Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-25
THEIFSOF THE BIBLE
REV. DR.. yALMAGE breaches FROM 4
TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.

TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.
The Eloquent Preacher Defines and Ana
iyzes q Greet Variety of Ifs-Cnly -Four
Steps From a Stout Truth to a Blatan.
Unbeiief-A Grand Prayer.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 19.-In the Taberna-
Gle this morning Rev DR.. Talmage de
livered one of his most unique and useful
sermons from text never before preach.
ed from. Subject, s.The Ifs of the Bi
ble.r The text was Exodus xxi, 80, I'll
thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not
blot Inc, pray thee, out of thy book"
There is in our English language @
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 eonjunc-
ton ''if." Though made Of only two let
tiers, it is the pivot on which everything
turns. All time and all eternity are al
! its disposal We slur it in our utterance
we ignore it in our appreciation, and
none of us recognizes it as the most ire
mendous word in all theyocabulary 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 hay
/ ing no value Of its own, when it really
has millionairedom of worlds, and in
its train walk all planetary, stellar, lunar,
solar destipies. 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 had come up with
re-enforcements in time to give the
French the victory at Waterloo, what
would have been tho 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, or 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, 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 reformation!
Oh, that conjunction ''ifr' How much
has depended on it! Tho height of it,
the depth of it, the length of it, the
breadth of it, the immensely of it, the
infinity of it-who can measure? Itwould
swamp anything but omnipotence But
must confne myself today to the Ifs
of the Bible, and in doing so | shall
speak of the ''if'' of overpowering ear
nestness, the ''if" of incredulity, the eff
of threat, the eff 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 oyerpowering ear
nestness. 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" ''If thou wilt for
give their sins-and if not, blot me,
pray thee, out of thy book" Oh, what
an overwhelming ''if!" 1t was as much
as to say: ''If 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 Inc 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 prayerl Yet there are those here
who, have no doubt, have, in their ali
absorbing desire to have others saved
risked the same prayer, for it is 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 hayward 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, 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 Woe | have for
many years loved thee, 0 God, and it
1 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. OGod,
save my boy or count Inc among the
/ lostr'
That is terrific prayer, and yet there
is young man sitting in the pew on the
main floor, or in the lower gallery, or in
4 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
ers that mothers make for their children,
and all have failed She is coming to-
ward the vivid and venturesome and ter
4 rife prayer of my text. She is going to
lift her own eternity and set it upon that
one ''if," by which she expects to decide
! whether you will go up with her or she
down with you. She may be this mo-
ment looking heavenward and saying,
20 Lord, reclaim him by thy grace" and
then adding that heart rending IF" Of
my text. III not, blot me, pray thee,
out of thy book"
After three years Of absence a son