The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-09-02

nothing but the enamel eemed lett.
He cried out, Il am escaped with the
skin of my teeth.'
There has been some difference OF
opinion about this passage. st. Je-
rome and Schultens, and Doctors
Good and Poole and Barnes have ali
tried their forceps on Jobs teeth. You
deny my Interpretation, and say,
What did Job know about the enam-
Ell of the teeth?" He knew everything
about it. Dental surgery is almost as
old as the earth. The mulnmies OF
Egypt, thousands of years old, are
found to-day with gold filling in their
teeth. Ovid, and Horace, and Solo,
mon, Il Moses wrote about these i'm
portant factors of the body. To other
provoking complaints, Job, l think, has
added an eXasperating toothache, and
putting his hand against the inflamed
face, he says, Il an 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 a
tooth's enamel; but, as Job finally es~
capped, so have they. Thank God!
thank Cod!
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. You go to
the stern of the vessel. 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
fingers, until the forked tongue of the
fire begins to 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
pursued by temptation until they are
partially consumed, but after all get
.off-"saved as by fire.
But l like the figure of Job a little
better than that Of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn it out; and l want
TO show O. if God will help, that
some men make narrow escape for
their souls, and are saved as with the
skin of their teeth"
1t 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 yester-
day" Your business comrades say
"That is just what might have beer
expected; he always was of that tur1
of mind.' In youth, this person whom
/ describe was always good. He never
broke things. He never laughed whe1
it was improper to laugh. At seven
he could sit an hour in church, per
fectly quiet, looking neither to tn,
right hand nor the left, but straigh
into the eyes of the minister, a!
though he understood the whole dis
.cnssion about the eternal decrees. H
never upset things nor lost them. H
floated into the kingdom of God S,
gradually that it is uncertain JUS
when the matter was decided.
Here is another one, who started il
life with an uncomfortable spirit. H
kept the nursery in an uprOar. Hi
mother found him walking on the ed g
of the house-roof to see if he coul
balance himself. There was no hors
that he dared not ride-no tree h
could not climb. His boyhood was
long series of predicaments; his man
hood was reckless; his mid-life yer
-wayward. But now he is converted
and you go over to the store and sa,
cartwright Joined the church yeste1
day" Your friends say, 1T is nc
possible! You must be Joking" 70
say, "No, I tell you the truth. H
Joined the church." Then they repl,
"There is hope for any of us if oil
Arkwright has become a Christian,
In other words, we will admit that
is more difficult for some men to a,
cept the Gospel than for others.
l may be preaching to some WI
have cut loose from churches, and B
bles, and Sundays, and who have I
intention of becoming Christian
themselves, and yet you may fir
yourself escaping, before you lea,
IulS AOuoC, o0 Will Il0 skill OIL VOL
teeth" I do not expect to waste tn
hour. I have seen boats go off fro
Cape May or Long Branch, and drc
their nets, and after awhile con
ashore, pulling in the nets witho
having caught a single fish. It W;
not a good day, or they had not tt
right kind of a net. But we expect
such excursion to-day. The water
full of fish, the wind is in the rig
direction, the Gospel net is stron
o thou who didst help Simon and A
drew to fish, show us how to cast t
net on the right side Of the ship.
Some Of you, in coming to God, w
have to run against skeptical notion
It is useless for people to say sha
and cutting things to those who reje
the Christian religion. I cannot S
such things. By what process CT TEN
iation, or trial, or betrayal, Fca ha