Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-11-30

him, and that is the face OF the little
Hebrew captive, who is sure he will get
cured, and who is so glad she helped hin.
As the chariot winds out and the escort OF
mounted courtie-s, and che mules, laden
with sacks of gold and silver and en-
broidered suits Of apparel, went through
the gates of Damascus and out on the long
way, the hills of Naphtalia and Ephraim
look down on the procession, and the re-
tinue goes right past the battlefelds where
Eaaman In the days OF his health used to
rally his troops for fearful onset, and then
rue procession stops and recliL as awhile III
the groves of olive and oieander, an
General NaaTan SO sick. so very, very sick
How the couLtrymen gaped as the process
sion passed They had seen Naaman 20
past like a whirlwihd in days gone by and
had stood aghast at the clank OF his war
equipments, but now they com niserate him.
They say "Poor man, he will never get
home alive! Poor man"
General Naamen wakes up from restless
sleep in the chariot. and he says 10 the
eharioteer, "Eow long before we shall reach
the Prophet Elisha2' The charioteer says to
a waysider, "How far is it to Elisha 3
houseY" He saya, 1.-TWO miles" Two
niles?" Then they whip up the laihered
and tagged out horses. TBS whole procession
| srightens up at the prospect OF speedy ar
| rival. They drive up to the door OF tho
prophet. The characters shout Whoa" to
the horses, and tramDing hoofs and grinding
|
Elisha, come out. You have company. The
| grandest company that ever came to your
house has come to 1t now. No stir inside
Elisha's house. The fact was, the Lord had
! informed Elisha that the sick captain was
| coming and how to treat him. Indeed. wnen
you are sick and the Lord wants you to get
| well, He always tells the doctor how to treat
you, and the reason we have 50 many
| bungling doctors is because they depend
upon their own strength and instructions
and not on the Lord God, and that always
| makes MALPRACTICE Come out, Elisha, and
| attend to your business.
General Naaman and his retinue waited
and waited and waited. Tho fact was,
| Naaman had two diseases-pride and
! leprosy. The one was as hard TO get rid of
as the other. Elisha sits quietly in mis-
! house and does not go out. After awhile.
when he thinks he has humblei this proud
| man, he says to a servant, go out AMI tell
| General Naaman to battle seven times in the
river Jordan, out yonder five miles, and he
will get entirely we'll" The message comes
out "What ~ says the commander-in-chief
of the Syrian forces his eye kindling with
an animation which it had not shown for
| weeks and his swollen foot stamping Oh the
| bottom of the chariot, regardless of pain.
| "What Isn't he coming out to see me!
! Why, I thought certainly he would come and
utter some cabalistic words over me or make
| some enigmatical passes over my wounds.
| Why, I don't think he knows who I
| am. Isn't he coming out2 Why, when
| the Shunamite woman came to him, he
| rushed out and cried: is it we'll with thee?
| Is it we'll with thy husband? Is it well with
thy chiIdr And will he treat a poor I'M
| known woman like that and let me, a titled
| parsonage, sit here in my chariot and wait
| and wait? I won't endure it any longer.
| Charioteer. drive on! Wash In the Jordan
Ha, ha The Shiny Jordan-the muddy Jor-
| dan-the monOtOnous Jordan! l wouldn't
be seen washing in such a river as that.
| Why, we Watered our horses in better river
than that on our way here-the beautiful
river, the jaspar paved river of Pharpar. Be-
sides that we have in our country another
Damascene river, ALBANIA, with foliaged bank
and torrent ever swift and ever clear, under
the Pickering shadows of sycamore and OLE
ander. Are not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers
of Damascus, better than all the waters Of
Israeli"
1 suppose Naaman felt very much as
Americans would feel it, by way of medical
prescription, some one should tell US to 20
wash in the Danube or the Rhine. We
would answer, care not the Connecticut and
the Hudson just as good?' Or us an Eng
lishman would feel If he were told, by way
OF medical prescription, he must go and
wash in the Mississippi or the st. Law
renee. He would cry out, care not the
Thames and the Shannon Just as WelI?'
The fact was that naughty Naaman needed
10 learn what every Englishman and every
tells you to do thing you must go and do
it, whether you understand the reason or not.
Take the prescription, whether you like it or
not. One thing is certain. Unless naughty
Naaman does as Elisha commands him, he
will die of his awful sickness. And unless
you do as Christ commands you you will be
seized upon by an everlasting wasting away.
Obev and live disObey and die. Thrilling
overarchlng, underglrdlng, stupendous
alternative
cIo 4 &I,z
test. The charioteer gives jerk to the right
line until the bit snaps in the horses mouth,
and the whir of the wheels and the flying OF
the dust show the Indignation of the great
commander. "He turned and went away in
a rage" So people now often get mad at
religion. They vituperate against ministers,
against churches, against Christian people.
One would think from their irate behavior
that God had been studying how to annoy
and exasperate and demolish them. What
has He been doing? Only trying to cure
their death dealing leprosy. That is all
Yet they whip up their horses, they dig il
the spurs, and they go away in a rage.
So, after ALL 1t seems that this health eX-
cursion of General Naaman is to be a dead
failure. That little Hebrew captive might as
well have not told him of the prophet, and
this long Journey might as we'll not have
been taken. Poor, sick. dying Naamau
Are you going away in high dudgeOn and
worse than when you came? As his chariot
hats mome:.t his servants Chamber up in
it and coax him to do as Elisha said. They
say: "It's easy. If the prophet had told
you to walk tor mile on sharp spikes in or.
der to get rid of this awful disease, you
would have done it. 1t is easy. Come, my
lord, Just get down and wash in the Jordan.
You take bath every day anyhow, and in
this climate it is 50 hot that it will do you
good. Do it on our account, and for the
sake of the army you command, and for the
nation that admires you. Come, ny lord
just try this Jordanic BATH ''Well.'
he says, "to please you will
do as you say" The retfnue
drive TO the brink of the Jordan. The horses
paw and neigh to get into the stream them
selves and cool their hot TANKS. General
Naaman. assisted by his attendants, gets
down out of his chariot and painfully comes
to the brink e. the river and steps in until
the water comes to the ankle, and goes on
deeper until the water comes to the girdle.
and now standing so tar down in the stream
just little inclination Of the head will
thoroughly tmmerse him. He bows once
into The food and comes up and shakes the
water out of nostril and eye, and his attend
how much better you do lookr'
And he bows a second time into
the flood and comes up, and the
wild stare is gone out of his eye He
bows the third time into the food and comes
up, and the shriveled skin has got smooth |
and comes up, and the hair that had fallen
out IS restored : there are thick locks again
all over the head. He bows the fifth time
into the flood, and comes up, and the hoarse- |
ness has gone out of his throat. He bows
the sixth time and comes up, and all the
soreness and anguish have gone out of the |
body. "Why," he says, 81 am almost we'll, |
but l will make a complete cure, and so he |
bows the seventh time into the food and he |
comes up, and not so much as a tester or a |
scale or an eruption as big as the head of a |
pin is to be seen on him.
He steps out on the bank and says, ''Is It
poss1ble?" And the attendants look and say.
us it possible?" And as with the health of |
an athlete he bounds back into the chariot |
and drives on there goes up from all his at
PENDANTS wild "Huzza, huzza! OF course |
they go back to pay and thank the man of |
GOD for his counsel 50 fraught with wisdom. |
When they lett the prophets house, they |
went off mad. They have come back glad. |