The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-12-20
CAPTIVITY OF JOB.
Dr.. Talmage Urges Us to Avoid
Selfish Thoughts.

Selfish Thoughts.
Lessons ORA wn from Him Who Prayed
for His Friends While Imprisoned
-self-ConcentrMtion the
Fault of Too Many.
Copyright. 1900 by Louis Klopsch. N. ~
In this discourse DIR. Talmage wars
on narrowness Of view and urges life
helpful to others; text, Job 42-1O:
"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 por-
trayed, of awful ailments and terrific
| disaster, of domestic infelicity. OF STAG
| cato passage, of resounddng 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
geographer and zoologist 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.
i 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 cessat 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 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 its full
meaning: ''And the Lord turned the
| captivity of Job when he prayed fol
his friends"
i Well, if you will not explain it to mt
will explain it to you. The health
lest. the most recuperative thing OF
earth to do is to stop thinking SO much
about ourselves and go to thinking
about the welfare of others. Job hae
been studying his misfortunes, but thu
more he thought about his bankruptcy
the poorer he seemed, the more h
thought Of his carbuncles the wors'
they hurt. the more he thought OF hi
unfortunate marriage the more lntol
cradle became the conjugal relation
the more he thought of his house blow
down the more terrific seemed the cy
clone. His misfortunes grew blacke
and blacker. But there was to come
reversal of these sad conditions. On
day he said to himself: II have bee
dwelling too much upon my bodily all
; ments and my wife's temper and m
, bereavements. It is time | began Z
|. think about others and do something
for others, and Twill start now by pray
ing for my three friends Then Jo
: dropped upon his knees, and as he di
: so the last shackle of his captivity Q
!. troubles snapped and fell off. Hear i
all We ages of time and all ye ages 9
eternity, .'the Lord turned the capt.,
) ity OF Job when he prayed for hi
friends"
The fault with most of us is too muc
:. Recommendations health, ou
:. fortunes, our advancement, our soci;
. position, our achievements, our losse
: our defeats, our sufferings, our pers,
:. cution, our life, our death, our immo.
tally. OF course there is a lawful an
/ IL 4. 1Eet1 Tvr
. in time of such activities and rivalri.
and temptations we must look aft.
our own interests and our own destin
or we will go under. Do not wait *
others to take care of you. Take cal
of yourself. But it will not hinder o,
$ preservation and prosperity II we el
e large the sphere Of our wishes al
' prayers so as to take in others. II
e law in the natural world would do we
e for the moral and spiritual world. IT
J. centripetal force in nature wou
J: throw everything in toward the cent.
i and the centrifugal force in natu
e would throw everything out from II
+ center. But the centripetal and Il
Il centrifugal work beautifully togethe
= The one force that would throw ever
q thing toward the center is balanced
t the force that would throw everythil
= outward.
a Our world, with its own interes
8. feels the pull of other worlds. ]
i world, no nation, no community,
!. man, no woman. can afford to exi
g only for itself or himself or hersc
h The hour in which job has that
4 liloquy about the enlargement OF
prayers SO as to take in his frien'
and he put into execution his go
resolution, was the hour when he
be tonic, sedative, nervine, ca
he plasm that helped to cure his bo
1g and revived his fortunes till they WI
ed o hundred per cent. better than e,
ty before, for the record is "the TX
lis gave Job twice as much as he had
ck | fore,'' and tended TO make him W,
r. der of longevity. for he lived
st | years after. his troubles were go
on Oh. what mighty medicament is
re- | r0ntemulaf fion az and the effort