Milford chronicle., 1893-11-24
AT THE TABERNACLE.
REV. DR.. TALMAeE ON THE IFS" OF
THE BIBLE.


Two Letters the Pivot on which Everythi
Turns-OnIy -Four Steps Between Fai
and UnbeIief-The Gospel OF Jesus Chr
the Religion For Adversely.
BROOKLYN, Nov. i9.-In the Tabernac
this morning Rev. Dr. Talmage deliver
one Of his most unique and useful sermo
from text never before preached fror
Subject, The IFS" Of the Bible. The te.
chosen was Exodus xxxii, 30, If the
wilt forgive their sin-and if not, blot m
pray thee. out of thy book"
There is in our English language a sma
conjunction which / propose, by God
help, to haul out ofits present insignifcanC
and set upon the throne where it belong
and that is the conjunction 'if" Thoug
made of only two letters, it is the pivot q
which everything turns. All time and a
eternity are at its disposal. We slur it /
our utterance, we ignore it in our apprecii
ton, and none of us recognizes it as tn
most tremendous word in all the vocabr
larry outside Of those words which descrih
deity.
"Ifr" Why, that word we take as a tram
pearing there, but having no value of It
own, when it really has a millionairedom G
worlds, and In its train walk all planetary
stellar, lunar, solar destinies. II the boat O
leaves made watertight, in which the infan
Moses sailed the Nile, had sunk, who woul,
have led Israel out Of Egypt II the Re,
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 written2 If tn,
ship on which Columbus sailed for Americ,
had gone down in an Atlantic cyclone
how much longer would it have taken fol
the discovery Of this eontinent2
II Grouchy had come up with re-enforce
ments in time to give the French the vic
tory at Waterloo, what would have beer
the fate of Europe? If the Spanish armada
had not been wrecked off the coast, how
different would have been many chapters
in English historyl II the battle Of Hast
ings, or the battle Of Pultowa, or the battle
Of Valmy, or the battle of Mataurus, or the
battle of Arbela, or the battle Of Chalons,
each one Of which turned the worlds des-
tiny, had been decided the other wayl
THE INFINITY OF IF"
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, or Edmund Burke
had never been born for elOquence, or Soc
rates 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
Oh, that conjunction "ifP' How much
has depended on It'll The height of it, the
depth of it, the length of it, the breadth of
it, the immensity of it, the infnity of it
who can measure? It would swamp any
thing but omnipotence. But must CON
fine myself today to the ''ifs" of the Bible,
and in doing so I shall speak Of the ''if" Of
overpowering earnestness, the ''if' Of in
credulity, the ''if'' of threat, the ''if' of ar
gumentation, the ''if'' of eternal signif-
canoe, or so many Of these ''ifs' as can
in the time that may be reasonably
allotted to pulpit discourse.
First, the ''if'' Of overpowering earnest
ness. My text gives it. The Israelites
have been worshiping an idol, notwith-
all that God had done for them,
and now Moses offers the most vehement
prayer Of all history, and it turns upon an
'if" IF thou wilt forgive their sins-and
II not, blot me, pray thee, out Of thy book" |
Oh, what an overwhelming 'ifr" It as |
much as to say; "If 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 re-
,Ord my doom. If they are shut out of |
heaven, let me be shut out of heaven. If
hey go down into darkness, let me go down
nto darkness" What vehemence and holy
Of prayerl
A MOTHERS TEARS.
Yet there are those here who, have no
Ioubt, have, in their all absorbing desire
o have others saved, risked the same prayer.
or it is a risk. You must not make it un-
ess you are willing to balance your eternal
Aviation on such an ''if" Yet there have
een cases where a mother has been so anx-
BUS for the recovery of a wayward son
hat her prayer has swung and trembled
nd poised on an ''if'' like that Of the text.
If not, blot me, l pray thee, out of thy
ook- Write his name in the Lambs
look of Life, or turn to the page where
~ name was written 10 or 90 or 40 or so
ears ago, and with the black ink Of ever
lsting midnight erase my first name, and
~ last name, and all my name. If he
to go into shipwreck, let me be tossed
mid the same breakers If he cannot be
partner in my bliss, let me be a partner
his woe. Ihave for many years loved thee,
God and it has been my expectation to
t with Christ and all the redeemed at the
inquet Of the skies, but / now give up my
-omised place at the feast, and my prom
ed robe, and my promised crown, and my !
'omised throne unless John, unless '
gorge. unless Henry, unless my darling
n can share them with me. Heaven will c
, no heaven without him. o God, save 9
y boy, or count me among the lostW 7
That is a terrific prayer and yet there is ]
young man sitting in the pew on the main i
'or, or In the lower gallery, or in the top ;
.llery, who has already crushed such a i
aver from his mothers heart. He hardly I
er writes home, or, living at home, what c
es he care how much trouble he gives her? b
sr tears are no more to him than the rain ?
at drops from the caves of a house on y
rk night. The fact that she does not n
,ep because of watching for his return lato n
night does not choke his laughter OF q
sten his step forward, a
She has tried coaxing and kindness and p
I sacrifice and all the ordinary prayers St
at mothers make for their children, and u
have failed. She is coming toward the Al
I'D and venturesome and terrific prayer
my text. She is going to lift her own It
rnity and set it upon that one "if," by d
ich she expects to decide whether you W
II go up with her or she down with you. 81
e may be this moment looking heaven n
I'd and saying, 20 Lord, reclaim him W
thy grace" and then adding that heart hi
ding IF" of my text, IF not, blot me, W
ray thee, out of thy book" th
after three years Of absence a son wrote m
mother in one of the New England sii
aling villages that he was coming home sp
certain ship. Motherlike, she stood sit
tching, and the ship was in the offing, yo
; a fearful storm struck it and dashed an
ship on the rocks that night. All that 10
ht the mother prayed for the safety Of di
son, and just at dawn there was a iG
,ck at the cottage door, and the son en- re
- ----;-- $50 ,tIathn- ! knew vnii
aid pray me homer If would ask all Of