Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-12-07

when that newspaper was taken on
my wound. ] read on it something that
saved my soul, and it was one of your
sermons. Good night" he said as he
passed on, leaving me transfixed with
grateful emotion.
And who knows but the words
now speak. 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 staunch-
ing of the wound and the eternal life
of the soul? Settle this matter in
stantly. positively and forever. Stay
the last 1T" Bury deep the last IF. =
How to do it? Fling body, mind and
soul in prayer as earnest as that OF
Moses in the text. Can you doubt the
earnestness of this prayer in the text?
1t is so heavy with emotion that it
breaks down in the middle. 1t was so
earnest that the translators in the
modern copies of the Bible were obliged
to put mark, a straight line, dash
for an omission that viii never be filled
up. Such an abrupt pause, such a
sudden swapping off of the sentence.
You cannot parse my text 1t IS an
offense to grammatical construction.
But that dash put in by the typesetters
is mighty suggestive. IF thou wilt
forgive their sin" then comes the dash
and If not, blot me, pray thee, out
of Thy book" Some of the most earnest
prayers ever uttered could not be
parsed and were poor specimens of Ian.
guage. They halted, they broke down,
they passed into sobs or groans of ST.
lence. God cares nothing for the syn
tax of prayers, nothing for the rhetoric
of prayers. o, the wordless prayers!
If they were piled up they would reach
to the rainbow that arches the throne
of God. A deep sigh may mean more
than a whole liturgy. Out of the one
hundred and sixteen thousand words
of the English language there may not
be a word enough expressive for the
soul. The most effective prayers have
ever heard have been prayers that
broke down with emotion; the young
man for the first time rising in prayer
meeting and saying: 80 Lord Jesus
And then sitting down, burying the face
in the handkerchief; the penitent IN
the inquiry room kneeling and saving:
God help me and getting no further
the broken prayer that started great
revival in my church in Philadelphia.
A prayer may have in style the grace
fitness of an Addison and the sublim
itv of Milton, and the epigrammatie
force of an Emerson and yet be fail
ure. having a horizontal power, but NJ
perpendicular power, horizontal power
reaching the ear of man, but no per
pendicular power reaching the ear OF
God.
Between the first and the last sen
fences Of my text there was parox.
vsm of earnestncss too mighty toI
words. 1t will take half of an eternity
to tell of all the answers of earnest
and faithful prayer. In his last jour
nal David Livingston, in Africa, re
cords the prayer so soon to be an
swered: 10 March-Birthday My
Jesus, my God. my Life, my All,
again dedicate my whole self 10 Thee.
Accept me, and grant o gre cious ta
Their that ere this year is gone, may
finish my task. In Jesus name, | ask
il. Amen" When the dusky servant
looked into Livingston's tent anc
found him dead on his knees, he saw
that the prayer had been answered |
But Notwithstanding the earnestnes> I
of the prayer of Moses in the text II
was defeated prayer and was not an /
swered / think the two "if's in tht I
prayer defeated it, and one IF i
enough to defeat any prayer, whatever
other good characteristics il may have I
IF Thou wilt forgive their sins: ano
II not bio. me, pray Thee, ont Of Thy
book" God did neither As the fol-
lowing verses show, he pun ,hed then
sins. but am sure did not blot out one
letter of tie name of Moses from the
book of life.
There is only one kind of prayer in
which YOU need to put the ''if, ano
that is the prayer for temporal bless.
ngs Pray for riches and they might
,ngulf us, or for fame and it may be-
witch us, or for worldly success of any
sort ii may destroy us. Better say,
IF it be best" "If can make proper
use of it. /" IF thou seest l need it
4 wife, praying for the recovery of her
husband from illness, stamped her foo,
md said with frightful emphasis, u
will not have him die; God shall not
AXE him"
Her prayer was answered. but few
hooked by the fact that he had in a
moment OF anger slain her. A mother,
,raying for a sons recovery from i'll
less, told the Lord he had no right &c
AXE him, and the boy recovered, but .
,lunged into all abominations and dice
renegade. Better in all such prayers
nd all prayers pertaining to our tenn.
oral welfare. put an IF, !" saying, I'll
/ be Thy willr' But praying for spirit
al good and the salvation of our soul
re never need insert an If" Our
piritual welfare is sure to be for the
est, and away with the ifs"
Abraham's prayer for the rescue OF
odom was a grand prayer in some
aspects, but there were six ifs in
!, or ''peradventures." which mean
he same thing. "Peradventure there
lay be fifty righteous in the city, per
overture forty-five, peradventure
,rty, peradventure thirty, peradven-
are twenty. peradventure ten" Those
x peradventures, those six ifs
illed the prayer. and Sodom went
own and went under. Nearly all the
rayers that were answered had ne