Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-08-31

| u " dry. his teetn
wasted away until
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. 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 mummies OF
Egypt, thousands of years old. are
found to-day with gold filling in their
teeth. Ovid. and Horace, and Solo
mon, and Moses wrote about these i'm
portant factors of the body. To other
provoking complaints, job, think, has
added an exasperating toothache, and
putting his hand against the infiamed
face, he says, II 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 time when the partition between
them and ruin was no thicker than
tooth's enamel; but, as Job finally es-
capped, so have they. Thank God!
thank Cod!
Paul expresses the same idea by
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 of. 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 / like the figure of Job little
better than that of Paul, because the
pulpit has not worn ii out; and | want
to show you il 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 60 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 always was Of that turn
of mind" In youth, this person whom
/ 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 the left but straight
into the eyes of the minister, as
though he understood tie 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 if he could
balance himself. There was no horse
that he dared not ride-no tree he
could not climb. His boyhood was a
long series of predicaments; his man
hood was reckless; his mid-life very
wayward. But now he is converted,
and you go 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, 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 ac-
cept the Gospel than for others.
may be preaching to some who
have cut loose from churches, and BIZ
bles, 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" / do not expect to waste this
hour. / 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 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 wLo didst help Simon and An
drew 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 skeptical 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 temp
tation, or trial. or betrayal, you have