The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-12-15

| him IN an attitude of defense against the
| lecturer. Then comes Bildad the Shuhite
who gives the invalid a round scolding and
| calls him garrulous and practically tells
and that if he had behaved himself Alright
he would not have lost his house or his
children or his estate. He practically
said: Job. will tell you what is the
| matter with YOU. You are bad. You are
n hyp0crte. You are now getting paid for
Your wickedncss" No wonder that there
came from job an outburst of indlgna.
ton, which calls out the other quondam
friend. Zophar the Naamathite, who be.
gins denouneinr Job by calling him liar
and keeps on the discourse until Job re-
spends to all three of them in the ear
castle words, "No doubt but We are the
peonh. and wisdom shall die with YOU"
Oh, what friends Job had. Heaven
deliver us from having one such friend,
to say nothing of having three of them.
1t was for such friends that Job prayed.
and was it not a religious triumph for
him so to do? Would you. the very best
of you be in a very devout mood and
capable of making intercesson for people
who had come to YOU in day of trouble
and said: Good for you. You ought to
he chastised You are being taken in
hand by eternal justice. II you had be
ndNe0 yourself dTlRHl, you "ou'u NV
have been sick or prosecuted or impover-
ished or made childless." Oh no, my
friend. You would not have felt like Job
when he prayed for his friends. but more
like Job when he cursed the day OF his
nativity.
You people who weigh over 900 pounds
avoirdupois had better never lose your
temper, for at such times apopleyy is not
far off Get the enuipose Of Job in the
text. and it will help yon in business dl-
rections. Praying for all offenders, you
will have more nerve for large nndertak-
ings; you will have a better balanced
Judgment; you will waste no valuable time
in trying to get even with your enemies.
Try this height of prayer for your an
tagonist to-day, and if YOU fail try it to-
morrow Keen on until Won, accomplish
it. and should not wonder If, IN addition
to the moral and religious strength 1t
gives you, it should add hundred per
cent to your worldly prosperity Job xiii.
10, "The Lord gave Job twice as much as
he had before
What we all need is to get ont of our
selves and co to helping others. whether
friends or foes As beautiful an instance
of how this can be done / found last
summer in London in the person OF Flor
cnce nightingale. the Jerome of hospitals
and of battlefields when there were no
hospitals. The lounge on which she hes
PROSTATE is throne of power. and,
though she has passed into the eighties,
she trains nurses for sickbeds. and her in.
huence is now felt among the wounded
in South Africa while her memory is full
of the story of Balaklava. Sevastopol and
Inkerman where England and France
and Russia prappled. She told me that
~ l. ri ohn p.
took to alleviate suffering and that since
sfe began that work she had never seen
an unhappy dav. To that work she con-
secrated her life her classic attainments,
her social position. her brilliant person
atty Her whole life for Others and her
face shows it. I think so much of heaven
is to be found in no other human coun-
tenancp. Tennyson's "Charce of the Light
Brigade" is not more thrilling to me than
the womanlv bravery and sacrifice that
took care of those who were shot from
the saddles of the Immortal six hun.
dre6"
My text enthrones prayer and gives it
a scepter to wave over our temporal and
eternal life. Under God it cured Job and
fixed up his finances and restored his
home and made him so robust of health
that he lived fourteen decades. But"
SOIue One says, Oo uot UeiseNC ia
prayer for friends and foes, because [ do
laws of nature because we ask Him so to
DO" Neither do l think that God will
change the law of nature at our request,
but l am sure that He answers prayer
through natural law.
Not physician of any skill, allopathic,
or homeopathic, or hydropathic, or eclec- |
,ic, but has some time been surprised that |
what was thought to be fatal disease |
relaxes it's craps of the patient, |
md he RECEIVERS. Not one law of nature |
las been fractured. Prayer may have
yiven the sudden turn to that illness.
A business man may be in difficulty in
tricable-mortgages against him fore
losing, goods to be sold for some reason
,ecome unstable, new invention in ma
hinery making the old machinery of his
actory worthless, all kinds of CONNER
ial troubles pouncing upon him at once.
Most business men have at least once
n their lives been put in such agonizing
risis, but the harried merchant or manu-
acturcr gets out of it. Creditors become
enient, the wheels that were made use
ess for making one kind of fabric turn
ut to be good for making another style
f fabric, the stock of goods that could
ot be sold comes into unexpected de-
1and, and whereas all things were against
i'm all things are now for him.
What an opportunity is prayer! Why
OF oftener use it praying for ourselves
nd, like Job, praying for others? What
etter work would we do, what better
YES would we live, what better hopes
'ould we entertain, if we multiplied and
ltensfied our prayers!
Some one asked a soldier of Stonewall
ackson the secret of the great generals
lfuence over his men. docs your gen
-al abuse you, swear at You, to make you
arch" ''Swear!' replied the soldier.
No! Ewell does the swearing; Stone
all does the praying. When Stonewall
ants us to march he looks at lis soberly,
st as if he were sorry fer US, and says.
len, we have get to make a long march
'e always know when there is going to
: a long march and right smart lighting,
r Stonewall is powerful on prayer Just
fore a big fight" When Stonewall
,ckson was asked the meaning of the
usage instant in prayer" he said: "If
~ will not mistake and think | am set
ng myself up as az example, which |
n not, | will give an illustration from |
J own habit. l have so fixed the habit
prayer IN my mind that | never raise a
ass of water to my lips without mo-
ents asking CT Gods blessing; | never
al letter without a brief sending of
y thoughts heavenward; l never change
y classes in the section room without
minutes petition for the cadets who go
t ard those who come in"
God hoe Iurira {hoco ~ |