The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-23
SELFISH THOUGHTS.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE URGES A LIFE OF
HELPFULNESS TO OTHERS
Practical Lessons Drawn From the
Captivity of job, who Prayed for His
F~riends-The Efficacy OF the Prayer

In this discourse DR.. Talmage wars
on narrowness of view inc urges a life
helpful to others; text, Job xiii, 10
"And the Lord turned h captivity OF
Job when he prayed for his friends"
Comparatively few people read this
last chapter of the ook 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 o~mnipotency proclaimed. of utter
ances showing Job to have been the
greatest scientist of his day, ar expert
in mining and precious stones, astron-
omer and g~eographer and zoologist and
electrician and poet, that most read
ers stop before they get to my text,
which, strangely and mysteriously, an
nounces that 1.-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 halt
GU Ills w HANC liz OAAA
good reason Why Job, on his knees in
behalf of the welfare of others. arrest
ed the long procession of calamities.
Mind you, it was not prayer for him.
self, for then the cessation of his trou-
bles would have been only another in
stance Of prayer answered. But the
portfolio of his disaster was rolled up
while ne duplicated God in behalf of
Elipha the Temanite, Bildad the n u
hite and Zophar the Naamathite. L
must confess to you that / had to read
the text over and over again before 1
got its 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
i 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. Job a been study
ing his m~isfortunes, but the more he
thought about his BANKRUPTCY the poor
er he seemed, the more he thought of
his c~arbuncles the worse they hurt, the
more he thought of his unfortunate
marriage the more intolerable 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 a reversal or
these sad conditions. One day he said
to himself: II have been dwelling too
much upon my bodily ailments and my
wife's temper and my b~ereavements
1t is time / began TO think about others
and do something for others, and 1 will
start now by praying for my three
friends" Their 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 age of
time N all We ages of eternity, 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
self concentration-Our health, u for
tunes, our advancement, our social po-
sition, our achievements, our losses,
our defeats, our death, our immortal
ity. OF course there is a lawful and
righteous s~elfishness. In the world and
in a time of such activities n rival
ries and temptations we must look al
ter our own interests n our own deS-
tiny or we will go under. Do not wait
for others to take care of you. Take
care of yourself. But it will not him
der our preservation and prosperity 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 spiritual
world. The centripetal force in nature
would throw everything in toward the
center and the centrifugal force in ma
ture would throw everything out from
the center. But h centripetal and
the centrifugal work beautifully to-
gether. The one force that would
throw everything toward the center is
balanced by the force that would throw
everything
Our world, with it's W interests.
feels the pull of other worlds. No
world, no nation, no community, no
man M woman Pan afford to exist
only for itself or himself or herself.
The hour in which Job has that solilo-
guy about the enlargement of his
prayers so as to take in his friends,
and he put into execution his good res
olution, was the hour when he felt a
onic, a Sedative, a nerv1ne, a
~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 140 years after
his troubles were gone. Oh, what a
mighty medicament is the contempla-
ton of and the effort for the welfare
of others!
But" says some one, lit is easy
enough for Job to pray for his friends.
Anybody can do that. There are those
to whom we are obliged for years OF
kindness. They stand so close to us
in sympathy and "Reminiscences and an
~ticipation that it is easy for us to pray
for their welfare" Well, / see you do
not understand that these friends of
Job were the most tantelizing and ex-
asperating friends a man ever had.
Look at their ~behavious. When they
heard of his bereavements and the &C
cidents by whirlwind and lightning
stroke, the came in and sat down by
him a whole week, seven days ana
seven nights. and the record is none
spake a word to him." h a dis
reputable and wicked silence! Mind
you, they professed to be religious men
and they ought to have been able to
offer some religious consolation. In
stead of that they were dumb as the
sphinx which at that time stood in the
African desert and stands there still.
Why did they not say something about
reunion in the heavenly realms with
his children who had been slain? why
did they not talk to him about the sat
isfactory explanations in the future
world OF things we do not understand