The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-11-21


Lepers.
BROOKLYN. Nov. 1S.-The Rev. DR..
Talmage has chosen as the subject of to-
days sermon through the press The Sick
General" the text selected being II
Kings V, 1: He was a leper."
Here we have warrior sick, not with
p,eurisies or rheumatisms or c-Es9np-
tons. but with a disease worse than all
these put together. A red mark has come
out on the forehead, precursor of COM
Pete Disagreement and dissolution. I
have something awful to tell you Gen.
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 person. The leprosy! Get out Of
the way Of the pestilence! If his breath
strike you. you are a dead man. The
cOmmander-in-chief of all the forces Of
Syria! And yet he would be glad to eX-
change conditions with the boy at his
stirrup or the hOstler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wildhre all
through the realm, and the people are
sympathetic. and they cry out, rs It
possible that our great hero, who slew
Ahab and around whom we came with
such vociferation when ne returned from
victorious battle-can it be possible that
our grand and glorious Naaman has the
leprosy?"
Yes. Everybody has something ne
wishes he had not-David. an Absa,om to
disgrace him; Paul. a thorn to sting him;
Job. carbuncles TO plague him; Samson, a
Delilah to shear him; Ahab, Naboth to
deny him; H9man. Mordecai to irritate
him; George Washington, chi-d.essness TO
affilct HIM; John Wesley, a termagant
wife 10 poster him; Leah, weak eyes;
Pope, a crooked back; Byron, a club foot;
John Milton. bind eyes; Charles Lamb,
an insane sister, and you and you and you
and you something which you never bar
gained for and would like To get rid Of.
The reason Of this is that God does not
want this world 10 be too right. Other
wise we would always want 10 stay and
eat these fruits and lie on these lounges
and shake hands in this pleasant society.
At the Door of the Temple.
We are only in the vestibule of a grand
temple. God does not want US to stay on
the doorstep. and therefore he sends aches
and annOyances and sOrrOws and bereave-
ments Of all sort to push us on and push
US up toward ripper fruits and brighter
society and more radiant properties.
God IS only whipping us ahead. The rea-
son that Edward Payson and Robert Hall
had more TapturOuS views of heaven than
other people had was because, through
their aches and pains, God pushed them
nearer UP TO il. If God dash out one
Of your pictures, it is only TO show to
you a brighter one. 1t He sting your foot
with govt, your brain with neuralgia
your tongue with inextinguishable
thirst, Il is only because He is preparing
to substitute a better body than you ever
dreamed of when the mortal shall put on
Immortality.
1t is to push you on and to push you
up toward something gTander and better
that God sends upon you, as He did upon
Gen. Naanan, something you do not want.
Seated in his Syrian mansion, all the walls
glittering with the shields which he had
captured in battle, the corridors crowded
with admiring visitors who just wanted TO
see him once, music and mirth and BAN
quoting filling all the mansion from tesseI-
lated floor TO pictured ceiling, Naaman
would have forgotten that there was any
thing better and would have been glad
to stay there 10000 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 sepulchral bang
as you read the closing words Of the eulO-
GUM: He was a leper! He was a
leperI''
Little Child Leads Them.
And how often it is that the finger Of
childhood has pointed grown persons in
the right direction! o Christian soul, how
long is 1t since you got rid Of the Ieprosy
Of sin? You say: Let me see. 1t must
be five years now Five years Who
was It that pointed you to the divine ply
eiclan? All" you say, at was my little
Annie, or Fred, or Charley that clambered
up on my knees and looked into my face
and asked me why 1 didn't become a
Christian, and all the time strOkng my
cheek, 50 1 couldn't get angry insisted
upon knowing why 1 didn't have family
prayers" There are grandparents who
have been brought to Christ by their little
grandchildren. There are hundreds of
Christi3n mothers who had their attention
first called To Jesus by their little chill
dren. How did you get rid Of the leprosy
OF SIM How did you find your way TO
the divine physician? oh" You say.
my child, my dying child, with wan and
wasted finger pointed that way. Oh, 1
shall never forget" you say, that scene
at the cradle and the crib that awful
night! 1t was hard, hard. very hard. but
II that little one on its dying bed had not
pointed me to Christ I don't think / ever
would have got rid of my leprosy." Go
into the Sabbath-sChOOl any Sunday and
you will find hundreds Of little fingers
pointing in the same direction, toward
Jesus Christ and toward heaven.
There was one person more sympa-
thetic with Gen. Naaman than any other
person Mann ans WIFE walks the floor
wringing her hands and trying TO think
what she can do TO alleviate her hus-
bands suffering. All remedies have failed
The surgeOn-general and the doctors of
the royal staff have met, and they have
shaken their heads, as much as to say.
mo cure, no curei' think that the office
seekers had all folded up their recon-
mendatiOns and gone home. Probably
most of the employees of the establishment
had dropped their work and were think
ing Of looking for some other situation
What shall now become of poor Naaman's
wife, She must have sympathy some
where. In her despair she goes to a little
Hebrew captive, a servant girl in her
house, to whom she tells the whole story.
as sometimes, when overbOrne by the sor-
rows Of the world and finding no sympa-
thy anywher else, you have gone out and
domestic-ROse or Dinah or Bridget-a
help which the world could not give you.
What a scene it was! One of the grand
est women in all Syria in cabinet council
with waiting maid over the declining
health Of the mighty general. Il know
something" says the little captive maid
Il know something" as she bounds to
her bare feet In the land from which
/ was stolen there is a certain prophet
known by the name of Elisha who can
cure almost anything, and l shouldn't
wonder If he could cure my master Send
for him right away" ooh, hushr' you
say. If the highest medical talent in all
the land cannot cure that leper, there is no
need Of your listening TO any talk of n