The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1894-11-28
THE SICK GENERAL.
Rev. t. De Witt TalmaSo Dowens on the
Leprosy of Sin.

Rev. T. De Witt Taima@so DoweIls on 'he
Leprosy of Sin.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 18.-Rev. DIR. Tai
mage has choseas the subject OF today,s
sermon through the press The Sick
General" the text selected being Il
Kings Y, l, He was a leper.
Here we have a warrior sick, not
with pleurisies orrheumatisms or con-
sumptions. but with a disease worse
than all these put together. a red
mark has come out on the forehead,
precursor of complete Disagreement
and dissolution. | have something
awful to tell you. General 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 pestlenee
If his breath strike you, youare a deaa
man. The commander in chief OF all
: the forces of Syria! And yet he would
be clad to exchange conditions with the
boy at his strirrup or the hostler that
blankets his charger. The news goes
like wildfre all through the realm, and
the people are sympathetic, and they
cry out, Is it possible that our great
hero. who slew Ahab and around
whom we came with such vocteratlon
when he returned from victorious bat,
tle-can it be possible that our grand
and glorious Naamen has the leprosyF
Yes. Everybody has something he
wishes he hadnot-David, an Absalom
to disgrace him; Paul, athorn to sting
him: Job, carbuncles to plague nm );
Samson a DeIilah toshear him; Ahab,
a Naboth to deny him; Haman, a
Mordecai to irritate him; George
Washington. childlessness to atn!ct
him; John Wesley, termagant wlte
to poster him; Leah, weak eyes, Pope,
a crooked back; Byron, a club foot:
John Milton, blind eyes; Charles
Lamb. an insane sisters, and you some
thing which you never bargalned Tor
and would liketo get rid OF. The rea-
son of this is that God does not want
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 this pleasant socle@-
ty. =,
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
bereavements of all sorts to push us
on and push us up toward ripper fruits
a1ld brighter society and more radiant
lnroSperities. God is only whipping
dead. The reason that Edward
Pavson and Robert Hall had more
rapturous views of heaven than other
people had was because, through their
aches and God pushed them nearer up
to it. If God dsshea oat one, OF your
pictures, it is only to show to you
brighter one. If he sting your foot
with gout, your brain with neuralgia,
your lounge with an inextinguishabIe
thirst, it is only because he IS prepar-
inc to substitute better body than
YOU ever dreamed of when the mortal
shall put on immortality.
It is to push you on and topush you
up toward something grander and bet
ter that God sends upon you, as ne did
upon General Naaman 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 mlrth and
banoueting filing all the mansion
from tesseHated floor to pictured cell
ING, Naaman would have forgotten
that there was anything better and
would have been glad to stay there
10000 wears. 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 sepulchraI
bang. as YOU read the closing words
of the eulogium: He was Ieper
He was leper"
There was one person more sympa-
thetic with Genral Naaman than any
other person. Naaman's wife walks
the floor wringing her hands and try
ing to think what she can do to allie
yiate her husbands 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, No
cure, no curem I think that the office
seekers had all folded up their recon-
mendations and gone home. Probably
most of the employees ofthe establish
ment had dropped their work and
were thinking of looking for some
other situation. What shall now be-
come of poor Naaman's wife? She
must have sympathy somewhere: In
her despair She goes to little Hebrew
captive, a servant girl in her house,
to whom she tells the whole story, as
sometimes, when overborme by the sor-
rows of the world and finding no SYM
pathy anywhere else, you have gone
out and found in the sympathy of
some humble domestic-Rose or Dlnah
or Bridget-a help which the world
could not give you.
What a scene it was. One OF the
grandest women in all Syria in cabi
net council with waiting maid over
the declining health Of the mighty
general. Il know something" says
the little captive maid, Il know some
GIllS, dS SllS DOIllIuS W 4iSI D@tA = ACN''
In the land from which was stolen
there is certain prophet known by
the name of Elisha, who can cure al
most anything, and I shouldn't Won
der if he could cure my master. Send
for him right away ':Oh, hush!"
you say. IF the highest medical tai
ent in all the land cannot cure that
Ieper, there is no need of your listen.
ing to any. talk of a servant girl.
But do not scoff, do not sneer. The
finger of that little captive maid IS
pointing in the right direction. She
might have said: This is 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 flushed up |
in 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
-, = IL ;1oe. III tho c17ffay,in o. of her |