Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-11-25
HEIFSOF THE BIBLE
REV. DR.. TALMAaE breaches FROM A
TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.


TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.
Iyzes Great Variety OF Ifs-Only Four
Stops From Stout Truth to a Blatans
UnbelIef-A Grand Prayer.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 19.-In the Taberna-
ole this morning Rev. DR.. Talmage de-
hyered one of his MOST unique and useful
sermons from q text never before preach
ed from. Subject, "The IFS of the BIZ
be-" The text was Exodus xxi, 80, "f
thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not,
blot me, pray thee, out Of thy book"
There Is in our English language q
small conjunction, which propose by
Gods help to haul out of its present in
signifcancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that Is the conjunc-
tion off," Though made Of only two let
tors, 1t Is the pivot on which everything
turns. All time and all eternity are at
its disposal. We slur 1t in our utterance,
Nd ignore 1t in our appreciation, and
none of us recognizes it as the most ire
mendous word in all the vocabulary out
side of those words which describe deity.
;"Hr' Why, that word we take as a
tramp among other words, now appear
ing here, now appearing there, but hav-
ing no value Of its own, when it really
has millionairedom Of worlds, and in
its train walk all planetary, stellar, lunar,
solar destinies. If the boat of leaves made
watertight, in which the infant Moses
sailed the Nile, had sunk, who would
have led Israel out Of Egypt If the Red
sea had not parted for the escape of one
host and then come together for the sub
mergence of aaother host, would the
book Of Exodus ever have been written?
If the ship on which Columbus sailed
for America had gone down in an Allan
tic cyclone, how much longer would it
have taken for the discovery Of this con-
tinentp If Grouchy had come up with
re-enforcements 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 Eng
Iish historyl If the battle Of Hastings,
or the battle of Pultowa, or the battle Of
Valma, or the bsttleof Mataurus, or the
battle;of Arbela, or the battle Of Cha
Ions. each one Of which turned the
worlds destiny, had been decided the
ether way
i If 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, OF Ed
trund Burke had never been born for elo-
auence, or Socrates had never been born
for philosophy, or Blackstone had never
been born for the law, or Copernicus had
never been born for astronomy, or Luther
had never been born for the reformationl
p Oh, that conjunction "ifI" How much
has depended ON it'll The height of it,
The depth of it, the length of it; the
breadth Of 1t, the immensity Of it, the
Snfnity Of it-who can measured Itwould
: swamp swan anything hut urnnipo teneess But
I must confne myself today to the "ifs"
Of the Bible, and In doing SO I shall
speak Of the "if' of overpowering ear
nestness, the eff" of incredulity, the 'if''
of threat, the eff of augmentation, the
"if" of eternal significance, or so many
Of these offs" as I can compass in the
time that may be reasonably allotted to
pulpit discourse.
TIE EARNEST "F.r
First, the "if" of overpowering ear
nestness. My text gives 1t. The Israel
ties have been worshiping an idol, not
withstanding all that God had done for
them, and now Moses offers the most
vehement prayer of all history, and 1t
turns upon an '4f." "If thou wilt for
give their sins-and If not, blot me, I
pray thee, out Of thy book" On, what
an overwhelming "if7' 1t was as much
as to say: "H 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, record my doom. If they are shut
out Of heaven, let me be shut out of
heaven. If they go down into darkness,
let me 20 down into darkness"
What .vehemence and holy reckless
ness of prayerl Yet there are those here
who, have no doubt, have, In their all
absorbing desire to have others saved,
risked the same prayer, for 1t Is risk.
You must not make 1t unless you are
willing to balance your eternal salvation
on such an eff" Yet there have been
cases where mother has been so anxious
for the recovery of o wayward son that
her prayer has swung and trembled and
poised on an "n" like that Of the text, IF
not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book.
Write his name in the Lambs Book Of
Life, or turn to the pages where my
name was written 10 OF 90 or 40 or 60
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 go into shipwreck, let
me be tossed amid the same breakers. IF
he cannot be partner in my bliss, let
me be partner in his woe. have for
many years loved thee, o God, and 1t
has been my expectation to sit with
Christ and all the redeemed at the ban
quet of the skies, but I now give up my
promised place at the feast, and my prom
Used robe, and my 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 nae among tbs
lostT"
That is terrific prayer, and yet there
is young man sitting In the pew on the
main floor. or In the lower gallery, or In