The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-11-17
CAPTIVITY OF JOB.
DR.. Talmage Urges Us to Avoid
Selfish Thoughts.
Lesson. Drh vn from Him Who Pr"yed
for His Friends while imprisoned
-seIf-Concentration the
Fault of Too Many.
downright. 1900, by Louis Klopsch. N. ~
Washington.

WdSulIlkt onb
In this discourse DR.. Talmage wars
on arrown OF view and urges a lie
belpful to others; text. Job 42-lo:
And the Lord turned the captivity oil
Job when he prayed for his friends.
Comparatively few people read TINS
last chapter Of the Book of JOB. Inc
earlier chapters are so FULL OF thrliilng
incident, of events so dramatically por-
trayed. of awful ailments and terrihc
disaster. of domestic infelicity. OF STAG
cato passage, of resounding address, OF
omnipotency proclaimed, of utterances
showing Job to have been the greatest
scientist of his day, an expert in mining
and precious stones. astronomer and
Ceographer and zoologist and cleo
trician and poet, that most readers
stop before they get to my text which'
strangely and mysteriously,
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 halteo
his ca~tastrophes? Give me some gooo.
| reason why Job, on his knees in behalf
| of the welfare of others, arrested the
long procession of calamfties. Mlnd
you, it was not prayer for himself LOT
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
supplieated God in behalf of Eliphaz
| the Temanite, Bildad the bfuhite and
| Zophar the Naamathite. / must con-
| fess to YOU that / had to read the text
over and over again before I gotits 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
! 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 go 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 lie 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 a
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. II is time I began to
think about others and do something
for others, and l will start now by pray
ing for my three friends" Then Job
dropped upon his knees, and as he did
SO the last shackle of his captivity of
troubles snapped and fell off. Hear it.
all We ages of time and all We ages of
eternity. "the Lord turned the captiv-
ity of Job when he prayed for his
friends"
The fault with most of us lie too much
self-concentration-our health, our
fortunes, cur advancement, u social
position, our achievements, our losses,
our defeats, our sufferings, our perse-
c~ution, our life, our death, our immor'
taiity. OF course there is a lawful and
righteous selfishness. In a world and
in a time Of such activities and rivalries
and temptations We must look afteI
our own interests and our own destiny
or We will &c under. Do not wait fol
others to take care of you. Take car,
of yourself. But it will not hinder oui
preservation and prosperity If we en-
large the sphere of our wishes ant
prayers so as to take in others. TIL.
a IN in fha paftra1 xx-Ar1d xrA,,1l IL x.aI
for the moral and spiritual world. Tn,
centripetal force in nature wouls
throw everything in toward the center
and the centrifugal force in natur,
would throw everything out from tn,
center. But the centripetal and tn,
centrifugal work beautifully together
The n force that would throw every
thing toward the center is balanced b,
the force that would throw everythin,
outward.
Y Our world, with its own interests
0 feels the pull of other worlds. n
? world, no nation, no community, n
man, no can afford to exis
only for itself or himself or hersel,
The hour in which Job has that sc
t liloquy about the enlargement OF hi
a prayers so as to take in his friend.
and he put into execution his goo
resolution, was the hoIr when he fel
a tonic, a sedative, a nervine, a catt
plasm that helped to cure his bod
o and revived his fortunes till they wer
a hundred per cent. better than eve
before, for the record is "the Lor
gave Job twice as much as he had b,
q fore" and tended to make him a woi
3 der of longevity. for he lived IA
S. years after his troubles were gon,
d Oh, what a mighty medicament is tn
n contemplation OF and the effort ft
IS the welfare of others!
e But" says some one, at is cas-
enough for job to pray for his friend
Anybody can do that. There are tho,
n to whom we are obliged for years
10 Kindness. They stand so close to /,
e. in sympathy and reminiscence and al
IL ticipation that it is easy for us
s. pray for their welfare" Well, / S.
you do not understand that the,
friends Of job were the most tantali
: ing and e~xasperating friends a mi