Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-11-20
THETFS OFTHE BIBLE
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches FROM A
TEXT NEVER CEFORE USED.

The Eloquent Preacher Defines and Ana
lyzes n Great Variety OF Its-O.lly -Four
Steps From a stout Truth 20 blatant
UnbeIief-A Grand Prayer.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 19.--In the TaberDa-
Gle this morning Rev. DR.. Talnage de-
livered one of his most unique and useful
sermons from text never before preach
ed from. Subject, The IFS of the BIZ
ble." The text was Exodus xxi, 30, IF
thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not,
blot me, pray thee, out of thy book"
There is in our English language o
small conjunction. which propose by
Gods help to haul out of its present in
signifcancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that is the COM juno
ton eff" Though made of only two let
tiers, it is the pivot on which everything
turns. Ali time and all eternity are at
its disposal. We slur it in our utterance,
we ignore it in our appreciation, and
none of us recognizes it as the most ire
Inendous word in all the vocabulary out
side of those words which describe deity.
E'Ifr' Why, that word we take a
tramp among other words, now appear
ing here, now appearing there, but hav
ing no value of its own, when 1t really
has a millionairedom of worlds, and in
its train walk all planetary, stellsS,', lunar,
solar destinies IF the boat of leaves made
watertight, in which the infant Moses
sailed the Nile, had sunk. who would
have led Israel out of Egypt? If the Red
sea had not parted for the escape of one
host and then come together for the sub
mergence of another host, would the
book of Exodus ever have been written?
If the ship on which Columbus sailed
for America had gone down in an Allan
tic cyclone, how much longer would it
have taken for the discovery of this con-
tinent? If Grouchy bad come up with
re-enforcements in time to give the
French the victory at Waterloo, what
would have been the fate Of Europe? If
the Spanish armada had not been
wrecked off the coast, how different
would have been many chapters in Eng
lish history. If the battle of Hastings,
or the battle of Pultowa, or the battle Of
Valma, or the battle Of Mataurus or the
battle of Arbela, OF the battle of Cha
Ions, each one of which turned the
worlds destiny, had been decided the
other way,
If Shakespeare had never been born
for the drama, or Handel had never been
born for music, or Titan had never been
born for painting, OF Thorwaldsen had
never been born for sculpture, OF Ed
mund Burke had never been born for elO-
quence, or Socrates had never been born
for philosophy, or Blackstone had never
been born for the law, OF Copernicus had
never been born fer astronomy. or Luther
had never been born for the reformation!
Oh, that conjunction ''ifr' How much
has depended or til The height of it,
the depth Of it, the length Of it, the
breadth of IL, the immensely of it, the
infinity Of it--who can measure? Itwould
swamp nything but Omnipotence. But
/ must confine myself today to the ifs
of the Bible, and in doing so l shall
speak of the eff" Of overpowering ear
nestness, the if of incredulity, the if
of threat, the ''if of argumentat CT the
''if'' of eternal Significance, OF so many
of these ifs as | can compass IL the
time that may be reasonably allotted to
pulpit discourse.
THE EARNEST ''IF.
First, the IF" CT overpowering ear
nestness. Nv text gives it. The Israel
ties have been wocshiping IN idol. 20
withstandinss all that God had done for
them, and now Moses offers the most
vehement prayer OF all history, and it
turns upon an if If thou wilt for
give their sins-and if not, blot me, /
pray thee, out of thy book" Oh. what
an overwhelming ''if!" It was as much
as to say: eff tho1 wilt not pardon them,
do not pardon me. If thou wilt not
bring them to the promised land, let me
never see the promised land. If they
must perish, let me perish with them. In
that book where thou rec OrdeSt their
doom, record my doom. Il they are shut
ont of heaven, let me be shut out of
heaven If they go down into darkness.
let me go down into darkness.
What vehemence and holy reckless
ness of prayer Yet there are those here
who, have no doubt, have, in their all
absorbing desire to have others saved,
risked the same prayer, for it is a risk.
You must not make it unless you are
willing to balance your eternal salvation
ON such an eff Yet there have been
cases where a mother has been so anxious !
for the recovery of a hayward son that |
her prayer has swung and trembled and |
poised on an ''if'' like that of the text, eff |
not, blot me, pray thee, out of thy book.
Write his name in the Lambs Book of
Life, or turn to the pages where my
name was written 10 or 90 or 40 or 60 |
years ago, and with the black ink of
everlasting midnight erase my first
name, and my last name, and all my
name. If he is to go into shipwreck, let |
me be tossed amid the same breakers. IF |
he cannot be partner in my bliss, let |
me be partner in his VICE. have for