Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1893-12-09

4S& l. AfVSt ~ IA -
ny lifetime. and some Of you have allowed
for years Of your lifetime. al .'ir' 70 stand
tossing np and down questions OF esernai
destiny. Oh deeidet Perhaps your arrival
here to-day nay decide. Stranger things
than hat have pu; 10 flight forever TIE IF
o. uncertainty.
4 few Sabhath nights ago in this church a
man passing at the Zoe; IT the pulpit, said T.
ne. Il am a miner from England" and then
he pushed back his Goa. sleeve AMI said. "Do
you See that scar on my ARM I said. Yes ::
you must have had al awful wound their
some time" He said Yes i, nea-ly cos
re my life was in a mine in England 90
fee: underground and three miles from tn
shatt % the mine. ani 8 rock fell on ne. an,
Try fellow laborer priei of the rock. and :
vas bleeding 70 death. ami be took n news
| paper from around his luncheon ana boua1
Il around my wolai and then helped NE over
the three miles underground 70 the shaft.
where ! W rs lifted 70 the top. and when the
newspaper was taken OF my vailnd I reat
"a II something that saved my soul. and Il
vas one Of your sermons. Good night, he
| said as be passed on. leaving ne :. -ansaxei
win grateful emotion.
And who knows hut the words | now speak,
blessed 81 God. nay reach sons wounded
soul deep down In the black mine OF sin. and
that these WORKS may be blessed TO the stanch-
ing OF the wound ani the eternal life OF the
soul? Settle this natter instantly. positively
and forever. Stay the last ..if." Bury deep
the last If" How 10 do ii? Fling body,
Enind and oulin q prayer as earnest as tina,
OF Moses in the text. Can you douh, the
earnestness Of this prayer Of the text? Ii Is
SO heavy with emotion that Il breaks down
III the middle. 1t was SO earnest that the
trauslators in the modern copies Of the Bible
vera obliged TO put & mark. IA straight line.
2 dash. for al omission that will never be
filled up. Such an abrupt pause. such a sud
den swapping OF Of the sentence
You cannot parse my text. 1t Is an Of
Tense OF grammatical construction. But
that dash put in by The typesetters is nightly
suggestive. If thou wilt forgive their sin
then comes thu dash)-"and II not, blot
me, | pray Thee. out OF Thy book. Some
OF the most earnest prayers eve uttered
could not be parsed and were poor speci-
mems Of language. They halted, they broke
down. they passed into sobs or groans or
s~ilences. God cares nothing for the syntax
OF prayers, nothing for the rhetoric of
prayers. Oh. the worthless prayers II they
were piled up. they would reach to the rain
bQwthat arches the throne Of God. Adeep
sigh may mean more than a whole liturgy.
Out of the lie. 900 words of the English
language there may not be a word enough
expressive for the soul.
The most effective prayers l have heard
5have been prayers that broke down with
eD5tlon-the young nan for the first time
Rising in a prayer meeting and saying, "Oh,
Lord Jesus ~ and then sitting down, bury
ing his face liz the handkerchief. the peni-
tent in the inquiry room kneeling and say
ing. God help ne" and getting no further
the broken prayer that started a great re-
vival In my church in Philadelphia. A
prayer may have in style the gracefulness OF
an Addison. and the sublimity Of a Milton
and the ~epigrammatic force of an Emerson,
and yet be a failure. having a horizontal
power but no perpendicular power, hori;
zontal power reaching the ear of man. but
no perpendicular power reaching the ear OF
God.
Between the first and the last sentences OF
my text there was a paroxysm of earnestness
too mighty for words. 1t will take half of al
eternity to tell of all the answers of earnes,
and faithful prayer. In his last journa
David Livingstone. in Africa. records the
prayer SO soon to be answered "19 March
my birthday. My Jesus. my GOD, my life
my all, | again dedicate my whole self tt
Thee. Accept me, and grant. O graciou.
Father. that ere this wear is gone l may finish
my task. In Jesus name l ask 1t. Amen.
When the dusky servant looked into Liv
ingstone's tent and found him dead on hi:
knees. he saw that the prayer had been an
ewered. But Notwithstanding the earnest
ness Of the prayer of Moses ia the text, i
was a defeated prayer and was not an
swered. think the two Ifs" in the prayel
defeated it. and one If is enough to defea
any prayer. whatever other good character
istics. it may have. If Thou wilt forgiv,
their sins-and if not. blot me, | pray Thee
out OF Thy book" God did neither. AS tn,
following verses show. He punished theil
sins, but | am sure did not blot out one let
Life.
There is only one kind of prayer in which
you need to put the IF" and that is tn
prayer for temporal blessings. Pray 70
riches, and they may engulf us or for fame
and 1t may bcwitch us or for worldly sue
cess, and it may destroy us. Better say. Il
it be best" If | can make proper use of il,
'If Thou seest l need it" \ wife praying 70
the recovery of her husband from illness
stamped her foot and said with frightfu
emphasis II will not have him die. Go
shall not take him.. Her prayer was an
swered. but in n few years after the cOssmu
nifty was shockel py the tact that he had in
moment of anger slain her.
A mother, praying for a sons recover fror
illness. told the Lord he had no right to tax
him, and the boy recovered. but plunged in
to all denominations and died a renegade
Better in all such prayers and all prayer
pertaining to our temporal welfare TO put a.
"if." saying. If it be Thy will. But in pray
ing for spiritual good and the salvation o
our soul we need never insert an 'it. Ou
spiritual welfare is sure TO he for the best
and away with the lis.
Abraham's prayer for the rescue OF Sodon
was a grand prayer in sope respects. bu
there were six ifs 10 il, or "peradven
lures. which mean the same thing. Per
adventure there may he fifty righteous in tn
city. peradventure forty-fve. peradventur
forty. peradventure thirty, peradventur
twenty. peradventure ten" Those, six pei
adventures. those six ifs" killed the prayer
ana S"ion went down and went under.
Marry all the prayers that were answered
9at Do lis III them-the prayer Of Elijah
that changed dry weather 10 wet weather.
the prayer that changed Hezekiah from a
sick man 10 IA we'll man. the prayer that
hated sun and moon without shaking the
u~nivers" 20 pieces.
oh. rally your soul :9r a prayer with no
IFS in ait Say in substance Lord Thou
hast promised pardon, and / take 1t. Her
are ny wounS heal them. Here is ms
blindness irradiate il. Here are my chain
~ bondage ~ the gospel hammer strike
them Of. / am fleeing tothe City OF Refuge.
and | an eare this x the right way. Thanks
~ 70 God. | am zee
oece. D. he .av. uy hopes we're sain,
Rat Enu. 4 on-st. ! I've again.
WIKI TIE Nosair earneStn@S. o! rvtev.
aDd XII 4oit Its Mosaic ifs let u ery on,
for a1e- Az. u words :alt "a. t.; Is IA.
ne sl--@rl4u q that t-sr.er's 4ast rs.Ae