The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-05
LIFRSNARROW ESCAPES.
JOBS LUCK IN GETTING OFF WITH
THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH.

001lOW w ISL IAO w 40 4(6tQ- 4 al
mage Tells of Mankind's Close Calls
From Eternal Punishment.
BROOKLYN, May AFTER the Long
meter 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 as his text Job xix, 20:
81 am escaped with the skin of my teeth" 4"
Following is his sermon in full:
Job had it hard What with boils and
bereavement and bankruptcy, and fool of
a wife, ne wished he was dead aud 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 aud 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
known about the enamel Of the teethn He
knew everything about it, Dental surgery
is almost as old as the earth. The num-
mics of Egypt, thousands of years old, are
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 exasperatng
toothache, and putting his hand against the
infiamed 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 thousands of
men who make just as narrow escape for
their soul. There was a time when the
| partition between them aud ruin was no
| thicker than a tooth's enamel; but as Job
finally escaped so have they. Thank God
thank Godl
Paul expresses the same idea by a differ
enJ figure when he says that some people
| flames. You go to the stern of the vessel.
The boats have showed off. 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 lifeboats 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. 81
some men are pursued by temptation until
they are partially consumed, but, after all,
| get of-"saved 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 escapes for
their souls, and are saved as 'with the skin
| of their teeth.n
1t Is as easy for some people to look to the
GRO as for you to look TO this pulpit. Mild
gentle, tractable, loving, you expect taem
to become christians. Yon go over to the
store and say. "Graudon joined the church
yesterday" Your business comrades
say. THAT is just what might havo been
mind" In youth, this person whom l 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 churcn, perfectly quiet, looking
neither to the right hand nor TO the left, but
straight into the eyes of the minister, as
though he understood the whole discussion
about the eternal DEGREES. He never upset
things nor lost them. He fioated into the
| Kingdom of God so gradually that it is I'M
certain just when the matter was 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 if he could balance himself There
was no horse be dared not ride-no tree he
| could not climb. His boyhood was long
| series of pre1icaments; his manhood was
reckless; his mid-life very wayward. But
now he is converted aud you go over to the
| store and say, cartwright Joined the
church yesterday" Your friends say, ''It
| ls not possiblel You must be joking" You
say: mo; tell you the truth. He joined
| the church." Then they reply, "There is
| hope for any Of us if old Arkwright has be-
come christian!' 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 Suu-
| days, and who have come in here with no
intention of becoming christians them
| selves, but just to see what is going on; aud
| yet you may find yourself escaping before
| you leave this house, as with the skin of
| yodr 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. 1t was not good day or they had
| not the right kind of a net. But we expect
no such excursion to-day. 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 to-day 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 use
less for people to say sharp and cutting
things TO those who reject the Christian re-
| ligion. cannot 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. II ]
assaulted your body with weapons,
| you would meet me with weapons,
and it would be sword-stroke for sword
| stroke. and wound for wound. and blood for
| blood; but il l come and knock at the door
of your house, you open it, and give me the
best seat in your parlor. Ii should come
at you now with an argument, you would
ans wer me with an argument; il with sar-
casm, you would answer me with sarcasm
blow for blow, stroke for stroke; but when
come and knock at the door OF your heart,
| you open it and say, "Come in, my brother.
and tell me all you know about Christ and
| heaven.n
Listen TO two or three questions. Are
you as happy asfyou used to lbe rhea you
believed in 9the truth s6of the
christian religton9 bWoald ynts like
to have your schiidren txapel ror in
the road in which yotr are now travelling
You had relative who professed to be a
| christian, and was thoroughly consistent,
living and dying in the faithlof the gospel.
Would Won NOT ike to live the saru0 fu1iat