The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-11-30


He was a leper.-II Kings, ",
Here we have a warrior sick; not
with pleurisies or rheumatisms or con-
sumptions, but a disease worse than
all these put together. A red mark
has come out on the forehead, precursor
of complete Disagreement. / have
something awful to tell you. Gen.
Naaman, commander-in-chiefo 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 pestilence!
If his breath strike you, you are dead
man. The commander-in-chief of all
the forces of Syria! And yet he
would be glad to exchange conditions
with the boy at his stirrup, or the
hostler that blankets his charger. The
news goes like wildfire all through the
realm, and the people are sympathetic,
and they cry out: 1T is impossible
that our great hero, who slew Ahab,
and around whom we came with such
moderation when he returned from
victorious battle-can it be possible
that our grand and glorious Naaman
has the leprosy?" Yes. Everybody
has something he wishes he has not.
David, an Absalom to disgrace him;
Paul, a thorn to sting him; Job, car
buncles TO plague him; Samson,
a Delilah to shear him; Ahab, a
NabOth to deny him; Hannah,
Mordecai to irritate him;
George Washington, childnessness to
affiict him; John Wesley, a termagant
wife to poster him; Leah, weak eyes;
Pope, a crooked back; Byron, a club
foot; John Milton, blind eyes; Charles
Lamb, an insane sister; and you, 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 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 So
ciety. 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
sorrows, and bereavements of all
sorts to push us on, and push MS up
toward ripper fruits, and brighter
society, and more radiant properties
God is only whipping us ahead. The
reason that Edward Payson and Rob
ert Hall had more rapturous views of
Heaven than other people had was be-
cause, through their aches and pains,
God pushed them nearer up to it. If
God dashes out one of your pictures, it
is only TO show you brighter one. If
lie sting your foot with gOut, your
brain with neuralgia, your tongue with
an inextinguishable thirst, it is only
because He is preparing to substitute
a better body than you ever dreamed
of, when the mortal shall put on i'm
mortality. 1t is to push yOu on, and to
push you up toward something grander
and better, that God sends upon you,
as lie did upon Gen. Naaman, some
thing you do not want. Seated in his
Syrian mansion-all the walls glitter
ing with the shields which he had
captured in battle; the corridors,
crowded with admiring visitors, who
just wanted to see him once; music and
mirth, and banqueting filling all the
mansion, from tessellated floor to
pictured ceiling Naaman would have
forgotten that there was anything bet
ter, and would have been glad to stay
there ten thousand years. But o, how
the shields dim. and how the visitors
fly the hall, and how the music drops
dead from the string, and how the
yates of the mansion slam shut with
,epulchral bang, as you read the clos
ing words of the eulogium: He was a
leper! He was leper!'
There was one person more sympa-
thetic with Gen. Naaman than any
other person. Naaman's wife walks
the floor, wringing her hands, and try
ing TO think what she can do to al
leviate 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 cure" / think that the of
fce-seekers have all folded up their
recommendations and gone home.
Probably most of the employees of the
establishment had dOpped 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 a little Hebrew cap
tive, a Servaut-girl in her house, to
whom she tells the whole story; as
sometimes, when OverbOrne 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 Dinah. or
IIridget-a help which the world could
not give yOu.
What a 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 gem
eral! Il know something says the
little captive maid; u know some
thing" as she bounds to her bare feet.
I'm the land from which was stolen
there is certain prophet known by
the name of Elisha, who can cure al
most anything, and 1 shouldn't won
der if he could cure my master. Send
for him right away" 20 hush." YOU
say. IF the highest medical talent of
all the land can not cure that Ieper. /
there is no need of your listening TO
any talk of a servant girl" But do not
scott. do not sneer. The finger of shat
little captive maid is pointing in the
right direction. She might have said: !
This is a judgement upon you for
stealing me from my native land.
Didn't they snatch me off in the night,
breaking my fathers ard mothers
heart? and many time l have lain
and cried all night because was so
homesick.' Then. flushing up into
IL Il. I h