The Brookhaven leader., 1890-05-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Discourse on Marrow Escapee,"
with Its Application.
Man May Take Hold on tho Promises of
God, Even After Life OF Rebel
ion, hut the Hour of sure
Escape IL Now.

NnS lOllOWlnE sermon Ola Narrow ES-
capes' in the Brooklyn Academy of
Music, taking for his text:
am escaped with the skin OF my teeth
Job xix, 20
Job had it hard. What with boils
and bercavements and bankruptcy, and
a 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 an 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 tried all
their forceps on Jobs teeth. You deny
my Interpretation, and say: what
did Job know about the enamel of the
teeth?" lie knew every thing about it.
Dental surgery is almost as old as the
earth. The .mummies of Egypt, thou
sands of years old,a found to-day with
gold filling in their teeth. Ovid and
Horace and solomon and Moses wrote
about these important factors of the
body. To other provoking complaints,
Job, think, has added an exasperat-
ing toothache, and, putting his hand
against the inflamed face, he says: II
am escaped with the skin of my teeth"
A very narrow escape, you say, for
Jobs body and soul: but there are thou
sands of men who make just as narrow
escape for their soul. There was 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
different 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 vessel. The boats have showed
Off The flames advance; you can en-
aure the 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 one of the life
boat 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
men are pursued by temptation until
they are partially consumed, but, after
all, get off-''savcd 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"
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 60 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 ] describe
was always good. He never broke
things. lie 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 he UNI
dcrstood the whole discussion about the
eternal DEGREES. He never upset things
nor lost them. lie foated in the King
dom of God 50 gradually that it is I'M
certain just when the matter was de-
cided.
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
IF hn tn 70 onn1H n l.
ance himself. There was no horse that
he dared not ride-no tree he could not
climb. His boyhood was long series
of predicaments; his manhood was reck-
less, his mid-life hayward. But now
he is converted, and you go over to the
store and say: cartwright joined the
church yesterday" Your friend says:
1T is not possible! You must be jok-
ing" You say: NO; | tell you the
truth. He joined the church." Then
they reply: There is hope for any of
us if old Arkwright has become Chris
tianr' In other words, we will admit
that it is more difficult for some men to
accept the Gospel than for others.
may be preaching to some who have
cut loose from churches and Bibles and
Sundays, and who have como in here
with no intention of becoming Chris
tians themselves, but just to see what
is going on; and yet you may find your
self escaping, before you leave this
house, as with the skin of your teeth. y
do not expect to waste this hour.
have seen boats go off from Cape May
or Long Branch, and drop their nets,
without having caught single fish.
1t was not good day, or they had
not the right kind of net. But we
expect no such excursion to-day. The
water is full of fish, the wind is in the
right direction, the Gospel netis strong.
Oh Thou who didst help Simon and An
drew to fish, show lis today how to cast
the net on the right side of the ship!
Some of you, in coming to God, will
have to run against skeptical notions.
1t 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
or trial or 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 your heart
swings easily on its hinges. If l as
saulted your body with weapons, you
would meet me with weapons, and II
foa Il cf, 10