Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-11-19

| The whole procession brightens up at
| the prospect of speedy arrival. They
drive up to the door of the prophet. The
characters shout 'Whoa!" to the horses,
and tramTeing hoofs and grinding wheels
| cease shaking the earth. Come out, Eli
sha, come out. You have company. The
grandest company that ever came to
your house has come to it now. No stir
inside Elisha's house. The fact was,
the Lord had informed Elisha that the
sick captain was coming and just how
to treat him. Indeed, when you are
sick and the Lord wants you to get
We'll, he always tells the doctor how to
treat you, and the reason we have so
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 wait
ed and waited and waited. The 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 his house and does not go out. After
awhile, when he thinks he has humbled
this proud man, he says to servant,
go out and 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 on the bottom of the chariot,
regardless Of pain. ''What! Isn't he
coming out to see me? Why, ] thought
certainly he would come and utter some
cabalistiC words over me or make some
enigmatical passes over my wounds.
Why, 7 don't think he knows who I
am. Isn't he coming out? 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 we'll with thy child?' And Will he
treat a poor unknown woman like that
and let me, q titled parsonage, sit here
in my chariot and wait and wait? |
won't endure it any longer. Charioteer,
drive on! Wash in the Jordan! Ha, Ira!
The Shiny Jordan-the muddy Jordan
the monotonous Jordan! I Wouldn' {
be seen washing in such q river as that.
| Why, we Watered our horses in better
river than that on our way hero-tho
beautiful river, the jasper paved river Of
Pharpar. Besides that we have in our
country another Damascene river, Aba
na, with foliaged bank and torrent ever
swift and ever clear, under the flicker
ing shadows Of sycamore and Oloander
Arc not ALBANIA and Pharpar, rivers Of
Damascus, better than all the waters OF
Israeli"
[ suppose Naaman felt very much az
Americans would feel If, by way Of
medical prescription. some one should
tell us to go and wash i'll the Danube or
the Rhine We would answer, "Arc
not the Connecticut and the Hudson
just as gooo?' Or as an EngliehmaD
would feel If he were told by way Of
medical prescription ho must 90 and
wash in the Mississippi OF the ST. Law
renee. He would cry Out care not the
Thames and the Shannon just IS WelI?"
The fact was that naughty NaauaD
needed to learn what every Lnglishman
and every American needs to learn
that when God tells you to 10 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 rs Elisha commands him,
he VIII die of his awful sickness. And
unless you 10 as Christ commands y0u
you viii be atlzed upon by an evorlas5-
iun wasting away. Obey and live; dis
obey ald die Thrilling. cv rarchi1r,
undertaking, stupeDdous al, -Dativc.
a Decd E@ilrrc.
Weu General 1-aam7a oould no-
stand the tc5t Tho c..arlcter eiyc5
5crk to tI-o hight line uusil tI,a 1ze snaps
IL ne Lorso's mouth, and the wlir II
the wheels and the flying ot tie dcst
show the indignation OF the creaJ Gem
lnauda- lie turned and veu5 away I'm
q rage. So people now often Get mad
at religion. They yjtUpeTat9 against
ministers, against churches. against
Christian people. One would think from
their irat3 behavior that God he'd been
studying how TO annoy and ezssperata
/ and denolish them. What hes 10 been
doing? Only trying to curo their death
dealing Ioprosy. That is al. Yet they
whip up their horses, they dig ia the
i spurs, and they go away in rage.
So after all, it seems that t.lis haoIta
excursion OF General Naaman is to b0
q dead failure That little Hebrew cap
tive might rs well have not told him Of
the prophet. and this long journey
might as well not have been taken.
Poor, sick, dying Naamanl Arc you 50
ing away in high dudgeon and worse
than when you came? As his chariot
halts a moment his servants Chamber
up in it and coax him to do as Elisha
said. They say: Its easy. If theproph-
ct had told you to walk for mile on
sharp spikes in order to get rid of this
! awful disease. Won Hno11ld hive dor,n II