St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-12-15
CAPTIVITY OF JOB.

d.. Talmage Urges Us to Avoi,
Selfish Thoughts.
Lessons Drawn 1ron Hin who Praye,
ter HIS Friends while ImpriseaeA
-Self-Ceneentratien the
Fault Of Tee Many.
Copyright. 100. BY Louis Klopsch. N. 7.
Washington.
In this discourse DR.. Talmage war
on narrowness Of view and urges lif,
helpful to others; text, Job 1910
"And the Lord turned the captivity o
Job when he prayed for his friends"
Comparatively few people read thi
last chapter Of the Book Of Job. TIL,
earlier chapters are SO full of thrilling
incident, of events so dramatically por
trayed. OF awful ailments and terrific
disaster, of domestic infelicity, of STAG
cato passage, Of resounding address, o.
omnipotency proclaimed, of utterance'
showing Job to have been the greatest
scientist OF his day, an expert in mining
and precious stones, astronomer anG
geographer and BIOLOGIST and cleo
trician and poet, that most readers
stop before they get to my text, which
strangely and mysteriously, announces
that ''the Lord turned the captivity 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 procession of calamities. Mind
you. it was not prayer for himself, for
then the cessation Of his troubles would
have been only another instance of
prayer answered. But the portfolio Of
his disaster was rolled up while he
duplicated God in behalf OF Eliphaz
the Telnanite, Bildad the Shuttle and
Zophar the Naamashite. 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
captivity OF Job when he prayed for
his friends"
Well, if you will not explain it to me
I will explain it to you. The health
lest, 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 misfortunes, but the
more he thought about his bankruptcy
the poorer he seemed the more he
thought Of his carbuncles the worse
they hurt, the more he thought Of his
unfortunate marriage the more intol-
cradle became the conjugal relation.
the more he thought Of his house blown
down the more terrific seemed the cy-
clone. His misfortunes grew blacker
and blacker. But there was to come .
reversal of these sad conditions. One
day he said to himself: II have been
dwelling too much upon my bodily all
ments and my wife's temper and my
bereavements. It 10 time began to
think about others and do something
for Others, and will start nov BY pray
Ing for my thres friends" Then Job
dropped upon his knees, and as he did
so the last shackle of his captivity of
troubles snapped and fell on. Hear it,
Ill ye ages of time and all ye ages of
eternity. "the Lord turned the captiv-
lty OF Job when he prayed for his
friends"
The fault with most OF us is too much |
self-concentration-our health, our
fortunes, our Advancement, our social |
position, our achievements, our losses,
our defeats, our sufterings, our perse-
cution, our life, our death, our immor-
tality. OF course there Is Z lawful and |
righteous selfishness. In . world and |
In time Of such activities and rivalries
md temptations We must look after
'ur own interests and our own destiny
Or we will 60 under. Do not wait for
others to take care Of you. Take care
Of yourself. But it will not hinder our
and prosperity if we en-
large the sphere of our wishes and
prayers so as to take in others. The
aw in the natural world would do well
Tor the moral and spiritual world. The
,entripetal force in nature would
brow everything in toward the center
md the centrifugal force in nature
you'd throw everything out from the
enter. But the centripetal and the
work beautifully together.
The one force that would throw every
hing toward the center is balanced BY
he force that would throw everything
Our world, with ito own interests,
eels the pull Of other worlds. No
world. no nation, no community, no
nan. no woman. can afford to exist
My for itself or himself or herself.
he hour in which Job has that So
lloquy about the enlargement Of his
'rayers 20 n to take in his friends.
nd he put into execution his rood
was the hour when he felt
tonic, a sedative, . nervine, . cata-
.asm that helped to cure his body I
nd revived his fortunes till they were
hundred per cent. better than ever
efore. for the record is 1.-THE Lord
ave Job twice ~ much rs he had be- {
pre-" and tended to make him . won ,
- "a AOh6c'ASys AOE NC uvcQ l4U
earn after his troubles were gone.
h. what mighty medicament is the I
ontemplation Of and the effort for
be welfare Of Others!
But" says some one. st is easy I
norgh for Job to pray for his friends.
nybody can do that. There are those .
whom we are obliged for years OF I
indness. They stand 70 close to us e
sympathy and Renaissance and an- i
cipation that It is easy for us to v
ray for their welfare" Well, see i
On do not understand that these 1
lends Of Job were the most tantalix- d
e and exasperating friends q man p
'er had. Look at their behavior.
hen they heard Of his bereavements
I'd the accidents by whirlwind and n
yhtning stroke they came in and sat h
'wn BY him . whole week, seven Il
'ys and seven nights. and the rec Of
d il "none spake . word to HIM" n
hat 4 (iigrenufahle and w;rEAd &; O]