Connecticut western news., 1893-11-23
THE IFS OF THE BIBLE
REV. DR. TALMAGE BREACHES FROM A TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.

The Eloquent Preacher Defines and Ana
 lyzes Great Variety of Ifs-Only Four
 steps From Stout Truth to a Blatant , Unbellef-A Grand Prayer.
 BROOKLYN, Nov. 19.-In the Taberna- cle this morning Rev. Dr. Talmage de- livered one of his most unique and useful sermons from 8 text never before preach ed from. Subject, "The Ifs of the Bi- ble." The text was Exodus xxxii, 32, "If thou wilt forgive their sin--and if not, blot me, pray thee, out of thy book"
 There is in our English language a 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 conjunc- ton eff" Though made of only two let ters, 1t is the pivot on which everything turns. All 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 tre- nendous word in all the vocabulary out side of those words which describe deity.
 "Ifr' Why, that word we take as a tramp among other words, now appear ing here, now appearing there, but hav- ing no value of it's own, when it really has a millionairedom of worlds, and in it's train walk all planetary, stellar, lunar, solar destiaies. If the boat of leaves made watertight, in which the infant Moses sailed the Nile, had sunk. who would have led Israel out of Egypt2 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 Atlan- tic cyclone, how much longer would it have taken for the discovery of this con- tinent? If Grouchy had come up with re-enforcements in time to give the French the victory at Waterloo, what would have been the fate of Europep If the Spanish armada had not been wrecked off the coast, how different would have been many chapters in Eng fish historyi 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, or the battle of Cha Ions, each one of which turned the worlds destiny, had been decided the other wayl
 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, or Thorwaldsen had never been born for sculpture, or 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, or Copernicus had never been born for astronomy, or Luther had never been born for the reformationl
 Oh, that conjunction sifr" How much has depended on iti The height of it, the depth of it, the length of it, the breadth of it, the immensity of it, the infnity of it-who can measure? Itwould swamp anything but omnipotence. But I must confine myself today to the "ifs" of the Bible, and in doing so I shall speak of the ''if" of overpowering ear nestness, the s'if' of incredulity, the 'if'' of threat, the ''if' of augmentation, the ..if'' of eternal significance, or so many of these .'ifs" as can compass in the time that may be reasonably allotted to pulpit discourse.
 THE EARNEST 'IF."
 First, the 'if'' of overpowering ear nestuess. My text gives it. The Israel ties have been worshiping an idol, not withstanding all that God had done for them, and now Moses offers the most vehement prayer of all history, and it turns upon an eff" 'sIf thou wilt for give their sins-and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book" Oh, what an overwhelming '.ifY' It was as much as to say: eff thou 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 recordest their doom, record my doom. If they are shut out 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 '.if." Yet there have been cases where mother has been so anxious for the recovery of wayward son that her prayer has swung and trembled and poised on an ''if' like that of the text, "If 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 20 or 40 or 60 years ago, and with the black ink of everlasting midnight erase my first name, and my last name, aud 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 woe. I have for many years loved thee, o God, and it has been my expectation to sit with Christ and all the redeemed at the ban quet of the skies. but now give up my promised place at the feast, and my prom ised robe, and my promised crown, and my promised throne unless John, unless George, unless Henry, unless my darling son can share them with me. Heaven will be no heaven without him. o God, save my boy or count me among the lostr'
 That is a terrific prayer, and yet there is young man sitting in the pew on the main floor, or in the lower gallery, or in the top gallery, who has already crushed such prayer from his mothers heart. He hardly ever writes home, or, living at home, what does he care how much trouble he gives her? Her tears are no more to him than the rain that drops from the caves of the house on dark night. The fact that she does not sleep because of watching for his return late at night does not choke his laughter or hasten his step forward.
 She has tried coaxing and kindness and self sacrificing and all the ordinary pray. CTS that mothers make for their children. and all have failed. She is coming to ward the vivid and venturesome and ter rife prayer of my text. She is going to