The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-08-26
HOPE OF SALVATION
Light For Those Who Cannot
See the Way.

Rev. DR.. Ta1mage Discourses in Manner
Calculated to- Encourage Many Who Con-
slider Their Cases Hopeless-Pleads With
Those Who Are Skeptical-The Old-Fash-
toned Religion.
DR.. Talmage, in his sermon prepared tor
this week, tells of the power of omnlpotent
grace His text is:
Job, 10: 90, ~ am escaped 'eiA the skin Of
my teeth"
Job had it hard What with boils and be-
reavements, and bankruptcy, and fool OF
wife, he wished he was dead; and do not
blame him. His flesh was gone, and his bones
were dry. His teeth wasted away until moth
ing but the enamel seemed left, He cried
out, II am escaped with the skin of my
teeth ~
There has been some difference of opinion
about this passage st. Jerome and Schulz,
tens, and Doctors Good, and Poole, and
Barnes, have all tried their foreeps on Jobs
teeth. You deny my interpretation, and say,
What did job know about the enamel OF
the teeth9 o He knew everything about It,
Dental surgery is almost as old as the earth
very narrow escape, you say, for Jobs
body and soul; but there are thousands OF
men who make Just ms narrow escape for their
soul, There was time when the partition
between them and ruin was no thicker than
a tooth's enamel; but as job finally escaped,
so have they. Thank God thank God
1t is as easy for some people to look TO the
Cross as for you to look to the pulpit, Mild,
gentle, tractable, loving, you expect them to
become Christians. You go over to the store
and say, " Brandon Joined the church yester-
day" Your business comrades say, -" That
is just what might have been expected; he
always was 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. perfectly quiet,
looking neither to the right hand nor the
left, but straight into the ewes of the minis
ter, as though he understood the whole dis
cusson about the eternal DEGREES. He foated
into the kingdom of God SO gradually that
| it is uncertain Just, when the matter was
| decided
Here is another one who started in life with
uncomfortable spirit. He kept the nursery
| In an uprOar. His mother found him walking
| on the edge of the heuse-roof to see if he
could balance himself There was no horse
that he dared not ride, no tree he could not
| climb. His boyhood was long series Of
| predicaments his manhood was reckless; his
mid-life very waywand.
| But he is now converted and YOU 60 over
to the store and say, "Arkwright Joined
the church yesterday Your friends say, 1T
is not possibIe You must be Joking" You
| say, No; tell you the truth He Joined
the church" Then tlny reply, "There is
hope for any OF us if old Arkwright has be-
come Christian" In other words, we will
admit that it is more difficult for some men
to accept the Gospel than for others.
may be preaching to some who have cut
loose from churches, and Bibles, and Sundays,
and who have no intention of becoming
Christians themselves, and yet you may find
| yourself escaping, before you leave this house,
| as with the skin of your teeth"
| TO THOSE WHO ARE sKEPTICAL.
Some Of you. in coming to God, will have
| to run against skepticai notions. 1t is useless
| 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, / 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 l assaulted 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 l come and knock at the door of your
| house, you open it, AL give me the best seat
in your parlor. If should come at you now
with an argument, you would answer ME
| with ,ptth
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
| feline 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 relative who professed to be a
| Christian, and was thoroughly consistent,
living and dying in the faith of the Goopel.
Would you not like to live the same quiet
life and die the same peaceful death? Skep-
| ticism is dark and doleful land. Let me
say that the Bible is either true or false. If
it be false, we are as well off as you. If it be
true, then which of us is safer?
Let me also ask whether your trouble
| has not been that you cOnfounded Christian
| ity with the inconsistent character of some
who profess it? You are lawyer In your
profession there are mean and dishonest men.
Is that anything against the law? You are
a doctor. There are unskilled and contempti-
BILE men in your profession. Is that anything
against medicine: You are merchant.
There are thieves and defrauders in YOUR
business Is that anything against mer-
| chandise?
Behold, then. the unfairness of charging
upon Christianity the wickedness of its
disciples We admit some of the charges
against those who profess religion. Some of
the most gigantic swindles of the present
day have been carried on by members of the
Church There are men standing in the
| front rank in the churches who would not be
trusted for S. without good collateral Sc
curity. They leave their business dishon-
estes in the vestibule Of the church as they
60 in and sit at the communion. Having
concluded the sacrament, they get up, wipe
the wine from their lips, go out, and take up
their sins where they left off. To serve the
devil is their regular work to serve God a
sort of play-spell. With Sunday sponge
they expect to wipe off from their business
slate all the past weeks inconsistencies
You have no more right to take such a man s
life as specimen of religion than you have
| IN take the twisted ironc aud cplit ,ko,,