The Washington weekly post., 1900-11-13

be in very deV0ut mood and capable or
making interccssion for people who had
come TO you IN a day OF trouble and said
Good for you; you ought to be ehastised: :
yea are being taken IN hand by eternal
justice II you had behaved yourself
Alright YOU would not have been sick. OF
persecuteJ. or impoverished. OF made
cliidless' Oh. no. my friend. you would
not have felt like Job when he prayed for
his friends. but more Ike Job when he
cursed the day of his nativity.
Notice that this iagellation by the
three friends was premedItated. They cid
not merely happen In. and come suddenly
upon trouble for which they could nos
oner A compound. The Bible says: They
had made an appointment together The
interview was preaTTanged. They had
agreed as TO what they would say TO the
sick man. You can see that their REMARKS
were not extemporaneous. What they
said was sublimeiy poetic. They rose IN
style into what In later times We would
call the HomeTlc or Dantesque. But job
was not IN need Of poetry so much az a
saiye for his eruptiye disorder he was
not dying for lack OF a paragraph IN blank
verse. he was not so much In need 81 a
didactic lecture about the justice OF God
as an assurance OF the divine mercy.
Some pious rustic OF the land Of Uz. not
able 10 put three grammatical sentences
together, could nave said something more
cOnsOlatoTy.
The meanness OF the attack OF these
religious critics was augmented by the
fact that they had the sufferer in heir
power. When We are well, and We do rot
Ike what one IS saying, We can get uD
and 90 away But Job was too III 20 get
up and go away. First, he endured the
seven days and seven nights OF silence.
and then he endured their aTralgnment OF
his motives and character. and after their
cruel campaign was ended, BY a sublime
effort OF soul. which this day uphold for
imitation, he triumphed in prayer for his
tantalizers. In all history there Is nothing
equal 20 IL except the memorable implora-
ton by Christ for his enemies. No w0n-
der that after that prayer Of Job was once
uttered, a thrill of recovery shot through
every nerve and vein Of his tortured body
and every passion OF his great soul; and
God answered 1t by adding nearly en-
TRY and half TO his lifetime. and whit
ened the hills with fiocks of sheep and
filed the air with the lowing Of cattle,
and wakened the silent nursery of his
home with the swift feet and the laughing
voices Of childhoOd-seyen sons. and three
daughters celebrated for their beauty, The
daughters to refine the sons. the sons to
defend the daughters. There is nothing
that pays so well as prayer, and the more
difficult the prayer to make the greater
the reward for making IT,
Let US all make similar attempts To
pray for those who yex and misrepreseat
and tantalize US. You may 5e very popu-
lar in the city or neighb0rhood where you
live, but ! warrant If you are in active
life there are those who wish you the op-
posite of wishing you well Are you
benevolent? They say 1t is on your part
a matter of personal display. Are you
eloquent or learned? They declare you are
overrated, and that what you say or write
is OF nc Importance. Do you try 10 make
yourself effective in church or hospital or
board of directors? They call you Off
cious. Are you well dressed? They say
you are proud. Does a false report start
in the community against your character?
They believe 1t all, and add another story
10 the fabrication. Some Of them pretend
to be friends, but they have the cudgeIs
all ready for you, Eliphaz the TemaEite.
Bldad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamath-
ite. Now, pray for them. on you say,
/ cannot do that / thought you could
net But you will grow In grace until you
can do ii as easily and as ell as did Job
pray for his exasperatOTs. You ought 10
pity them, for defamers and detractors
ana the enVious and jealous are not hap
py. They hurt themselves more than
they hurt you. Better be the pursued
than the pursuer. Better be the infant
Christ than Herod the robbe- of the Beth.
lehem cradles You want to be a better
man. You want to be better woman.
Then scale this height OF triumphant
prayer, and you will be ten times more OF
a Christian than you ever nave been. II
Will prolong your life as ii prolonged Job's
lie. You viii feel glorious reaction thai
Will last through all time and all eternity
IL VIII steady your nerves; il will reduce
your spleeni II Will regulate the pulsa-
ti0ns OF your heart.
Nothing is SO unhealthy as to get mad
1t is shock TO The whole physical or.
ganlzation, as well as 20 Your mental snd
moral condition. 1t is no unusual thine
for people to drop down dead in 4 fit OF
anger. You people who weigh over 2g
pounds aYoirdupois had better never lust
your temper, for at sucn times apoDiexy
is not far on. Get the equipOise of Iot
in the text, and il viii hel,, --o.l n husi
ness directions. Praying for all offend
ers, you Will have more nerve for large
undertakings; you win have a better tal
anced judgment; You will waste 10 valua.
Die Time IN trying 10 get even with you
enemies. Try this height Of PRAYER fo,
your antagonist to-day, and if YOU ts'l
Try Ii tomorrow. Keep on until ven ac
compilsh II, and | should not wonder if
IN addition TO the moral and religion,
strength II gives you, it should add a hun.
dred per cent. 10 your worldly prosperity
CJop' xllilOD The Lord gave Job twice
as much as he had before
What we all need is TO get out of our.
selves ana so 10 helping others. Whetha,
friends or foes. AS beautiful an instance
OF how this can be done l found last sur,.
mer In London, in the person of Florence
Nightingale, the heroine of hospitals and
OF battle-nelds when there were no hos
pitals. The lounge on which she lies
PROSTATE is a throne of power. and
though she has passed into the eighties
she trains nurses for sick beds, and he,
influence Is now felt among the wounded
In South Africa, while her memory is full
OF the story of BalaclaVa SebastopoI
ana lnkermann, wnere England anu
France and Russia grappled She tod
HE tndI she had not been happy until
she undertook 10 alleviate suffering. and
that since she began that work She had
never seen an unhappy day. TO thai
MOrk she ConSecraJed her life. her classic
attainments, her social position. her brill
liant personality. Her whole life for 9th
ers, and her face shows il | think 50
Innch oI heaven IS TO be found in no other
human countenGnce. Tennyson's 'Charg1
of the Light Brigade is not more thTiIi-
iES 10 me- than the WomaAly bravery and
sacrifice that tCck care OF those who were
shot from the saddles OF the Immortal
six hundred
My text eathrones prayer and gives II
a scepter 10 wave over our temporal ana
eternal life. Under God it cured Job. and
fixed up his finances, and restored hi-
home, ana made him so robust Of heaItn
that he lived fourteen decades. But.
some one says, i do not believe in prave.
for friends and foes, because / do not
think that Gcd is going to change the
laws OF nature because we ask a.-n so ID
do Neither do / think that God viii
change the law of nature at our redues.
hut | am sure that he answers PRAYER
through natural Law. Not a physician OF
any skill. allopathic, on homeopathic, OF
hydropa reic or electric. but has some