The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-11-24
LEPROSY OF SIN.
DR.. Talmage Presents an Infaliibla
Cure for the Disease.
Tho Lesson of the Proud Syrian KIM Nsa
man, Q Leper, and tho Captive He
brew Child-ChrIstianity
Among Children.

Among Children.
The latest subject selected by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage for the public
through the press was THE Sick Gen
eral," the ext selected being II. Kings,
", /: "He was a leper."
Here we have a warrior sick; not
with pleurisies Dr. rheumatisms or con-
but with q disease worse
than all these put together. A red
mark has come out on the forehead,
precursor of complete Disagreement.
l have something awful to tell you.
Gen. Naaman, the commander-in-chief
of all the Syrian forces, has the leprosyi
1t is on his hands, on his face, on his
feet, on his entire person. The leprosy!
Get out of the way of the pesti-
lence! If his breath strike
you, you are a dead man. The
commander-in-chief Of all the forces Of
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 Wild
fire all through the realm, and the peo-
pie are sympathetic, and they cry out:
els it possible that ur great hero, who
slew Ahab, and around whom we came
with such vociferation when he re-
turned from victorious battle-can It
be possible that our grand and glorious
Naaman has the leprosy?" Yes. Every
not. David, an Absalom to disgrace
him; Paul. thorn to sting him; Job, car
buncles to plague him; Samson, q De-
lilah to shear him; Ahab, a Naboth to
deny him; Haman,a Mordecaito irritate
him; George Washington, childlessness
to aflict him; John Wesley, a terma-
CANT wife to poster him; Leah, weak
eyes; Pope, a crooked back; Byron, q
club foot; John Milton, blind eyes;
Charles Lamb, an insane sister, and
you, and you, and you, and you, some
thing which you never bargained for,
and would like to get rid Of. The rea-
son 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 soci.
ETY.. We are only in the vestibule Of .
grand temple. God does not want us
to stay on the doorstep, and therefore
he sends aches, and annoysnces, and
bereavements Of all sorts to push US on,
and push us up toward our ripper fruits
and brighter society, and mor radiant
properties. God is whipping US ahead.
The reason that Edward Payson and
Robert Hall had more rapturous
views of Heaven than other people had
was because, through their aches and
pains, God pushed them nearer up to
It. II God dashes out one Of your
pictures, it is only to show to you q
brighter one. If he sting your foot
with govt, your brain with neuralgia,
your tongue with an inextinguishable
thirst, it is only because he Il prepar-
ing to substitute a better body than
you ever dreamed OF, when the mortal
shall put on immortality. It IL to push
you on, and to push you up toward
something grander and better, that
God sends upon you, Is He did upon
Gen. Naaman, something you do not
want. Seated in his Syrian mansion
all the walls glittering with the shields
which he had captured in battle; the
corridors, crowded with admiring visit.
ors, who just wanted to see him once;
music and mirth, and banqueting all.
ing all the mansion, from tessellated
floor to pictured ceiling-Naamau
would have forgotten that there wa
anything better, and would have beer
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 gates of the mansion slam
shut with sepulchral bang, a you read
the closing words of the eulogium.
HE was a leper! He was q leper"
There was one person more sympas
thetic with Gen. Naaman than any
other person. Naaman's wife walk
the floor, wringing her hands, and try
ing to think what she can do to allevi
ate her husbands suffering. All rem
| edies have failed. The surgeon-gen
eral and the doctors Of the royal stat
have met, and they have shaken theil
heads, as much as to say: "No cure
no cure" l think that the oflce-seek
ers had all folded up their recommend
] atoms and gone home. Probably mos
Of the employees Of the establishment
had dropped their work and wer'
thinking Of looking for some other sit
uation. What shall now become o
poor Naaman's wife? She must hav,
sympathy somewhere. In her despsi
she goes to q little Hebrew captive,
servant girl in her house, to whom an,
tells the whole story; as sometimes
when overborne by the sorrows of tn
world, and finding no sympathy any
where else, you have gone out an
found in the sympathy Of some humbl
domestic-Rose, or Dinah, or Bridget
q help which the world could not Civ
you.
What q scene It was; one Of tn
grandest women in all Syria in cAbine
council with q waiting-maid I've tn
declining health Of the mighty ger
erall 81 know something" says the LII
tie captive maid; 81 know something,
as she bounds to her bare feet" I'm tn
land from which / was stolen there
q certain prophet known by the nam
of Elisha, who can cure almost any
thing, and shouldn't wonder II h
could cure my master. Send for hiI
right away" 20 hushr' you say. 81
the highest medical talent of all tn
land cannot cure that leper, there Is n
need of your listening to any talk Of
servant girl" But do not SCOT, do nc
speer: The finger OF that little ca