The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-11-23
LEPROSY OF SIN.
DR.. Talmage Presents an InfaIlibie
Cure for the Disease.
The Lesson of the Proud Syrian King Naa-
man. n Leper. and the Captive He
brew Child-Christianity =
Among Children.


7. Dewitt Talmage for the public
through the press was The Sick Gen.
eral," the text selected being III. Kings.
v, L: ''He was a leper.-
Here we have a warrior sick; not
with pleurisies or rheumatisms or con-
sumptions, but with disease worse
than all these put together. A red
mark has come out on the forehead,
precursor of complete Disagreement.
/ have something awful to tell you.
Gen. Naaman. the eommander-in-chief
of all the Syrian forces. has the leprosy.
1t is on his hands, on his face. on his
feet, onShis 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-chiefo of all the forces of
Syria, And yet he would be glad to
exchange conditions with the boy at
his charger. The news goes like wild
fire all through the realm. and the peo-
pie are sympathetic. and they cry out:
rs it possible that our 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
body has something he wishes he had
not. David, an Absalom to disgrace
him: Paul. a thorn to sting him. job. car
buncles to plague him: Samson. a De-
lilah to shear him: Ahab. Naboth to
deny him: Hannah. "A Mordecai to irritate
him: George Washington. childlessness
to affiict him: Johns Wesley. a terma-
CANT wife to poster him: Leah. weak
eyes: Pope, a crooked back: Byron, a
club foot: John Milton. blind ewes:
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 annoyances. and
bereavements of all sorts to push us on,
and push us up toward our ripper fruits
and brighter society, aud more 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
il. If God dashes out one of your
pictures. it is only to show to you a
brighter one. If he sting your foot
with govt. your brain with neuralgia.
your tongue with an inextinguishabl
thirst. it is only because he is prepar-
ing 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. 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 bangueting fill
ing all the mansion, from tessellated
floor to pictured ceiling-Naaman
would have forgotten that there was
anything better, and would have been
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. as you read
the closing words of the eulogium:
He was a leper, He was leper,-'
There was one person more sympa-
thetic with Gen. Naaman than any
other person Naaman's wife walks
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 staff
have met, and they have shaken their
heads, as much as to say: No cure,
no cure" | think that the office-seek-
ers had all folded up their recommend
atoms and gone home. Probably most
of the employees of the establishment
had dropped their work and were
thinking of looking for some other sit
uation. What shall now become of
sympathy somewhere. In her despair
she goes to little Hebrew captive.
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 any
where else. you have gone ont and
found in the sympathy of some humble
domestic-Rose, or Dinah. or Bridget
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 q waiting maid over the
declining health of the mighty gen
eral, Il know something" says the lit
tie captive maid: Il know something"
as she bounds to her bare feet In the
land from which / was stolen there Is
a certain prophet known by the name
of Elisha, who can cure almost any
thing, and / shouldn't wonder If ne
could cure my master. Send for him
right away 20 hush you say. If
the highest medical talent of all the
land cannot cure that leper. there Is no
need of your listening to any talk of
servant girl But do not scoff. do not
sneer. The finger of that little cap
tive 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 heart? and many a time l
have lain and cried all night because /