The Bossier banner., 1895-01-03
NUMBER IS.

30, AFTER ALL 1t seems that TINS neakGu
excursion of Gen. Naaman is to be 2
dead failure That little Hebrew cap
tive might as well have not told him Of
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 worse5s
than when you came? As his chariot
halts moment, his servants clambeS
up in it and coax him to do as Elisl
said. They say: s.It's easy. III Ic
prophet had told you to walk for .
mile on sharp spikes in order to get
rid 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 bath every
day anyhow, and in this climate IL IS
SO hot that it will do you good. Do it
| on our account, and for the sake OF the
army you command, and for the sake
| of the nation that admires You. Come,
my lord, just try a Jordanic bath.
"Well," he says, 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 tanks.
Gen. Naaman, assisted by his attend
ants, gets down out of the chariot and
| painfully comes to the brink Of the
river and steps in until the. water
comes to the ankle, and goes
on deeper until the water comes to the
| girdle, and now standing so far down.
in the stream, just little inclination
of the head will thoroughly imnetde
him. He bows once into the AoQsk
comes up and shakes the water
nostril and eye; ard his
look at him and sa s
how much better y5n los
he bows second tiuae into 81 ST
and comes up, and LIE 81
gone out of his eye. hrsTs taiss
time into the foodJaus comes up, alszk
the shriveled flesh has got smooth
again. He bows the fourth time in. the
flood and comes up, and the hair that
had fallen out is restored in thick locks
again all over his brow. He bows
up, and the hoarseness has gone outofl
his throat. He bows the sixth time
and comes up, and all the Sc - ysassf
anguish have gone out OF ATE sfn 30
"Why," he says, 81 am akuso2
but will make a complete
he bows the seventh tins s. tu Aa<y
flood and he comes up, ard Issss
much as a tester, or sale, =
eruption as big as the head
is to be seen on him. He steps out on
the bank and says: ''Is it possibleY,
| A. Al -. =
it possible?" And as, with the health
of an athlete, he bounds back into the
chariot and drives on, there goes up
from all his attendants wild sshux1a!
huzza!" OF course, they go back to
pay and thank the man of God for his
counsel so fraught with wisdom. When
they left the prophets house .they
went off mad; they have come back
glad. People always think bettero OF =
minister after they are converted than
they do before conversion. Now. we are
to them an intolerable nuisance, be-
cause we tell them to do things that 60
against the grain; but some Of us have
a great many letters from those who
tell us that once they were anrry az
what we preached, but afterr azszf a.
, ly received the Gospel at Cur
They once called us fanatics, sz ftssf<,se
lists, or enemies; now they calm frif
: Yonder is a man who said ii
never come into the church Ag &
said that two years ago. lie saaa G my
:, family shall never come hers aStfIs e
such doctrines as that are @saraaGtaegs
But he came again, and his ssfstsY
came again. He is a Chris n y5g
!. wife Christian, all his chiIfsgn lssas'
: tians, the whole household Christ stfdhS
! and You shall dwell with them in ths
: house of the Lord forever. Our nm
= dying coadjutors are those who ones
= heard the Gospel, and went away ins
q rage"
a Isuppose that was a great time q
, Damascus when Gen. Naaman GO
!, back The charioteers did not have Il
Is drive slowly any longer. lest they joi
|. the invalid; but as the horses dashet
n through the streets of Damascus
: think the people rushed out to hal
II back their chieftain. Naaman's wifi
g hardly recognized her husband
: he was so wonderfully changes
J. she had to look at him two %
4 three times before she made on
II that it was her restored husband. An,
! the little captive maid, she rushed out
"a clapping her hands and shouting: .sDi
# he cure you? Did he cure your The
i music woke up the palace, and tn
"a tapestry of the windows was draw
! away, that the multitude outside nigh
7 mingle with the princely mirth II
y side, and the feet went Up and dow
10 in the dance, and all the streets *
II Damascus that night echoed an 2
= echoed with the news: Manner.
ID cured! Naaman's curedrs But a gla,
- der time than that it would be Ii yot
n soul should get cured OF its lepros..
4 The swiftest white horses hitehcd
~ the Kings chariot would rush the nev
in into the eternal city. Our loved ones
- fore the throne would wet:ome the gls
he tidings. Your children ee earth, wit
he more emotion than the i:ttle Hebre
as captive, would notice tnsA change
1onlr anl fl,o oha in, uor,r