Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-05-05
THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH.
DIR. TALMAeE breaches ON THE
WELL KNOWN TEXT FROM JOB.


and Pence.
BRooKLYE, May AFTER the Longsneter
Doxology and appropriate hymns had been
sung by the congregation in the Academy
Of Music and prayer had been offered, DIR.
Talmage preached on marrow Escapes"
taking rs his text job xix, 20, 81 am escaped
with the skin of my teeth" Following is
his sermon in full:
Job had it hard. What with boils and be-
reavements and bankruptcy. and fool of a
wife, he wished he was dead, and do not
blame him. His flesh was gone, and his
bones were 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 differ
ence of opinion about this passage st.
Jerome and Schultens, and Drs Good and
Poole and Barnes have all tried their for
ceps on Jobs teeth. You deny my inter
probation and say, "What did Job know
about the enamel of the teethf' He
knew everything aboutit. Dental surgery
is almost as old as the earth. The mum
mics Of Egypt, thousands of years old,
are found today with gold filing in their
teeth, Ovid and Horace and Solomon and
Moses wrote about these important factors
of the body To other provoking com
plants job, think, has added an IL asper-
ating toothache, and putting his hand
against the inhamed face, he says, IL am
escaped with the skin of my teeth"
A very narrow escape you say for Jobs
body and soul; but there are thousands of
men who make just rs narrow escape for
their soul. There was a time when the
partition between them and ruin was no
thicker than u tooths enamel; but as Job
Iinaily escaped, so have they. Thank God
thank Cool
Paul expresses the same idea by differ
ent figure when he says that some people
are saved as by fire" A vessel at sea is
in flames. You go to the stern of the yes
sell The boats have showed Oft The flames
advance; you can endure the heat no longer
on your face. You slide down on the side
of the vessel, 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 one Of the life
boats comes 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 mon are pur-
sued by temptation until they are partially
consumed, but, after all, get off--"sayed as
by fire" But | like the figure of Job
little better than that of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn it OUT and | want to
show you, if God will help, that some men
make narrow escape for their souls, and
are saved as with the skin of their teeth"
TWO PICTURES
1t is as easy for some people to look to
the cross as for you to look to this pulpit.
Mild, gentle tractable, loving, you expect
them to become Christians. You go over
to the store and say: "Grandon Joined the
church Yesterday" Your business comrades
say; "That is just what might have been
expected; he always was of that turn of
mind" In youth this person whom | de-
scribe was always good. He never broke
things. He never laughed when it was
improper to laugh. At seven, he could sit
an hour in church, perfectly quiet, looking
neither to the right hand nor to the left,
but straight into the eyes Of the minister,
as though be understood the whole discus
sion about the eternal DEGREES. lie never
upset things nor lost them He floated
into the kingdom of God SO gradually that
it is uncertain just when the matter was
decided
Here is another one, who started in life
with an uncontrollablesp spirit. He kept the
nursery in an uproar His mother found
him walking on the edge Of the house roof
TO see If he could balance himself. There
was no horse that he dared not ride-no
tree he could not climb. His boyhood
was long series of predicaments; his man
hood was reckless; his midlife very way
ward. But now no is converted, and you
20 over TO the store and say, cartwright
Joined the church yesterday" Your friends
say at is not possibel You must be jolt-
ing" You say mo; ! tell you the truth.
lie Joined the church" Then they reply,
"There is hope for any of us If old Ark
wright has become a Christian" In other
words, we will admit that it is more diff
cult for some men to accept the Gospel than
Cor others.
d may be preaching to some who have cut
loose from churches and Bibles and Sun
days, and who have come i'm here with no
intention of becoming Christians them
selves, but just to see what is going on
and vet you may find yourself escaping, be-
fore YOU leave this house, as with the skin
of your teeth" | do not expect TO waste
this hour. ] have seen boats go off from
Cape May or Long Branch and drop their
nets, and after awhile come ashore, pulling
in the nets, without having caught single |
fish. IL was not n good day, OF they had
not the right kind of a net But we expect
no such excursion today. The water is full
of fish, the wind is in the right direction,
the Gospel net is strong. Oh, thou who
didst help Simon and Andrew TO fish,
show us today how to cast the net on tho
right side of the shipl
THE HEARTS DOOR,
Some Of you, in coming to God, will have
60 run against skCptical notions, 1t is use |
less for people 60 say sharp and cutting !
things to those who reject the Christian
religion. | cannot say such things. by
what process Of temptation or trial or be-
trayal you have come to your present state
know not. There are two gates to your
nature-the gate of the head and tho gate
of The heart The gate of your head Ia
locked with bolts and bars that an arch
angel could not break, but the gate of your
heart swings easily on its hinges. If | as
saulted your body with weapons you would
meet me with weapons, and it would be
sword stroke for sword stroke, end wound
for wound, and blood for blood; but II J
come and knock at the door Of your house
YOU open It, and give me the best seat in
your parlor. If ! should como at you now
with an argument You would answer me
with an argument; il with sarcasm, you
would answer me with sarcasm; blow for
blow. stroke for stroke; but when ! come
and knock ct the door of your heart 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 Are you
as happy ms you used TO be when you be-
loved in the truth of the Christian rellelont