The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-22


nacle this morning the Rev. DR.. Tai
mage delivered one of his most unique
and useful sermons from a text never
before preached from. Subject The
Ifs OF the Bible" The text chosen was
Exodus xxi. 3. IF thou wilt forgive
their sin-and if not, blot me. l pray
thee. out Of thy book"
There is in our English language a
small conjunction which I propose. by
Gods help. to haul out of it's present
insignificancy and set upon the throne
where il 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 eter-
nifty are at it's disposal. We slur it in
our utterance, we ignore it in our ap-
probation and none of US recognize il
the most tremendous word in all
the vocabulary outside of those words
which describe deity.
If Why. that word we take as a
tramp among words. now appearing
here, now appearing there. but having
no value of its own. when it really has
a 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 es-
cape Of one host and then come together
for the submergence of another, would
the book of Exodus ever have been writ
ten? If the ship on which Columbus
sailed for America had gone down in an
Atlantic cyclone how much longer would
1t have taken for the discovery of this
continent?
If Grouchy had come up with REIN
forcements 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 history. If
the battle of Hastings or the battle Of
Pultowa, or the battle of Valmy, or the
battle Of Mataurus. or the battle of Ar
bella, or the battle of Chalons. each of
which turned the worlds destiny, had
been decided the other way!
The InGnity of "If."
If Shakespeare mad never been born
for the drama, or Handel had never
been born for music or Titan had new
er been born for painting. or Thorwald-
sen had never been born for sculpture,
or Edmund Burke had never been born
for eloquence, or Socrates had never
been born for the law. or Copernicus
had never been born for astronomy, or
Luther had never been born for the
reformation
Oh. that conjunction "ifr' How much
has depended on it, The hight of it, the
depth of it. the length of it, the breadth
of it, the immensely of it. the inhnity Of
it-who can measure2 1t would swamp
anything but omnipotence. But / must
confine myself today 10 the Ifs" Of
the bible. and in doing so l shall speak
of the ''if' Of overpOwering earnestness.
the if Of incredulity, the 'if' Of
threat the ''if' of augmentation, the
'if'' of eternal significance, or so many
of these IFS" as [ can compass in the
time that may be reasonably allotted
TO pulpit discourse.
First. the "'if'' of overpowering ear
nestness. Ny text gives il. The Is
raelites have been worshiping an idol,
Notwithstanding 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 forgive their sins-and if not, blot
me, 1 pray thee out of thy book" Oh,
what an overwhelming 'ifr' Ii was as
much as if TO say: "If thou wilt
not pardon them, do not pardon me. If
thou wilt not bring them to the prom
iSeG land, let me never see the promised
land. If they must perish let me per-
ish with them. In that book where thou
recordest 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 dark
ness" What vehemence and holy
reCklessnesS Of prayer
Mothers Tears.
Yet there are those here who. I have
no doubt, have, in their all absorbing
desire to have others saved. risNed the
same prayer, for il is a risk. You must
not make 1t unless you are willing to
balance your eternal salvation on such
an IF" Yet there have been cases
where a mother has been so anxious for
the recovery OF a maynard son that her
prayer has swung and trembled and
poised on an 'ff' 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 ship
wreck. let me be tossed amid the same
breakers. II ne cannot be partner III
my bliss. let me be a partner i'm his woe.
have for many years loved thee. .
sGod, and it has been my expectation TO
'sit with Christ and all the redeemed at
the banquet Of the skies. but / now
give up my promised place at the feast,
and my promised robe. and my promised
crown. and my promised throne unless
John, unless George, unless Henry, un-
less my darling son can share them
with me. Heaven will be no heaven
without him. o God, save my boy, or
count me among the lost"'
That IS a terrific prayer. and vet there
IS a young man sitting in the pew on the
main floor. or I'm the lower gallery or
in the top gallery. who has already
crushed such a prayer from his mothers
heart. He hardly ever writes home. or.
living at home, what does he care how
much trouble he gives her? Her tears
are no more to him than the rain that
drops from the caves Of a house on a
dark night. The fact that she does not
sleep because OF watching for his re-
turn late at night does not choke his
laughter or hasten his step forward.
She has tried coaxing and kindness
and self-sacrifice and all the ordinary
prayers that mothers make for their
children, and all have failed. She is
coming toward the vivid and venture
some and terrific prayer OF my text. She
Is going TO lift her own eternity and set
it upon that one If" by which she
expects 10 decide whether you will go
up with her or she down with you. She
may be this moment looking heaven