The free press., 1893-12-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
subject: e.The sIfs of the Bible. %

Txxr: "If Thou ,cik forgtce their sin
and If not, blot me, pray Ibee, oN OF fhJ
book k"-Exodus xxi, 90.
There is in our English language small
.cuniunction which, propose, by Gods help,
to. haul out OF its present insignihcancy and
set upon the throne whore 1t belongs, and
ttht Is the conjunction ''f. Though made
of only two letters, it is the pivot on which
everything turns All time and all eternity
are at its disposal. We slur it in our utter
ance, we ignore it in our appreciation, and
none Of US recognize it as the most tremen,
dous word in all the vocabulary outside OF
those words which describe deity.
"Ifr' Why, that word we take as a tramp
among words, now appearing here, now ap-
peariDg there. but having no value OF its
own. when il really has a millionairedom OF
worlds, and in its train walk all planetary,
stellar lunar, solar destinies. If tho boat OF
leaves made watertisht. u which the infant
Moses sailed the Nile, had sunk who would
have led Israel out of Egypt? III the Red
Sea had not parted for the escape OF one
host and then come together for the sub
mergence of another, would the book OF
Exodus ever have been writtenl If the ship
on which Columbus sailed for America had
gone down in an Atlantic cyclone, how much
longer would it have taken for the discoy-
cry Of this continent?
II Grouehy had come up with reinforce
ments 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 English
history If the battle OF Hastings or the
battle of Putowa, or the battle of Valmy, or
the battle OF Mataurus, or the battle OF Ar
bella. or the battle of Chalons, each one OF
which turned the worlds destiny, had been
decided the other way!
II 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 Edmund Burke had
never been born for eloquence, or Socrates
had never been born for philosophy, or
Blackstone had never been born for the law,
or Copernicus had never been born for as
tronomy. or Luther had never been born for
the reformation
Oh. that conjunction ''ifr' How much has
depended on it The height Of it, the depth
of it, the length Of it, the breadth of it, the
immensity of it. the inflnity OF it-who can
measure? 1t would swamp anything but
omntpotence. But must confine myselfto-
day to the ''ifs'' of the Bible, and in doing so
I shall speak of the ''if' of overpowering
earnestness. the ''if of incredulity, the ''it''
of threat, the cir 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.
First, the ''if'' of oyerpowering earnest
ness. My text gives it. The Israelites have
been worshiping an idol. Notwithstanding
all that God had done for them, and now
Moses offers the most vehement prayer OF all
history, and it turns upon an ''if. III
Thou wilt forgive their sins-and if not, blot
me, l pray Thee, out of Thy book" On,
what an Overwhelming 'ifr 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 me perish with them. In that
book where Thou recordest their doom re-
cord my doom. II they are shut out OF
heaven, let me be shut out of heaven. II
they go down into darkness, let me go down
into darkness" What yehemence and holy
recklessness of prayer
Yet there are those here who, L have no
doubt, have, in their all absorbing desire to
have others saved, risked the same prayer,
for ii is risk. You must not makeit unless
YOU are willing to balance your eternal sal
vation on such an '.if" Yet there have been
cases where mother has been SO anxious
for the recovery of a 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 page where my name was written ten
or twenty or forty or sixty 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 90 into shipwreck
let mo be tossed amid the same breakers. II
he cannot be a partner in my bliss, let me be a
partner in his woe. Ihave for many years loved
Thee, o God, and 1t has been my eXpecta-
ton to sit with Christ and all the redeemed
at the banquet of the skies but l now give
lN1n tI. ,,t-
promised robe, andmy 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 lost "
That is a terrific prayer, and yet there is a
young man sitting in the pew on the main
6oor, or in the lower gallery, or in the top
gallery, who has already crushed such u
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 10 him than the rain
that drops from the caves on dark might.
The fact that she does not sleep because OF
watching for his return late at night does moi
choke his laughter or hasten his step forward
She has tried coaxing and Kindness and
self sacrifice and all the ordinary prayers that
mothers make for their children, and all have
failed. She is coming toward the vivid md
ventufesome and terrific prayer OF my text
She is going to lift her own eternity and sci
1t upon that one "if,'' by which she expects
to decide whether you will go up with her ol
she down with you. She may be this mo
ment looking heavenward and saying % LORD
reclaim him by thy grace" and then addinl
that heart-rendering ''if Ofmy text 'if not
blot me, l pray Thee, out of Thy book.
After three years of absence son wrote
his mother in one OF the New England
whaling villages that he was coming HON,
In a at<eain ship. Motherlike, she stool
watching, and the ship was in the offing, bu
fearful storm struck it and dashed the shit
on the rocks that night. All that night tn
mother prayed for the safety of the son, anC
Just at dawn there was knock at the cOttaq'
door, and the son entered, crying out
"Mother, 1 knew you would pray mo home :!
II would ask all those in this assemblag
who have been prayed home to God by piou
mothers to stand up, there would be score
that would stand, and If should ask then
to give testimony it would be the testimony
of that New England son coming ashor
from the split timbers of the whaling ship
"My mother prayed me homer
Another Bible ''if' is the sir of incredu
lity. Satan used it when Christ's vitality
was depressed by forty days abstinence iron
food, and the tempter pointed to some stones
In color and shape like loaves of bread anC
said, IF thou be the Son of God, com