The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-05-22
THE TALMAGE SERMON.
The Brooklyn Divine breaches on
Marrow Escapes"
The Many Stumbling Blocks In the way
of tho Seeker After Religion.

blame him. His flesh was gone and his
bones weredrv. fis teeth wasted away until
nothing but the enamel SCENE 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 ana
Poole and Barnes have al triei their for
cepS on Jobs teeth Eou deny my inter
probation and say: what did job know
Iout the enamel OF the teeth" 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 AMI Solomon and Moses
wrote about these important factors of the
body. To other provoking complaints Job,
think, has added an eXaSperatlng tooth
ache, and putting his hand against the in-
famed face, he says, 81 an escaped with the
skin Of my teeth
A very narrow escape, you say, for Jobs
body and soul but there are thousands of
inen who make just as narrow escape for
their soul. There was time When the par
tition between them and ruin was no thicker
than tooth's enamel; but as JOB finally eS-
capped, 50 have they. Thank God! thank
Cod
Paul expresses the same idea BY q different
figure when he says that some people are
saved as by fire" A vessel at sea is i'll
flames. You 60 to the stern of the vessel. The
boats have showed Off The flames advance;
you can en- lure 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
hack of your hand, AMI you feel that you
must fall When oue Of tie life-ooatS comes
back, AMI the passengers say they think
they have room for one more. Tne boat
swings under you-you drop into it-you ara
saved. So Soma men are pursued by temp
tation until they ara partially consumed, bat,
after all get of-'save1 as by fife" Bat |
like this figure of JOB little batter than tlat
OF Paul. because the pulpit has not worn it
out; and want to show you, it God will help,
that some men make narrow escapes for
their souls, aud are saved as with the skin
of their teeth
1t is as easy TO: soma 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 joinel ths
church yesterday Your business comrades
say: "That is just what might have been
expected; he always was of that turn or
mind" In youth this person whom | de-
scribe was always good He never broke
things. He never lauyhei when it was
improper to laugh. At seven, he could sit
an hour in church, perfectly quiet looking
straight into the eyes Of the minister, as
though he understood the whole discussion
about the eternal DEGREES. Ha never upset
things nor lost than. He foatel into the
kingdom of Goi 50 gradually that it is un-
certain just when the matter was decided.
Here is another one, who started i'll life
with an uncomfortable spirit. He kept the
nursery in an uproar His mother found
him walkinson 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 predicamaats; his man
hood was reckless; his mdlife very way
ward. But now he is converted, and You
go over to the store and say, "Arkwright
say sit 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 Ark
wright has become Christian" In other
words, We will admit that it is more difficult
for some lnen to accept the Gospel than for
others
may be preaching to some who have cut
loose from churches and Bibles and Sun
days, and who have come in here with no
intention of becoming Christians them
selves, but just to see what is going on;
and yet 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, aud after awhile come ashore, pulling
in 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 net is strong. Oh Thou VINO didst
help Simon and Andrew to fish, show us to-
day how 10 cast the net on the right side of
the ship.
Some of you, in coming to God, will have
to run against skeptical notions. " is Use
less for people to say sharp and cutting
things to those who reject the Christian re-
ligion. l 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 lockel vita
bolts and bars that an archangel could not
break, but the gate of your heart swings
easily on its hinges. If ! 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 if ]
come and knock at the door of your house
you open it, and give Inc tle best seat in
your parlor. If I should come at you now
WIN du UISuulellO YOU "Oulu answer IlS
with an argument; If with sarcasm, 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
Listen to two or three questions Are You
as happy as you used to be when You be-
lieved in the truth of the Christian relgi on?
~, II
on in the road in which you are now travel
ing? You had a relative who profesSed to
be a Christian, and was thoroughly con-
sistent, living and dying in the faith of the
Gospel Would you not like TO live the
same quiet life, and die the same peaceful
death? I have letter, sent me by one who
has rejected the Christian religion. 1t says:
81 am old enough to know that the joys
and pleasures of life are evaueScent, and to
realize the fact that it must be comfortable
in old age to believe in something relative
to the future, and to have faith in some
system that proposes to save. am free to
confess that would be- happier if l could
exercise the simple and beautiful faith that
is possessed by many whom know. am
not willingly out OF the churcn or out of
the faith. My state of uncertainty is one OF
unrest. Sometimes l doubt my i'm IA ortality,
and look upon the death bed as the closing
scene, after which there is nothing What
shall do that have not donay' All! skep-
ticism is dark and doleful land. Let me
say that this Bible is either true or false. If
it be false, we are as well OF as you; If IL be
true, then which of us is safer.
Let me also ask whether your trouble has
not been that you confouuded Christianity
with the inconsistent character OF some
who profess it. You are lawyer. In your
profession there are mean and dishonest
men. Is that anything against the law? You
are doctor There are unskiled and con-
temptibe men in your profession. Is that
nn,,thincr nirnSr rnedininp2 Nnu q