Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-11-23
AT THE TABERNACLE.
REV. DR.. TALMAeE ON THE "iFs" OF
THE BIBLE.

Two Letters the Pivot on which Everything
Turns-Only -Four Steps between Faith
and UnbeIief-The Gospel Of Jesus Christ
the Religion For Adversely.
BROOKLYN, Nov. i9.-In the Tabernacle
this morning Rev. Dr. Talmage 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, 2, IF thou
wilt forgive their sin-nnd II not, blot me,
pray thee. out Of thy book"
There is in our English language a small
conjunction which / propose, by Gods
help, to haul out OF its present insignihcancy
and 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 1t in
our utterance, we ignore 1t In our apprecia-
tion, and none Of us recognizes 1t as the
most tremendous word in all the vocabu-
larry outside Of those words which describe
deity.
"Ifr" Why, that word we take as tramp
dIlOuk hDEuS, uOW uppNuAlhB hSACt hO"
pearing there, but having no value OF its
own, when 1t really has millionairedom Of
worlds, and in its train walk all planetary,
stellar, lunar, solar destinies. II 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, would the book OF
Exodus ever have been writteni II 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 reinforce
ments in time to give the French the VIC
tory at Waterloo, what would have been
the fate Of EuropeP If the Spanish armada
had not been wrecked of the coast, how
different would have been many chapters
In English historyl If the battle Of Hast
ings, or the battle of Pultowa, or the battle
OF Valmy, or the battle Of Mataurus, or the
battle Of Arbela, or the battle Of Chalons,
each one of which turned the worlds des-
tiny, had been decided the other wayl
THE INFINITY OF IF"
II 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 Edmund Burke
had never been born for eloquence, or Soc
rates 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 reformation!
Oh, that conjunction "ifp How much
has depended on it'll The height of it, the
depth of it, the length of it, the breadth of
it, the immensity of it, the infnity of it,
who can measure? 1t would swamp any
thing but omnipotence. But must con-
fine myself today to the 'ifs" Of the Bible,
and in doing so shall speak of the ''if'' Of
overpowering earnestness, the ''if'' of in
credulity, the 'if'' of threat, the ''if'' of ar
gumentation, the 'if' of eternal signif-
canoe, or so many of these ''ifs" as I can
compass in tho 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, notwith-
standing all that God had done for them,
and now Moses offers the most vehement
prayer of all history, and it turns upon an
eff" "If thou wilt forgive their sins-and
If not blot me, pray thee, out of thy book. :"
Oh, what an overwhelming "ifp' 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 Iced. If they must
perish, let me perish with them. In that
book where thou recordest their doom re-
cord my doom. If they are shut out OF
heaven, let me be shut out Of heaven. If
they go down into darkness, let me go down
into darkness" What vehemence and holy
recklessness of prayerl
AMoTHER's TEARS.
Yet there are those here who, have no
doubt, have, in their all absorbing desire
to have others saved, risked the same prayer.
for it is risk. You must not make it un-
less you are willing to balance your eternal
salvation on such an ''if." Yet there have
been cases where mother has been so anx-
ious for the recovery of wayward son
that her prayer has swung and trembled
and poised on an ''if" like that of the text.
"If not, blot me, / pray thee, out of thy
DOOk. " TUG Ills udIuC III Duc s
Book Of Life, or turn to the page where
my name was written 10 or 20 or 40 OF 60
years ago, and with the black ink of ever
lasting midnight erase my first name. and
my last name, and all my name. If he
is to go into shipwreck, let me be tossed
amid the same breakers. II he cannot be
| partner in my bliss, let me be partner
in his woe. Ihave for many years loved thee,
| o God, 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 prom
ised robe, and my 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. o God, save
my boy, or count me among the lostr'
That is terrific prayer, and yet there is
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 heri
Her tears are no more to him than the rain
that drops from the caves Of o house on q
dark night. The fact that she does not
sleep because of watching for his return late
at night does not choke his laughter OF
hasten his step forward,
She has tried coaxing and kindness and
self sacrifice and all the ordinary prayer:
that mothers make for their children, anG
all have failed. She is coming toward thu
vivid and venturesome and terrific prayer
Of my text. She is going to lift her OWL
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