The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-12-01
@TS" OT THE BIBLE.
Discourse by DR.. Talmage on Their
Si2ni1cance.
The Overpowering Earnestness of Moses
Frayer-The dangerous "If'' of In-
creGuIity-Be Wise for Thy.
self.

IF thou wilt forgive their sin; and
If not. blot me, pray thee out of thy
book" DIR. Talmage said:
There is in our English language a
small conjunction, which propose, by
Gods help, 10 haul out of its present
lnsigniicancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that is the con-
junction iii. 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 utterance, we ignore it in our
appreciation, and none of us recognize
Il as the most tremendous word in all
the vocabulary outside of those words
which describe deity If Why that
word we take as tramp among words,
now appearing here, now appear
ing there, but having 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 water-tight, in
which 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 submerg-
cncc 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 Atlantic
cyclone. how much longer would it
have taken for the discovery of this
continent? If Grouchy had come up
with reinforcements in time to give
the French the victory at Waterloo,
what would have been the fate of Eu-
rope? If the Spanish Armada had not
been wrecked off the coast, how differ
.ent 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 Chalons each
one of which turned the world destiny,
had been decided t other way. If
Shakespeare had sever teen born for
the drama, or Handel had never been
horn 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 Socrates had never been
born for philosophy, or Blackstone had
never been born for the law, or Copper
snicus had never been been born for
astronomy, or Luther had never been
born for the reformation! Oh. that
conjunction ''if!'' How much has de-
pended on it. The height of it, the
depth of it, the length of it, the breadth
If, who can measure? 1t would swamp
anything but Omnipotence. But | must
confine myself to-day to the Ifs" of
the Bible, and in doing SO l shall speak
of the If of Overpowering earnestness,
the if of incredulity, the eff of
threat. the eff" 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.
First, the if of overpowering earn
esfness. My text gives it. The Israel
ties have been worshiping an idol, not
Sishstandiug all that God had done
for them, and now Moses offers the
most vehement prayer of all history,
and it turns upon an If eff thou
wilt forgive their sin; and if not,
OEot bhCCs Oob W Shy bOOh-
Oh, what an overwhelming ''if"! 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 prom
= Used land, let me never see the prom
ised land; if they must perish let me
perish with them; in that book where
fhou recordest their doom; record my
doom, if they are shut out of Heaven,
let me be shut out of Heaven; if they
90 down into darkness, let me odown
into darkness" What vehemence and
holy recklessness of prayeri Yet there
arc those here who, l have no doubt,
have, in their all-absorbing desire to
have others saved, risked the same
PRAYER, for it is a risk. You must not
make it unless you are willing to bal
=ance your eternal salvation on such an
ST" Yet there have been cases where
a mother has been so anxious for the
recovery of a hayward son that her
ETayer has swung and trembled and
poised on an if like that of the text
IF not, blot me, I 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
or twenty or forty or sixty years ago,
and with the black ink of everlasting
midnight erase my first name and my
zzst name and all my name. If he is to
20 into shipwreck, let me be tossed
amid the same breakers. If he cannot
be n partner in my bliss, let me be a
PARTNER in his woe. l have for many
wears loved Thee, o, God! and it has
hsen my expectation to sit with Christ
ard all the redeemed at the banquet of
!. the skies but ! now give up my prom
ESet place at the feast, and my promised
role, and my promised crown, and my
promised throne, unless John, unless
yGeOrCe. unless Henry, unless my darling
son can share them with me. Heaven
viii be no Heaven without him o, God,
save my boy, or count me among the
lost That is a terrific prayer, and
yet there is a young man sitting in the
pew on the main floor, or in the lower
sEn{lery who has already crushed such
p prayer from his mothers heart He
hardly ever writes home, or, living at
home. what does he care how much
trouble he gives her? Her tears are no
more to him than the rain that drops
frera the caves of the house on dark
night. The fact that she does not
sleep because watching for his return
lac at night does not choke his laugh
Ter or hasten his step forward. She
Exss tried coaxing and kindness and self
sacrifice and all the ordinary prayers
that mothers make for their chill
.zfren and all have failed. She is COM
Il ! i
and terrific prayer of my text. She is
1874 Ovrr afaruifv and Saf