The Yale expositor., 1900-11-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
URGES A LIFE OF HELPFULNESS
10 OTHERS.
Practical LESSONS Drawn From the CFp-
tivity OF Job, Who Prayed for Ills
Friends-rhs Efficacy of Prayer-Use-
lessness of Anger


Copyright, 1900 Louis Klopsen, N. "
Washington, Nov. lin this dis
course DR.. Talmage wars on narrow
ness of view and urges life helpful TO
others; text, job xiii, 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 por-
trayed, of awful ailments and terrific
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 min
ing and precious stones, astronomer
and gcographer and zoologist and cleo
trician and poet that most readers
stop before they get to my text, which,
strangely and n:ysteriously, announces
that the Lord turned the captivity of
Job when he prayed for his friends"
Now, viii 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
or 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
or his disaster was rolled up while he
duplicated God in behalf OF Eliphaz
and Temanite, Bildad the Shuttle 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"
Too Much Self Concentration.
The fault with most of us is too
much Observation-Disclosures health,
our fortunes, our advancement, our
social position, our achievements, our
losses, our defeats, our sufferings, our
persecution, our life, our death, our
Immortality. or course there is law
full and righteous selfshness. In a
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 for others to take care of you.
Take care Of yourself. But it will not
hinder our preservation and prosper
ity If We enlarge the sphere of our
wishes and prayers SO as to take in
others. The law in the natural world
would do we'll for the moral and spir-
itual world. The centripetal force in
nature would throw everything in to-
ward the center and the centrifugal
force in nature would throw every
thing out from the center. But the
centripetal and the centrifugal work
beautifully together. The one force
that would throw everything toward
the center is balanced 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 himself 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 ex-
ecution his good resolution, was the
hour when he felt tonic. a sedative,
nervine. cataplasm that helped to
cure his body and revived his fortunes
till they were hundred per cent bet
ter than ever before, for the record is
THE Lord gave Job twice as much as
he had before" and tended to make
him wonder Of longevity, for he lived
140 years after his troubles were gone.
oh, what a mighty medicament is the
contemplation of and the effort for the
! welfare Of others!
The Prayer OF Job.
After the three friends had COM
they began to lecture Job. First, Eli
phaz the Temanite opens with n long
| story about a dream which he had in
the night and irritates the sufferer
with words that make things worse
| instead of better and sets him in an
attitude Of defense against the lecturer.
Then comes Bildad the Shuttle, who
BlNCo Tic INV dllu a louliu SCOluluS dllu
calls him garrulous and practically
| tells him that he deserved all that he
| got and that IL he had behaved him
| self Alright he would not have lost his
| house or his children or his estate. He
practically says: LOB, l will tell you
I what is the matter with you. You are
! bad; you are hypocrite; you are now
| getting paid for your wickedness." No
wonder that there came from Job an
| outburst Of Indignation which calls
out the other Quondam friend Zophar
the Naamathite, who begins denounc-
ing Job by calling him liar and keeps
on the discourse until Job responds to
all three of them in the sarcastic
words. mo doubt but we are the peo-
! pie, and wisdom shall die with you
| Tho Trial OF Job.
| Notice that this flagellation by the
| three friends was premeditated They