The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-11-28
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvTNES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ''The Sick General"

but with disease worse than all these put
together. A red mark has come out on the
forehead, precursor of complete disfieure-
ment and dissolution. I have something
awful TO tell you. General Naqman. the
commander in chief of ali the Syrian forces,
has the leprosy! It is on his hands, on his
face, on his feet. on his entire person. The
Teprosy! Get out of the way of the pesti-
lence! II his breath strike you. you are a
dead man. The commander in chief o. ALL
the forces of Syria And yet he would De
glad TO exchange conditions with the boy at
his stirrup or the hostler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wiidfre all
through the realm, and the people are svm-
pathetic, and they cry ont, "Is 1t possible
that our great hero, WHO slew Ahab and
around whom we came with such vocifera-
tion when he returned from victorious bat
tle-can it be possible that orr grand and
glorious Naaman has the lepresy"
Yes. Everybody has something he wishes
be had not-David. an Absalom to disgrace
him Paul, a thorn to sting him JOB, car
bunches to plague him Samson, DeIilah
to shear him Ahab, Nahoth to deny him
Haman, a Mordecai to irritate him; George
Washington, a childlessness to af1ict him;
John Wesley, termagant wife to poster
him; Leah, weak eyes; Pope, 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 bargained for and would like to
get rid of. The reason of this is that GOD
does not went this world TO be too bright.
Otherwise we would always want to stay and
eat these fruits and lie on these lounges and
shake hands in the pleasant society. We
are only in the vestibule of grand temple.
God does not want US to stand on the door
step, and therefore He sends aches and annoy
eDces and sorrows and bereavements OF all
sorts 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 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 nearer I'D to ii. IF God dashes out enc
of your pictures it is only to show to YOU
brighter one. If He sting your foot with
govt, your brain with neuralgia, your tongue
with an inextingushable thirst, tits only be-
cause He is preparing to substitute 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 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
glittering with the shields which he had cap
tured in battle, the corridors crowded with
him once music and mirth and banqueting
filling all the mansion from tessellated floor
to pictured ceiling, Naaman would have for
gotten that there was anything 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 eulogium! "He was leper
He was leper p
There was one person more sympathetic
with General Naaman than any other per-
son. Naaman'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 the royal staff have
met, and they have shaken their heads, as
much as to say. "No cure, sno cure. " think
that the Office seekers had all folded up sheir
recommendations and gone home. Probably
most of the employees of the establishment
had dropped their work and 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, servant girl in her house, to whom
she tells the whole story, as sometimes,
when overborne by the sorrows of the world
and finding no sympathy anywhere else, you
have gone out and found in the sympathy
of some humble domesttc-Rose or Dinah or
Bridget-a help which the world could not
give you.
What q scene it WaS-One OF the grandeSt
women in all Syria in cabinet council with a
waiting maid over the declining health of
the mighty general! II know something"
says the little captive maid, II know some
thing" as she bounds to her bare feet. sin
the land from wnich I was stolen there is a
certain prophet known by the namo OF
Elisha, who can cure almost anything, and
I shouldn't wonder if he could cure my
master. Send for him right away" ooh,
hush !" 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 a servant girl" But do not scof, do not
sheer. The finger OF that little captive maid
is pointing in the right direction. She might
have said "This is a judgment 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 a
time have lain and cried all night because
I was so homesick?" Then, flushing up
into childish indignation, she might have
said: "Good for them. I'm glad Naaman's
got the leprosy. l 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 it is that the finger OF
childhood has pointed grown persons in the
! right direction! o Christian soul, how long
is it 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 the Divine Physician? son, you
| say, st was my little Annie or Fred or
| Charley that clamered up on my knees and
| looked into my lace and asked me why
didn't become a Christian, and, all the
time stroking my cheek, SO I could
not get angry, insisted upon knowing why
| didn't have family prayers" There are
grandparents who have been brought to
| Christ by their little grandchildren. There
| are hundreds of Christian mothers who had
j LII L. L.. LII.