The Alaska citizen., 1916-01-17
NAAMAN THE SYRIAN A LEpER
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T am the Lord that healeth thee" Ex. 1926.
 "1he blood Of Jesus Christ His Sen cl anscth us from al sin I John IT
 There is nothing needed by most people today more than a deep sense of the sinfulress of sin, of it. poison, it's degradation. it's ruin it. ability to blast all the beauty, steal away all the joy. wreck all the prospects of an otherwise promising life. Such a sense of the destructiyeness of sin is conveyed in the story of Naaman the Syrian. who was a leper
 Leprosy is a type of sin, and a most excellent one IL attacks the rich and poor alike. with death as a result to all; and il is curable only through the miraculous bless ing of God &s is true also of sin.
 Now notice how the Bible puts this doctrine of our need Many people are stumbling at it. It says in plain. comprehensive language what it has to utter about this man, who is as far as sin goes, just like |, .a..- ntr r man Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria'-it admits that he was a great man, a successful general, a military strategist. an honorable man, -"because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria he was also "a mighty man of valor;;" yes, the Bible gives a man all bis virtues, and it daIes to say word about his faults. and here 1t insists, but ne was a leper" Not all men have gone down as far as 1t is possible 70 go in sin, they can go deeper, bit in the last analysis God says Of them-nCt what man says, or says not. amounts to anything in Gods sight-that they are sinners -lepers, amiablc, but an amfable sinner; re fined, but a refined sinner; wealthy, b"t 2 wealthy sinner; Io~thscme but lcathsome sinner The sin ners are all going down the broad road to destruction side by side The lepers must all be isolated from those not afflicted, separated becauet they are Iepers. The Bible is just going to tell you the plain truth about sin an1 it's consequences and let you draw your conclusions, and follow your deductions, and then takes the consequences of tpe facts in the case.
 Now the means Of grace comes at 'irts n very humble ways. Tho Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid ' and this little maid waited on the wife of the captain of the host, This little girl is to bring the word that would start the whole Syrian Lost to thinking Large doors turn on very small hinges. Do not de spise the day of small things. Wise men will not Fools do it daily, and are building their houses upon the sand. The work of this little maid has gene down in history, while the most of the great acts of the captain of the Syrian host has never been able 10 scale the ravages of time. Waiting on Naaman's wife she simply performed the tasks of the day, but she bore her simple t,ft'ms ny, "Wca'3 Gcl my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria. for he would recover him Of his lCpr,sy. It ia pretty difficult to feel the children when it comes to mistakes in other. This little maid discovered ;hat her lord had the leprosy, and was just blunt and honest and childlike enough to speak about it. Doubtless the older folks tried to cover up the fact of there being any disease in the per son of so great man as the cap tain of the Syrian host. But the devil is no respector Of persons, ard children are apt to tell the truth. It is possible to teach them to lie But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
 ;+ n millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned m the depths of the sea-
 It is well to note how man pro ceeds to get rid of his troubles. The king of Syrira writes to the king oi Israel Naaman departs with "ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes ot raiments" It is not the first time that man has tried to get free from sin by the liberal use of wealth. Ar irving in Israel the poor leper of g captain places his case before the king of the IsraeliteS. But there are some things that kings, as vel as wealth, cannot do, and this is one of them. Helpless, utterly help less, before both leprosy and sin Oh, that men and women could set and realize such is the condition The power of kings and wealth, any thing but the blood of Jesus, i' powerless to free from sin.
 But when Elisha, the man O