Democratic messenger., 1893-11-25

Steps From n St"ut Truth to "a blatant
UnbeIief-A Grand Prayer.
BROOKLYN. Nov. ~. In the Tabcrna-
Gle this morning Rev. DIR. Talmage de-
livered one of his most unique and useful
sermons from Il text never before preach
ed from. Subject. The IFS of the BIZ
blc." The text was Exodus xxxii. 32, IF
thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not,
blot me, pray thee. out of thy book"
There is in our English language n
small conjunction. which propose by
Gods help to haul ont of its present in
significancy and set upon the throne
where il belongs. and that is the conjunc-
ton ''if." Though made Of only two let
ters. II is the pivot On which everything
turns. All time and all eternity are Mt
its disposal. We slur il in our utterance,
we ignore it in our appreciation. and
none Of us recognizes it as the most ire
mcndous word in all the vocabulary out
side Of those words which describe deity.
"Ifw 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 millionaire,lom 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
mcrgcnce 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-
tinent? Ii Groucky had come up with
re-enforcements in time to give the
French the victory at Waterloo. what
would have been the fate Of Europe? II
the Spanish armada had not been
wrecked off the coast. how different
would have been many chapters in Eng
lish history! IL 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. hal 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. OF Copernicus had
never been born for astronomy. or Luther
had never been born for the reformation!
Oh, that conjunction ''if!" How much
has depended ON il. The height of it,
the depth of it. the length of it, the
breadth of it, the immcnsity of it. the
infinity of it-who can measure: II twould
swamp anything but onnipotence. But
must coniine myself today to the IFS"
of the Bible. AMI in doing so shall
speak of the IF of overpowering ear
nestness, the IF of incredulity. the IF"
of threat. Hle if of augmentation. the
'.if' Of eternal significance. or so iuany
of these Ifs" as can compass in tho
pulpit discourse.
THE EARNEST ''IF."
First, the IF" of overpowering ear
nestness. Ny text gives il. 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 it
turns upon an ''if." ''lf thou wilt for
give their sins and if not. blot me, l
pray thee, ont of thy book" Oh. what
an overwhelming ''if?' IL 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, record my doom. II they are shut
ont Of heaven. let me be shut ont of
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 here
who, | have no doub. have. in their all
absorbing desire 10 have others saved,
risked the same prayer. for it is n risk.
You must not make il unless you are
willing TO balance your eternal salvation
on such an ''if." Yet there have been
cases where mother has been so anxious
for the recovery of wayward son that
her PRAYER has swung and trembled and
poised on an if like that If the text, IF
not. blot me. pray thee. ont Of thy book.
Write his name in the Lambs Book OF
Life, or turn to the pages where my
name was written 10 or 20 or 80 or 60
years ago. and with the black ink of
everlasting midnight erase my first
name, and my last name. and all my
name. II he is to 20 into shipwreck. let
me be tossed amid the same breakers. If
he cannot be Il partner in my bliss. let
me lie partner in his woe. have for
many years loved thee, y God, and il
has been my expectation to sit with
Christ and all the redeemed at the ban
anet Of the skies. hut 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. OGod,
save my boy or count me among the
lostw
That is II 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. VINO has already crushed
such 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
from the caves If the house on n dark
night. The fact that she does not sleep
because of watching for his return late at
a FavOrite In Kentucky.
MIR. W. NJ. Terry. who has been in the