The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-09-30
TALMAGEiS SERMON.
A Discourse Full Of Encouragement
for the DOwncaSt
Many Lives Are Saved Like job With the
Skin of Their Teeth -Iiappiness III
Christian Faith God Not Re-
spons.bie for Troubles.

themselves in hopeless condition.
The text is:
am escaped with tie skin of my teeth.-Job
xix, 70
Job had it hard. What with boils,
and bereavemcnts, and bankruptcy,
and fool of a wife, he wished he was
dcad and | do not blame him. Ills
flesh was gone, and his bones were dry.
His teeth wasted away until nothing
but the enamel seemed left. He cried
out: Il am escaped with the skin of
my teeth
There has been some difference of
opinion about this passage. st. Jerome
and Schultcns, and Doctors Good, and
Poole, and Barnes. have all tried their
torceps 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 nummics of Egypt, thou
sands 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. 70 other provoking com
plants, job. | think, has added an eX-
;ssperating toothachc, and putting his
hand against the infiamed face, he says:
Il am escaped with the skin of my
teeth"
y 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 time when the partition be-
tween them and ruin was no 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
different figure when he says that
some people are saved as by fire" A
vessel at sea is in flames. The boats
have showed off. The flames advance;
you can endure the heat no longer on
your face. You slide down on the side of
the vessel, and hold on with your fin
gers until the forkcd tongue of fire
begins to lick the back of your hands,
and you feel that you must fall, when
one of the llfeboatS 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 pur-
sued By temptation until they are par
italy consumed, but after all get off
saved as by fire"
But | like the figure of job little
better than that of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn it out; and | want
20 show You, if God will help, that
some men make narrow escape of their
souls, and are saved as with the skin
of their teeth"
1t is easy for some people to look to
the cross as for you to look to this pull
pit. 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 was always 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 seven,
he could sit an hour in chur CHI, per.
fectly quiet, looking neither to the
right hand nor to the left, but straight
into the eyes of the minister, as
though he understood the whole dis
cussion about the eternal DEGREES. He
never upset things nor lost them. lie
iloated into the kingdom of God SO
gradually that lis uncertain just whe u
the matter was decided.
Here is another one, who started in
life with an uncontroila BILE spirit. lie
kept the nursery in IAN uproar. His
mother found him walking on the edge
Of the house-roof to see if he couid
balance himself. There was no horst
that lie dared not ride--no tree that hs
n could not climb. His boyhood was
long series of predicaments; his man
Ihood reckless; his midlife very way
ward, But now he is converted, anc
sou go over to the store and say
'Arkwright joined the church yester
day." Your friends say: 1T 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 ole
Arkwright has become Christianw In
other words we will admit that it i.
more difficult for some men to accept
the Gospel than for others.
L may be preaching to some who
have cut loose from churches. anC
Bibles and Sundays, and who have NJ
intention Of becoming Christians them
selves, and yet you may find yoursel
escaping, before you leave this house
As with the skin of your teeth" | d,
not expect to waste this hour. | have
seen boats go off from Cape May o.
Long Branch, and drop their nets auC
after awhile come ashore, pulling il
the nets without having caugh t a single
fish. 1t was not good day, or they
had not the ri ght kind of a net Blu
we expect no such excursion to-day
The water is full of fish, the wind il
in the right direction, the Gospel ne
Is strong. Q, Thou who didst helt
Simon and Andrew to fish, show us
how to cast the net On the right sid,
of the ship.
Some of you, in coming to God, vii
have to run against skeptical notions
1t is useless for people to say SHARP
and cutting things to those who reiec,
the Christian religion can nat ca,