Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-09-08


lights of brilliant ballroom as well
as in the sitting air of the dark howell
of criminals retreat By handling the
coin which is publicly used in India a
traveller may become infected with lep-
rosy, some leper having handled the
same coin. By simply touching rock
at the foot of which leprous beggar
had crouched prince, arrayed in all
the brilliant robes of royalty, may be-
come a leper.
A few years ago the most influential
man Of the kings court in the Sand
witch Islands was supposed to be an
eccentric individual because he always
wore a glove upon his left hand, but
one day that courtier was compelled to
take off his kid glove, and he was
found to be leper.
The Indifference of the Rich.
The last people on earth to believe
that they can be destroyed by the lep-
rous germs of sin are the rich, the af-
fluent and the honored. 1t is easy
enough to persuade the poor outcast,
despised for her sins by the whole
human race that she needs Christ. It
is easy enough to persuade the poor
drunkard, writing in the fatal clasp
of delirium, that he needs supernatural
aid; but, oh, it is hard to persuade the
rich man, the honored, the respectable
man, to feel that the leprous germs of
sin may be imbedded in his own flesh.
Afiuence and worldly honor some
times seem to make men Indifferent to
all that is vital for time and eternity.
They are blinded to their sins and
scott at the warning that their own
fate may yet be that of the multitudes
who, in the palaces of the rich and the
great. have persisted from the same in
difference.
Reckless and Indifferent was the atti-
tude of the people of London during
the great plague about two centuries
ago. Ainsworth, the historian, tells us
that during those narrowing and grew
some months the London stores were
nearly all closed. The doors of the pri-
vate homes were nearly all barred and
bolted save when they were opened at
the approach Of the bell ringer who
was seated upon a pile of stenchful
cOrpses because he was out driving the
dead cart and collecting the different
bodies of the dead. Yet at that time in
London there were men and women
who whistled and laughed and danced
and sang and blasphemed under the
very shadow Of these horrors.
! But, though the leprosy of the soul,
like the leprosy Of the flesh, be dis
ease beyond the reach of the human
soul, l would again draw your atten-
ton to the fact that it yields to the
touch of the Divine Physician. as the
affection of Naaman yielded at the Jor-
dan waters. And there are especially
two or three incidents about the phys
ical cure of Naaman with which
would drive this truth home and lead
you to the fountain of life. The first
was that he was induced to travel
from Damascus to the home of the
Prophet Elisha through the influence
of little captive Jewish maiden who
was a slave of Naaman's wife. l can
| imagine the little Jewish slave lying
awake upon her humble couch as night
after night she hears the great Syrian
general tramping up and down in his
palace rooms. She hears him groan
when he is awake. She hears him
moan in his sleep because he is hope
less leper She hears him toss restlessly
about upon his bed. She hears him
the more readily because she is sleep
ing in a nearby room. at the foot of
Naaman's wife's bed. or in an adjacent
room to her mistress. Then she hears
the general and his wife talking of the
cause of Naaman's trouble. So one
day she timidly pulls at her mistress
skirts and says: Mistress, why do you
not have master seek the prophet OF
Israel? He would cure him of his
leprosyp' Then the horses were hitch
ed to the chariots. Then the journey
was taken to the faroff prophets
home
The Christians Duty.
Here. my brother, is the Christians
duty. The hu1nblest child of God can
perform it. The service rendered to the
great general by this captive child you
can render to the moral lepers around
you. l am doing no more than this
from this pulpit. l am telling you
where there is a cure for this fatal dis
ease. However great you may be, if
you have in your nature the germ of
sin, l say, as did the Hebrew maid
"Would God you would go to Jesus, for
he would restore you." / cry to you
as did that humble preacher who, one
stormy day, started Charles FL. Spur.
geon upon his glorious work when he
cried: young man, afflicted with
doubts and troubles, look to Jesus
Look! Lookw Will you battle in
Christ's blood? Will you battle now
Will you go to Christ and be spiritually
cured? The second fact about the cure
of tho lannr Naaman with which