The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-11-21

70 your mousse mas come u IL HOW NO
stir inside. Elisha's house. The fact
was the Lord had informed Elisha that
the sick captain was coming, and just
how to treat him. Indeed, when you
are sick, and the Lord wants you to
get well, he always tells the doctor
how to treat you; and the reason we
have SO many bungling doctors is be-,
cause they depend upon their own
strength and instructions, and not on
the Lord God, and that always makes
malpractice. Come out, Elisha, and
tend to your business. Gen. Naaman
and his retinue waited, and waited,
and waited. The fact was, Naaman
had two diseases--pride and leprosy;
the one was as hard to get rid of as the
other. Elisha sits quietly in his house
and does not go out After awhile,
when he thinks he has humbled this
proud man, he says to servant: go
and tell Naaman to bathe seven times
in the river Jordan, out yonder five
miles, and he will get entirely well"
The message comes out: "WhatV' says
the commander-in-chief Of the Syrian
forces, his eyes kindling with an ami
nation which it had not shown for
weeks, and his swollen foot stamping
on the bottom of the chariot, regard
less ofpain. "What! Isn't he coming
out to see me? Why, l thought GER
tainly he would come out and utter
some cabalistic words over me, or make
some enigmatical passes over my
wounds. Why, don't think he knows
who am. Isn't he coming outP Why,
when the Shupamite woman came to
him, he rushed out and cried: is it
well with thee? Is it we'll with thy
husband? Is it well with thy child"
and will he treat poor unknown wo-
man like that, and let me, titled per-
sonage, sit here in my chariot and wait,
and wait? won't endure it any longer.
Charioteer, drive on! Wash in the
Jordan! Ha! ha! The Shiny Jordan-the
muddy Jordan the monotonous Jor-
dan wouldn't be seen washing in
such river as that. Why, we watered
our horses in better river than that
on our way here-the beautiful river,
the jasper-paved river of Pharpar. Be
sides that, we have in our country an
other Damascene river, ALBANIA, with
foliaged bank, and torrent ever swift
and ever clear, under the Pickering
shadows of sycamore and oleander
Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers OF
Damascus, better than all the waters
of Israeli"
suppose Naaman felt very much as
Americans would feel, if, by way OF
medical prescription, some one would
tell us to go and wash in the Danube
or Rhine. We would answer: "Are not
the Connecticut and Hudson just as
good?" Or as an Englishman would
feel if he were told, by way of medi-
cal prescription, he must go and wash
in the Mississippi or the ST. Lawrence.
He would cry out: "Are not the
Thames and the Shannon just as well?'
The fact was that naughty Naaman
needed to learn what every English
man and every American needs to
learn-that when God tells you to do
thing, You must go and do it, whether
you understand the reason or not.
Take the prescription, whether you
like it or not One thing is certain:
Unless naughty Naaman does as Elisha
commands him, he will die of his awful
/ sickness. And unless you do as Christ
commands you, you will be seized
upon by an everlasting wasting away.
Obey and live-disobey and die. Thrill
ing, over-aching, undergirding, stupen-
dous alternative!
Well, Gen. Naamaan could not stand
the test. The charioteer gives a jerk
to the right line until the bit snaps in
the horses mouth, and the whirr of the
wheels and the flying Of the dust shows
the indignation Of the great com
mander. "He turned and went away
in rage" SO the people now often get
mad at religion. They vituperate
against ministers, against churches,
against Christian people. One would
think from their irate behavior that
God has been studying how to annoy,
and exasperate, and demolish them.
What has He been doingP Only trying
to cure their death-dealing leprosy.
That is all. Yet they whip up their
horses, they dig in the spurs, and they
go away in rage.
So, after all, it seems that this health
excursion of Gen. Naaman is to be q
dead failure. That little Hebrew cap
tive might as well have not told him o.
the prophet, and this long journey
might as we'll not have been taken
Poor, sick, dying Naaman! Are you go
ing away in high dudgeon, and worse
than when you came? AS his chariot
halts moment, his servants Chamber
up in it and coax him to do as Elisha
said: They say, "Its easy. If the
prophet had told you to walk for q
mile on sharp spikes in order to get rio
of this awful disease, you would have
done it. It is easy. Come, my lord, just
get down and wash in the Jordan You
take a bath every day anyhow, and in
this climate it is so hot that it will dc
you good. Do 1t on our account, and
for the sake of the army you command
and for the sake of the nation thai
admires you. Come, my lord, just try
this Jordanic bath" We'll" he saws
ito please you / will do as you say
The retinue drive to the brink of the
Jordan. The horses paw and neigh
to get into the stream themselves and
cool their hot hanks. Gen. Naaman
assisted by his attendants, gets down
out of his chariot and painfully steps
iniuntil the water comes to the ankle
and goes on deeper until the water
comes To the pirdle. and now standing