Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-11-20
ITHEIES OF The BIBLE
REV. DR.. TALMAGE BREACHES FROM A
TEXT NEVER BEFORE USED.


Ives n Great Variety of Ifs-only rou,
steps From Stout Truth to a Blatant
UnbeIief--A Grand Prayer.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 19.-In the Taberna
Gle this morning Rev. DR.. Talmage de
Iivered one of his most unique and usefu,
sermons from text never before preach
ed from. Subject, "The Ifs of the Bi
ble." The textwas Exodus xxxii, 80, "Il
thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not
blot me, pray thee, out of thy book"
There is in our English language q
small conjunction, which propose by
Gods help to haul out of It's present in
signifcancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that is the conjunc-
ton eff" Though made of only two let
ters, 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 recognizes it as the most ire
mendous word in all the vocabulary out
side of those words which describe deity.
"Ifp' Why, that word we take as a
tramp among other words, now appear
ing here, now appearing there, but hav-
ing 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 escape OF one
host and then come together for the sub
mergence of another host, would the
book of Exodus ever have been written?
If the ship on which Columbus sailed
for America had gone down in an Allan
tic cyclone, how much longer would it
have taken for the discovery of this con-
tinentp If Grouchy had come up with
.re-enforcements in time to give the
French the victory at Waterloo, what
would have been the fate of Europe1 If
the Spanish armada had not been
wrecked off the coast, how different
would have been many chapters in Eng
lish history! If the battle of Hastings,
or the battle of Pultowa, or the battle of
Valma, or the battle of Mataurus, or the
battle Of Arbela, or the battle of Cha
Ions, 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 Thorwaldsen had
never been born for sculpture, or Ed
mund Burke had never been born for elo-
quence, or Socrates 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! The height of it,
the depth of it, the length of it, the
breadth of it, the immensity of it, the
infinity of fit-who can measured Itwould |
swamp anything but omnipotence. But
1 must confine myself today to the 'ifs"
of the Bible, and in doing 80 / shall
speak of the "if'' of overpowering ear
nestness, the ''if" of incredulity, the ''if"
of threat, the ''if" of augmentation, the
"if'' of eternal significance, or so many
Of these ''ifs" as l can compass in the
time that may be reasonably allotted to
pulpit discourse.
THE EARNEST "IF."
First, the ''if'' of overpowering ear
nestness. My text gives 1t. The Israel
ties have. been worshiping an idol, not
withstanding all that God had done for
them. and now Moses offers the most
vehement prayer of all history, and 1t
turns upon an ''if." "If thou wilt for
give their sins-and if not, blot me,
pray thee, out of thy book" Oh, what
an overwhelming ''iff" 1t was as mucn
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. II they
must perish, let me perish with them; IN
that book where thou recordest tneir
doom, record my doom. If they are snu.
out of heaven, let me be shut out oi
heaven. If they go down into darkness
let me go down into darkness
What vehemence and holy reckless
ness of PRAYER! Yet there are those mere
who, have no doubt, have, In tnelr All
absorbing desire to have others saved
risked the same prayer, for it is risK'
You must not make it unless you are
willing to balance your eternal salvation
on such an ''if." Yet there have peel
cases where a mother has been SO anxious
for the recovery of wayward son ina
her prayer has swung and trembled ane
poised on an 'if' like that OF the text
not, blot me, pray thee, out OF tiny pook
Write his name in the Lambs BOOK o
Life, or turn to the pages where u.
name was written 10 or 20 or 4o OF o
years ago, and with the black INK Q
everlasting midnight erase my mrs
name. and my last name, ana al u ~
name. If he is to go into shipwreok' &c
me be tossed amid the same breakers
he cannot be partnes in my bliss ie
me be a partner in his woe. have 10
many years loved thee, o God, ana
has been my expectation to SIT wlI
Christ and all the redeemed at the pat
auet of the skies. but now give up Ia
promised place at the feast. and my prom
ised robe, and my promised crown, an an