Sermons to the People; Preached Chiefly in St. Paul's Cathedral

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881. Excerpt: ... SERMON XIV. NAAMAN'S EXPECTATIONS: A REPRESENTATIVE CASE. 2 Kings T. 11,12. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said. Behold, I thought, He witt surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his Ood, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel t may I not wash in them, and be clean T Bo he turned and went away in a rage.' NAAMAN the Syrian, the proud noble, the brave soldier, tbe afflicted leper, is in these several capacities a representative man. His peers, his comrades, his fellow-sufferers, may well have been proud of claiming his friendship. But it is not these particulars which should engage our attention most earnestly this afternoon. Naaman, as he waits, disappointed and indignant, before the door of Elisha's house in Samaria, represents human nature in presence of some higher truth than it has yet mastered--in presence of revelation; and from this point of view he may be studied with no little advantage. Let us, first of all, glance at his history. Naaman, I have already said, was a brave and skilful soldier. The Bible tells us that by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria; and some recently discovered inscriptions make it at least probable that he had distinguished himself in a campaign by which the Syrians of Damascus were freed from the oppressive power of the Assyrian kings. The successful soldier naturally stood high in the favour of his sovereign, and in the opinion of his countrymen; but his life was embittered by the humiliating and painful disease which in those ages was so prevalent throughout the East, and in which the Israelites had learnt to trace a material shadow or symbol of moral evil. Naaman's lep...