The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-08-27

| I1lS IrcIn WdSJeO away unIll 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 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 mummies 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 fac
tors of the body. To other pro-
voking complaints, Job, / think,
has added an exasperating tOothache,
and putting his hand against the in
famed face, he says: Il 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 partition between them and ruin
was no thicker than tooth's enamel;
but, as Job finally escaped, so have
| they. Thank God! thank GOdI
1t is as easy for some people to look
to the cross as for you to look to this
pulpit Mild, gentle, tractable, low
ing, you expect them to become Chris
tians. You go over to the store and
say. "GrandOn joined the church yes
| terday." 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
l 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 church. 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 discussion
about the eternal DEGREES. He never
upset things nor lost them. He fioated
into the Kingdom of God so gradually
that it is uncertain just when the mat
ter 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 if he
could balance himself. There was no
horse that he dared not ride-no tree
that he could not climb. His boyhood
was long series of predicaments; his
manhood reckless; his midlife very
wayward. But now he is converted,
and you go over ID the store and say,
cartwright joined the church yester-
day" Your friends say, 1T is not pos
sible: you must be joking" You say,
mo; tell you the truth. He Joined
the church" Then they reply, There
is hope for any of US if old Arkwright
has become a Christian In other
words, we will admit that it is more
difficult for some men to accept the |
gospel than for others.
l may be preaching to some who have |
cut loose from churches, and Bibles, |
and Sundays, and who have no inten- |
ton of becoming Christians themselves, |
and yet you may find yourself escap-
ing, before you leave this house, as |
viii IllC ShAA VI NOuI ICCln uO |
not expect to waste this hour. Some |
of you, in coming to God, will have to |
run against skeptical notions. 1t is
useless for people to say sharp and cut
ting things to those who reject the |
Christian religion. l 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 | assault 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 it, and give me the best
seat in your parlor. If | should come
at you now with an argument, you
would answer me with an argument;
if with sarcasm, you would answer me
with sarcasm; blow for blow, stroke for
stroke; but when | come and knock at
the door of your heart, you open it and
say, Come in, my brother, and tell me
all you know about Christ and Heaven"
Listen to two or three questions:
Are you as happy as you used to be
when you believed in the truth of the
Christian religion? Would you like to
have your children travel on in the
road in which you are now travelling?
You had a relative who professed to
be a Christian, and was thoroughly
living and dying in the
faith of the gospel. Would you not
ike to live the same quiet life and die
the same peaceful death? Let me say
that this Bible is either true or false.
If it be false, we are as well off as you;
# it be true, then which of US is safer?
Let me also ask whether your trouble
mas not been that you confounded
with the inconsistent
character of some who profess it? You