Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-11-21
Sermons OF THE DAY
Preached By Rev. DR.. Taimage


su'.iec; tn. Welfare of Others We
Should Danish Selhshness-Job Deliv.
cred From Evil When He Prayed Fo,
Friends-Happy From Doing Good.
ICorvright lsOal
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-In this discourse
DR.. Talmage wars on narrowncss of view
and urges a life helpful to others; text.
Job Kill 10, "And the Lord turned the
captivity of Job when lie 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 terrific disaster, of
domestic infelicty, of staccato 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 geographer, and
zoologist, and electrician, and poet, that
most readers stop before they get to my
text, which, strangely and mysteriously,
announces that 'the Lord turned the cap
tivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends
Now, will you please explain to me how
Jobs prayer for his friends hated his
catastrophes! Give me some good reason
why job on his knees in behalf of the
welfare of others arrested the long pro-
cession of calamities. Mind you, it was
not prayer for himself for then the cessa-
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 Eli
phaz the Temanite. Bildid the Shuhitc,
and Zophar the Naamathite. / must con
fess to you that l had to read the text
over and over again before l got it's full
meaning-"And the Lord turned the cap
tivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends
Well, if you will not explain it to me, |
will explain it 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. Joh had been studying his misfor-
tunes, but the more he thought about his
bankruptcy the poorer he seemed, the
more lie thought of his carbuncles the
worse they hurt, the more he thought
of his unfortunate marriage the more in
tolerable became the conjugal relation,
the more he thought of his house blown
down the more terrific seemed the cyclone.
His misfortunes grew blacker and blacker,
but there was to come reversal OF these
sad conditions. One day he said to him
self: Il have been dwelling too much
upon my bodily ailments and my wife's
temper and my bereavements.. 1t is time
1 began to think about others and do
something for others, and l will start now
by aging for my three friends Then
did so that last shackle of his captivity of
trouble snar ,ed 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"
The fault with most of us is too much
self coRcentratiOn-our health, our for
tunes, our advancement, our social posi-
ton. our achievements, our losses, our de-
feats, our sutferings, our persecution, our
life, our death, our immortality. OF course
there is lawful and righteous selfshness.
In 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
prosperity if we enlarge the sphere of our
wishes and prayers so as to take IN 9TH
ers The law in the natural world would
do well fer the moral and spiritual world.
The centripetal force in nature would
throw everything in toward the center,
and the centrifugal force in nature would
throw everything out from the center, but
the centripetal and the centrifugal work
beautifully together. The one force that
would throw everything toward the cen
ter is bal need 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 on'y for itself or him
self 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 execution his good resolu-
tion was the hour when he felt a tonic,
sedative, nervine, cataplasm. that
helped to cure his body and revived his
fortunes till they were a hundred per
cent. better than ever before, for the
record is ''the Lord gave Job twice as
much as he had before" and tended to
make him a wonder of longevity. for he
lived 40 years after his troubles were
gone. Oh, what a mighty medicament is
the contemplation of and the effort for
the welfare of others!
But" says some one, 'it was easy
enough for Job to pray for his friends
Anybody can do that There are those
to whom We are obligated for years OF
kindness. They stand SO close to us in
sympathy and reminiscence and antici
patton that it is easy for us to pray for
their welfare" Well, see you do not
understand that these friends of Job wer,
the most tantalizing and eNasperat;nq
friends man ever had. Look at THEN
| behavior. When they heard of his be
reavements and the accidents by whr!
wind and lightning stroke. they came III
| and sat down by him a whole week. sev
en- DAYS and seven nights. and the record
is none spake word to him" What
| a disreputable and wicked silence, Mind
you. they professed to he religious men
and they ought to have been able to offe,
| some religious consolation. Instead of that
| they were dumb as the sphinx which al
that time stood in the African desert and
stands there still. Why did they rot say
something about reunion in the heaven
ly realms with his children. who had been
! slain? Why did they not talk to him
about the satisfactory explanations in the
future world of things we do not under
stand in this world? Why did they not
20 to the apothecary and buy poulI.ce
| that would have soothed the carbuncies
or some quieting potion that would calm
his nerves. or a few drops of febribuge
| that would cool his heated Frame No.
For seven days and seven nights they did
/
They must have almost bored him to
death.
After these three friends had completed
their Infamous silence of week they be
gan to lecture Job. First Eliphaz the
femanite opens with long story about
| a dream which he had in the night and ir
ritates 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 Shuhite
who gives the invalid a round scolding and
| calls him garrulous and practically tell:
| him that he deserved all that he had go;
and that if he had behaved h mself Alright
he would not have lost his house or his
children or his estate. He practically
said: "Job, 1 will tell you what is the
matter with you You are bad. You are
! a hypocrite. You are now getting paid fol
your wickedness." No wonder that there
came from Job an outburst of indigna
| ton, ~hich calls out the other quondam
friend. Zophar the Naamathite. who BE-
gins denouncing Job by calling him lial
and keeps on the discourse until Job re
snnnds To all three of them in the sar