expected to enter the temple of the god Rimmon when his master went
to worship. And he wished Elisha's authority for this measure of
conformity.

In our own country men have been severely tested by acts of
conformity. And nothing gives the conscience of the whole people so
decided a lift as when men prefer disgrace or death to a conformity
which they believe to be wrong.

Had Naaman been as uncompromising as Daniel, who would not conform
even so far as to pray in a different corner of his room, or as the
Christian soldiers who suffered death rather than throw a pinch of
incense on the altar before the Emperor's image, possibly Elisha
would have given him greater commendation than the mere acquiescence
pronounced in the words, "Go in peace."

But in exculpation of Naaman it is to be said that he did not hide
his new conviction, but built an altar to Jehovah in Damascus. And
especially it is to be remarked that in his case these acts of
conformity were not proposed as a test of his adherence to the
religion of the country; and this makes all the difference. Had
Naaman's master commanded him to bow in the house of Rimmon as a test
of his acknowledgment of the Syrian god, Naaman would have refused;
but so long as it was a mere act or courtesy to his master, the
formal act of a courtier, from which no inferences could be drawn, he
might reasonably continue it. To receive the communion kneeling is
customary in some churches, and so long as one is allowed to put his
own interpretation on the attitude, no harm can come of it. But at
one time this attitude was the test by which two great and
antagonistic parties in England were distinguished from one another;