Democratic messenger., 1893-11-25

saved my soul. AMI II was on" of your
sermons. Good night. he said ~ he
passed on, leaving me transiixcd with
grateful emotion.
And who Knows Int the words now
speak. blessed If G"d. may reach some
wounded soul deep Down i'll the black
mine of sin. and that these words may
be blessed Ia the stanchinS Of tho
wound and the eternal life of the soul?
Settle this matter Instantly. positively
and forever. Slay the last '.if." Bury
deep the last ''if." How to de- il? Fling
body. mind and soul in Il prayer as ear
nest as that of Moses in the text. Can
you doubt the carnestncSs of this prayer
of the text: II * so heavy with emotion
that il breaks down III the middle IL
was earnes. that the translators in
the modern copies Of the Bible were
obliged Ia put II mark. a straight line "a
dash. for an omission that will never be
filled up. Surh an abrupt pause; such
sudden swapping etf Of the sentence.
Iou cannot parse my text. 1t is an
offense To grammatical construction.
But that dash put i'll by the tylrsetters
Is nightly suggestive. IF thou wilt
forgive their sin uhcn comes the dash)-
'and if not. blot me. pray thee, ont ot
thy book" Some of the most earnest
prayers ever uttered could not be parsed
and were poor specimens of language.
They halted; they broke down; they
| passed into Groans ar sobs or silenccs.
God cares nnthin. for the svntax If
prayers: nothin: for the rhetoric of pray
ers. oh. the wordlcss prayers, If they
We're piled up, they would reach to the
rainbow that arches the throne Of God.
deep sigh may mean more than whole
liturgy. Ont Of the ll6.OO0 words If the
English language there may not I've n
word enough expressive for the soul.
The most effective prayers have ever
heard have been prayers that broke
down with cmotion--thc young man for
the first time rising in a prayer meeting
and saying. 80 Lord Jesus and then
sitting down. burying the face i'll the
handkerchief: the penitent in the in
quiry room kneeling and saying, God
help me. and getting no further: tho
broken PRAYER that started great re-
vival in my church in Philadelphia. A
prayer may have in style the graceful
ness of an Addison. and the sublimity Of
a Milton. and the epi:;rammatic force of
an Emerson. and yet he "a failure. hav-
ing horizontal power. hut no perpen-
dicular power: horizontal power reach
ing the ear of man. but no perpendicular
power reaching the ear of God.
USE of III" IN PRAYEI.
Between the first and the last SEN
tences of my text there was paroxysm
of carnestness too mighty for words. II
will take half Of an eternity 10 tell of all
the answers Of earnest and faithful pray
er. In his last journal David Living
stone. i'll Africa, records the PRAYER so
soon to he answered: 10 March-Birth-
day. My Jesus. my God. my Life. my
All, | again dedicate my whole self 10
thee. Accep, me and grant. q gracious
Father, that ere this year is gone may
finish my task. In Jesus name ask it,
Amen"
When the dusky servant looked into
LivinCston's tent and found him dead on
his knees. he saw that the prayer had
been answered Eut notwithstanding
the earncstne>s "f tin prayer Of Moses in
the text it WAS II defeated prayer ami
was not answered. think tine two Ifs
in the prayer defeated it. and one If is
enough to defeat any PRAYER, whatever
other good characteristics il may have.
IF thou wilt forgive their sins-and if
not, blot me. ! pray thee. cut of thy
book" Gml did neither. As the follow
ing verses show he punished their si;ls,
but ana sure did not blot out one letter
of the name of Moses from the book of
life.
There is only one kind of prayer in
which you need I" put the '.if. and that
is the PRAYER for temporal blessings
Pray for riches and they may engulf MS,
or for fame and it may bcwitch us. or for
worldly success of any sort and it may
destroy us. Brttcr say, IF it be best"
IF can make proper use of il, IF Thou
seest need it," y wife. praying for tho
recovery of her husband from illness,
stamped her foot and said with frightful
emphasis: Il will not have him die. God
shall not take him" Her prayer was
answered, but few years after the com
munity was shocked by the fact that he
had in Il moment of anger slain her.
A mother. praying for sons rccov-
cry from illness. told the Lord he had no
right to take him. and the boy recovered,
but plunged into all denominations and
died renegade. Better in all such
prayers and all prayers pertaining to our
temporal welfare put an If saying,
IF it be thy will" But praying for
spiritual good and the salvation of our
soul we need never insert an IF" Our
spiritual welfare is sure To bc for the
best, and away with the IFS.
Abraham's prayer for the rescue of
Sodom was a grand prayer in some re-
spects, hut there were six ifs in it, or
.'peradveniures. which mean the same
thing. "P, ralvcntnrc there may be 30
righteous in the city. peradventuro 4j,
peradventure ~. pcradventure 80. per
adventure ~. peradvcnture TO-" Those
six peradvcnturcs those six Ifs, Killed
the PRAYER, and Sudum went down and
went under. Nearly all the prayers
that were answered had no Ifs" in them
the PRAYER of Elijah that changed dry
weather IL wet weather. the prayer
that changed lIeZcklah from sick mar
to we'll man. the prayer that halted
sun and moon'wiiriout :,l.r,sing the uni
verse to pieces.
Oh. rally your soul for prayer with
no ifs i'll il. Say in substance, Lord,
thou hast promised pardon. and take it,
Here are my wounds; heal them. Here
is my blindness: irradiat. it. Here are
my chains of bondage; 10y the gospel
hammer strike them off. am fleeing
TO the citv of refuge, and | am sure this
is the right way. Thanks be 10 God, /
am free"
Once. hy the law, my hopes were slain.
But now, in Christ. live again.
With the Mosaic earueStncSs of my
text and without its Mosaic ifs let us
cry ont for God. Aye. if words fail us.
let us take the suggestion of that print