The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-11-16
CAPTIVITY OF JOb.
DR.. Talmage Urges Us to Avoid
Selfish Thoughts.
lessons ORA wn from Him who Prayed
for His Friends While Imprisoned
-seIf-Concentrntio the
Fault of Too Many.
tcopyright 1900 by Louis Klopsch, N. "
Washington, Nov. IL.

helpful to others; text, Job 42-1O;
sand the Lord turned the captivity of
Dob 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-
frayed, of awful ailments and terrific
disaster. of domestic infelicity. of stac-
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
erician and poet, that most readers
stop before they get to my text, which,
strangely and mysteriously, announces
that 1.-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 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 cessation of his troubles would
have been only another instance OF
prayer answered. But the portfolio of
his disaster was rolled up while he
eupplicated God in behalf of Eliphaz
the Temante, Bldad the Shuttle and
Eophar the Naamathite. / must con-
Tess 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 for
his friends"
Well, if you will not explain it to me
will explain it to YOU The health
lest, the most rocuperative 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
Ahey hurt, the more he thought of his
unfortunate marriage the more intol-
cradle became the conjugal relation,
che 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: 81 have been
dwelling too much upon my bodily all
ments and my wifes temper and my
sbereave ments. 1t is time | began to
think about others and do something
for others. and will start now by pray
kng for my three friends" Then Job
dropped upon his knees, and as he did
90 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-
fly of Job when he prayed for his
friends"
The fault with most Of us is too much
Observation-Disclosures health our
fortunes, cur Advancement, our social
position. our achievements. our losses,
our defeats, our sufTerings our perse-
cution, our life. our death, our immor-
tally. OF course there is lawful 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 prosperity il we en-
large the sphere of our wishes and
prayers so as to take in Others The
law in the natural world would do well
for 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
mi ata1
centrifugal work beautifully together.
The one force that would throw every
ching 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 so
liloquy about the enlargement of his
prayers so as to take in his friends,
and he put into execution his good
resolution, was the hour when he felt
tonic, a sedative, a nervine, a cata-
plasm that helped to cure his body
and revived his fortunes till they were
per DtIleT IMAM ever
before, for the record is "the Lord
gave job twice as much as he had be-
fore" and tended to make him won
der of longevity for he lived 40
years after his troubles were gone.
oh, what mighty medicament is the
contemplation of and the effort for
the welfare of othersl
But says some one, 'it 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 tantaliz-
ing and exasperating friends man