The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-03
RBV. DIR. TALMACb.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.


SADJSSs
TE1T: az I'M escaped with the skin ofmy
teeth" Job XIX, 20.
Job had Il hard. What with boils and be-
reavements and bankruptcy AMI a fool OF a
wife he wished he was dead, and I do not
blame him. His flesh was gone, and his
bones were dry. His teeth wasted away I'M
| I'll nothing but tho enamel seemed left. He
cries out, ~ I'm escaped with the skin OF my
teeth"
There has been some difference OF opinion
about this passage. ST. jerome and Schulz
i tens and Drs. Good and Poole and Barnes
have all tried their forceps or jobs teeth.
You deny my Interpretation and say, "What
did Job know about the enamel oftheteeth?'
he knew everything about it. Dental
surgery Is almost as old as the earth. The
mummies 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 exasperating
toothache, and putting his hand against the
iniamed 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 thousands OF
men who make Just as narrow escape for
their soul. There was a time when the par
tition between them and ruin was 10 thicker
than a tooth's enamel; but, as Job finally
escaped, so have they. Thank God! Thank
God!
Paul expresses the same idea by a differ
emit figure when he says that some people arc
"saved as by fire." A vessel at sea is In
flames. You go TO the stern Of the vessel.
The boats have showed of. The flames nd
vance. You can endure the heat no longer
on your face. You slide down on the side OF
49, h-ll ~, ,,;th x,a.r npraru nv
til the forked tongue OF the fire begins to
lick the back of your hand, n you feel that
you must fall, when one Of the lifeboats
comes back, and the passengers say they
\ think they have room Tor 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 con
sumed, but after all get of-''saved as by
fire." But 1 like the figure OF Job a little
better than that OF Paul. because the pulpit
has not worn 1t out, and I want to show you,
II God will help, that some men make mar
row escape for their souls and are saved az
with the skin OF their teeth"
1t is as easy for some people to look to the
cross as for you to lookto 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
tsThat is just what might have been expect
ed" He always was Of that turn of mind.
In youth this person whom I describe was
always good. He never broke things. He
never laughed when 1t was improper to
laugh. At seven he could sit an hourin church,
perfectly quiet, looking neither to the right
hand nor to the left, but straight into the
eyes of the minister, as though he under
stood the whole discussion about the eternal
DEGREES. He never upset things nor lost
them. He fioated into the kingdom OF God
so gradually that 1t Is uncertain just when
the matter was decided.
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
IL he could balance himself. There was no
horse he dared not ride, no tree he could not
climb. His boyhood was a long series of pre-
dicaments his manhood was reckless his
midlife very Maynard. But now he is con
verified, and you go over to the store and say,
cartwright joined the church yesterday
Your friends say: SIT is not possible You
must be Joking" You say: "No Itell you
the truth. He Joined the church," Then
they reply, ''There is hope for any OF us II
old Arkwright has become a Christian"
In other words, we all admit that 1t is
more difficult for some men to accept the
gospel than for others.
may be addressing some who have cut
Il tOOboA vi anu bAN NAAN pehaAh } {
and who have at present no intention OF be-
coming Christians themselves, but just TO
see what Ia going on. And yet you may find
yourself escaping before you hear the end,
as with the skin Of your teeth" I 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 their nets without having caught
a single fish. 1t was not a good day, or they
had not the right kind of a net. But we OK
pect no such excursion to-day. The water
Is full of fish the wind Is in the right direo'
tion the gospel net is strong. o thou who
didst help Simon and Andrew to fish, show
us to-day how to cast the not on the right
side ofthe shipl
some OF you, in coming to Col, 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 religion.
/ 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. III assaulted your body with wea-
pons, YOU would meet me with weapons, and
1t would be sword stroke for sword stroke,
and wound for wound. and blood for blood,
1 Iul ii L fOIlt anu h1tCh III thV uoO u NON'
| house you open it and give me the best seat
in your parlor. II I hould come at you to-
| day with IN argument, you would answer
| me with an argument IL with sarcasm. you
answer me with sarcasm. blow for blow.
| stroke for stroke, but when 1 come and
knock at the door OF your heart you open 1t
and say, "Come In, my brother, and tell me
all you know about Christ and heaven"
Listen to two or three questions; Arayou
as happy rs you useito be when you believed
in the truth of the Christian religion? Would
| you like to nave your children travel on IN
the road in which you are now traveltngH
You had a relative who professed to be a
Christian and was thoroughly consistent.
living and dying In the faith of the gospel.
\ Would you not like to live the same quiet
life and die the same peaceful desth2 re-
ceiveda letter sent me by one who has re-
jected the Christian religion. 1t says; 81
am old enough to know that the joys and
pleasures of life are evanescent and to realize
the fact that it must be comfortable in old
age to believe in something relative to the
| future and to have a faith in some system
that proposes to save. / am fres to confess
that / would be happier il I could exercise
1.-The simple and beautiful faith that Is
possessed by many whom 1 know. / am not
willingly out OF the church or out OF the
faith. My state OF uncertainty Is one OF I'M
rest. Sometimes / doubt my Immortality
4 III uPOh Nht ttAAhfT NS 49, N1
scene, after which there is nothing. What
shall I do that l havs not done. All, skepti-
clsm is a dark and doleful landi Let me
say that this Bible is either true or false. II
IL be false, we are as we'll OF as you II 1t be
Itrue, then which of us Is safer2
Let me also ask whether your trouble has
not been that you COMPOUNDED Christianity
with the inconsistent character OF some who
profess 1t. You are a lawyer. In your pro-
l~iession there are mean and dishonest men. Is
that anything against the law2 You are a
doctor. There are unskilled and contempti-
BILE men In your profession. Ia that anything
against medicine2 You are q merchant.
There are thieves and deirauders in your
business. Is that anything against merchan-
disc? Behold, then, the unfairness OF charg-
ling upon Christianity the wtckedness OF its
| disciples.
We admit soma OF the charges against
those who profess religion. Some OF the most
Gigantic win lies Of the present day have
been carried on by Members OF the church.
] There are men in the churches who would
mot be- trusted for IS without goo collateral
security. They leave their business dishon-
esties In the vestibule of the church as they
20 In and sit at the communion. Having con-
cluded the sacrament, they get up, wipe tho
wine from their lips, go out and take up
> lhatr aina vhara thAv iat of. To serve the