Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-11-30
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ''The Sick General"
TEXT: "He was leper. II Kings Y.

: pleuriSfeS or rheumat1SInS or cOnsufnptl
bat with disease worse than all these pui
together. red mark has come out on the
forehead, precursor Of complete disfGure-
ment and dissolution. I have something
awful TO tell you. General EaamaD. the
commander in chief Of all the Syrian forces,
has the leprosy It is on his hands. on his
face. on his feet on his entire person. The
1eprosy! Get out OF the way Of the pesti-
lence. II his breath strike you. You are a
dead man. The commander in chief o. all
the forces OF Syria And yet he would be
gIa! TO exchange conditions with the boy at
his stfrnIp or the hostler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wildhre all
through me realm, and the people are svm-
pathetic. and they cry ont, "Is If possible
that our great hero, who slew Ahab and
around whom we came with such vocifera-
ton when he returned from victorious bat
tle-can II be possible that our grand and
orious Naan an has the leprssy?"
Yes. Everybody has sonnet hing he wishes
he had not-David. an AhsaIOm to Disgrace
him Paul, thorn to sting him JOB. car
buncIes to plague him: Samson, a DeIilah
10 shear him Ahab n Nahoth to DENY him +;
Haman, MOrdecai to irritate him George
Washington, childlessncss to af1ict him :;
John Wcsley n termagant wife to poster
him; Leah. weak eyes; Pope, q crooked
back; Byron, n club foot ; John Milton.
blind eyes Charles LIANT, an insane sister
and you and You ard 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 VIC would always want to stay and
eat these fruits and lie on these lounges 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 AMI moro
radiant prOsperlties- God is only whipping
us ahead. The reason that Edward PaYson
and Robert Hall had more rapturous views of
heaven than other people had was becau9e,
through their aches and pains, God pushed
them nearer up to II. If God dashes out enc
OF your pictures, it is only to show to you
brighter one. II He sting your foot with
govt, your brain with neuralgia, your tongue
with an ineItingushable thirst, tits only be-
cause He is preparing to substitute better
body than you ever dreamed of, when the
mortal shall put on Immortality.
1t 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
RlIttcring with the shields which he had cap
tured 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 for
gotten that there was anything better and
would have been glad to stay there 10, 900
years. 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
sepuIchral bang as you read the closing
words of the eulOgium! 'He was a leperi
He was lspern'
There was one person more sympathetic
General NH1maO
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 gem
eral and the doctors of the royal staff have
met, and they have shaken their heads, as
much as to say, "No cure, mo cure think
that the office seekers had all folded uptheir
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 a little Hebrew cap
tive, q servant girl in her house, to whom
she tells the whole story, as sometimes,
when OverbOrne 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
Bridget-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 general ~ know something"
says the little captive maid, ~ know some
thing" as she bounds to her bare feet 'In
the land from which / was stolen there is q
certain prophet known by the nama of
Elisha, who can cure almost anything, and
l shouldn't wonder if he could cure my
master. Send for him right away" "Oh,
hing H-n1r fhn
talent in all the land cannot cure that Ieper,
there is no need of your listening to any talk
OF servant girl" But do not scott, do not
sneer. The finger OF that little captive maid
is pointing in the right direction. She might
have said: "This is a 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 l have lain and cried all night because
1 was SO homesick?" Then, flushing up
into 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 sympathizes with the suffering
of her master and commends him to the
famous Hebrew prophet.
And how often 1t 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 Ieprosy of sir?
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 lace and asked me why I
didn't become a Christian, and, all the
time stroking my cheek, so I could
not get angry, insisted upon knowing why
l didn't have family prayers" There are
who have been brought to
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? ooh" you saw.
"my child, my Idying child. with wan
and wasted finger, pointed that way.
Oh, l never shall forget" you say, ''that
SC ne at the cradle and the crib that awful
night. 1t was hard, hard, very hard, but if
that little one on its dying bed had not
pointed me to Christ l don't think I ever
would have got rid OF my leprosy" Go into
the Sabhath-school any Sunday, and you will
find hundreds of little fingers pointing in the
same direct on, toward Jesus Christ and to-
ward heaven.
Years ago the astronomers calculated that
there must be a world hanging at a certain
point in the heavens, and a large prize was
offered for some one who could discover that
world. The telescopes from the great OBJ
servatories were pointed in vain but a girl
and looking through it discovered that star
and won the prize and the admiration of all
the astronomical world, that stood amazed
at her genius. And so it is often the case
that grown people cannot see the light.
while some little child beholds the star of
pardon, the star of hope, the star of conso-
ation, the star of Bethlehem. the morning
star OF Jesus. mot many mighty men, not
many wise men are called, but God hath |
chosen the weak things of the world to con-
found the mighty and base things and things |
hat are not to bring to naught things that |
are" oh, do not despise the pratttle OF |
little children when they are speaking about |
God and Christ and heaven. You see the |
way your child is pointing. Willyou takethat |
pointing or wait until, in the wrench of some |
awful bereavement, God shall lift that child |
% another world, and then 1t will beckon |
you upward? Will you take that pointing, !
Or will you wait for the reckoning? Blessed |
be God that the little Hebrew captive point |
ed in the right direction. Blessed be God |
or the saving ministry of Christian children.
No wonder the advice of this little He
While the poor sick man lifts bis swollen |