The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-11-23

my nuetime, ana some OF you have alIo-
Tor years OF your lifetime. an 'fr' 10 ~
destiny. Oh. decide Perhaps your 80
here today mag decide. Stranger ,h,u
than that have D. 20 flight forever tbs ID,
OF uncertainty.
few Sabbath E,ghts ago IN this chm,
man passing at the foot OF the pulpit sa,s
me. II am miner from England and,h
he pushed back his coat sleeve and aha un
you see that scar on my arm?' I said ..v
you must have had an awful wound 49,
J some time" He said "Yes II nearlv
me my life was In n mine In Enpland "
teet underground and three miles from n,
shsft of the mine. and rock fell on me Wy
my fellow laborer prled OF the rock ~
was oieeding to death. and he took new
paper from around hts luncheon and bouy
y around my wound aud then helped me- ouJ
the three miles underground to the an.
where was lifted to the top. and yban n.
newspaper was taken of my wound I =.
on u something that saved my soul. ana
was one OF your sermons. Good nigh, "
said as ne passed on. leaving me transnxs
with grateful emotion.
And who knows but the words now ,no.
blessed OF God. may reach some wonnd,y
| Soul deep down In the black mine OF ain -.
that these words may be blessed 10 the siana,
ing OF tue wound aud the eternal life of M
soul? Settle this matter instantly. posit,va;
aud forever. Stay the last III" Bury dsI
the last III" How to do Il? Fling bosI
mind and soul In prayer ~ earnest ss ~!
OF Moses In the text. Can you doubt n,
earn nsstnes5 OF this prayer OF the tpxtY u
/ go heavy with emotion that II breaks dovy
in the middle. IL was so earnest that a,
traDslators In the modern copies OF the NM
were Obliged TO put mark. a straight linl
dash. for an omission that will never
| hlled up. Such an ABRUPT pause such A sn
den swapping on of the sentence!
You cannot parss my text. II is an a
| fsnse OF grammatical construction "a,
that dash put in by tha typesetters is mightnN
| suggestive. ''if thou wilt forgive their !,
tthen comes til, dssh) and II not mn,
me-. pray Thee. out OF Thy book som
OF the most earnest prayers ever utter,
could not be parsed and were poor .nec
mems OF language. They halted. they brokn
down. they passed into sobs or sro,ns
sttences. God cares nothing for the synta
OF prayers, nothing Tor the rhetoric
prayers. OBJ the worldless prayers If,hs
were piled up. they would reach to the r,ry
bow that arches the throne OF God. A desy
sigh may mean more than whole liiurgV
Out OF the Il6,00D words OF the Envlis
language there may not be word cnou,
expressive for the soul
the most effective prayers I have hear
bave been prayers that broke down vii
emotion-the young man for the first tim
rising In prayer meeting ani saying. "Oh
Lord Jesus - and then sitting down. burv
ing his face in the handkerchief. the pen;
tent in the inquiry room knselng and ,4vX
ing. "God help me. and getting no furiher|
the broken prayer that started a great r,
vival in my church In Philadelphia
prayer may have In style the graceiIilnpS, a
an Addison. and the sublimiiy OF a MitoI
and the epigrammatic forcs OF an Emer,onN
and yet be failure having "A horizon,
buf a fattIar
zontal power reaching the ear OF man. bu
no perpendicular power reaching the ear
God.
Between the first and the last sentences
my text there was n p1roxysm OF eatnsstn.s
too mighty for words. II will take half OF Al
eternity TO tell OF all the answers OF earnes
and faithful prayer. In hts last iourn,
David Livingstone, in Africa. records thl
prayer so soon to bs answered "i9 March
my birthday. My Jesus. my God, my life
my all, again dedicate my whole self
Thee. Accept me. aud grant. graciou
Father. that ere this year is gone may anis
my task. In Jesus name / ask it, Amen
When the dusky servant looked into Liy
ingstone's tent and found him dead on hiI
knees. he saw that the prayer had been an
swered. BUT Notwithstanding the earnest
ness OF the prayer OF Moses In the text.
was defeated prayer and was not an
swered. think the two els In the r,lsye
defeated II, and one ''if' is enough TO 6eiea
any prayer. whatever other good character
istics IL may have. III Thou wilt forgiy
their sins-and IL not. blot me. pray Ther
out OF Thy book" God did neither. As th|
following verses show. He punished thsi
sins. but am sure did not blot out ono LEI
ter OF the name OF Moses from the Book 0
Life.
There is only one kind OF prayer in whic
you need to put the 'ii." and that il th|
To- u
riches, and they may engulf rs or for fams
and IL may bewitch US or tor worldly sud
cess, and II may destroy us. Better say. II
II be- best, at | can make proper use of it,
'It Thou ssest need it," wife PRAYING fo
the recovery OF her husband from illness
stamped her foot and said with frighth
emphasis II will not have him die. God
shatl not take him Her prayer YVES an
swered, but in u few years after the commu
nifty was shocked by the fact that he had lu
moment OF anger -lain her
A mother. praying Tor "A sons recover iron
Illness, told the Lord hs had no right To taxi
him. and the boy recovered. hut plunged 10
TO all abominatlons and died IA renegade
Better In all such prayers and all prayer
pertaining to our temporal welfare TO put al
'if. saying. III IL be- Thy will. " But in pray
ing for spiritual good aui the salvation d
our soul we need never insert au ''if." 0u
spiritual welfare is sure to bee for the best
and away with the "ils.
Abraham's prayer for the rescue of SodoH
was grand prayer In some respects, hu
there were six ifs In il, or "peradvenl
lures. which mean the same thing "perI
adventure there may be llity righteous In th
city, psradventure forty-ive, peradventur
forty. peradyenture thirty, peradventur
twenty peradyenture ten Those six ped
adventures, those six "ifs" killed the prayed
and Sodom went down and went under
Nearly all the prayers that wers answered
mad no ''ifs" In them-the prayer OF Elijat
that changed dry weather to wet weather.
the prayer that changed Hezekiah from
sick man TO well man, the prayer thaI
halted sun and moon without shaking th{
universe to pieces.
Oh, rally your soul for prayer with N
Ifs in 1t Say in substance: Lord, Tho&
hast promised pardon. and 1 take 1t. HerX
are my wounds heal them Here is ~
blindness irradiste H. Hsre are my chanI
OF bondage by the gospel hammer striky
them ofs Am fleeing tothe Cuyof Refuge
and am sure this is the right way Thank
be to God, | am Tree !'
Once, by the law. my hopes were slaiu,
But now In Christ, live again.
With the. Mosaic earnestncss OF my teI
aud without Its Mosaic ''ifs," let us cry ou
for God Ave il words fail us let ma takk