The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-11-22
BIBLE "IFs."
They Form the Subject Of Ser
mon by Rev. DR.. Talmage.
A Little Word OF Mighty Power The eff"
OF Overpowering Earnestness, the
"If" Of Inoredulity and the "If"
OF Eternal Significance.

In the Brooklyn Tabernacle recently
Rev. Dr. Talmage delivered a most
unique and useful sermon from text
never before preached from. Subject;
"'The IFS of the Bible" The text
chosen was Exodus xxxii., 80:
'If Thou wilt forgive their sin-and, 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
insignifcancy and set upon the throne
where it belongs, and that Is the con-
junction "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
I'm our utterance, we ignore it in our
appreciation, and none of US recognize
1t as the most tremendous word in all
the vocabulary outside Of those words
which describe deity. II! Why, that
word we take as tramp among words
now appearing here, now appearing
there, when 1t really has millionaire
dom OF worlds, and in Its train walk all
planetary, stellar. lunar, solar des-
TIMES II the boat Of leaves, made
watertight, in which infant Moses
sailed the Nile, had sunk, who would
have led Israel out of Egypt? II the
Red sea had not parted for the escape
of one host, and then come together
for the submergence OF another host,
would the book of Exodus ever have
been written? II the ship on which
Columbus had sailed for America had
gone down in an Atlantic cyclone, how
much longer It would have taken for
the discovery of this continentp 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 Europep II the Span
isi. A nada had not been wrecked oh
! the coast, how different would have
been many chapters in English his
tory. II the battle of Hastings, or the
battle of Pultowa, or the battle oi
iValmy, or the battle Of Mataurus, oi
the battle OF Arbela, or the battle oi
'Chalons, each one of which turned the
worlds destiny, had been decided the
other way. II Shakespeare had never
been born for the drama, or Handc
had never been born for music, or TitiaI
had never been born for painting, o.
Thorwaldsen had never been born TO
sculpture, or Edmund Burke had neve,
been born for eloquence, or Socrates
had never been born for philosophy, o
Blackstone had never been born TO
the law, or Copernicus had never beef
born for astronomy, or Luther ha'
never been born for the Reformation
Oh, that conjunction "ifr' How mucl
has depended on it. The height Of II
the depth of it, the length Of 1t, tn
breadth Of II, the immensity Of 1t, tn
inGnity Of IL, who can measure?
would swamp anything but omnipc
Itence. But must confne myself x
day to the ''ifs" of the Bible, and i
doing so / shall speak Of the 'if'' c
overpowering earnestness, the 'if' c
'incredulity, the "if' Of threat, the 'it
of augmentation, the 'if' Of eterna
Significance, or so many Of these 'ifs
as can compass in the time that ma
be reasonably allotted to pulpit di
course.
First, the 'if'' Of overpowering carr
estness. My text gives it. The Israe
ties have been worshiping an idol, no
withstanding all that God had done fc
them, and now Moses offers the mos
vehement prayer Of all history, and
turns upon an 'if." "If thou wilt To-
give their sins;-and II not, blot me,
pray thee, out of the book" o, whG
an overwhelming 'ff!'' II was as niue
as to say, "Tf thou wilt not pardo
them, do not pardon me; II thou wi
not bring them to the promised lant
let me never see the promised land;
they must perish let me perish wit
them; in that book where Thou recor,
est their doom, record my doom;
they are shut out of heaven, let me I
shut out of heaven; II they go dow
into darkness, let me go down I'M
darkness" What vehemence and hol
recklessness Of praycrl Yet there al
those here who, have no doubt, hav
In their all-absorbing desire TO ha'
; others saved, rislxed the same praye
for II Is n risk. You must n
make IL, unless you are willir
TO balance your eternal salvatiC
T on such an 'if." Yet there ha,
been cases where mother has been
/, anxious for the recovery Of waywai
son that her prayer has swung al
. trembled and poised on an 'if'' Ill
: that Of the text 'If not, blot me,
pray thee, out of thy book. Write h
name in the Lambs Book OF Life,
turn to the page where my name wi
written ten or twenty or forty or six
years ago, and with the black ink
everlasting midnight erase my fir
name and my last name and all n
name. II he is TO 20 into shipwrec
let me be tossed amid the same brea'
ers II he cannot be partner In n
bliss, let me be partner in his woe.
have for many years loved thee, 0 Go
and IL has been my expectation TO g
with Christ and all the redeemed
the banquet Of the skies, but now gi'
up my promised place at the feast, al
my promised robe, and my promis,
crown, and my promised throne, unle
John, unless George, unless Henry, u
less my darling son can share the
them with me. Heaven will be /
heaven without him. o God, save n
49,, - oornt una among tha Loaf