Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-12-07
BIBLE "IFS.o
They Form the Subject of a Ser
mon by Rev. DR.. Talmage.
Little Word of Mighty Power The arr
of Overpowering Earnestness, the
air. of Incre1u ity and the "If"
of Eternal Significance.

In the Brooklyn Tabernacle recently
Rev. DIR. Talmage delivered a most
unique and useful sermon from text
never before preached from. Subject:
THE IFS of the Bible" The text
chosen was Exodus xxi, 80:
IF Thou wilt forgive their sin-and If not,
blot me, pray Thee, out of Thy book"
There is in our English language a
small conjunction, which propose, by
Gods help, to haul out of its present
insigniticancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that is the con-
junction ''if" Though made of only
two letters, it is the pivot on which
everything turns. All time and all
eternity are at its disposal We slur it
in our utterance, we ignore it in our
appreciation, and none of us recognize
lit as the most tremendous word in all
the vocabulary outside of those words
which describe deity. If Why, that
word we take as tramp among words
now appearing here, now appearing
there, when it really has millionaire
dom of worlds, and in its train walk all
planetary, stellar. lunar, solar des-
TIMES. If the boat of leaves, made
watertight, in which 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 submergence of another host,
would the book of Exodus ever have
been written? If the ship on which
Columbus had sailed for America had
gone down in an Atlantic cyclone, how
much longer it would have taken for
the discovery of this continent? If
Grouchy had come up with reinforce
ments in time to give the French the
victory at Waterloo, what would have
been the fate of Europe? If the Span
ish Armada had not been wrecked off
the coast, how different would have
been many chapters in English his
tory. If the battle of Hastings, or the
battle of Pultowa, or the battle of
Nalmy, or the battle of Mataurus, or
the battle of Arbela, or the battle of
Chalons each one of which turned the
worlds destiny, had been decided the
other way. 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
lThorwaldsen had never been born for
sculpture, or Edmund Burke had never
been born for eloquence, or Socrates
had never been born for philosophy, or
blackstone had never been born fer
the law, or Copernicus had never been
born for astronomy, or Luther had
never been born for the Reformation
Oh, that conjunction ''ifl' How much
has depended on it. The height of it,
the depth of it, the length of it. the
breadth of it, the immensely of it, the
linfinity of it, who can measure? 1t
would swamp anything but Omnipo-
tence. But l must confine myself to-
iday to the ''ifs'' of the Bible, and in
doing SO l shall speak of the 'if'' OF
loverpowering earnestness, the 'if' o
lincredulity, the 'sif'' of threat, the 'if'
of augmentation, the ''if'' of eternal
significance, or so many of these ifs
as can compass in the time that ma
be reasonably allotted to pulpit dis
course.
First the 'if'' of overpowering earn |
estness. My text gives it. The Israeli
ites have been worshiping an idol not
understanding all that God had done for |
them, and now Moses offers the most |
vehement prayer of all history, and il
turns upon an ''if." IF thou wilt for
give their sand if not, blot me,
pray thee. out of the book o, what
an overwhelming ''if." 1t was as much
as to say, IF thou wilt not pardon
them, do not pardon me; If thou wilt
mot bring them to the promised land,
let me never see the promised land; il
they must perish let me perish with
them; in that book where Thou record
Jest their doom, record my doom; il
they are shut out of heaven, let me be
shut out of heaven; if they go down
into darkness, let me go down into
darkness" What vehemence and holy
recklessness of prayerl Yet there are
those here who, I have no doubt, have,
lin their all-absorbing desire to have
Others saved, rislzed the same prayer,
for it is a risk. You must not
make it, unless you are willing
TO balance your eternal salvation
on such an eff" Yet there have
been cases where a mother has been so
anxious for the recovery of hayward
son that her prayer has swung and
ltrembled and poised ON an ''if'' like
that of the text If not, blot me,
pray thee. out of thy book. Write his
name in the Lambs Book of Life, or
turn 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. If he is to go into shipwreck,
let me be tossed amid the same break
ers. If he cannot be a partner in my
bliss, let me be partner in his woe.
have for many years loved thee. o Cod
and it has been my expectation to sit
with Christ and all the redeemed at
the banquet of the skiessbut now give
up my promised place at the feast, and
nv 4 ~