The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-05-10
NARROW ESCAPES.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on SAL
walton as By Miracles.
The Narrow Escapes of Many People-Msn
Who Worship God on Sunday and
Mammon Every Other Day
Finding True Rest.

80 40 ~ "A4
escaped with the skin of my teeth"
Following Is his sermon:
Job had 1t hard. What with boils and
bereavements and bankruptcy, and a
fool OF a wife, he wished he was dead,
and l do not blame him. His flesh was
gone, and his bones we're dry. His teeth
wasted away until nothing but the
enamel seemed left. He cries out: 81
am escaped with the skin of my teeth"
There has been some difference of opin-
Ion about this passage. st. Jerome and
Solutions, and Doctors Good and Poole
and Barnes, have all tried their forceps
on Jobs teeth. You deny my interpre-
tation, and say: "What did Job know
about the enamel OF the teethP" He
knew every thing about it. Dental sur
gerry is almost as old as the earth. The
mummiest Of Egypt, thousands of years
old, are found to-day with gold filling in
their teeth. Ovid and Horace and Solo
mon and Moses wrote about those i'm
portant factors Of the body. To other
provoking complaints, Job, / think, has
added an exasperating ~toothache, and,
putting his hand against the infiamed
face, he says: 81 am escaped with the
skin Of my teeth"
A very narrow escape, you say, for
job's body and soul; but there are thou
sands of men who make just as narrow
escapes for their soul. There was q
time when the partition between them
and ruin was no thicker than a tooth's
enamel; but as Job finally escaped. so
have they. Thank God! thank God!
Paul expresses the same idea by q diff
ferent figure when he says that some
people are saved as by fire." A vessel
ut sea is in flames. You go to the stern
OF the vessel. The boats have showed
on. The flames advance; you can en-
dure h heat no longer on your face.
You slide down on the side of the YES
sci, and hold on with your fingers, until
the forked tongue of the fire begins to
lick the back of your hand, and you feel
that you must fall, when n of the life
boats ONE back, and the passengers
say they think they have room for one
more. The boat swings under you-you
drop into it-you are saved.
So some men are pursued by tempta-
ton until they are partially consumed,
but, after all, get off-"saved as by
fire." But ] like the figure Of Job a lit
tie better than that of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn 1t out; and l want
to show you, II God will help, that some
men make narrow escape for their souls
and are saved as with the skin of their
teeth"
1t Is rs easy for some people to look to
the cross as for you to look to this pull
pit. Mild, gentle, tractable, loving, you
expect them to become Christians. You
60 over to the store and say: 'Grandon
Joined the church yesterday" Your
business comrades say: ''That it is just
what might have been expected; he al
ways was of that turn of mind" In
youth this person whom I describe was
always good. He never broke things.
He eve laughed when It was improper
to laugh. At sever he could sit an hour
in church, perfectly quiet, looking
neither to the right nor to the left, but
straight into the eyes of the minister,
MS though he understood the whole dis
cussion about the eternal DEGREES. He
never upset things nor lost them. He
foated into the kingdom Of God so
gradually that IL Is uncertain just when
the matter wal decided.
Here is another one, who started in
life with an uncomfortable spirit. He
kept the nursery in an uproar. His
mother found him walking on the edge
of the house roof to see IL he could bal
ance himself. There was no horse that
he dare not ride-no tree he could not
climb. His boyhood was q long series
OF predicaments; his manhood was reck-
less; his mid-life very wayward. But
now he is converted, and you go over to
the store and say: cartwright Joined
the church yesterday" Your friends
say: at Is not possible! You must be
joking" You say: "No, / tell you the
truth. He joined the church" Then
they reply: "There Is hope for any Of us
II old Arkwright has become a Chris
tian!" In other words, we will admit
that IL Is more difficult for some men to
accept the Gospel than for others.
] may be preaching to some who have
cut loose from the churches and Bibles
and Sundays and who have come here
with no intent Of becoming Christians
themselves, but Just to Zee what Is going
on. and yet you may find yourselves es-
Gaping before you leave this house, "as
with the skin Of your teeth"
Some Of you, in coming to God, will
have to run against skeptical notions.
II Is useless for people to say sharp and
cutting things to those who reject the
Christian religion. / can not say such
things. By what process Of temptation
OF trial OIL betrayal you have come to
your present state, / know not. There
are two gates to your nature-the gate
of the head and the gate Of the heart.
The gate OF your head Is locked with
bolts and bars that an archangel could
not break, but the gate of you heart
swings easily on its hinges. II l as
saulted your body with weapons you
would meet me with weapons and IL
would be sword stroke for sword stroke,
and wound for wound, and blood for
blood; but IL / come and knock at the
door Of your house you open 1t and give
me the best seat In your parlor. II /
should come to you now with IN argu-
ment. you would answer me with an argu-
ment; IL with sarcasm, you would
answer me with sarcasm, blow for blow,
stroke for stroke; but when ] come and
knock at the door Of your hearty you open
IL and say, Come in, my brother. and
tell me all you know about Christ and
Heaven"
Listen to two or three questions:
NAre you rs happy as you used to DO
when you believed In the truth Of the
Christian religion? Would you like to
have your children travel in the road in
which your are now travelingP Yos
had q relative who professed to be q
Christian, and was thoroughly consist
ont, living and dying In the faith Of the
Gospel. Would you not like to live the
same quiet life and die the same peace
full death? / have a letter sent me by
one who has rejected the Christian re-
Iigion. 1t says: 81 am old enough to
know that the joys and pleasures Of life
are evanescent, and to realize that 1t
must be comfortable in old age to be
lieve in something relative to the fu-
ture, and to have q faith in some system
that proposes to save. / am free to con-
fess that I would be happier II I could
exercise the simple and beautiful faith
that is possessed by many whom | know.
I am not willingly out Of the church or
out of the faith. My state of uncer-
tainty is one Of unrest. Sometimes l
doubt my Immortality, and look upon
the death bed as the closing scene, after
which there La nothing. What shall l
do that I have not done?' Ali skep-
ticism is a dark and doieful land. Let
me say that this Bible is either true or
false. II IL be false, we are as well Of
rs you; II 1t be true, then which Of US is
safer?
Let me also ask whether your trouble