Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-11-16
WELFARE OF OTHERS
Or. TALmAeE SAYS WE SHOULD BAN
ISH SEIFiSHNESS.

DthNefco from Evil when He
Prayed For Kits Friends-Happiness
Cones From Doing Good
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 fun of thrilling
incident, of events so dramatically
portrayed. of awful ailments ard ter
rife disaster. of domestic infelicity, of
staccato passage. of resounding ad-
dress. of omnipotency proclaimed, OF
utterances showing job to have been
the greatest scientist of his day, an ex-
pert in mining and precious stones,
astronomer, and geographer, and zoolo-
gist. and electrician, and poet. that
most readers stop before they get TO
my text, which. strangely and mys-
teriously. announces that ''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 calamitics. 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
duplicated God i'm behalf of Eliphaz
tho Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and
Zophar the Naamathite. l must con-
feSs to you that had TO read the text
over and over again before l got Its
full meaning-"And the Lord turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed
for his friends
Well, il you will not explain it to me-
will explain 1t to you. The bealthiest
the most recuperative thing on earth
10 do is to stop thinking so much about
ourselves and go to thinking about the
welfare Of others. Job had been study
ing his misfortunes, but the more he
thought about his bankruptcy the poor
er he seemed, the more he thought of
his carbuncles the worse they hurt, the
more he thought of his unfortunate
the conjugal relation, the moro he
thought of his house blown down the
more terrific seemed the cyclone. His
ruisfortunes grew blacker and black
or but there was TO come a reversal of
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 bereavements.
IL is time l began 10 think about others
and do something for others, and will
start now by praying for my three
friends" Then Job dropped upon his
knees. and MS he did so the last shackle
OF his captivity Of trouble snapped and
fell OF. Hear it, all We ages of time
and all ye ages of eternity, ''the Lord
turned the captivity of Job when he
prayed for his friends"
A Mighty Mcdicament.
The fault with most of us is too
much self concentration-ou health.
our fortunes. our advancement, our So
cal position. our achievements, our
losses, our defeats, our slfferings. our
persecution, our life. our death, our inn
mortality. OF course there is n lawful
and righteous selishness. In n world
and In n time OF such activities and
riv2lries and temptations we must look
after our own interests and our own
destiny or we viii go under. Do not
wait for others TO take care of Won.
rake care OF yourself But Il will not
hinder our preservation and prosperity
IL we enlarge the sphere of our wishes
ana prayers so as TO take in others.
1he law In the natural world would do
well Tor the moral and spiritual world.
ne centripetal force In nature would
throw everything In toward the center.
ana the centrifugal force in nature
would throw everything out from the
center. but the centripetal and the CEN
trifugal work beautifully together. The
one force that would throw everything
toward the center Is balanced by the
iorce that would throw everything out
ward.
Our world, with IT'S own interests.
reels 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 solllo-
guy about the enlargement of his pray-
crs so as to take in his friends end he
put INTO execution his good resolution
was the hour when he felt n tonic. n
seiatIVe, nervine- cataplasm, that
helped To cure his body and revived his
nortunes till they were 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 mighty medica-
ment Is the contemplation OF and the
effort for the welfare OF othersl
But says some one, sit 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 I'm
sympathy and Renaissance and an
ucipation that It. is easy for us to pray
Tor their welfare" Well, see you do
not understand that these friends of
Job were the most tantalizing and ex-
asperatinS friends man ever had.
Look NJ their behavior. When they
heard OF his bereavements and the az
cidenis by whirlwind and lightning
stroke. they came in and sat down by
''''' ~ NSths seven Q1NS and
seven nights, and the record is none
spake word TO him." What q dis
reputable and wicked silenceI Mind
you, they professed to be religious men.
and they ought 10 have been able to
Ter some religious consolation. In
stead OF that they were dumb as the
sphlnx 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
MS children, who had been slain? Why
ala they not talk to him about the sat
isfactory explanations i'm the future
world or things we do not understand /
IN this world? Why did they not GO TO |
the apothecary and buy poultice that |
would have soothed the carbuncles, or
some QuietinC notion that vvo,,ld oot,,o