The Sioux County Journal
VOLUME VI.
HAKKISOX, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1803.
NUMBER 13.
THE-
COMMERCIAL BANK.
(ESTABLISHED 1868.
Harrison, Nebraska.
B. B. Buwstu,
Prtdot.
D. H. ORIS WOLD, Canhi.r.
AUTHORIZED CAPITAL. $r0 000.
Transacts a General Banking Business
CORRESPONDENTS:
AmtRiCAN Eicha-.qe National Bank, New York,
U: .TitD States National Hank, Omaha,
Fihht National Bank, Clmdroo.
Interest Paid on Time Deposits.
OrDRAFTS SOLI) ON ALL PARTS OF EUROPE.
THE PIONEER
Pharmacy,
J. E. PHINNEY. Proprietor.
Pure Drugs, Medicines, Paints,
Oils and Varnishes.
"ARTISTS' MATERIAL.
School Supplies.
Prescriptions Carefully Compounded
Day or Night.
Simons & smiley,
Harrison, Nebraska,
Real Estate Agents,
Have a number of bargains in
choice land in Sioux
Parties desiring to
estate should
) . call on
School Lands
leased, taxes paid for
, non-residents; farms rented, etc.
CORRESPONDENTS SOLICITED.
C. F. ami,
Vica-Prttideot.
y BRUSH Ks
county.
buy or sell real
not fail to
them.
TALMAUE'S SERMON.
THE BROOKLYN PREACHER ON
THE "IFS" OF THE BIBLE.
1 wo l-ttrr. the Pilot on HbUk .rrj.
thing funis -Only four Hlrps trlwni
Kail hand 1'atM-ller The Ciospel of Jmu
thrtat the Krliirlon for Adversity.
The Taberuaele Pulpit.
In the Brooklyn Tabernacle Sunday
morning Rev Dr. Talmage delive red
one of bio most unique and useful ser
mons from a text never before preached
from. Suht. The "Ifs" of the Bible.
The text chosen was Exodus xxxii, :12,
"If thou wilt, forgive their sin-and if
not, blot me, 1 pray thee, out of thv
book.''
There is in our English language a
small conjunction which I projose. by
God's help, to haul out of it present
insignificancy and net uion the throne
where it belongs, and that in the con
junction "if.' Though made of only
two letter, it is the pivot on which
everything turns. All time and all
eternity are at its disposal. We shire
it in our utterance, we ignore it in our
appreciation, and none of us recog
nizes it an the most tremendous word
in all the vocabulary outside of those
words which describe deity.
"If!"' Why, that word we take as a
tramp among words, now appearing
here, how appearing there, but having
no value of iu own, when it really has a
millionairodom of words, 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 Hcd Sea had not parted for the es
cape of one host and then come to
gether 'or the submergence of aunt her,
U'.HllH (l.a i,..,.t, ..f L'v,.,t.... , - 1
.. ....... v, w, i.iiuj -.-, iiuvo
been written? If the ship on which
"Muiiwun naiii-u lor niueni a mid gone
down in an Atlantic cyclone, how much
longer would it have taken for the dis-
co very of this continent?
If Grouchy had come up wit h re-en-foreoments
fn time to give the French
the victory of Waterin. what would
have been the fate of Hui-o? If the
Spanish armada had not been wrecked
off the coast, how different would have
lecn chapters in KnglUh history: If
the buttle of Hastings, or the battle of
Pultowa. or the battle of Valray, or the
battle of Mdlauriis. or the buttle of
Arbela. or the buttle of Chalons, each
one of which turned the world's des
tiny, had leen decided the ot her way.
Th- Irillnlty of -If."
If Shakespeare had never been born
for the drama, or Handel had never
been born for music, or Titian had
never been born for painting, or Thor
waldsen hud never been born forsrulp
turo, or Kdmund Burke had never been
born for elo.;.ienee, or Socrates had
never been Uun for philosophy, or 1
Blaekstone had never (een Ixirn for
the law. or Copernicus had never been 1
born for astronomy, or Luther hud '
never been birn for the reformation:
Oh, that conjunction "if;" How I
much has depended on it: The heiirht i
of it. the depth of it, the length of it,
the breadth o( it. the immensity of it, I
the inlinitv of it -who can measure?!
It would swamp anything but omnlpo-
tence. Hut I must confine rnvself to-I
day to the "its'' of the Kible. and in do-1
ing so I shall sneak of the "if" of over
powering earnest ness. the "if" of
. r
credulity, the ' if ' of threat, the
of argumentation, the "if" of
t,t(,,.nHl ;
significance, or so many of these,
ifs"
as i can comp..s in me time that miw
lie reasonably allotted to pulpit dis
course.
First, the "if" of overpowering ear
nestness. 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 his
tory, and it turns u on an "if." "If
thou wilt forgive their sins - and if not,
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book."
Oh, what an overwhelming "if:" It
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
ised land, let me never see the prom
ised lund. If thev must perish, let me
iH-rish with them. In that hook where
thou rccordest their doom record my
doom. If they nr.- shut out of heaven",
let me Ix; shut out of heaven. If they
go down into darkness, let me go down
into darkness.' What vehemence and
holy recklessness of prayer!
A Mo! hrr'a Teiii-d.
Vet there are those here who, I have
no doubt, have, in their all alworhing
desire to have others suved, risked the
same prayer, for it is a risk. Yon must
not make it unless you are willing to
balance; your eternal salvation on such
an "if. " Yet there have been cases
where a mother has been so anxious
for the recovery of a wayward 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 J hy book. Write his name in
the Lamb's Book of Life, or turn to the
page where my inline was written ten
or twenty or forty or sixty years ai?o, !
ami wiiii wio omen iriK oi everlasting
midnight erase my first name, and my
last name, and all my name. If ho Is
to go into shipwreck, let me lie tossed
amid the same breakers. If ho cannot
be a partner in my bliss, let me be a
partner in his woo. 1 have for many
years loved Thee, O (Aid. and it has
been my expectation to sit with Christ 1 ercisod. Nothinglhat Thomas Carlylo
and all the redeemed at the banquet ever wrot in "Sartor Kesartus," or
of the skies, but now I give up my the "French devolution," or his "Life
prom wed pluee at the feast, and my of Cromwell," or his immortal "Es
promlsed rolio, and my promised crown, says," had In it more wondrous lwwer
ami my promised throne unless John, 1 than that letter which bewailed his
unless t.oorgo, unless Henry, unless
my darling Hon can share them with i
me. Heaven will be no Heaven with-
out him. O God, Have my boy, or
count me among the lost!"
Jhat is a terrific prayer, and yet
th . re is a voting man slttinir in the new :
on the main floor, or in the lower gal-1 lest nomehow that letter should gotout
lry, or in the top gallery, who has al- of my possession and bo published ho
radT crushod uh a pruvcr from h) I torn Its time. So 1 took It hack to tha
mothcr s heart. He hardly ever writes
'jome, 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 eaves of a
house on a 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
lorward.
Jibe has tried coaxinir and kindness
and self-sacrifices and all the ordinary
prayers that mothers make for their
children, and all have failed. She is
coming toward the vivid and venture
some 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 moment looking
heavenwarjnd saying, "O Lord, re
claim him by thy grace," and then ad
ding that heart rendering "if" of my
text. "II not, blot me, I pray thee, out
of thy book."
After three years of absence a son
wrote his mother in one of the NVw
England whailing villages that he was
coming home in a certain ship.
Motherlike, she stood watching, and
the ship was in the otling. but a fear
ful storm struck it and dashed the ship
Kii vue roi-Ks inai nigm. All mat
night the mother prayed for the safety
of the on. and just at' dawn there was
a knock at, the cottage door, and the
son entered, crying out, "Mother, 1
knew yon would pray me home:" If I
would ask all tho-e in this assemblage
who have :vn prayed home to God by
pious mothers to stand up. there would
be scores that would stand, and if I
should ask them to give testimony it
would be the testimony of that Now
England son coming ashore from the
split timbers of the whaling ship, "Mv
motner prayed me home:"
The -If
of Incredulity.
An.ither Bible "if" is the "if" of in
credulity. Satun used it whenCbrist's
i vnamy was depressed by
j abstinence from food, and
vitality was depressed by forty days'
the temnter
poimeu w some stones, in color and
shape like loaves of bread, and said,
"If thou be the Son of God. command
that these stones be made bread."
That was appropriate, for satan is the
father of thut "if" of incredulity.
Peter used the same "if when, stand
ing on tin! wet and slippery deck of a
fishing smack oil' Luke Galilee, he saw
Christ wa!kinir on the sea us though it
were as solid as a pavement of basalt
from the adjo.ning volcanic hills, and
i'eter cried. "If it bo thou, let me
come to thee on the water."
What a preposterous "if!" What
human foot was ever so constructed a
to walk on water? In what part of the
earth did law of gravitation make ex
ception to the rule that man will sink
to the elbow when he touches the
wave of river or lake and will sink still
farther unless he can swim? But here
I'eter looks out upon the form in the
shape ot a man defying the mightiest
law of the universe, the law of gravi
tation, and standing erect on the
top of the liquid. Yet the in
credulous Peter cries out to the Lord.
"If it be thou." Alas, for that incred
ulous "if!" It is working as worfully
in the latter part of this nineteenth
Christiun century as it did in the early
part of the first Christian century.
Though a small conjunction, it is the
biggest block to-day in the way of
the irospel chariot. "If!" "If!" Wc
have theological seminaries which
spend most of their time and employ
their learning and their genius in the
rrmmifHeinrlmr tf 'ifu ' ATWi,
i weaponry are assailed the Pentateuch.
....... .... ... w. . bitnd
ami the miracles, and the divinity of
.j.-CTi.n vinisb. Aiuiunt every oouy is
chewing on an "if." When many a
man bows for prayer, he puts his knee
on an "if." The door through which
people pass into infidelity and atheism
und all immoralities has two dooriwsts,
and the one is made of the letter "i"
and the other of the letter "f."
Four Moiiii-nlnuH Steps.
There are only four stops between
strong faith and complete unbelief:
First, surrender the idea of the verbal
inspiration of the Scriptures and adopt
the idea that they were all generally
supervised oy me i,ord. Second, sur
render the idea that they were all
generally supervised by the Lord and
adopt the theory that they were not
all. but partly, supervised by the Lord.
1 hird, believe that they are the grad
ual cvolut:on of the ages, and men '
wrote according to the wisdom of the
times in which they lived. Fourth,
believe that the Bible is a bad look
and not only unworthy of credence, hut
pernicious und debasing and cruel.
Only four stops from the stout fuith
in which the martyrs died to the blat
ant caricature, of Christianity as the
greatest sham of the centuries. But
the door to all that precipitation and
horror Is made out of an "if." The
mother of unrests in the minds of
Christiun people and in those who re
gard sacreo inings is tne "It ' of in
crodulitv.
In Itlli in Scotland, I saw a !
iciior wmcn nan iM'en written manv
years ago by Thomas Carlylo to I
Thomas Chalmers. Carlylo at tho 1
time of writing the letter was a young
letter was a young I
man. 1 ho letter was not to be pub ished
until ufter the death of Carlylo. His I
deuth having taken placo, the 'letter
ought to bo published
II was a letter in which Thomas Car
lylo expresses the tortures of his own
mind while relaxing his lalth In Chris
tianity, while at the same time he ex-1
presses his admiration for Dr. Chal
mers, and in which Carlylo wishes
that he had the samo faith that the
treat Scotch minister evidently nr.
own doubts and extolled the
faith of another.
strong
I made an exact copy of that letter,
with the understanding that it should
not Iw published until after the death
of Thomas Carlylo, but returning to
mv hntl In Vllnhiir.rh T f.,w
person by whose permission I had
co1 ied it. All reasons for its privacy
havi vanished, 1 wish it might be
publisiied.
The Hoy mod HU Bible.
Pernaps this sermon, finding its way
into a Scottish home, may suggest its
printing, for that letter shows more
mightily than anything I have ever
read the difference between the "I
know" of Paul, and the "J know" of
Job, and the "I know" of Thomas
Chalmers, and the "I know" of all
those who hold with a firm grip the
Gospel, on the one hand, and the un
mooring, bestorming, and torturing
"if" of incredulity on the other. 1 like
the positive faith" of that sailor Ikj.v
that Captain Judkinsof the steamship
Scotio picked up in a hurricane. "Go
aloft," said Captain Judkins to his
mate, "and look out for wrecks."
Before the mate had gone far up the
ratlines he shouted: "A wreck! A
wreck!" "Where away?" said Captain
Judkins. "Off the port bow," was the
answer. Lifeboats were lowered, and
forty men volunteered to put out across
the angry sea for the wreck. They
came back with a dozen shipwrecked,
and among them a Ijoy of 1 years. i
"Who are you?" said Captain Jud
kins. The answer was: "I am a
Scotch boy. My father and mother
are dead, and I am on my way to Amer
ica. "What have you here?" said prayer that halted gun and moon with--Cuptain
Judkins as he opened the boy's ! out shaking the universe to pieces.
jacket and took liold or a
rope uroium
the boy s ldy. "It is a rope," said
the boy. "But what is that tied by
this rope under your arm?" "That,
sir, is my mother's bible. She told me
never to lose that." "Could you not!
have saved something else?" "Not '
and saved that." "Did you expect to '
go down?" "Yes. sir, but I meunt to j
take my mother's Bible down with
mo." ''Bravo!" said Captain Judkins.!
"1 will take care of you."
Another Bible "it" is the "if" of!
eternal significance. Solomon gives us j
that "if twice in one sentence when
he says, "If thou be wise, thou shult.be :
wise for thyself, but if thou scornest
thou alone shult bear It." Christ sdves
us inai "ii" wnen tie
says, "if thou
hadst known in this thy day the things
whicn belong unto thy peace, but now
they are hidden from thine eyes."
Paul gives us that "if" when he says,
"If they shall enter into my rest." All
those "ifs" and a score more that I
rnignt recall put the whole responsi-
ouiiy oi our salvation on ourselves
Christ s willingness to pardon -no "if"
about that. Kcalms of glory awaiting
the righteous-no "if" about that.
The only "if" in all the case worth a
moment's consideration is the "if" that
attaches itself to the question as to
whether we will accept, whether we
will repent, whether we will believe,
whether we will rise forever. Is it
not time that we take our eternal fut
uro off that swivel? Is it not time that
we extirpate that "if," that miserable
"if," that hazardous "if?" We would
not allow this uncertain "if" to stay
long in anything else of importance.
Let some one say in regard to a rail
road bridge, "I have reasons for ask
ing if that bridge is safe," and you
would not cross it. Let some one say,
"I have reasons to ask if that steamer
is trustworthy," and you would not
take passage on it.
Let some one suggest in regard to a
property that you are about to pur
chase, "I have reasons to ask if they
can give a good title," and you would
not pay a dollar down until you had
some skillful real estate lawyer ex
amine the title. But I allowed for
years of my lifetime, and some of you
have allowed for years of your lifetime,
an "if" to stand tossing up and down
questions of eternal destiny. Oh, de
cide! I'erhaps your arrivai here to
day may decide. Stranger things than
that have put to flight forever the "if
of uncertainty.
The Miner's Moving: Ntory.
A few Sabbath nights ago in this
church a man pussing at the foot of the
pulpit said to me, "1 am a miner from
Kngland," and then he pushed buck
his coat sleeve and said, "Do you see
mat scar on my arm?" I said, "Yes;
you must have had an awful wound
there some time." He said: "Yes; it
nearly cost me my life. 1 was in a
mine in England i(K) feet underground
and three miles from the shaft of the
mine, and a rock fell on me. and my
renew laborer pined on the rock, anil
I Wlts bleeding to death, and he took a
newspaoer from around his luncheon
and bound it around my wound and
then helped me over the three miles
underground to the shaft, where I was
lifted to the top. and when the news
paper was taken off my wound I read in
it something that saved my soul, and
it was one of vour sermons. Good
night," he said hs he passed on, leav-'
ing me transfixed with grateful emo
tion, j
And who knows but the words I now
speak, blessed of God, muy reach some
wounded soul deep down in the black
mi'10 of sin, and that these words may i
no oiesseu io tne siunening or me
wol'nd and tne eternal lire or the soul?
ttlo thin inattor inHtnntly, positively
uni1 forever. Slay the last "if." Bury
Slay the last "if." Bury
o'i'P mo last "ll." uow to do it
KlliiK' I'ody, mind, and soul in a prayer j
earnest as that of Moses in the text. I
prayer of the text? It is so heavy with
emotion that it breaks down in the
middle. It was so earnsst that the
translators in the modern copies of the
Bible were obliged to put a mark, a
struignt line, a dasn, lor an omission
that will never ho tilled up. Such an
abrupt pause, such a sudden snapping
off of the sentence!
A lret Ktplorer's I'rmyer Answered.
Between the first and last sentences
of my text thero was a paroxysm of
earnestness loo mighty for words. It
will take half of an eternity to toll of
all the answers of earnest and faithful
prayer, in bis last journal David Liv
ingstone, In Africa, rocords the prayer
so soon to be answered: "1H March
birthday. My Jesus, my God, my life,
my all, I again dedicate my whole self
to thee. Accept mo, and grant, Q Gra
cious Father, that ere this year it gone
I may finish my task. Io .fou' name
I ask It. Amen." , ,
When the dusky servant looked Into
Livingston's tent and found him dead
on his knees, he saw that the prayer
tiad been answered. But notwith
standing the earnestness of the prayer
of .Moses in the text, it waa a defeated
prayer and was not answered. I think
the two "ifs" in the prayer defeated
it, and one "if" is enough to defeat any
prayer, whatever other good charac
teristics it may have. "If thou wilt
forgive their sins -and if not, blot me,
I pray thee, out of thy book." God did
neither. As the following verses show,
ne punisneu meir sins, but I am sure
did not blot out one letter of the name
of Moses from the Book of Life.
The Ml "If." About Sodom.
Abraham's prayer for the rescue
of Sodom was a grand prayer in some
respects, but there were six "ifs" in it,
or "peradventures." which mean the
same thing. "Peradventure there
may be fifty righteous in the city, per
adventure forty-five, peradventure
forty. p,'rad venture thirty, peradven
ture twenty, peradventure ten." Those
six peradventures, those six "ifs"
killed the prayer, and Sodom went
down under. Nearly all the prayers
thut were answered had no "ifs" in
them -the prayer of Elijah that
changed dry weather to wet weather,
the prayer that changed Hezekiah
from a sick man to a well man. the
, un, rally your soul lor a prayer with
no "us in it! Sav in substance:
1 "ifM in it' Siui. ir, aoKtaniA.
"Lord, Thou hast promised pardon.'and
1 take it. Here are my wounds; heal
them. Here is my blindness: irradiate
it. Here are my chains of bondage:
by the Gospel hammer strike them off.
I am fleeing to the City of Iiefuge, and
I am sure this is the right way.
Thanks be to God, I am free!"
Odcc. by the lnw, my hopes were slain,
hm now, in Christ, I live again.
With the Mosaic earnestness of my
text and without its Mosaic "ifs" let us
cry out to God. Aye, if words fail us,
let us take the suggestion of that
printer's dash of the text, and with a
wordless silence implore pardon and
comfort and life ana Heaven. For this
j assemblage, all of whom I shall meet
i in the last judgment. I dare not offer
j the prayer of my text, and so I change
it and say, "Lord God. forgive our sins
and write our names in the book of
j Thy loving remembrance, from which
i they shall never be blotted out."
NO MORAL IN IT.
; A Smart Aleek Fool vith a Very Lively
Hear to Hm Uisfoinfort.
j He was a sturdy young man with
his trousers io his boot-legs and his
arm in a sling, and while waiting at
the ferry dock a poli. enian asked him
if he had had his arm broken, says
the Detroit Free Press,
i -'No: only chawed," he replied.
"Were you bitten by a horse?"
I "No; a bar."
"By a bear! Have you been oft
hunting?"
"No: I didn't have to hunt for
that b'ar. He came along the road
to where I sot on the fence."
'And in his rage he tackled you?"
'No: in my blamed foolishness I
tackled him. He was one of those
perform in' b'ars, you know, and three
of us smart Alecks sot on the fence.
We wasfeelin' mighty smart about the
time the man came along with his b'ar,
and we thought it would be an aw
fully cute thing for one ot us to roll
that animal in the dust and learn
him a new trick. Bcin' as I was the
smartest of the smart Alecks I
jumped down and picked him up."
l, ou mean you lifted him up?"
"No, sir, I picked him up for a
spring lamb. The fellow who owned
him hollered to rue to keep off; but I
sailed right in and got hold. I was
ca:culatin' to astonish the b'ar, but
he didn't seem to be a bit surprised.
He stood up ana fastened his teeth
into that shoulder, and how many
times do you think he shook me
around and pounded mcup and down
in the dust?"
"Ten times?" timidly queried the
officer.
"Just 700 times ! And I'll swear
to it, for I counted 'em. They used
up three long fence rails pounding
his head, but he didn't let go until
one of the hoys got a pitchfork and
tickled him."
"Then vou vou ?" stammered
the ollcer,
"Then I made a blamed fool of
myself, and that's all there is to it,"
said the young man.
Marvelous 1'rcuctiiiiK by a Negress.
Probably the most remarkable re
ligious service ever conducted behind
prison bars was held in the Pptv.ia
County jail by Mis. Lena Mason of
1 ann ,a . liet,t.er linnwn n. vQ
"Black Satn Jones of Missouri." Mrs.
1cn nntni....! il.n tnll t
' '
aftcr Pravers by the two gentlemen
he began a ten minutes' discourse
that caused every prisoner to plead
for forgiveness. The woman does
not talk like a colored person, but
uses the best of English, and her
earnestness Is something remarkable
She kept her eyes closed during the
entire service, and before she had
talked three minutes DiCrf Robinson,
the convicted murderer, and other
notorious prisoners were on their
knees In prayer. Two colored women
serving out fines for vagrancy, scoffed
at the service when It began, but be
fore it was concluded they grabbed
Mrs. Mason's hand and begged her to
pray for them, at the same time
calling upon the Lord to wash sway
their sins.' Mrs Mason preached the '
same night, to nearly twenty-Are .
hundred people, aoresof ground belpg
covered, with jrchlclqi co,aUiu'U)g ., ,
white people wlio hl ,bocii M4n
y her lingular eirloraon,,, v(i i,
r.
i
r
a.
