trying to think what she
can do to alleviate her husbands suffering.
All remedies have failed. The surgeon gen.
eral and the doctors of tho royal staff have
met. and they have shaken their heads, as
much MS to say "No cure. no cure" think
that the office seekers had all folded up .heir
recommendations and gone home. Probably
most of the employees OF the establishment
had dropped their work AM were thinking
Of looking for some other situation. What
shall now become of poor Naaman's wife!
She must have sympathy somewhere. In
her despair she goes to little Hebrew cap
tive. n servant girl in her house, to whom
she tells the whole story, rs sometimes.
when ovarborne by the sorrows ofthe world
and finding no sympathy anywhere else, YOU
have gone out and found in the sympathy
of some humble domestic-Rose or Dnah or
Bridget help which the world could not
give you.
What Il scene it was-one of the grandest
women in all Syria in cabinet council with u
waiting maid over the declining health OF
tne mighty general! ~ know something"
says the little captive maid, II know some
thing" as she boun Is to her bare feet SIN
the land from itch / was stolen there is
cer,ain prophet known by the name of
Elisha. WHO can cure almos. anything, and
l shouldn't wonder if he could cure my
master. nd for him right away" "Oh,
hush " you say. "lf the highest medical
talent in all the land cannot cure that leper
there is no need of your listening to any talk
| OF n servant girl" But do not scott, do not
| sneer. The finger OF that little captive maid
| is pointing in the right direction. She might
have said This is n jud gment upon you
| for stealing me from my native land. Didn't
they snatch me off in the night, breaking my
| fathers and mothers hearts, and many Il
| time have lain and cried all night because
| l was so homesick?" Then, flushing up
| into childish indignation, she might have
said ''Good for them. I'm glad Naaman's
| got the leprosy. / wish all the Syrians had
| the leprosy." No. Forgetting her personal
sorrows, she sympathizes with the suffering
OF her master and commends him to the
| famous Hebrew prophet.
And how often 1t is that the finger of
childhood has pointed grown persons in tho
right direction! o Christian soul. how long
is 1t since you got rid of the leprosy OF sin?
| You say, LET me see. 1t must be five years
| now" Five years Who was it that pointed
| you TO tue DIVINE Physician? "Oh, you
say, lit was my little Annie or Fred or
Charley that clamered up on my knees and
looked into my face and asked me why
tidnt become a Christian, and, all the
time stroking my cheek, so L could
not get angry, insisted upon knowing why
didn't have family prayers" There are
gran parents VINO have been brought 10
Chris, py their lutte grandchildren. There
| are huulrrcs OF CHRISTIAN mothers who had
their attention first ca lei to Jesus by their
little childrpr. How dill you get rid of the
lepr sy o. SIM How did you find your way
Mo The Divine Physician? "Oh." you say,
my enid, my dying child. with wan
and wasted finger, pointed that way
Oh, | never shall forget you say, "iha1
Sc ne at the cradle and the crib that awfu
night. II was hard, hard, very hard, but i
that little one on its dying bed had no
pointed me 10 Christ / don't think | evel
would have got rid OF my leprosy." Go intt
the Sabbnth-school any Sunday, and you viii
find hundreds OF little fingers pointing in the
same direct Oh, toward Jesus Christ and to
| ward heaven.
| Years ago the astronomers calculated tina