Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-12-06
REV. DIR. TALMAGE,
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN,
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ssThe .Ifs' of the Bible. ].


to haul out OF its present insfgniicancy an
set upon the throne where 1t belongs. an
that Ia the Injunction ''if" Though mad
of only two letters, it is the pivot on whic
everything turns. All time and all eternit
are at its disposal. We slur it in our ute,
ance, we ignore it In our appreciation, an
none OF US recognize II as the most tremer
dous word in all the vocabulary outside G
those words which describe deity.
'It.' Why, that word we take as tram
among words, now appearing here, now ap
pearing there, but having no value of il
own. when it really has . milHonairedom o
worlds, and in its train walk all planetary
stellar, lunar, solar destinies. II tho boat o
leaves made watertight, In which the tnfan
Moses sailed the Nile, had sunk who woul,
hIvn led Israel out OF Egypt? II the RsC
Sea had not parted for the escape of on
host and then come together for the sub
mergence of another, would the book o
Exodus ever have been written? II the shiI
on which Columbus sailed-for America ha<
gone down In an Atlantic cyclone, how muct
longer would it have taken for the discov
cry OF this cOntinent2
II Grouchy had come up with reinforce
ments in time 10 give the French the victory
AT Waterloo, what would have been the fate
Of Europe? III the Spanish Armada had not
been wrecked of the coast, how different
would have been many chapters in English
history II the battle OF Hastings or the
VI
the battle OF AIataurus 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
mad never been born for philosophy, or
Blackstone had never been born for the law.
or Copernicus had never been born for as
ironomy. or Luther had never been born for
the reformation
Oh. that conjunction ''ifr How much has
depended on it q! The height of it, the depth
Of II, the length OF IL, the breadth of it. the
immensely of it, the infinity of it-who can
measure? 1t would swamp anything but
omnipotence. But l must confine myself to-
day to the ''iis'' of the Bible and In doiny so
earnestness, the ''if' of incredulity, the ''if''
OF threat, the ''h' OF augmentation, the ''if''
OF eternal Significance, or so many of these
''ifs' as l can compass in the time that may
be reasonably allotted to pulpit discourse.
First, the 'if' OF overpoyering earnest
ness. Ny text gives it. The Israelites nave
been wOrshiping an idol. notwithstan ling
all that God had done for them. and now
Moses offers the most vehement prayer of all
history, and II turns upon an ''if" III
Thou wilt forgive their sinS-and il not, blot
me, pray Thee, out of Thy book" On
what an overwhelming 'if!" Ii was as
much as to say III Thou wilt not pardon
them, 40 not pardon me. II 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 gn down into HarEnaza az r,,a a
into darkness What vehemence and holy
recklessness of PRAYER
Yet there are those here who. l have no
doubt, have, in their all absorbing desire 10
have others saved, risked the same prayer
for II is risk. You must not rnakeit unless
yOu are willing to balance your eternal sal
Vation on such an 'if." Yet there have been
cases where a mother has been so anx,olE
for the recovery OF a wayward son that her
prayer has swung and trembled and poised
on an ''it' like that OF the text. "It not,
blot me, pray thee, out OF thy book. Write
his name in the Lambs Book OF Life, orturn
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. II he is 10 go into shipwreck
let me be tossed amid thess5ne breakers. II
he cannot be partner in my bliss, let me be
partner in his Woe l have for many years loved
ton to sit with Christ and all the redeemed
1t the banquet of the skies but now give
up my promised place at the feast, and my
promised robe, and my promised crown, an
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. God, save my boy.
or count me among the lost -
That is a terrific prayer, and yet there ia
young man sitting in the pew on the main
tOor. or in the lower gallery, or in the top
gallery, who has already crushed such a
prayer from his mothers heart. He harIly
ever writes home or. living at home what
fOes he care how much trouble he gives ner!
Her tears are no more to him than the rain
Ihet drops from the caves on dark night.
The fact that she docs not sleep because Of
watching for his return late at night does not
cnOke hIslsughter or hasten his step forward
She has fried coaNing and kindness an /
self sacrifice and all the or Iinary prayers tina,
mothers make for their children, and all have
'aile 3. She Is coming toward the vivid and
and terrific prayer of my teXt.
) le is going to lit her own eternity and set
It upon that one ''if' by which she expects
- decide whether you will 90 up with her OF
,Ee down with you. She mey he this mo
nent looking heayenw Iri and saying % Lord
reclaim him by thy grace" and then addne
hat heart-rendering ''if Ofmy text ''if not,
blot me. pray Thee, out of Thy book,
After three years OF absence son wrote
lis mother in one Of the New Englan
whaling villages that he was coming home
n 4 certain ship. Motherlike, she stno
and the ship was in the offing, bu.
! fearful storm struck it and dashed the ship
n the rocks that night. All that night the
mother prayed for the safety of the son, and
Il at dawn there was knock at the cottag-
iUor, and the son entered, crying out,
Mother, knew you would pray me home!'
1 Iyr.,r aIt fr,f y I,.,.
Who have been prayed home to God by pious
mothers to stand up, there would be scores
hat would stand, and if l should ask them
q give testimony it would be the testimony
u that New England son coming ashore
rom the split timbers of the whaling ship.
My mother prayed me homer
Another Bible ..if'' il the 'if' of incredu-
ity. Satan used it when Christ's vitality |
vas depressed by forty days abstinence from
ood, and the tempter pointed to some stones,
u color and shape like loaves OF bread, and |
aid, IF thou be tine Son of God, con-
nand that these stones be made bread.
That was appropriate, for Satan is the father |
u that ar of incredulity. Peter used the |
anne ''if' when, standing on the wet AMI |
iippery deck of fishing smack off Lake |
ialilee, he saw Christ walking on the sea as
lOugh it were as solid as a pavement Of |
asalt from the adjoining volcanic hills, and |
'eter cried, "If it be Thou, let me come 10 /
'hee on the water"
What preposterous 'ifT What human
DOT was ever so constructed as to walk on
Tater? In what part OF the earth did law of
ravitatiOn make exception to the rule that a
lan will sink to the elbows when he touches |
ne wave of river or lake and will sink still /
unless he can swim? But here Peter /
Ooks out upon the form in the shape of a
nan defying the mightiest law OF the uni
erse, the law of gravitation, and standing
rect on the top of the liquid. Yet the in
redulous Peter cries out to the Lord "U
ne Thou" Alas, for that incredulous ssif~ /
5 working as powerfully in the latter part
I this nineteenth Christian century as il did
the early part of the first Christian cen.
lry.
Though small conjunction, it is the bic.
est block to-day in the way of the gospel
hariot. "Ifr "If' We have theological /
which spend most OF their time
MT employ their learning and their genius
! the manufacturing OF ".ifs" With that
eaponry are assailed the Pentateuch, and L
le miracles, and the divinity Of Jesus Christ.
lmost everybody is chewing on an "if."
hon many man bows Ior prayer he puts
IS knee on an 'ff." The door through which
,ople pass into infldelity and atheism and
immoralities has two doorposts, and the
lie g made of the letter 'f'' and the other