The Banner-Democrat., 1901-01-05
TALMAGE SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE s4 TIE AsLr o..
VINE

SUNDAYS DISCOURSE s4 THE AsLr o.,
VINE
Subject: The Welfare OF Others - w.
Should Danish Selflshness-Job Deliv
cred From Evil When He Prayed Fol
Friends-Happy From Doing Good.
lCopyrieht lsooi
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In 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 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 portrayed, of
awful ailments and terrific disaster, of
domestic infelicity, of staccato passage,
OF resounding 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 geoarapher, 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 cap
tivity OF Job when he prayed for his
friends"
Now, viii you please explain to me how
Jobs prayer for his friends halted his
catastrophes! Give me some good reason
whv Job on his knees in behalf of the
welfare of others arrested the long pro-
cession of calamities. Mind you. il was
not prayer for himself, for then the cessa-
tion of his troubles would have been only
another instance of prayer answered. but
the portfolio of his disaster was rolled up
while he supplicated God in behalf of Ell.
phaz the Temanite, Bildid the Shuhits,
and Zophar the Naamathite I 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 can
tivity Of Job when he prayed for his
friends"
Well, if you will not explain it to me. I
will explain it to you. The heaIthiest. the
most recuperative thing on earth to do is
to stop thinking so much about ourselves
and go to thinking about the welfare of
others. Joh had been studying his misfor-
tunes, but the more he thought about his
bankruptcy the poorer he seemed, the
more LIE thought of his carbunclea the
worse they hurt, the more he thought
OF his unfortunate marriage the more in
tolerable became the conjugal relation.
the more he thought of his house blown
DOWN the more terrific seemed the cyclone.
His misfortunes. grew blacker and blacker.
but there was to come reversal of these
'ad conditions. One day he said tc him.
'elf: II have been dwelling too much
lpcn my bodily ailments and my wife's
;emper and my bereavements. It is time
began to think about others and do
something for others. and I will start now
~ Paying for my three friends" Then
lob dropped upon his knees, and AZ he
lid so that last shackle of his captivity of
'rouble snapped and fell off. Hear it, all
re ages of time and all ye ages of eternity,
the Lord turned the captivity of job
vhen he prayed for his friends"
The fault with most of us is too much
elf concentration-our health, our for
unes, our advancement, our social posi-
ion, our achievements, our losses, our de-
eats, our sufferings. our persecution, our
Ife, our death. our Immortality. OF course
here is a lawful and righteous selfshness.
n world and in time of such activities
nd rivalries and temptations we must
,ok after our own interests and our own
estiny or we will go under. Do
ot wait for others to take care
t you. Take care of yourself. Bat
will not hinder cur preservation and
rosperity if we enlarge the sphere of our
fishes and prayers SO az to take in 9th.
RS. The law in the natural world would
o well for the moral and spiritual world.
he centripetal force in nature would
brow everything in toward the center.
nd the centrifugal force in nature would
brow everything out from the center, but
he centripetal and the centrifugal work
eautifully together. The one force that
'ould throw everything toward the CEN
n Is balanced by the force that would |
lrow everything outward.
Our world, with its own interests, feels |
ne pull of other worlds. No world, no |
alton. no community, no man, no woman,
IN afford to exist only for itself or him |
If or herself. The hour in which Job |
y that solloquy about the enlargement
his prayers so as to take in his friends |
Id he put into execution his good resolu-
on was the hour when he felt tonic. |
sedative, nervine, cataplasm, that |
.lped to cure his body and revived his
rtunes till they were hundred per
mt. better than ever before, for the
cord is "tbe Lord gave Job twice as
uch as he had BEFORE" and tended to
axe him wonder CT longevity, for he
red 140 years after his troubles were
me. Oh, what mighty medicament is
e contemplation Of and the effort fer
e welfare of others!
But, says some one, ''it was easy
ough for Job to pray for his friends.
nybody can do that. There are those
whom we are obligated for years Of
ndness. They stand SO close to us in
mpathy and reminiscence and antici-
ltion that it is easv for us to pray for
elr welfare" Well, / see you do not
lderstand that these friends of Job were
e most tantalizing aud exasperating
lends a man ever had. Look at their
havlor. When they heard of his be-
avemepts and the accidents by whirl-
nd and lightning stroke. they came in
d sat down by him a whcle week. sew
days and seven nights and the record
none spake word 10 him." What
dlsreputable and wicked silence! Mind
u. they professed to be religious men,
d they ought to have been able to offer
me religious consolation. Instead of that
ey were dumb as the sphinx which at
at time stood in the African desert and
'Hust tHcit stbi. why uiu Lney not say
mething about reunion in the heaven
realms with his children, who had been
in? Why did they not talk tn him
out the satisfactory explanations in the
.ure world of things we do not under
nd in this worldy Why did they not
to the apothecary and huy q poultice
It would have soothed the carburc,es.
some quieting potion that would calm
nerves. or few drops Of febribuee
1t would cool his heated frame: Not
r seven days and seven nights they did
thing and said nothing for his relief.
ey must have almost bored him to
sth.
After these three friends had completed
,ir infamous silence of week they be-
4 to lecture Job. First Eliphaz the
mantle opens with long story about
lream which he had in the night and ir-
ates the sufferer with words that make
ngs worse instead of better. and sets
n in an attitude Of defenea aga;pef tho |