The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-11-21

nooo anu anguish nave gone out OF tno
limbs. Why" he says, 81 am almost
well, but / will make complete cure"
and he bows the seventh time
into the food and comes up, and not so
much as fester or scale, or an erup-
tion as big as the head of pin is to be
seen on him. He steps out on the bank
and says: SIS it possible?" And the
attendants look and say: 'Is 1t possi-
ble?" And as, with the health Of an
athlete, he bounds back into the char
lot and drives on, there goes up from
all his attendants wild "Huzzal HUI
zaF OF course they go back to pay
and thank the man of God for his coun-
sci, SO fraught with wisdom. When
they left the prophets house they
went off mad; they have come back
glad. People always think better of
minister after they have been converted
than they do before conversion. Now
we are to them an intolerable nuisance,
because we tell them to do things that
go against the grain; but some of us
have great many letters from those
who tell us that once they were angry
at what we preached, but afterwards
gladly received the gos pei at our hands.
They once called us fanatics, or terror
lists, or enemies! Now they call US
friends Yonder is a man who said he
would never come into the church
again. He said that two years ago. He
said: my family shall never come here
again If such doctrines as that are
preached" But he came again, and
HE family came again. He is Chris
tian, his wife is Christian, all his
children Christians, the whole house
hold Christians, and you shall dwell
with them in the house of the Lord for
ever. Our undying coadjutors are
those who once heard the gospel, and
went away in rage"
Now, my hearers, you know that this
Gen. Naaman did two things in order
to get we'll. The first was-he got out
of his chariot. He might have stayed
there with his swollen feet on the
stuffed ottoman, seated on that en-
broidered cushion, until his last gasp,
he would never have got any relief.
He had to get down out of his chariot.
And you have got to get down out OF
the chariot of your pride If you ever
become Christian. You cannot drive
up to the cross with a coach and four
and be saved among all the spangles.
You seem to think that the Lord is
going to be complimented by your
coming. o, no, you poor, miserable,
scaly leprous sinner, get down out OF
that. We all come in the same naughty
way We expect to ride iuto the king
dom of God. Never, until we get down
on our knees will we find mercy. The
Lord has unhorsed us, uncharioted us.
Get down out of your pride. Get down
out of your self-righteousness and your
hypercriticism. We have all got to do
that. That is the journey we have to
make on our knees. 1t is our Internal
pride that keeps us from getting rid of
our leprosy Of sin. Dear Lord, what
have we to be proud of? Proud OF our
scalesP Proud of our uncleanliness?
Proud of this killing infection? Bring
us down at Thy feet, weeping, praying,
penitent, believing, supplicants.
For sinners, Lord, Thou cam'st to bleed,
And I'm sinner vile indeed
| Lord, believe Thy grace is free,
o, magnify that grace In me.
But he had not only to get down out
of his chariot. He had to wash. "O,"
you say, II am very careful with my
ablutions. Every day I plunge into a
bright and beautiful bath" All, my
, hearer, there is food brighter than
any that pours from these hills. 1t is
the flood that breaks from the granite
of the eternal hills. 1t is the food of
pardon, and peace, and life and Heaven.
| That flood started in the tears of Christ,
and the sweat of Gethsemane, and
rolled on, accommodating food, until all
earth and heaven could bathe in it.
Zechariah called it the fountain open
| for sin and uncleanliness William
Cowper called it the fountain filed
with blood" Your fathers and mothers
washed all their sins and sorrows away
in that fountain. o, my hearers, do
you not feel like wading into it? Wade
down now into this glorious flood,
deeper, deeper, deeper Plunge once,
twice, thrice, four times five times, six
| times, seven times. 1t will take as
much as that to cure your soul. o
wash, wash, wash, and be clean.
/ suppose that was great time at
Damascus when Gen. Naaman got
back. The charioteers did not have to
drive slowly any longer, lest they jolt
the invalid; but as the horses dashed
through the streets of Damascus, /
think the people rushed out to hail
back their chieftain. Naaman's wife
hardly recognized her husband; he was
SO wonderfully changed she had to
| look at him two or three times before
she made out that it was her restored
husband And the little captive maid,
she rushed out, clapping her hands, and
shouting: "Did he cure your Did he
cure you?" Then music woke up
the palace, and the tapestry was
drawn away, that the multitude
outside might mingle with the prince
ly mirth inside, and the feet went
up and down in the dance, and all the
streets of Damascus that night echoed
and re-echoed with the news: "Naa.
mans cured! Naaman's curedw But
a gladder time than that it would be if
your soul should get cured of its lep.
rosy. The swift white horses hitched
to the kings chariot would rush the
news into the eternal city. Our loved
ones before the throne would welcome
the glad tidings. Your children on
earth, with more emotion than the little
/ ~, ,.,A.,1I q L.