Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-11-17
WELFARE OF OTHERS
OR. TALMAGE SAYS WE SHOULD BAN.
lSH SELFlSHNESS.
Cites the Example of Job. Who Was
Delivered From EVIL When He
Prayed For His Frisnds-Happfness
Comes From Doing Good.

Delivered FROM EVIL Wheh IN
Prayed For His Friends-HappinesI
Comes From Doing Good.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage wars on narrow
ness of view and urges life helpful Il
others; text, Job Kill. 10, "And the
Lord turned the captivity Of Job when
he prayed for his friends"
Comparatively few people read this
last chapter Of the book Of Job. The
earlier chapters are so full Of thrilling
incident, of events so dramatically
portrayed. Of awful ailments and ter.
rife disaster, of domestic irfelicity. OF
staccato passage, Of resounding ad'
dress, of omnipotency proclaimed. OF
utterances showing Job to have been
the greatest scientist of his day. an ex-
pert in mining and precious stones,
astronomer, and geograpber, and zoolo-
gist, and electrician. and poet, that
most readers stop before they get to
my text, which. strangely and mys-
teriously, announces that 1.-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,
1t was not prayer for himself, for then
the cessation of his troubles would
have been only another instance or
prayer answered. but the portfolio OF
his disaster was rolled up while be
supplicated God In behalf OF Eliphaz
the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and
Zophar the Naamathite. must con-
fess to you that had to read the text
over and over again before | got It's
full meaning-"And the Lord turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed
for his friends"
Well, If you will not explain II to me.
will explain 1t to you. The healthiest,
the most recuperative thing on earth
TO do is to stop thinking so much about
ourselves and go to thinking about the
welfare of others. Job had been study
ing his misfortunes, but the more he
thought about his bankruptcy the poor
er he seemed. the more he thought or
his carbuncles the worse they hurt. the
more he thought of his unfortunate
marriage the more intolerable became
the conjugal relation, the more be
thought of his house blown down the
more terrific seemed the cyclone. BIS
grew blacker and black
er, but there was to come a reversal OF
these sad conditions. One day he said
to himself: IL have been dwelling too
much upon my bodily ailments and my
wife's temper and my bereayements.
II is time began to think about Others
and do something for others. and | VIII
start now by praying for my three
Then Job dropped uponliis1
knees. and as he did so the last shackle
Of his captivity of trouble snapped and
fell off. Hear it, all ye ages Of time
and all ye ages of eternity, "the Lord
turned the captivity Of Job when he
prayed for his friends"
A Mighty Medicament.
The fault with most of us Is too
much self concentration-our health,
our fortunes. our advancement. our So
cial position. our achievements, our
losses, our defeats, our sufferings. our
persecution, our life. our death, our i'm
OF course there is lawful
md righteous selfishness. In a world
and in a time of such activities and
rivalries and temptations we must look
after our own interests and our own
lcstIny or we will go under. Do not
wait for others to take care OF you.
Take care of yourself But 1t will not
hinder our preservation and prosperity
f we enlarge the sphere of our wishes
md prayers so as to take In others
I'he law In the natural world would do
we'll for the moral and spiritual world.
rhe centripetal force in nature would
brow everything In toward the center,
md the centrifugal force In nature
would throw everything out from the
,enter. but the centripetal and the cen
rifugal work beautifully together. The
me force that would throw everything
oward the center Is balanced by the
orce that would throw everything out
ward.
Our world. with its own interests.
eels the pull of other worlds. No
world. no nation. no community. no
nan, no woman, can afford to exist
,nly for itself or himself or herself
The hour in which Job has that solilo-
Iuy about the enlargement of his pray
rs so as to take In his friends and he
tut into execution his good resolution
vas the hour when he felt n tonic. a
edative, nervine. cataplasm. that
Ielped to cure his body and revived his
nortunes till they were hundred per
ent better than ever before. for the
ecord Is "the Lord gave Job twice as
much as he had before" and tended to
make him n wonder of longevity. for
le lived 40 years after his troubles
we're gone Oh. what mighty medica.
nent is the contemplation Of and the
fort for the welfare of othersl
But" says some one. "it was easy
nough for Job to pray for his friends.
anybody can do that. There are those
o whom we are obligated for years OF
indness They stand so close to us in
and "reminiscences and an
icipation tina, It Is easy for us to pray
or their welfare" Well, see you do
lot understand that these friends Of
OBJ were the most tantalizlng and ex-
speratlng friends a man ever had.
4ook at their behavior. When they
card of his bereavements and the ac-
idents by whirlwind and lightning
troke, they came in and sat down by
i'm a whole week, seven days and
even nights. and the record is none
pake a word to him." What dis
equitable and wicked silencel Mind |