Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-05-15
NARROW ESCAPES.
d.. Talmage Discourses on Sal
walton as By Miracles.
The Narrow Escapes of Many PeopIe-Men
Who WORSHIP God on sunday and
ManDIOn Every Other Day
Finding True Rest.

In late sermon at Brooklyn DR.. Tai
mage preached on Marrow Escapes"
taking as his text Job, xix. 20, az am
escaped with the skin of my teeth. Z"
Following is his sermon:
Job had It hard. What with boils and
eereavepents and bankruptcy, and q
fool OF . 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 difference of opin-
ion about this passage. St. Jerome and
Schultens, and Doctors Good and Poole
and Barnes, have all tried their forceps
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 sur
gerry is almost as old as the earth. The
mummies of Egypt, thousands of years
old, are found to-day with gold filing in
their teeth. Ovid and Horace and Solo
mon and Moses wrote about those i'm
Portant factors of the body. To other
provoking complaints, Job, think, has
added an exasperating toothache, and,
putting his hand against the inlamed
face, he says: 81 am escaped with the
skin of my teeth"
very narrow escape, you say, for
Jobs body and soul; but there are thou
sands OF men who make just as narrow
escapes for their soul. There was a
time when the partition between them
and ruin was nc thicker than a tooth's
enamel; but as Job finally escaped, so
have they. Thank God! thank God!
Paul expresses the same idea by diff
ferent figure when he says that some
people are saved as by fire." A vessel
at sea is in flames. You 60 to the stern
of the vessel. The boats have showed
on The flames advance; you can en-
dure 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
boats comes back, and the passengers
say they think they have room for one
more. The boat swings under you-you
drop into lt-You are saved.
So some men are pursued by tempta-
ton until they are partially consumed,
but after all, get off-''saved as by
fire." But like the figure of Job lit
tie 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 aUpH u fGrryif ho al Of L.;
teeth"
1t is as easy for some people to look to
the cross as for you to look to this pull
pit. 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 it is Just
what might have been expected; he al
ways was of that turn of mind" In
youth this person whom / describe was |
always good. He never broke things. |
He never laughed when it was improper
TO laugh. At seven hecould sit an hour
in church.; perfectly quiet, looking
neither to the right nor to the left, but |
straight into the eyes of the minister,
as though he understood the whole dis
cussiOn about the eternal decrees- He |
never upset things nor lost them. He
foated 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 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 bal
ance himself. There was no horse that
he dare not ride-no tree he could not
climb. His boyhood was a long series
OF predicaments; his manhood was reck-
less; his mid-life very maynard. But
now he is converted, and you go over to
the store and say: cartwright Joined
the church yesterday" Your friends
say: 1T Is not possible! 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 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 the churches and Bibles
and Sundays and who have come here
with no intent of becoming Christians
themselves, but just TO see what is going
on, and yet you may find yourselves es-
Gaping before you leave this house, "as
with the skin of your teeth"
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
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 you 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,
and wOSnd for wound, and blood for
blood; but II come and knock at the
door of your house you open it and give
me the best seat in your parlor. If l
should come to you now with an argu-
ment you would answer ne with an argu-
ment; 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
1t and say, Come in, my brother, and
tell me all you know about Christ and
Heaven" l4 ~. O..
81. Listen to two or sthree questions;