The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-11-28
Or. TALMAGE'S SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE. -
Subject: The Welfare Of Others . We
should Danish selfshness-Job peliv:s
cred From Evil When He Prayed For,
Friends-Happy From Doing Good: :

Subject: The welfare Oh Orhers we
should Danish se1fishness-Job Deliv:.
cred From Evil When He Prayed Fol.
Friends-Happy From Doing Good: :
q tcopyriQht lsOGl .'.,a'
WASHINGTON, D. Chr this discourse
DR.. Talmage wars on narrowness of view
and urges life helpful to others; text,
Job xiii, 10. "And the Lord turned the
captivity of Job when he prayed Tor 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 infelicitv. of staccato passage,
Of resoundina 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 caD-
tivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends" :. -.
Now. will you please explain to me how
Jobs prayer for his friends halted his
catastronhes? Give me some good reason
whv Job on his knees in behalf of the.
welfare of others arrested the long pro-
cession of calanities. 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 mn
while he sunplicated God in behalf of Eli
.phaz the Temanite, Bildid the Shuhite,
and Zophar the Naamathite. I must con-
fess to YOU that I had to read the. text
over and over again before I got its full
'1naeming-"And the LoEd turned the can:
titity of Job when he prayed for his
friends" - ="
Well. if;you will not explain it to me. I
will explain it to you.y The healthiest. the
1nostrecuper erstive thing ON earth to do is
/. to- Stop thinking so much'about ourselves
lar}ds 20 to thinking abByt the welfare of
Others. sJe =. had been studying his misfor-
tunes, but, The more he thought about his
bankruptcy the poorer he seemed. the
more; lie thought Of his carhuncles the
worse they hurt, athe more he thought
of his unfortunate marriage the more jn-
tolerable hecanieS the coniugal reIaEon.
the more he thought of his house, blown
down the mort terrific seemed the cyclone.
His risfoftanes grew blacker and blacker,
but there was to come q reversal OF these
sad conditions, One day he said to him
self:.. ."T haye been dwelling too much
upon my bodily ailments and my wife's
tenper and nv bereaveshenta. 1t is time
y began to think about others and do
-, ,r;t1 1ofo
by r-aying for my three friends" Then
Job dropped upon his knees. and is he
did 40 that last sharkle Of his captivity Of
We ages of time and all ye ages of eternity.
.@the Lord turned the caotivity of Job
when he prayed for his friends"
q The fault with most Of us is too much
self concentration our health, our for.
tunes, our advancement, ol1r social posi-
tion, our achievements, our losses. our de-
feats, our sufferings. our persecution, our
life, o,rr death. our Immortality. OF course
,thereis is lawful and righteous selfshness.
In a aworld land in a time Of such activities
and tivalries and temptations we must.
look after our own interests and our own
destiny or we viii go under. Do
not wait "a for Others to take care
of you, Take care of yourself. But
10, will not hinder our preservation and
prosperity If We enlarge the sphere of onr
wishes and prayers so as to take in 9th.
'ers. Tie law in the natural world would
DO well, frr the moral and spiritual world.
The centripetal force in nature would
throw everything in toward the center.
and the, centrifugal forcei in nature would
throw everything ont from Che center, but
the ,centripetal and the centrifugal work
beautifully together. Ehe one force that
would throw everything toward the cen.
~ "a Sslspced by the force that wouid
throw evervtfins, outward. j, -,
Our world, with i9sayp ~ ereSs tesISs
the pull Of other; worlds. No %orldcno
nation. no community. no man. no woman,
ear afford to exist only for itself or him
eelf or herself The hour in which Job
hae that solloquy about the enlargement
of his PRAYERS so as , take in his friends
and he put into execution his GOOD resolu-
tion was the hour when he felt tonic.
sedotive, a nervine. cataplasm, that
helned to rurc 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
mrch as he had before" and tended to
make him wonder Of longevity. for he
lived l40 years after his troubles were
gone. Oh, what a mighty medicament is
the contemplat tion of and the effort for
the welfare of others! - -.
But" saws some one. ut was easy
enough for jon to pray for his friends.
Anybody can do that. There are" those
to whom We arc obligated for years OF
kindness. They stand so close to us in
sympathy and reminiscence and antici-
patton that it is easv for US to pray for
their welfare Well, I see you do not
understand that these friends Of Job were
the most tantalizing and exasperatine
friends a man ever had. Look at their
behavior. When they heard of his be-
reavaments and the accidents by whirl-
wind and lightning stroke; they came in
and sat down by him whole week, sew.
en- days and seven nights; and the record
is "none spake word to him" What
disreputabIe and wicked. silence! Mind
you. they. protested to be religious men.
and thev ought to Have:been able to offer
some religious consolation! Jpstead of that
they were dumb as the. .shHinx which at.
that time stood in the Afrtsan desert and
stands there STILL Why. did they not say
something about reuuion in the heaven.
" 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 worlda Why did they not
20 to the arothecary and; buy a nouItice
that would have seotileds the carbuncles.
or some quieting potion that would calm
his nerves. or few. drops of fehrihMcc
that would cool his heated frame? No!
For seven days and seven nights they did
nothing and said nothing for his relief.
They must have almost bored him to
death. =:
. After these three friends had completed