The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-08
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

job Had Boils, Bankruptcy and a Fool
Wife, But He Finally Escaped. Body
and Soul, From His Troubles-Thou-
sands of Others May Be Similarly Saved
TEXT: "I am escaped with the skin OF
my h."-Job XIX, 20.
Job had it hard. What with boils and
bereavements 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 nothing but the enamel seemed
left. He cries out, 81 am escaped with the
skin of my teeth"
There has been some difference of
opinion about this passage. st. Jerome and
Schultens and Drs. 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
thing 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 filling in their teeth. Ovid
and Horace and Solomon and Moses wrote
about these important factors OF the body.
To other provoking complaints Job, I
think, has added an exasperating tooth
ache, and, putting his hand against the
inflame6 face, he says, 81 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 q 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 Godl
Paul expresses the same idea by differ
ent 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 ves-
sci. 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 lifeboats comes back, and the passen-
gers 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
partly consumed, but after all get of
'saved as by fire."
But like the figure Of Job little better
not worn 1t out, and want to show you, II
God will help, that some men make narrow
escape for their souls and are saved as
with the skin Of their teeth"
It 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 yesterday, Your business COM
rades say: "That Is just what might have
been expected. He always was Of that
To- 10 hny,
I describe was always good. He never
broke things. He never laughed when 1t
was improper to laugh. At seven he could
sit an hour In church, perfectly quiet, look
ing neither to the right hand nor 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 gradually
that it Is uncertain just when 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 house roof
to see II he could balance himself. There
was no horse that he dared not ride, no tree
he could not climb. His boyhood was 8
long series Of predicaments, his manhood
was reckless, his midlife very wayward.
But now he Is converted, and you go over
to the store and say, cartwright joined the
chufeh yesterday" Your friends say: "It
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 old Arkwright has be-
come Christian" In other. words, we
will admit that 1t 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 Sun
days, and who 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" I
do not expect to waste this hour. I have
seen boats 60 of from Cape May or Long
Branch and drop their nets and after awhile
come ashore, pulling In the nets without
having caught single fish. It was not q
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. 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
to run against skeptlcal notions. 1t Is USE
less for people to say sharp and cutting
things to those who reject the Christian re-
1
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. II assaulted
your body with weapons, you would meet me
with weapons, and 1t would be sword stroke
for sword stroke and wound for wound and
blood for blood, but IL I come and knock at
the door Of your house you open it and
give me the best seat in your parlor. II I
should come at you now with an argument.
you would answer me with an argument;
II 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 usedto be when you be-
| iieved in the truth Of the Christian religion?
| Would you like to have your children travel
on in the road in which you are now travel
| ing? You had relative who professed to
be Christian and was thoroughly consist
ent, living and dying in the faith ofthe gos-
pei. Would you not like to live the same
| quiet life and die the same peaceful death?
1 hold in my hand letter, sent me by one
who has rejected the Christian religion. 1t
says: ~ am old enough to know that the
| joys and pleasures Of lite are evanescent
I and to realize the fact that it must be COM
Portable in old age to believe in something
9elative to the future and to have faith
in some system that proposes to save.
am free to confess that would be happier
| If could exercise the simple and beautiful
faith that is possessed by many whom I
know. am not willingly out Of the church
or out of the faith. My state OF uncertainty
Is ono of unrest. Sometimes I doubt my
Immortality and look upon the deathbed as
the closing scene, after which thereis moth
ing What shall I do that I have not