A Great Cure. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.-2 KINGS 5: 14. VERY distinguished personage, as the chief of the Syrian army,-"a great man with his master, and honorable." rich, he was high in office, and he was held in eminent esteem. Next to the king himself, there was perhaps no man in the realm of whom so much account was taken, or on whom so much confidence reposed. But, with all his dignity and honor, there was one great drawback to his estate, comfort, and hopes; and one which tended to vitiate everything else. The record says he was a leper. He had become the victim of a loathsome and incurable disease, regarded with intense abhorrence wherever it is found. A leper was usually held to be as good as dead. And with this disease this great Syrian general was attacked, sealing to him a life of suffering and humiliation, and a wretched death, if not in some way cured, as few have ever been. But how was he to be cured? The trouble was constitutional, and had become so much a part of himself that no skill of physicians or power of earthly remedies could reach it, or separate between him and the detested affection. From all that he or his friends knew, and according to the common experience of ages, his case was hopeless. And yet there was cure for him. It was not in Syria. It was not to be found anywhere in heathendom. But it existed. In all periods of the Church, God has lodged with His people certain "gifts of healing." Among these powers was also that of curing the leprosy. Christ exercised this power in various instances during His earthly ministry; and the same was done by sundry of the prophets who preceded Him. There was also a prophet, contemporary with this great Syrian, who stood in such relations to God that he had it in his power to work miracles, and thus to cure leprosy. He was a man of note in his own country, but quite unknown to Naaman, until his attention was drawn to him by what some might call a mere accident; but what men call accidents are all matters of divine providence. It was but a short time before that the Syrians had made war upon Israel, and carried off many prisoners, great and small, whom they had sold into slavery. Among these was a little Hebrew girl, who had been purchased by this Syrian general as a waiting-maid for his wife. Having become interested in the family, and acquainted with Naaman's trouble, she one day happened to say to her mistress that she wished her lord could be with the prophet that was in Samaria, as he would recover him from his leprosy. Unconsciously to herself, she thus became a preacher of salvation to that home. Her words were reported to her lord, and thence to the king, and a state expedition was instituted to go over into Palestine to secure the aid of the prophet in relieving Naaman of his disease. It is a blessed thing when children are early taught in matters of religion, so that they may anywhere and always be prepared to give information and light upon the facts and truths relating to grace and salvation. In this instance a little servant girl thus became a veritable prophetess to the great house of Syria's greatest general. Nor does it require much genius, eloquence, or scholarship to be an effectual bearer of the tidings of divine grace. What is most needed is simply a clear knowledge and confident persuasion of the facts, and a good, benevolent, and sympathetic heart to tell them. Damascus doubtless had men of eminent attainments, genius, eloquence, and wisdom; but they and their great abilities were mere ciphers and puerilities by the side of the few simple words of this little female slave, so far as regarded the helping of her lord to get rid of his leprosy. In her humble station and feminine childhood she was worth more than a thousand scientists and facile orators in such a case, because she knew where the healing power could be found, though she only talked it in her juvenile innocence. But in proposing to avail himself of what his little maid had told, Naaman made some serious mistakes, such as need to be avoided if we would profit by divine grace. His great consequence was much in his way and disabled his efforts at every step until he was brought to give up all his assumed loftiness. Had he taken the suggestions as given by the little prophetess all would have been right; but he was too great a man to be content with such straightforward simplicity. He must have things arranged to suit his style and state. He was told, Go to the prophet in Samaria; but what had a great man like him to do with one so low in rank and obscure in position? Naaman was the man to do with kings and the highest authorities. He would apply to his sovereign and get royal letters wherewith to come to the king of Israel. Nor would he go emptyhanded. He would go in state and loaded with treasures of state. Gold and silver, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, besides ten changes of costly raiment, he took with him as a grand backsheesh. And thus in style, as a royal ambassador, he made his way to the king of Israel, thinking that this was what became his dignity and high estate. People But the grace of God was not at the command nor within the reach of such a spirit. who thus exalt themselves are bound to be humbled. His royal letters did not avail. When the King of Israel read them he was astounded and indignant. He rent his clothes, denounced the proceeding as a conspiracy to bring about war, and exclaimed, Am I God, that I should recover a man from his leprosy! So the grand presentation proved a total failure, all because Naaman took his own self-consequential way for it, instead of following the suggestion of the little maid to go to the prophet in Samaria. But even when it was made evident that he must go to the prophet, the same spirit which prevented his success in the first instance again proved a vexatious hindrance. Disappointed and humiliated that he could not get the prophet's services through royal command, and obliged to go to the humble man whom he thought to make come to him, it was in no very amiable mood that he directed his cortegé to the house of Elisha. When he reached the prophet's dwelling he did not condescend to dismount. His dignity and self-importance would not allow him to do that. He merely sent word in to Elisha to come out to him, expecting that he would recognize and honor the great Naaman, and go through a round of ceremonial pow-wowing with due regard to the importance of his patient. But Elisha did not know his lordship, or rather knew him too well to pamper his pride or to think of the giving of divine grace where such a temper held sway. He would not so much as make his appearance. simply sent a servant to tell the great man to go wash himself seven times in the river Jordan and He |