The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-09-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
A Discourse Full Of Encouragement
for tho Downcast.
Many Lives Are Saved Like job With tho
Skin of Their Teeth "-iIappiuess In
Christian TaIth-God Not Re-
sponsIble for Troubles.

enlargement for those who consider
themselves in hopeless condition
The text is: -....
lam escaped with the skin OF my teeth.-Jo
xix, 70
Job had it hard. What with boils
and bcreavementS, and bankruptcy
and fool of wife, he wished he wa
dead; and l do not blame him. Hi
flesh was gone, and his bones were dry
His teeth wasted away until nothing
but the enamel seemed left. He CRIED
out: II am escaped with the skin o.
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 almoot as old as the
earth. The mummies of Egypt, thou
sands Of yeat- old, are found to-day
with gold filing in their teeth. Ovid,
md Horace, and Solomon, and Moses
wrote about these important factors of
the body. To other provoking CON-
plants, Job, l think, has added an ex-
asperating toothache, and putting his
hand against the inhamed face, he says:
81 am escaped with the skin Of my
teeth"
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 tooth's enamel; but, as Job
finally escaped, 80 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 forked tongue of fire
begins to lick the back of your hands,
and you feel that you must fall, when
one of the lifebouts comes back. and
the passengers say they think they
swings under you-you drop into it
you are saved. So some men are pur-
sued by temptation until they are par
TALLY consumed but after all get Off
'tsaved rs by fire." ......
But | like the figure Of Job little
better than that of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn it out; and want
to 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. lie 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. He
foated into the kingdom of God so
gradual that tits uncertain just whe
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 shouse-roof to see if he could
balance himself. There was no horse
that lie dared not ride-no tree that he
could not climb. His boyhood was a
long series of predicaments; his man
hood reckless; his midlife very way
ward. But now he is converted, and
you 20 over to the store and say:
cartwright joined the church yester-
day." Your friends say: 1T is not
possible; you must be joking" You
say: No; l tell you the truth. He
joined the church." Then they reply:
There is hope for any of US If old
Arkwright has become a Christianw In
other words, we will admit that it is
more difficult for some men to accept
the Gospel than for others.
1 may be preaching to some who
have cut loose from churches, and
Bibles, and Sundays, and who have no
intention of becoming Christians them
selves, and yet you may find yourself
escaping. before you leave this house,
as with the skin of your teeth" 1 do
not expect to waste this hour. L have
seen boats go off from Cape May or
Long Branch, and drop their nets, and
after awhile come ashore, pulling in
the nets without having caught a single
fish. 1t was not good day, or they
had not the right kind of net. But
we expect no such excursion to day.
The water is full of fish, the wind is
in the right direction, the Gospel net
is strong. o, Thou who didst help
Simon and Andrew to fish, show US
how to cast the net on the right side
Of the ship.
Some of you, in coming to God, will
have 10 run against skeptical notions.
1t is useless for people to say sharp