The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1894-11-23
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
THE SICK GENERAL" AS A
SERMONS SUBJECT.
God Docs Not Want This Nvoriu to 80
Full OF Happiness, Lest We ShouiS
Want to Remain Here-rhe Sorrows
of Every Life.

ohttl VII VI luCSC pun IOESNhS-s - 49,
mark has come out on the forehead,
precursor of complete Disagreement
and dissolution. / have something
awful to tell you. General Naaman, the
in chief of all the Syrian
forces, has the leprosy! 1t is en- his
hands, on his face, on his feet, on his
entire person. The leprosyl Get out
of the way Of the pestilence! If its
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 hestler who
blankets his charger, The news goes
like wildire all through the realm,
and the people are sympathetic, and
they cry out; lis il possible that our
great hero, who slew Ahub and around
whom we came with such vociferation
when he returned from victorious
battle-can it be possible that our
grand and glorious Naaman has the
leprosy?n Yes. Everybody has some
thing he wishes he hadnot. David, an
Absalom to disgrace him; Paul,
thorn TO sting him; JOB, carbuncles to
plague him; SamsonyG Delilahto shear
him; Ahab, a Naboth to deny him;
Hannah, a Mordecai TO irritate him;
George Washington, childlessness to
affiict him; John Wesley, termagant
wife so poster him; Leah, weak eyes;
Pope, a crooked be- elk; Byron, club
foot; John Milton, blind eyes; Charles
Lamb, an insane = ster; and you, and
you, and you, and you, something
which you never 'bargainrd 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
eiety. We are only in the vestibule of
a grand temple. God does not want us
to stay on the doorstep, md therefore
he sends aches, and aDnoyances, 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 rea-
son that Edward PaEson and Rob-
ert Hall had more :Tapturous views
of heaven than other people had
was because, through their aches
and pains, God pushed them nearer
up to lit. If God dsshes out one of
your pictures, it is Only to show you a
brighter one If he sting your foot
with gout, your brain with neuralgia,
/ your tongue with an ineXtinguishable
| thirst, it is only beca use he is prepar-
4 ing 10 substitute a. better than you
ever dreamed of, when the mortal
shall nut ON Immortality. 1t is to push
you ogl, and to push you up toward
something grander and better, that
God sends upon ven, as he did upon
General Naaman. something youdo not
want Seated in his Syrian mansion,
all the walls glitterir g with the shields
which he had captured in battle; the
corridors crowded with admiring visit
ors, wko justawanted to see him Cnce,
.Inusic and m;rth and banqueting fill
ing all the mansion from tessellated
floor to pictured ceilieg, Naaman would
have forgotten that there was anything
better, and wCnld have been glad to
stay there 10000 years. hut o, how
the Shields dim, and how the visitors
fiy the hall, ami how the music drops
dead fnpm tho string, and how the
gates of the mansion slam shut with
sepulchml bang as you read the clos
ing words of the eulogium: "He was
leper! lie was "A leper!"
There was one person more. sympx-
the3ic with General NRaman than any
other person. Mammals wife walks
the floor, Wringing her,hands. and try
ing 30 thinl- what she can dc, TO allevi-
ate her husbands suffering. All rene
dies Aave failed. THE surgeon-general
and the doctors OF che rayal staff have
met, and they have shaken their heads,
as much as to say: mo ,clre; no cure. s"
l think that abe Office seekers had all
folded up their recommendations and
gone home. probably NEST of the en-
plOyes of the establishment had
dropped their work and were thinking
of looking for some Other situation.
What shall now become of poor Naa-
mans wife? She must have sympathy
somewhere. IL lner despair she goes
to a little Hebrew captive, a servant
girl in her house, to whom she tells
the whole story as sometimes, when
oyerborne by the sorrows ofthe world,
and finding no sympathy anywhere
else, you have gone out and found in
the sympathy of sone humble domes-
tic--Rose, or Dinah. or Bridget-a help
which the world couid not give you.
What scene it was: one of the
grandest women in AL Syria in cabinet
council with waiting maid OYER
the declining health of the mighty
general! Il know something" says
the little captive maid. II know some-
thing," as she bounds to her bare feet.
I'm the land from which l was stolen
there is a certain prophet known by
the name of Elisha, who can cure al
most anything, and Ishoulen't wonder
If he could cure my master. Send for
him right away" "Oh. hush!" you
say. IF the highest medical talent in
all the land can not cure that leper
there is no need of your listening to
any talk of servant girl" But do
not scott. do not sneer. The finger of