Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-05-09
SERMON FOR WORKERS.
TALMAGE breaches ELoQUENTLy
TO BUSINESS MEN.
His Text Taken from Job: II Am Escaped
with the Skin of My TeetlL" Weary
Laborers Can Find Peace in Gods
Haven,

had been sung by the congregation and
PRAYERS had been offered, Dr.. Talmage
preached on Narrow Escapes" taking as
the skin of my teeth" Following is his SER
mon in fnli:
job had it hard. What with boils and be-
reavement and bankruptcy. n a fool of a
wife. he wished he was dead: and I do not
bones were dry. His teeth wasted away
until nothing but the enamel seemed left.
He cries out, Il am escaped with the skin
of my teeth" There has been some differ
cnce 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 interpre-
tation. and say. What did Job know about
the enamel of the teeth" He knew every
thing about it. Dental surgery is almost as
old as the earth. The mummieS 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 cxasperating tooth
famed face. he says. Il am escaped with
the skin of my tccth.'
A very narrow escape. you say, for Jobs
body and soul: hut there are thousands of
men who make Just as narrow escape for
their soul. There was a 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 a 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 vessel.
The boats have showed Off. The flames adj
vance: 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. TIL
boat swings under you-vou drop into it
you are saved. So some men are pursued
by temptation until they are partially con-
sumed. but, after all, get off-"saved as by
fire" But ] like the figure of Job a little
better than that of Paul, because the pulpit
has not worn it out: andI want to show YOU.
if God will help. that some men make mar
row escape for their souls. and are saved as
witt 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.
them to become Christians. You go over
to the store and say: "Grandon joined the
church Yesterday" Your business com
rades say: That is just what might have
been expected: he always was of that turn
of mind" In youth this person whom l
Wa' NiWoSsS cSa. 44SllSNCl blphC
things. He never laughed when it was i'm
proper to laugh. At Z 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
understood the whole discussion about the
eternal DEGREES. He never upsetthings 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
NTH on 1pHnn+rrl1o11o ~ ~, bod ~.
nursery in an uproar. His mother found
him walking or the edge of the house roof
to see if he could balance himself. There
was no horse that he dared not ide-no
tree he could not climb. His boyhood was
along series Of predicaments; his manhood
reckless: his midlife very wayward. But
now he is converted, and you go over to the
store and say, "Arkwrightjoin inc the church
yesterday" Your friends say. 1T is not
p PCS: tell 1 You t must 3r be b h%joki A. ot Yo@ say .E.
church. Then they reply, There is hope
for any Of us if old Arkwright has become a
Chr1stlan!" In other words, we will admit
that it is more difficult for some men to ac-
cept the Gospel than for others.
lmay 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, before
you SIilS llOu6O. DIS WILL UlC SKID 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 a single fish.
1t was not a good day, or they had not the
excursion to-day. The water is full of fish,
the wind is in the right direction. the Cos
pei net is strong. Oh thou who didst help
Simon and Andrew to fish, show US co-dav
now 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
religion. / cannot say such things, BY
what process of temptation or trial or be-
travail 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 I'M bars that an archangel could
not break, but the gate of your heart swings
easily on its hinges. If I 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 l come
and knock at the door Of your house, you
open it, and give me the best seat in your
parlor. Ii l hould come at you now with
an argument, you would answer me with an
argument; if with sarcasm, you would an
sWeF me WIN sarcasm; DlOW 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
believed in the truth Of the Christian re
ligion? Would you like to have your chill
dren travel OF in the road in which YOU are
now travelling? You had a ~relative who
professed to be a Christian. and was thor
oughly consistent. 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? ! have Il letter, sent me by
one who has rejected the Christian religion,
1t says: Il am old enough to know that the
Joys and pleasures nf life alr evanesccnt,
and to realize the fact that ii must be com
Portable mold age t" believe in something
relative to the future. and te have IL faith in
some system that proposes 10 save. am
free 10 confess that | would be happier if j
could cXerc6sn the simple and beautiful
faith thai is possessed by many whom /
know. ! ;m got willingly ont o ftie church
'oroG esf thehaitl. My state .sf Uncertainty
Ms One 'f unrest. Sometimes j doubt nv
immortality and look upon til.. death-bed
as the ,elGsing scene, after which there is
nothing. What shall i do that | haye not
dome"
Alb sskep1icism j.. IL dark and Ias~ful land.
Lot in" say that THE Bible is either true or
talse, Ii it he false. we are as well OH AS
you: il it be true. thhsn which oI us is saferY