Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-11-16
REV. DR.. TALMACE.
THE EMINENT DIyINE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE,
Subject: The Welfare of Others - We
Should Danish Selfishness-Job Deliv.
cred From Evil When He Prayed Fot
Friends Happy From Doing Good
tCopyright 1909.


DR.. Talmage wars on narrowness of view
and urges a life helpful TO others; text,
Job xiii 10. "And the Lord turned the
captivity of Job when he prayed Tor his
friends.
Comparativeiy lew people read this last
chapter OF the book of job. The earlier
chapters are 50 full OF thrilling incident,
Of events 50 dramatically portrayed, of
awful ailments and terrific disaster, OF
domestic infelicity, of stacoato passage,
of resounding address, OF competency
proclaimed, of utterances showing Job to
have been the greatest scientist OF his
day, an expert in mining and precious
stones, astronomer, and geographer, and
zoologst, and electrician, and poet, that
most readers stop before they get to my
text, which strangely and mysteriously,
announces that "the Lord turned the cap
tivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends"
Now. will you please explain to me how
Jobs prayer for his friends halted his
catastrophes? Give me some good reason
why Job on his knees in behalf of the
welfare of others arrested the long pro-
cession of calamities Mind you, il was
not prayer for himself, for then the cessa-
ton of his troubles would have been only
another instance OF prayer answered, but
the portfolio OF his disaster was rolled up
while he supplicated God in behalf of Eli
phaz the Temanite, Bildid tile Shuttle,
and Zophar the Naamathite. j must con-
fess to you that ] had TO read the text
over and over again before / got its full
meaning-"And the Lord turned the cap
tivjty OF job when he prayed for his
friends"
We'll, if you will not explain il to me,
will explain it to you. The healthiest, the
most recuperative thing on earth to do is
TO stop thinking so much about ourselves
and 60 to thinking about the welfare OF
others. job had been studying his misfor-
tunes, but the more he thought about his
bankruptcy the poorer be seemed, the
more lie thought Of his carbuncles the
worse they hurt, the more he thought
Of his unfortunate marriage the more in
tolerable became the conjugal relation,
the more he thought of his house blown
down the more terrific seemed the cyclone.
His misfortunes grew blacker and blacker,
but there was to come a reversal OF these
sad conditions. One day he said to him.
SELF II have been dwelling too much
upon my bodily ailments and my wife's
temper and NY bereavements. 1t is time
! began to think about others and do
something for others, and will start now
by aging for my three friends" Then
Job dropped upon his knees, and as he
did SO that last shacke of his captivity OF
trouble sna' ed and fell off, Hear it; all
We ages of time and all ye ages Of eternity.
''thc Lord turned the captivity Of Job
tuhnn hn ,,rayp1 M. his friends ~
The fault with most of us is too much
self concentration-our health, our for
tunes, our advancement our social posi-
ton, our achievements, our losses, our de-
feats, our suiferings, our persecution, our
life, our death, our Immortality. OF course
there is a lawful and righteous selfshness
In n world and in time of such activities
and rivalries and temptations we must
look after our own interests and our own
destiny or we will go under. Do
not wait Tor Others to take care
of you. Take care OF yourself. But
it will not hinder our preservation and
prosperity if we enlarge the sphere OF our
wishes and prayers so as to take in 9TH
ers. The law in the natural world would
,lo well fer the moral and spiritual world.
The centripetal force in nature would
and the centrifugal force in nature would
throw everything out from the center, but
the centripetal and the centrifugal work
beautifully together. The one force that
would throw everything toward the cen
ter is bal need by the force that would
throw everything outward.
Our world, with its own interests. feels
the pull of other worlds. No world, no
nation, no community, no man, no woman,
can afford to exist only for itself or him.
self or herself. The hour in which Job
has that soliloquy about the enlargement
OF his prayers SO as to take IN his friends
and he put into execution his good resolu-
ton was the hour when he felt a tonic,
a sedative, a nervlne, cataplasm. that
helped to cure his body and revived his
fortunes till they were n hundred per
cent better than ever before, for the
record is "the Lord gave job twice as
much rs he had before and tended to
make him Il wonder of longevity, for he
lived l4 years after his troubles were
gone Oh, what a mighty medicament is
the contemplation OF and the effort Tor
the welfare of others.
"But," SAYS some one, 1T was easy
enough for Job to pray for his friends.
Anybody can do that There arc those
to whom we are obligated for years OF
kindness They stand so close TO us in
sympathy and Renaissance and antici
patton that it is easy for us to pray for
their welfare" Well, ! see YOU do not
understand that these friends of Job were
the most tantahzing and exasperating
friends man ever had Look at their
behavior. When they heard of his be-
reavemepts and the accidents by whrl
wind and lightning stroke. they came in
and sat down by him a whole week, sew
en- days and seven nights. and the record
is none spake a word to him What
disreputable and wicked silence Mind
you, they professed to be religious men,
and they ought to have been able to offer
some religious consolation. Instead of that
they were dumb as the sphinx which at
that time stood in the African desert and
stands there still. Why did they not say
something about reunion in the heaven
ly realms with his children, who had been
slain? Why did they not talk to him
about the satisfactory explanations in the
future world Of things we do not under
stand in this world? Why did they not
90 to the apothecary and buy poultice
that would have soothed the carbunc.es,
or some quoting potion that would calm
his nerves. or a few drops of febrlbuge
that would cool his heated frame? No!
For seven days and seven nights they did
nothing and said nothing for his relief.
They must have almost bored him to
death
After these three friends had completed
their infamous silence of week they be.
gan to lecture job First Eliphaz the
Temanite opens with long story about
a dream which he had in the night and lr'
ritates the sufferer with words that make
things worse instead OF better, and sets
him in an attitude of defense against the
loa4nrnr Then conps Rildad the Shuttle.