Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-12-05
RBK. DR.. TALAAGk
TIE BRoenYN DIvINFs sy1.
DAY &KRAON,
Subject: "The Sick Generals

TEXT: "He was leper."-II Kings v. 1.
Here we have a warrior sick, not with
pieurisfes or rhaumatisms or consumptions.
hut With disease worse than all these put
together. red mark has come out on the
forehead. precursor of co nplete disfgure-
ment and dissolution. I hava something
awful to tell you. General Na7man. the
commander in chief of al, the Syrian forces,
has the leprosy! II is on his hands. on his
face, on his feet. on his entire person. The
leprosy! Get out of the way os the pesti-
'ence. Jf his breath strike YOU. YOU are a
dead man. The commander in chief of all
the forces Of SYRIA! And vet he would be-
yla TO EXCHANGE conditions with the boy at
his stirrup or the hostler that blankets his
charger. The news goes like wildfre alb
through the realm, and the people are svm1
pathetic, and they cry ont. "Is It possible
that our great hero. who slew Ahab and
around whom we came with such vocifera-
t1on when he returned from victorious bat
t'e-can II be possible that our grand AMI
glorious Naaman has the leprosy?"
Yes. Evervbo ty has something he wishes
ne had not-David an Absalom to disgrace
him: Paul, thorn to sting him JOB, car
hunc'es to plague him: Samson, Deiilah
70 shear him Ahab. Nahoth to denv him
Heman. Mordecai to irritate him George
Wnshin gton. a chidles=ness to affiict him
John wesley, ternaSant wife to poster
him; Leah. weak eyes Pope, a crooked
back; Byron. a club foot John Milton
blind eyes: Charles Liant. an insane sister,
AMI you and you ard you something which
You never hargaine1 for and would like to
get rid o.. The reason of this is that God
does Lot 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 the pleasant society," We
are only in the vestihuie OF a grand temple.
God docs not want MS to stand on the door
step. and therefore He sends aches and annoy.
nnres anil Sorrows and bereavements of all
sor.s TO push us on and push us up toward
rpnr 'rui:s and brighter society and more
radiant prosnarities. God is only whipping
us ahHat. The reason that f !ward Payson
and Robert Hall had more rapturous views Of
heaven than other people had was because,
through their aches and pains. God pushed
them nnrrar up to it. If God dashes out enc
ofyoUr pictures it is only to show to you a
brighter one. II Hs sting your foot with
govt. your brain with neuralgia. YOUR tongue
with an inextincushable thirst. it is only be-
cause He Is preparing TO subst tute better
body than You ever dreamed o., when the
mortal shall put on immortality.
1t is to push YOU on and TO push YOU I'D
toward something gran Ter anil better that
God sends upon you, as He did upon Cen
eral Naaman. something YOU do not want.
Seated in his Syrian mansion. all the walls
%iitterinc with the shields which he had cap
rured in battle, the corridors crow led with
admiring visitors who just wanted to see
MIN once, music and mirth and barquatinG
hllinC all the mansion from tessallated 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 ths
music drops dead from the string, and how
the gates OF the mansion slam shut with
sepulchral bang as you read the closing
words Ha 7
He was leper,'
Ihere was one person more sympatb etfc
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 g-I-
eral and the doctors of the royal staff haT,
met. and they have shaken their heads. as
much rs to say. 'No cure, no 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 little Hebrew cap
tive, 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
Ol SOEl6 humble uOIneStlc-hOSe or OMAN or
Bridget-a help which the world could not
give you.
What n scene 1t was-one of the gran nest
women In all Syria in cabinet council with
waiting maid over the declining health of
che mighty general 81 know something"
says the little captive maid, 81 know some
thing" as she bounds TO her bare feet. 'In
the land from which was stolen there Is o |
certain prophet known by the name Of
Elisha, who can cure almost anything, and
| shouldn't wonder IL he could cure my |
master. Send for him right away" "Oh, ,
hush !" you say. ''If the highest medical |
talen; in all the land cannot cure that leper. |
there Is no need of your listening to any talk |
OF a servant girl" But do not scoff do not |
sneer. The finger OF that little captive maid !
is pointing in the right direction. She might |
have said: "Tci5 is a judgment upon you
for stealing RE from my native land. Didn't |
they snatch me OF in the night, breaking my |
fathers and mothers hearts, and many a |
time have lain aud cried all night because !
1 was so homt sick?" Then, flushing up |
into chii iish indignation, she might have |
said: Good tor Them. I'm glad Naaman's |
got the leprosy. l wish all the Syrians had |
the leprosv." No. Forgetting her personal |
sorroWs. sac sympatn'zes with the suffering |
OF her master and commends him to the |
famous Hebrew prophet. |
And how often It is that the finger of |
chiidhoo has pointed grown persons in tile |
RIGHT direction! o Christian soul. how long |
Is Il since YOU got rid OF the lsprosy of sin? |
You say. Let me see. 1t must be five years |
now" Five years. Who was it that pointed |
you to the DIVINE Physician2 "Oh," YOU |
say. ..it was my little Amie or Fred or |
Charley that ciamerei up on my knees and |
looked into my !aca and asked me why I |
didn't become CHRISTIAN, and, all the |
lime strolin- my cheek, so L could |
not get angry, insisted upon knowing why |
I diGn't have family prayers" There ara |
gran parents WHO have been brought to |
Christ by their little grandchildren. There |
are hun ireds Of Christian mothers who had |
their att antion first callei to Jesus by their |
title children. How did you get rid of the |
eprCsy o. sin? How did you find your way
to the Divine Physician? son." you say,
'my child, nv dying child. with w1n
and wasted finger, po nted that way.
Or, 1 never shall forget" you say, "that
-csne at the cradle and the crib that awful |
night 1t was hard, har very hard, but II
that little ore on its dying bed had not
pointed me to Christ 1 don't think 1 ever
would have got rid of my ieprosy" Go into
he Sa5bath-school any Sunday, and you will
find hundreds OF little fingers pointing III t ne
same direction, toward Jesus Christ and to-
yard heaven.
1ears aG-o the astronomers c-.,,--..iated tina
there must De q W rid hanging at a certain
point in the heav sns. and a large prize was
offered TOR some one wlo could discover that
world. The telescopes from the great OBJ
90 W. ~ 'as q" IS'A' |
AZ Nantucket. Mass, ias lionei telescope, !
and looking through il discovered that s,ar
and won the prz. md the admiration OF all !
the astronomical world, that stood amaz ID
at her genius. And So it is often the casa
that crCwn people cannot see the light.
while some little chiid beholds the stac OF
pardon, the star OF hopP. the star OF conso-
alton, the star OF B-thlahem. the morning
star o J7sus. Not many mighty men, no,
many wise men called. int God hath
chos the weak things of tna world to con-
ouEd the mighty AMI base things md things
-hat are not 10 brin; TO naugnt things th1t
ire." Or, do not desp,se the pratttle OF /
little children when they are sp sakinS about |
God and Christ and heaven. You see ths |
way your child is pointing. viii you take that
pointing or wait until. in the wrench of soma ]
awful bereavement. Col shall lift that child |
10 another world. and then it will becson |
Eou upward? Will You take that pointing,