Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-12-01
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "The IFS of the Bible"

"
set upon the throne where it belongs, and
that is the conjunction "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 utter
ance, we ignore 1t In our appreciation, and
none of us recognize 1t as the most tremen-
dous word in all the vocabulary outside OF
those words which describe deity.
off" Why, that word we take as tramp
among words, now appearing here, now ap-
pearing there. but having no value OF 1ts
own, when 1t really has millionairedom OF
worlds, and in its train walk all planetary.
stellar, lunar solar destinles. II the boat o!
leaves made watertlght, in which the infant
Moses sailed the Nile, had sunk who would
have lei 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, would the book OF
Exodus ever have been written? II the ship
on which Columbus sailed for America had
gone down in an Atlantic cyclone, how much
longer would it have taken for the discoy-
cry Of this continent?
II 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 Spanish Armada had not
been wrecked of 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 ChaIons, each one OF
which turned the worlds destiny, had been
decided the other way!
II Shakespeare had never been born for
the drama or Handel had never teen born
for music. or Titan had never been born for
painting, or Thorwaldsen had never been
born fo- sculpture, or Edmund Burke had
never been born for eloquence, or Socrates
had never been born for philosophy, OF
Blackstone had never been born for the law,
or Copernicus had never been born for as
tronomy or Luther had never been born for
the reformation !
Oh. that conjunction 'ifr' 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 if, the infnity OF it-who can
measure? 1t would swamp anything but
omnipotence. But must con6ne myself to-
day to the offs" of the Bible, and in doing so
l shall speak of the off OF overpowering
earnestness, the "it'' of incredulity, the 'if'
OF threat, the off of augmentation, the ''if''
of eternal significance, or so many of these
offs" as can compass in the time that may
be reasonably allotted to pulpit discourse.
First. the 'if' of overpowering earnest
ness. My text gives it. The Israelites 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 1t turns upon an ''if. eff
Thou wilt forgive their sins-and III not, blot
me, 1 pray Thee, out of Thy book" Oh,
what an Overwhelming 'ifw 1t was as
much 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. If they must
perish, let me perish with them. In that
book where Thou recordest their doom re-
cord my doom. II they are shut out OF
heaven, let me be shut out OF heaven. Ii
they go down into darkness, let me go down
into darkness" What vehemence and holy
recklessness OF prayer
Yet there are those here who, have no
doubt. have, in their all absorbing desire to
have others saved, rsked the same prayer,
for il Is risk. You must not makeit unless
you are willing to balance your eternal SAL
walton on such an ''if." Yet there have been
cases where mother has been so anxious
for the recovery of a Maynard son that her
prayer has swung and trembled and poised
on an 'if'' like that OF the text. IF not,
blot me, 1 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
with the black ink OF everlasting midnight
erase my first name, and my last name, and
all my name. If he is to SO into shtpwreck,
let me be tossed amid thesane breakers. II
be cannot be partner in my bliss, let me be a
partner In his woe. Ihave for many years loved
Thee, o Goo, and it has been my expecta-
lion 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, andmy promised crown, and
my promised throne unless John. unless
George, unless Henry, unless my darling son
can share them with me. Heaven will be no
heaven without him. 0 God, save my boy,
or count me among the lost -
That Is terrific prayer, and yet there is a
young man sitting in the pew on the main
floor, or in 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 hel
Her tears are no more 10 him than the rain
that drops fro q the caves on dark night.
The fact that she does not sleep because OF
watching for his return 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
Al
venturesome 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
to decide whether you will go up with her or
she down with you. She may be this mo-
ment looking heavenw ard and saying" % Lord
reclaim him by thy grace" and then adding
that heart-rendering "if' ofmy text 'if not,
blot me- pray Thee, out of Thy book.
After three years OF absence son wrote
his mother In enc of the New England
whaling villages that he was coming home
in certain ship. Motherlike, she stood
watching, an the ship was in the off1ng, but
q fearful storm struck it and dashed the ship
on the rocks that night. All that night the
mother PRAYED for the safety of the son, and
Just at dawn there was knock at the cottage
door, and the son entered, crying out,
"Mother, knewyou would pray me home I!
II would ask all those In this assemblage
who have been prayed home to God by piouS
mothers TO stand up, there would be scores
that would stand. and il should ask them
to give testimony it would be the testimony
of that New England son coming ashor,
| from the split timbers of the whaling ship
''My mother prayed me home y
Another Bible "lf" is the sir OF lncredu
| lity. Satan used it when Christ's vitality
was depressed by forty days abstinence from
| 1000, ana the tempter pOluteu W eonle etVH0S
in color and shape like loaves OF bread, and
said. eff thou oe the Son of God, con
mand that these stones be made bread. y
That was appropriate, for Satan is the father
of that ''if'' of incredulity. Peter used the
same ''it' when. standing on the wet anc
slippery deck of fishing smack off Lake
Galilee, he saw Christ walking on the sea as
though it were as solid as pavement o.
basat from the adjoining volcanic hills, and
Peter cried. eff it be Thou, let me come &c
Thee on the water"
What preposterous "ifr' What human
foot was ever so constructed as to walk on
water2 In what part Of the earth did law o,
IL AiI,,, 40, flanr1