The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-05-04

26th verse.
Billy Sunday, In his sermon at the
tabernacle Wednesday night. said:
IT'S evening in the Second Book OF
Kings. the fourth chapter and the
18th verse: "Is 1t well with thee? Is
it we'll with thy husband? Is it well
with thy child?"
Fifty-three miles north of Jerusa- !
lem. eight miles from Tabor and four
and one-half miles from JeZreel, there
once stood the famous and ancient
city of Shunam, situated in one of the |
most beautiful, fertile and picturesque
spots ever known on the globe; sur
rounded by olive orchards and fields
of waving grain, with bubbling
springs and babbling brooks and
shaded groves-an ideal place for an
ideal home.
And in this city there was an ideal
home, presided over by one OF the IA
nous women of her day.
Elisha, the prophet, used to pass by
this home on his journey to Mt. Car
mel and back again to the school OF
the prophets at Jericho, of which he
was the head, and there was some
thing in his actions and conduct that
led this woman to conclude that he
was a man of God, for she had been
watching him. and she said to her
husband one day: 81 perceive that
man of God is passing by us contn-
ually. With an invitation from US he
might STOP"
Sees Man of God
Passing
She felt that much benefit might
accrue from this, and she thought,
why are we missing all this? / per
ceive that a man of God is passing
by us continually and we are deriv-
ing no benefit from it"
She suggested to her husband that
they fix up a room for Elisha and put
in there a bed, stool and pictures
and a candlestick, so that he could
ever afterward make this his home.
They did II, and ever afterward, in
his Journeys to and fro, the prophet
of God used to turn aside from the
road and stop and enjoy the hospital
tiles of this home in Shunam and rest
his weary frame there on the bed
they had provided out of their hos
pitaIity and their wealth.
And there was in that home an only
child, and he had grown to be chunk
of a boy, and he was out in the field
ers, and the hot sun of the Orient,
beat down upon his head, and sudden
" he threw his hands up to his head
and cried out: my head! My head!
My head"
The father cried: Garry the lad
to his mother" And they picked the
boy up and carried him to the house.
And then. to my mind, occurs one
of the saddest statements found In
the Old Testament, HE sat upon his
mothers knees until noon, then he
died"
Broken-hearted, she carried him up
stairs and laid him upon the bed of
the man of God, and then, she turned
to her servants and said: Saddle me
a beast and drive on. Stay not until
bid YOU"
Down there on the highway was
the weeping, broken-hearted mother.
Yonder at Mt Carmel was the only
man that she believed in all the king
dom that God would hear.
Turns to Strangers
for Relief
Oh, isn't it pitiable that when the
death dew is on the brow of the loved
one or the black-winged messenger
of death has come, you have got to
turn to strangers for comfort?
And she hurried along the highway
and Elisha sat on the hillside, and,
looking down the road he saw her
coming. He turned to Gehazi, who
was a sort of assistant or private sec
rotary for him, and said: "Yonder
comes that Shunamite woman. Run
down and see what she wants"
Gehazi ran down the road and he
met the weeping woman, and he sa-
luted her in the words of my text, as
it we'll with thee; is it well with thy
husband; is it well with thy child?"
That included the whole family, for
there was only one child.
She answered back: at is WELL
Then she came near to Elisha, and,
falling upon her knees, she threw her
arms about the man of God, sobbing
as IL her heart would break; and &C.
hazi, possibly thinking her insane,
came and seized her by the shoulders
and was about to tear her away, but
the prophet of God put out his hand
and stopped him, saying: DO not so
rudely use her The poor woman is
sorelv yexed and troubled within her
and the Lord hasn't revealed it to
me-"
Grieves for
Death of Son.
And then he asked her why she
had come and the occasion of her
grief. She told him that it was be-
cause her boy was dead, and she be-
lieved, from what she had seen and
heard of him when he was IN her
home, that God would hear him and
bring that dead child to life again,
so had made the long trip to have
him come down there and dry her
tears and keep the boy out of the
grave.
Elisha turned to Gehazi and said,
You go down and lay my stat on the
dead child and he will live, and as
Gehazi started off. Elisha said: AS
YOU go, salute no man
It would be necessary for you to
understand something of oriental Gus
toms to know why he said that \
friend of mine who had been over
there said that he saw two Orientals
meet on the highway near Palestine.
They removed their turbans from
their heads and their pack from their
backs. They saluted each other seven
times with kiss and an obeisance;
aud he pulled out his watch and timed
them and they were just half an hour.
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