Milford chronicle., 1893-11-24

2 might recall put the whole responsibility O
! our salvation on ourselves. Christ's will
ingness to pardOn-no 'if'' about that
] Realms OF glory awaiting the righteous
! no "if' about that.
: The only ''if'' in all the case worth a mo
} ment's consideration is the ''if' that at
, taches itself to the question as to whether
| we will accept, whether we will repent,
whether we will believe, whether we will
rise forever. Is it not time that we take
, our eternal future off that swivel? Is IL
not time that we extirpate that 'if.n that
miserable "if,' that hazardous 'if?' We
would not allow this uncertain 'ff'' to stay
long in anything else Of Importance. Let
some one say in regard tOa railroad bridge.
Il have reasons for asking if that bridge Is
SAFE and you would not cross it. Let
some one say, Il have reasons to ask If that
steamer is Trustworthy" and you would
not take passage on it.
Let some one suggest in regard to a prop
erty that you are about to purchase, 81
have reason to ask If they can give a good
title" and you would not pay a dollar
down until you had some skillful real es-
tate lawyer examine the title. But l al
lowed for years of my lifetime, and some
Of you have allowed for years Of your life
time, an ''if'' to stand tossing up aud down
/ questions Of eternal destiny Oh, decided
Perhaps your arrival here today may de
eide. Stranger things than that have put
| to flight forever the "if'' Of uncertainty.
THE MINERS MOVING STORY.
A few Sabbath nights ago in this church
a man passing at the foot Of the pulpit
said to me, Il am a miner from England"
and then he pushed back his coat sleeve
and said, "Doyou see that scar on my arm ?"
I enid tkXaes l,r. III 4
wound there some time" He said: YES:
it nearly cost me my life. was in a mine
in England 600 feet underground and three
miles from the shaft of the mine, and rock
fell on me- and my fellow laborer pried off |
the rock, and l was bleeding to death, and |
he took newspaper from around his lunch 4
con and bound it around my wound and /
then helped me over the three miles under
ground to the shaft, where was lifted TO
the top, and when the newspaper was taken
off my wound 1 read on it something that
saved my soul, and it was one of your ser
mons Good night, he said as he passed
on, leaving me transfxed with grateful
emotion.
And who knows but the words I Inow sneak
blessed Of God, may reach some wounded
soul deep down in the black mine of sin
and that these words may be blessed to the
stanching of the wound and the eternal
life of the soul? Settle this matter instant
ly. positively and forever. Slay the last
'if" Bury deep the last ''if" How to do
it2 Fling body, mind and soul in a PRAYER
as earnest as that of Moses in the text. Can
you doubt the earnestness of this prayer of
the text? It is so heavy with emotion that
1t breaks down in the middle 1t was so
that the translators in the modern
aof1fac IF ba IlihIa ,HT !
mark, straight line, dash, for an ornis-
sion that will never be filled up. Such an
abrupt pause, such sudden swapping of
Of the sentence!
You cannot parse my text. It is an Of
fense to grammatical construction. But '
that dash put in by the typesetters is !
nightly suggestive. IF thou wilt forgive l
their sin (then comes the dash)-"and If !
not, blot me, pray thee, out of thy book" |
some of the most earnest prayers ever ut
,ered could not be parsed and were Door
specimens Of language. They halted, they
broke down, they passed tosobs or groans
'r silences. God cares nothing for the syn
ak Of prayers, nothing for the rhetoric
# prayers. Oh the wOrdless prayersi If
hey were piled up, they would reach to
he rainbow that arches the throne Of God
deep sigh may mean more than whole
liturgy. Out of the 10000 words of the
English language there may not be word er
nough expressive for the soul. n,
The most effective prayers have heard at
ave been prayers that broke down with S,
motiOn-the young man for the first time &
lsingin prayer meeting and saying, "Oh. x
ord Jesus" and then sitting down, bury q
lg the face in the handkerchief; the peni Al
ent in the inquiry room kneeling and say %
1,H ha1r
be broken prayer that started a great re-
ival in my church in Philadelphia. A
rayer may have in style the gracefulness
an Addison, and the sublimity Of a Mil =
IN, and the epigrammatic force of an EN-
'son, and yet be a failure, having hori-
)ntal power, but no perpendicular power,
power reaching the ear of man:
ut no perpendicular power reaching the
II of God.
| GREAT EXPLORER's PRAYER ANSWERED.
Between the first and the last sentences
my text there was paroxysm of earnest
sss too mighty for words. It will take
III Of an eternity to tell of all the answers
earnest and faithful prayer. In his last
urnal David Livingstone, in Africa, re- ~
rds the prayer so soon to be answered: II
8 March-birthday Ny Jesus, my God, fol
y life, my all, / again dedicate my whole q,
II to thee. Accept me, and grant, o gra-
Jus Father, that ere this year is gone en-
ay finish my task. In Jesus name ask su
Amen" hv
When the dusky servant looked into Liv-
gstone's tent and found him dead on his 's'
ees, he saw that the prayer had been an M
cred. But notwithstanding the earnest hV
IS Of the prayer Of Moses in the text, It Al,
IS a defeated prayer and was not an
fhfuar fo ttffsfl int
ieated it, and one IF" is enough to defeat thu
; prayer, whatever other good character. Ms
les it may have. IF thou wilt forgive l.,
,iF tins-and if not, blot me, pray thee, -
Of thy book" God did neither. As the ~
lowing verses show, he punished their W.
8, but am sure did not blot out one let Sbl
of the name Of Moses from the Book of
here is only one kind of prayer in which '"e
1 need to put the III" and that is the Nc
yer for temporal blessings. Pray for ALI
hes, and they may engulf us; or for fame, IA
1 it may bewitch us; or for worldly sue 9
S, and it may destroy us. Better say, IF Ne
be best" "If l can make proper use of top
"If thou seest / need it." A wife, tril
ying for the recovery Of her husband
N Illness stamped her foot and said II
n frightful emphasis: Il will not have
q die God shall not take him." Her
yer was answered, but in a few years r,
ar the community was shocked by the - ~ a
t that he had in a moment Of anger n t1A a
in her. - -
mother, praying for a sons recovery AA
N illness, told the Lord he had no right j,
take him, and the boy recovered, but n
nged into all denominations and died I'M
egade. Better in all such prayers and
prayers pertaining to our temporal well ~
} to put an ''if," saying. "If it be thy
l." But in praying for spiritual good wit
the salvation Of our soul we need never CEN
srt an 'if" Our spiritual welfare is sure ia n
,e for the best, and away with the ''ifs." -,
THE SIX "IFs" ABOUT sODoM. VIII
braham's prayer for the rescue Of Sodom of r.
grand prayer in some respects, but of Il
re were six ''ifs" in it, or 'peradven- haol