Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-11-04

tne prospect nt SDeeftN dT1VaL Iney
drive up 70 The door Of the prophet The
oharioteers slsuut "Whoaw TO the horses,
and tranping hoofs and grinding wheels
cease shaking the earth. Come out, Eli
sha, come out. You have company. The
grandest company that ever came to
your house has come to it now. 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, wien you nre
Eick aud 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 because they
| depend upon their own strength and
instructions and not ON the Lord God,
and that always makes malpractice.
Come out, Elisha, and attend to your
business.
General Naaman and his retinue wait
ed and waited and waited. The fact
was, Naaman bad two diseases-pride
and leprosy. Tho ono was as hard to get
rid of rs the other. Elisha sits quietly
in his house and does not 90 out. After
awhile, when he thinks he has humbled
this proud man, he says to a servant,
go out and toll General Naaman to
bathe seven times in the river Jordan,
out yonder five miles, and be will get
entirely we'll -" The message comes out.
"What" says the commander in chief
| OF the Syrian forces, his eye kindling
with an animation which it had not
shown for weeks and his swollen foot
stamping on the bottom of the chariot,
regardless of pain. "Whatl Isn't he
coming out to see me? Why, ] thought
certainly he would come 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 out? Why, when
the Shunamite woman came to him, he
rushed out and cried: Is it we'll with
theeP Is it well with thy husband? Is
it we'll with thy child9' And will he
treat poor unknown woman like that
| and let me, titled parsonage, sit here
in my chariot and wait and wait? ]
won't endure it any longer. Charioteer,
drive onl Wash in the Jordanl Ha, hal
The Shiny Jordan-the muddy Jordan
the monotonous Jordan wouldn't
be seen washing in such n river as that
Why, we watered our horses in q better
river than that ON our way here--the
beautiful river, the jasper paved river of
Pharpar. Besides that we have in our
country another Damascene river, Aba
ma, with foliaged bank and torrent ever
swift and ever clear, under the flicker
ing shadows of sycamore and oleander.
Are not ALBANIA 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 should
tell us to go and wash in the Danube or
the Rhine We would answer, "Are
not the Connecticut and the Hudson
just as goodf" Or as an Englishman
would feel If he were told, by way of
medical prescription, he must go and
wash in the Mississippi or the St. Law
renee. 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 Englishman
and every American needs to learn
that when God tells you to do thing
you must go and do II, whether you
understand the reason or not. Take the
prescription, whether you like 1t 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 everlast-
ing wasting away. Obey and live; dis
obey and die. Thrilling. overarching,
undergirding, stupendous alternativel
Dead Failure.
Well, General Naaman could not
stand the test. Tho oharioteer gives
jerk to the right line until the bit snaps
In the horses mouth, and the whir OF
the wheels and the flying of the dust
show the indignation of the great com
mander. "He turned and went away In
q rage" So 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 had been
studying how to annoy and exasperate
and demolish them. What has he been
doing? 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 a rage.
So, after all, it seems that this health
excursion of General Naaman is to be
O dead failure. That little Hebrew cap
tive might as we'll have not told him Of
the prophet. and this long journey |
might as well not have been taken.
Poor, sick, dying Haamani Are you 60
ing away in high dudgeon and worse
than VIXEN you came? As his chariot
halts a moment his servants chamber
up In il aud coax him TO do as Elisha |
said. They say: "It's easy. II the proph- |
OF had told you TO walk for mile on
sharp spikes in order to get rid OF this
awful disease, you would have done 1t.
1t is easy. Come, my lord, just get down |
and wash in the Jordan You take a |
bath every day anyhow, and In this eli
mato it 10 SO hot that 1t will do you |
good. Do it ON our account, and for the
sake Of the army you command, and for
tho sake Of the nation that admires you. |
Come, my lord, just try this Jordanio |
bath. 4" "Well," he says, ito please |