Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-05
THIS LIFE'S PERILS.
A Mastery Sermon by DR.. Talmage
on Dangers Surrounding Men
In THEIR EVERYDAY VOCATIONS.
Temptations That Threaten to Destroy Both
Body and Soul.
HOW PERFECT SAFETY MAY RE F0UND
N THEIR EVERYDAY VOCATIONS.
HOW PERFECT SAFETY MAY BE FOUND

BROOKLYN, May AFTER the lonl
meter GOxology and appropriate hymns hat
been sung by the congregation, in thu
Academy of Music, and PRAYER had beer
offered, DR.. Talmage preached on Marrow
Escapes" taking as his text Job xix:2o, 81
am escaped with the skin of my teeth. .
Following is his sermon in full:
Job had it hard What with bois and be
reavements and bankruptcy, and fool of q
wife, he wished he was dead; and do hot
blame him. His flesh was gone, and his bone:
were dry. His teeth wasted away until nothing
but the enamel seemed left He cries out, -
am escaped with the skin of my teeth" There
has been some difference of opinion about this
passage. ST. Jerome and Schultens and
Drs Good and Poole and Barnes
have all tried their forceps on Jobs teeth. You
deny my interpretation, and say, What did
Job know about the enamel of the teeth?' He
knew everything about it. Dental surgery is
almost as old as the earth. The mummies of
Egypt, thousands of years old. are found with
gold-filling in their teeth. Ovid and Horace
and Solomon and Moses wrote about these i'm
portant factors of the body. To other provok-
ing complaints. Job, think, has added an exas-
perating toothache, and putting his hand
against the inflamed face, he says, 81 am es-
capped 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 escapes for their soul.
There was time when the partition between
them and ruin was no thicker than tooth's
enamel; but as Job finally escaped, so have
they. Thank God! thank God!
SAVED AS BY FIRE.
Paul expresses the same idea BY a 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
hau Sbo loft Ir-ap
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 saved So some men are pursued by
temptation until they are partially consumed,
but after all, get of-"saved as by fire." But
1 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 escape 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 go over to the store
and say, "Grandon joined the church yester-
day. Your business comrades say THAT is
Just what might have been expected; he ALWAYS
son whom describe was always good. He
never broke things. He never laughed when it
was improper to laugh. Att 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 un-
derstood 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 uncertain just when
the matter was decided.
Here is another one, who started in life with
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 that
he dared not ride-no tree he could not climb
His boyhood was a long
SERIES OF PREDICAMENTs;
his manhood was reckless; his mid-life very
wayward. But now he is converted, and you
go over to the store and say "Arkwright Joined
the church yesterday" Your friends saw s.It
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 |
tian!" 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 ami Bibles and SUNDAYS
ana who have come in here with no Intention
of becoming Christians themselves, but lust TO |
see what is going on; and yet you may find your-
self escaping, before you leave this house as
with the skin of your teeth" do not expect
70 waste this hour. have seen boats 20 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 net But we expect no such excur-
sion 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 |
TTTTa nrro oSNa0e cl- Il
people to say sharp ano cutting things to those
who reject the Christian religion cannot saw
such things. By what process of temptation or
tIIal OF betrayal you nave 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. If assaulted your
body with weapons you would meet me with |
weapons. and 1t would be sword stroke for | :
sword stroke, and wound for wound, and blood
Tor 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. If 1 should come to Won j
now with an argument you would answer me |
with argument; if with sarcasm you would meet
me with sarcasm; blow for blow, stroke for
stroke: but when come and knock at the door
o1 your heart you open it and say, Come in |
Christ and heaven"
Listen to two or three questions, Are Won ,s
lappy as you used to be when you believed in !
The truth of the Christian religion? Wouid 5
Fou like to have your children travel on in the | 4
road IN which you are now travelling? You had | .
relative who professed to be Christian ana | Z
vas thoroughly consistent, living and diving in :
.he faith of the gospel. Would you not like to | :
i've the same quiet life, and die the sama ! !,
peaceful death? have a letter. sent me by :
me who has rejected the Christian religion It !
ays: Il am old enough to know that the lows | :
md pleasures of life are evanescent and to | :
ealize the fact that it must be comfortable in /
uture, and to have a faith in some system :
nat proposes to save. 1 am free to +
onfess that l would be happier if /
ould exercise the simple and beautiful faith
hat is possessed by many whom I know
m not willingly out of the church or out of /
be faith. My state of uncertainty is one of o
nd look upon the death-bed as the cIosiGyg, | u
Gene. after which there is nothing What shall | r,
do that have not done?' An! skepticism is | y
dark and doleful land. Let me saw thar Tbis | Y
ible is either true or false Ii it be false we Il
re as well of as you if it be true then which le
us is safer? 81
cen that you confounded Christianity with W
he inconsistent character of some who profess | Il
/? You are lawyer. In your profession | OF
lere are mean and dishonest men Is tbot | Il
nything against the law? Yol are a doctnr H' W
here are unskilIed and contemplate men in | b;
our profession. Is that anything against |
eulclDeT You are merchant. There are p
THIEVES AND DEFRAUDERs "
your business. Is that anything against p
erchandise? Behold, then, the unfairness of ~
larglng upon Christianity the wickedness of v,
5 disciples. We admit some of the charges il
sainst those who profess religion. Some of y
e most gigantic swindles of the present day q
i've been carried on by members of the h
urch. There are men standing in the front a
nix in the churches who would not be trusted p