The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-05-21
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Marrow Escapes.

Subject: Marrow Escapes"
TEXT: "I an, escaped ,Oith the skin of my
teeth."-Job xix. 20.
Job had it hard. What with bois and be-
reavements and bankruptcy, and fool of a
| wife, he wished he was dead, and do not
blame him. His flesh was gone, and his
bones redry: 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 and Schultens, and Drs. Good ana
Poole and Barnes have all tried their for
ceps on Jobs teeth. You deny my inter
| about the enamel of the teeth~ He
knew everything about it. Dental surgery
is almost as old as the earth. The mum
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 e1asperating tooth.
ache, and putting his hand against the in
| famed face, he says, 81 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 time when the par
tition between them and ruin was no thicker
than tooth's enamel; but as Job finally es-
capped, so have they. Thank God! thank
God!
Paul expresses the same idea bya 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 endure the heat no longer on your
| face. You slide down on the side of tne ves-
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-5oats 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 temp
tation until they are partially consumed, but
after all, get off-';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"
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 I de-
scribe was always good. He never broke
things. He never laughed when it was
an hour in church, perfectly quiet, looking
aeither to the right hand nor to the left, but
straight into the eyes of the minister, as
thoug gh he understood the whole discussion
about the eternal DEGREES. He never upset
things nor lost them. He foated into the
kingdom of God so gradually that it is un-
certain just when the matter was decided.
Here is another one, who started in life
with an uncomfortable spirit He kept the
him walking on 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 predicaments; his man
hoot was reckless; his midlife very way
ward. But now he is converted, and you
20 over to the store and say, cartwright
joined the church yesterday" Your friends
say, ''It is not possible! You must be jok-
He Joined the church." Then they reply,
'Thcre is hope for any of us if old Ark
wright has become Christianm In other
words we will admit that it is more difficult
for some ,u.n to accept the Gospel than for
others.
Ilnay be preaching to some who have cut
loose from churches and Bibles and Sum
| lays, 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 teetE" do not expect to waste
this hour have seen boats go of from
| Cape May or Long Branch and drop their
| nets, and 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
dsh, 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-
ligicn. 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
break, but the gate Of your heart swings
easily on its hinges If l 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 I
come and knock at the door Of your house
you open it, and give me the best seat IN
your parlor. If should come at you now
with an argument you would answer me
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 religi on?
Would you like to have your children travel
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-
sstent, living and dying in the faith OF the
Gospel. Would you not like to i've tne
same quiet life, and die tho same peaceful
death9 / have a 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, ami to have faith in some
system thai proposes to save. am free to
confess that would be happier # l could
exercise the simple and beautiful faith thaI
is possessed by many whom I know. am
not willingly out of the church or out OF
the faith. My state of uncertainty is one OF
unrest. Sometimes l doubt my imm ortality,
and look upon the death bed as the closing
scene, after which there is nothing. What
shall do that have not done" Ah! skep-
ticism is dark and doleful land. Let me