Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-30
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dashed the ship on the rocks that
night All that night the mother
prayed for the safety of the son, and
just at dawn there was knock at the
cottage door, and the son entered, cry
ing: Mother, l knew you would pray
me homer If I would ask those in
this assem- blage who have been prayed
home to God by pious mothers to stand
up, there would be scores that would
stand; and if l should ask them to give
testimony, it would be the testimony
of that New England son coming
ashore from the split timbers of the
whaling ship: my mother prayed me
home
Another Bible ''If'' is the IF of in
credulitv. Satan used it when Christ,
with his vitality depressed by forty
days abstinence from food, the tempt
er pointed to some stones, in color and
shape like loaves of bread, and said:
eff Thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread" That
was appropriate, for Satan is the ia
Their of that ''if'' for incrduity Peter
used the same "If" when. standing on
the wet and slippery deck of a fishing
smack of Lake GaliIee, he saw Christ
walking on the sea as though it were
as solid as pavement of basalt from
the adjoining volcanic hills, and Peter
cried out: IF it be Thou, let me come
to Thee on the water" What pre-
posterous ''IfI'' What human foot was
ever so constructed as to walk on wa
ter? In what part of the earth did
law Of gravitation make exception
to the rule that man will
sink to the elbows when he touches
the wave of the river or lake, and
will sink still further unless he can
swim? But here Peter looks out upon
the form in the shape of man defying
the brightest law of the universe, the
law of gravitation. and standing erect
on the top of the liquid Yet the in
credulOus Peter cries out to the Lord:
IF it be Thou" Alas. for that in
credulous IF" 1t is working as
powerfully as in the latter part Of this
nineteenth Christian century as it did
in the early part of the first Christian
century. Though a small conjunction.
it is the biggest block to-day in the
way of the Gospel chariot ''If.'' ''If.''
We have theological Seminaries which
spend most of their time and employ
teeir learning and their genius in the
manufacturing of Ifs" With that
weaponry is assailed the Pentateuch.
and the miracles and the divinity of
Jesus Christ. Almost everybody is
chewing ON an IF" When a man
hNxr f,,,s l,a Il
an If" The door through which peo-
pie pass into infidelity and atheism and
all immortalities has two door-posts,
and the one is made up of the letter
II" and the other of the letter e.
Any religion will do in time of pros
pe1fty. buddhism will do. Confucian-
ism villa do. Theosophy will do. No
religion all will do. But when the
world gets: after you and defames your
best deeds, when bankruptcy takes the
place of large dividends, when you
fold for the last sleep the still hand
over the>still heart of your old father
who has been planning for your well
fare all these years, or yet close the
eyes of your mother who has lived in
your life, ever since before you were
born. removing her spectacles because
she will have clear vision in the home
to which she has gone, or you give
the last kiss to the child re-
clining amid the flowers that
pile the casket. and looking as
natural and life-li1e as she ever
did reclining in the cradle, then the
only religion worth anything is the
old-fashioned of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. | would give more in such
crisis for one of the promises expressed
in half d verse of the old Book
than for ii whole library containing
all the productions of all the other re-
Hgions of the ages. The other reli-
giOnS are sort of Il cocaine to benumb
and de.dcn the soul while bereavement
and misfortune do their work, but our
religion is inspiration, illumination,
,cmparadisation. 1t is mixture Of
sunlight and hallelujah. Do not adul-
terate it with one drop of the tincture
of incredulity.
Another Bible ''if'' is the eff of
eternal significance. Solomon gives us
that if twice in one sentence, when
he says: ''If thou be wise, thou shalt
be wise for thyself; but if thou
soonest, thou alone shalt bear it,
Christ gave us that ''if' when He saws:
IF thou hadst know in this thy dav.
the things which belong unto thy
thine eyes Paul gives us that if
when he says: IF they shall enter
into my rest" All those ifs
and a score more that | might
recall put the whole response
bility of our salvation on our
selves, Christ's willingness to pardon:
No if about that. Christ's willing
ness to help: No 'if'' about that.
Realms of glory awaiting the right.
eous: No if about that. The only
IF In all the case worth a ,eonsidera-
ton, is the if that attaches itself to
the question as to whether We will ac-
cept, whether we will repent whether
we will believe, whether we will rise
forever. Is it not time that we take
our eternal future off that swivel?
Is it not time that we extirpate that
if that miserab BILE If" that hazard
Gus ''if?' We would not allow the an
certain if to stay long in anything
else of Importance. Let some one say
in regard to railroad brioge: Il have
reasons for asking if that bridge is
safe" and you would not cross it. Let
some one say: II have reasons to ask
if that steamer is trustworthy" and
you would not take passage on it. Let
someone suggest in regard to a prop
erty that you are about to purchase: