Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-11-16
ye are the people. and wisdom shall
die with votf

va, Nudt lTlcOOS JOD mad. Heaven
deliver us from having one such friend.
to say nothing of having three OF them.
Ii was for such friends that Job pray
cd, and was II not n religious triumph
for him SO TO dol Would you. the
very best of you. be I'm very deYout
mood aud capable of making interces-
sion for people who had come to you
In day of trouble an6 said: Good
for you. You ought to be chastised.
You are being taken I'm hand by eternal
justice. III you had behaved yourself
Alright. you would not have been sick
or prosecuted or impoverished or made
childless." oh. no. my friend. you
would not have felt like Job when he
prayed for bis friends, but more like
Job when be cursed the day OF bis
nativity.
Notice that this dagellation by the
three friends was premeditated. They
did not merely happen in and come
suddenly upon trouble for which they
could not offer compound. The Bible
says. They had made an appointment
together" The Interview was prcar
ranged They had agreed as 70 what
they would say to the sick man. Yor
can see that their remarks were not ex
temporanoous. What they said was
sublimely poetic. They rose In style
INTO what In later times we would call
the HOmeric or Dantesque. But Job
was not in need Of poetry SO much as a
salve for his eruptive disorder. He
was not dying for lack of a paragraph
In blank verse. Ee was not so much
mod n
justice of God as an assurance of the
divine mercy. Some pious rustic of the
land of Uz. not able to put three gram.
matical sentences together. could have
said something more copsolatory.
worthy OF Emulation.
The meanness OF the attack of these
religious critics was augmented by the
fact that they had the sufferer In their
power. When we are well and we do
not like what one Is saying, we can get
up and go away. But Job was too III
to get up and go away. First be en-
uured the seven days and seven nights
of silence. and then he endured their
arrangement of his motives and char.
acter and after their cruel campaign
was ended, by sublime effort of soul
which | this day uphold for imitation
he triumphcd i'm prayer for his tantaliz-
ers. In all history there is nothing
equal to II except the memorable i'm
ploration by Christ for his enemies
No wonder that after that PRAYER of
JOB was once uttered thrill of recoy-
cry shot through every nerve and vein
of his tortured body and every passion
OF bis great soul, and God answered il
by adding nearly a century and half
to his lifetime and whitened the hills
with focks OF sheep and filed the air
with the lowing of cattle aud Weakened
the silent nursery of his home with the
swift feet and the laughing voices Of
childhood-seven sons and three dauch.
ters celebrated for their beauty. the
daughters TO refine the sons. the sons
to defend the daughters. There Is moth
ing that pays so well as PRAYER. and
the more difficult the prayer to make
the greater the reward for making n.
Let us all make similar attempt to
pray for those who vcx and misrepre-
sent and tantalize us. You may be very
popular In the city or neighborhood
where you live. but warrant IL YOU
wish you the opposite OF wishing Won
well. Are you benevolent? They say II
is on your part matter OF personal
display. Are you eloquent or learned?
They declare you are overrated and
that what YOU say or write is of no Inn
portancc. DO you try to make yourself
effective In church or hospital or board
OF directors? They call you oificious.
Are you we'll dressed? They say Won
are proud. Docs a false report start In
the community against your char
actcrr They believe IL nll and add an.
other story 10 the fabrication. Some OF
them pretend 60 be friends. but they
have the cudgels all ready for you-ElI.
phaz the Temanite. BiIdad the Shu-
hite. Zophar the Naamuthite. Now.
pray Tor them. "ohr' you say. 81 can
not do that" | thought you could not.
But you viii grow In grace until you
-dn do IL ms easily and as well as did
Job pray for his exasperators. You
ought 10 pity them, for defamers and
detrastors md the envious and Jealous
are not happy. They hurt themselves
moro than they hurt you. Better be
the pursued than the pursuer. Better
be the infant Christ than Uerod the
robber or the Bethlehem cradles. You
want TO be better man. You want TO
be better woman. Then scale this
height OF triumphant prayer. and Won
VIII be ten times more OF n Christian
IMAM you ever have been. 1t will pro-
long your life as Ii prolonged Jobs
life. You will feel a glorious reaction
that VIII last through all time and all
eternity. Ii will steady your nerves, II
VIII reduce your spleen, IL will regu-
late the pulsation or your heart.
Keep Your Temper.
Nothing is so unhealthy as 10 get
mad. IL Is shock to the whole phys
ical organization as we'll as to your
mental anc moral condition. II is no
unusual thing for people TO drop down
dead in n fit OF anger. You people
whc weigh over 200 pounds avoirdu-
pois had better never lose your tenn.
per- for at such times apoplexy is not
tar on. Get the eQuipoise OF Job In
the text. and II will help you in bust
ness directions. Praying for all Of
renders, you VIII have more nerve for |
large undertakings; you VIII have q |
better balanced Judgment; you will |
waste no valuable time In trying to get |
even with your enemies. Try this |
height or prayer for your antagonist |
today. and III You fall try II tomorrow. |
Keep on until you accomplish 1t, and |
should not wonder II. In addition to |
the moral and religious strength It
gives you. 1t should add hundred |
per cent to your worldly prosperity.
lob Kill. 10. The Lord gave Job twice
is much as he had before"
What we all need is 10 get out of |
ourselves and go to helping others,
whether friends or foes AS beautiful
IN instance OF how this can be done
found last summer In London In
he person of Florence Nightingale.
he heroine of hospitals and of battle.
ieids when there were no hospitals.