News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1894-08-02
WISHEDHEWASDEAD
AND REV. DR.. TALmAeE DOES NOT
BLAME JOB FOR 1T.

ruptcy and n Fool of n Wife, He Had a
Raging Toothache-The Narrow Escapes
Life.
BROOKLYN, July 29.-Rev. DIR. Tai
nage has selected as the subject for his
sermon for today through the press
Narrow Escapes, F." the text being tax
EN- from Job xix, 90. 81 am escaped
with the skin of my teeth. {"
Job had it hard. What with boils and
bereavements and bankruptcy and fool
of wife he wished he was dead, ard l
do not blame him. His flesh was gone,
and his bones were dry. His teeth vast
ed away until nothing but the enamel
seemed left. He cries out, 81 am escap-
ed with the skin of my teeth.
There has been some difference of
opinion about this passage St. Jerome
ind Schultens and Drs. Good and Poole
md 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
everything about it. Dental surgery is
almost as old as the earth. The mum
mics of Egypt, thousands of years old,
are found today with gold filling in
their teeth. Ovid and Horace and Solo
mon and Moses wrote about these i'm
portant factors of the body. To other
provoking complaints Job, think, has
added an exasperating toothache, and
putting his hand against the inflamed
face he says. 81 am escaped with the
skin of my teeth. 4"
A very narrow escape you say, for
Jobs body and soul, but there are
thousands of men who make just as
harrow escape for their soul. There was
o time when the partition between
them and ruin was no thicker than a
tooths enamel; but as Job finally es-
capped, so have they, Thank Godi
Thank God!
With Gods Help.
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 60 to the stern
of the vessel. The boats have showed
off. 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 pour hand, and you feel
that you must fall, when one of the
lifeboats comes back, and the passen-
gers 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 temptation
until they are partially consumed, but
after all get OFF, saved as by fire. "
But like the figure of Job little bet
ter than that of Paul, because the pull
pit has not worn it out and l want to
show you, if God will help, that some
men make narrow escape for their
Eouls 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 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 / describe
was always good. He never broke
things. He never laughed when it was
improper 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 minis
ter, as though he understood the whole
discussion about the eternal DEGREES.
He never upset things nor lost them.
He 1oated into the kingdom Of God so
gradually that it is uncertain just when
the matter was decided.
To the Unconverted.
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 ne could bal
ance himself. There was no horse be
dared not ride, no tree he could not
climb. His boyhood was long series
of predicaments; his manhood was reck-
less; his midlife very hayward. But
now he is converted, and you go over to
the store and say, "Arkwright joined
the church yesterday" Your friends
say: "It is not possible! You must be
Joking" You say: "No; 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 all admit that it
is more difficult for some men to accept
the gospel than for others
may be addressing some who have
cut loose from churches and Bibles and
Sundays and who have at present no
intention Of becoming Christians them
selves but just to see what is going on.
And yet you may find yourself escaping
before you hear the end 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 and after awhile come
ashore pulling in the nets without hav-
ing caught single fish. 1t was not a
hood day, or they had not the right
Kind of net. But we expect no such
EXCURSION today The water is full Of
fish, the wind is in the right direction;
the gospel net is strong. o thou who
tlidst help Simon and Andrew to fish,
show us today how to cast the net on
the right side of the ship!