Connecticut western news., 1894-08-02
WISHED HEWAS DEAD
AND REV. DR. TAlMAGE DOES HOT
 BLAME JOB FOR IT.


 Raging Toothache-The Narrow Escapes of Life.
 BROOKLYN, July go Rev. Dr. Tal- mage has selected as the subject for his sermon for today through the press Marrow Escapes" the text being talk en from Job xix. go. II am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Y"
 Job had it hard. What with boils and bereavements and bankruptcy and fool of wife he wished he was dead, and I 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, II am escap- ed 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 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 inn portant factors of the body. To other provoking complaints Job, l think, has added au exasperating toothache, and putting his hand against the inflamed face he says. T 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. These was time when the partition between them and ruin was no thicker than a tooth's enamel; but, as Job finally es capped, so have they. Thank Godi Thank God!
 With Gods Help.
 Paul exprsobea the same idea by different figure when he says that some people are sawed as by fire. A vessel at sea is in flames. You go 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 sel and hold on with your fingers until the forked tongue of the fire begins to lick the back of your hand, and you feel 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 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.
 It 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 y:'"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 1t was improper to laugh. At 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 decrees- He never upset things nor lost them. He fioated 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 he could bal ance himself There was no horse be dared not ride, no tree he could not climb. His boyhood was a long series of predicaments; his manhood was reck- less; his midlife very wayward 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 possiblel You must be joking Ton say: "No; I tell you the truth. He joined the church. !" Then they reply, ''There is hope for any of us if old Arkwright has become a Chris tian.'i
 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 aud who have at present no intention of becoming Christians them selves, but just to see what is going on. And yet you may find yexrsef escaping before you hear the end, as with the skin of your teeth" I do not expect 10 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 the nets without hay ing caught a single fish. It was not a good day, or they had not the right kind of net. But we expect no such excursion today Enc water is full of fish; the wind is in the right diretion; the gospel net is strong. O thou who didst help Simon and Andrew to fish, show us today how to cast the net on the right side of the shipl
 A Few Questions.
 Some of you, in coming to God, will have to run against skeptical notions. It is useless for people to say sharp and cutting things to those who reject the Christian religion. I cannot say such things By what process of temptation or trial or betrayal you have come to your present state l 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 I assault ed 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 come and knock at the door of your house you open 1t and give me the best seat in your parlor. If should coma at x-o-, xyritb an arpumpnt