The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-12-05
REV, DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 'sThe Sick Generals

Subject: 'sThe Sick General.'s
TEXT: "He was leper. III Kings ", l.
Here we have warrior sick. not with
pleurisies or rheumatisms or consumptions.
but with disease worse than all these put
together. A red mark has come out on the
ment and dissolution. I have something
awful to tell you General Naaman. the
commander in chief of all the Syrian forces,
has the leprosy! It Is on his hands. on his
face. on his feet. on hfs entire person. The
Ieprosy! Get out Of the way Of the pesti-
lence! II hjs breath strike you. you are q
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
bis stirrup or the hostler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wildf1re all
through the realm, and the people are sym-
pathetic. and they cry ont, ''Is II possible
that our great hero, who slew Ahab and
around whom we came with such voclfera-
tion when he returned from victorious bat
tle-can II be possible that our grand and
glorious Naaman has the leprosy?"
Yes. Everybody has something he wishes
he had not-David. an Absalom to disgrace
him: Paul, thorn to sting him; job. car
buncles to plague him Samson, Delilah
to shear him Ahah. Naboth to denv him !;
Haman. a Mordecai to irritate him George
Washington, childlessness to afli:t him !;
John Wesley, a termagant wife to poster
him; Leah, weak eyes; Pope. a crooked
back; Byron. club foot ; John Milton.
blind eyes Charles Lamb, an insane sister.
and you and you and you something which
you never barRained for and would like td
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
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.
ances 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 morerapturous views oil
heaven than other people had WAS because,
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 TO you
brighter one. II He sting your foot with
gout, your brain with neuralgia, your tongue
with an inextingushable thirst, is only be-
cause He is preparing to substitute better
mortal shall put on immortality.
It 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 capl
tured In battle. the corridors crowded with;
admiring visitors who Just wanted to see
him once, music and mirth and banquetinH
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 1000:
years. But. oh, how the shields dim, and
how the visitors fly the hall, and how the!
the gates of the mansion slam shut with
sepulchral bang as you read the closing
words Of the eulogium! "He was leper! !!
He was leperp' q,
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, no cure" think
that the ONCE seekers had all folded upthelr
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 oyerborne by the sorrows Of the world
and finding no sympathy anywhere else, you
have gone out and found in the sympathy
of some humble domestic-Rose or Dinah or
Brldget-a help which the world could not
give you.
What scene It was-one OF the grandest
women In all Syria in cabinet council with
Visiting maid over the declining health Of
the mighty general! ~ know something"
says the little captive maid, ~ know some
thing" as she bounds to her bare feet. "In
certain prophet known by the name OF
Elisha, who can cure almost anything, and
I shouldn't wonder II he could cure my
master. Send for him right away" "Oh,
hush !" you say. "If the highest medical
talent In all the land cannot cure that leper,
there Is no need Of your listening 10 any talk
OF a servant girl" But do not scoff. do not
sneer. The finger OF that little captive maid
Is pointing In the night direction. She might
have said: "This is judgment upon you
for stealing me from my native land. Didn't
they snatch me of in the night, breaking my
fathers and mothers hearts, and many q
was 80 homesick?" Then, flushing up
into childish indignation. she might have
said: "Good tor them. I'm glad Naaman's
got the leprosy. Iwlsh 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 sin2
You say, 'Let me see. 1t must be five years
now" Five years. Who was it that pointed
you to the Divine Physician? "Oh, you
say, sit was my little Annie or Fred or
Charley that clamered up on my knees and
looked into my face and asked me why I
time strokinG my cheek, 80 I could
not get angry, insisted upon knowing why
I didn't have family prayers" There are
grandparents who have been brought II
Christ by their little grandchildren. There
are hundreds Of Christian mothers who had
their attention first called to Jesus by their
little children. How did you get rid Of the
leprosy OF sin? How did you find your way
to the Divine Physician? "Oh," you say,
"my child, my Fdying child, with wan
and wasted finger, pointed that way.
Oh, I never shall forget" you say, "that
scene at the cradle and the crib that awful
night. It was hard, hard, very hard, but ii
that little Ga on its dying bed had not
pointed me to Christ I don't think I ever
would have got rid =: my leprosy." Go into
the Sabbath-school any Sunday, and you will
same direction, toward Jesus Chris: and to.
ward heaven.
Years ago the astronomers calculated that
there must be world hanging at certain