Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-07-30

BRooKLYN, July 20.-Rev. DR.. Tai
mage has selected as the subject for his
sermon for to-day, through the press;
Marrow Escape" the text being taken
from job 10: 90, Il am escaped with
the skin Of my teeth
Job had it hard. What with boils,
AMI bereavements, ana bankruptcy,
and a fool Of a wife. be wished ne 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
opinion 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
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 mumEies Of Egypt, thousands OF
years old, are found to-day with gold
filing in their teeth. Ovid and Horace
and Solomon, and Moses wrote about
these important factors OF the body. To
other provoking complaints, job, l
think, has added an exasperating tooth
ache, aud, putting his hand against the
inflamed face, he says, II am escaped
with the skin Of my teeth"
A very narrow escape, you say, for
jobs body and soul; but there are thou
sands Of men VINO make just as narrow
escape for their soul Thsre was time
when the partition between them and
ruin was no thicker than q tooth's en-
nmel; but, as Job fGally escaped, so
have they. Thank God! Thank God.
Paul expresses the same idea by
different figure when he says that some
people are saved as by fire." A vessel
at sea is in flames. You 90 to the stern
OF the vessel. The boats have showed
of; 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 10 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 it
you are saved. So some men are puT-
sued by temptation until thew are par
italy consumed, but after all get of
saved as by fire." But like the figure
of Job little better than that Of Paul,
because the pulpit has not worn ii out;
and l want to show you, II God viii!
help, that some men make narrow es-
cape for their souls, and are saved, as
with the skin OF their teeth"
Ii Is as easy for some people 70
LOOK TO THE CROSS
as for you TO look to this pulpit. Mid,
gentle, tracta6le, loving you expect
them to become Christians. You 90
over TO the store and say, "Grandon
Joined the church yesterday" Your
business comrades say, THAT is just
what might have been expected; he al
ways was OF that turn OF mind" In
youth. this person whom l describe was
always good. lie never broke things.
he never laughed when II was improper
TO laugh. At seven, be could sit an
hour in church, perfectly quiet, looking
neither 10 the right hand nor 10 the left,
but straight into the eyes OF the minis
ter, as though he understood the whole
discussion about the eternal DEGREES.
lie never upset things nor lost them.
He bOated into the kingdom OF God so
gradually that il is uncertain just when
the thing was decided.
Here is another one, who started in
life with an uncomfortable spirit. He
Kept the nursery in an uUroar. His
mother found him walking on the edge
OF the houSe-roOf to see if he could ball
ance himself. There was no horse he
dared not ride-nO tree be could not
climb. His boyhood was long series
OF predicamentS; his manhood was reck
less; his middleiie very wayward. But
now he is converted, and you go over 20
the store and say, cartwright joined
the church yeSterday;" Your friends
say, 1t is not possible! You must be
joking" You say, mo; l tell you the
trnth. Te Joined tho church" Then
they reply, There is hope for any OF
US If old ArSwright has become Chris
tian"
In other words, we all admit that il
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
themselves, but just to sea what is going
90; and yet you may find yourself es-
Gaping, before you hear the end, as
with the skin OF you teeth" l do not
expect 20 waste this hour. / have seen
boats go of from Cape May or Long
Branch, and drop their nets, aud after
awhile come ashore, pulling in the nets
without having caught single fish. 10
was not a good day, or they had not the
right Kind OF a net. But we expect no
such excursion to-day. The water Is
full OF fish; the wind is in the right d.
rectiOn; the Gospel net is strong. o
thou, who didSt help Simon and
Andrew 10 fish, show us to-day how 20
cast the net on the right side Of the
ship!
Some Of you, in coming TO God, will
have 20 run against Scepticsl notions.
II is useless for people to say
SHARP AND CUTTING THINGS
TO those who reject the Christian reli-
giOn. 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
10 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
ils hinras IL / assaulted Your body