The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-10-28
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
"CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK." IS
HIS SUBJECT.

HIS SUBJECT.
Immense Throngs to Hear the Famous
Preacher-Christ's Wonderful Progress
on Earth when Wealth, Education
and Power were Arrayed Against Him.
BROOKLYN, Oct a-The throngs in and
around the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sabbath
mornings and evenings, are larger than at
any time during the II years Of DIR. Tai
mage's pastorate. This morning tho opening
hymn was that beginning:
Oh. could speak the matches worth,
Oh, could sound the giories forth
That in my Saviour shine!
The text was John, xvii, 4: II have finished
the work which Thou gavest me to do" The
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D., said:
There is profound satisfactionin the COM
pletion Of anything we have undertaken. We
lift the capstone with exultation, while, on
the other hand, there Is nothing more disap-
pointing than, after having teiled in a GER
, tain direction, to find that our time is wasted
and our investment prefftless. Christ came
to throw up highway on which the whole
world might, if it chose, mount into heaven.
He did it. The foul mouthed crew who at
tempted to tread on him could not extinguish
the sublime satisfaction which he expressed
when he said, 81 have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do"
Alexander the Great was wounded, and the
doctors could not medicate his wounds, and
he seemed to be dying, and in his dream the
sick man saw plant with a peculiar flower,
and he dreamed that that plant was put upon
his wound, and that Immediately it was cured.
And Alexander, waking from his dream, told
this to the physician, and the physician wan
dered out until he found just the kind of plant
which the sick man had described brought it
to him, and the wound was healed.
Well, the human had been hurt with
the ghastliest Of all wounds-that of sin. 1t
was the business of Christ to bring a balm for
that wound-the balm of divine restoration
In carrying this business to successful issue
the difficulties were stupendous.
In many of our plans we have our friends
to help us; some to draw a sketch of the plan,
others to help us in the execution. But
Christ fought every inch of His way against
bitter hostility, and amid circumstances all
calculated to depress and defeat. In the first
place, His worldly occupation against
Him. 1 find that He earned His livelihood
by the carpenters trade-an occupation
always to be highly regarded and respected.
But you know as well as l do, that in order
to succeed in any employment, one must give
his entire time to it. and have to declare
that the fatigues of carpentry were unfavor-
able to the execution of mission which re-
! quired all mental and physical faculties.
| Through high, hard, dry husky, insensate
Judaism, to hew way for and glori-
Gus dispensation was a stupendous under
| taking that was enough to demand all the
concentrated energies even of Christ. We
have a great many romantic stories about
what men with physical toll have accom-
plished in intellectual departments; but you
| know that after a man has been toiling all
| day with adZe and saw and hammer, plane
and ak, about all he can do is to rest A
weary body is unfavorable adjunct to
toiling mind. You whose upbuilding of
! kingdom, or the proclamation of new code
Of morals, or the starting of a revolution
| which should upturn all nations, could get
some idea Of the fncoherence Of Christ's
worldly occupation with His heavenly mis-
/ sion.
| In his fathers shop more intercourse
was necessary than is ordinarily necessary in
| bargaining with men that have work to do;
yet Christ, with hands hard from touch of
tools of trade, was called forth to become a
public speaker, to preach in the face of mobs,
while some wept, and some shook their fists,
and some CRASHED upon him with their
teeth, and many wanted Him out of the way.
To address orderly and respectful assem-
| blages is not so easy as it may seem, but it
requires more energy, and more force, and
more concentration to address exasper-
ated mob. The village Of Nazareth heard
the pounding Of His hammer, but all the wide
reaches of eternity were to hear the stroke of
| His spiritual upbuilding.
So, also His habits Of dress and of diet were
against Him. The mighty men of Christ's
time did not appear in apparel without
| trinkets and adornments None of the Caesars
would have appeared in citizens apparel.
/ Yet here was man, here was pretended
king, who always wore the same coat. In
deed it was far from shabby, for after he had
worn it a long while the gamblers thought it
worth rafting about; but still it was far from
being an imperial robe. It was a coat that
any ordinary man might have worn on any
| ordinary occasion.
Neither there any pretention in His
diet No cup bearer with. golden chalice
| brought Him wine to drink. On the seaShore
| He ate fish, first having broiled it Himself.
| No one fetched Him water to drink, but bend
| ing over the well in Samaria He begged a
drink. He sat at only one banquet, and that
not at all sunptuous, for, to relieve the
| awkwardness of the host, one Of the guests
had to prepare wine for the company.
| Other kings ride in a chariot; He walked
Other kings, as they advance, have heralds
ahead, and applauding subjects behind
| Christs retinue made up of sunburned
fishermen Other kings sleep under en-
broidered canopy; this one on a shelterless
hill. Riding but once, as far as 1 now re-
/ menber-on a colt, and that borrowed.
Again, His poverty was against Him. 1t re
quires money to build great enterprises. Men
of means are afraid of penniless protector,
lest a loan be demanded. 1t requires money
30 print books, to build institutions, to pay
instructors. No wonder the wise men OF
Christ's time laughed at this penniless Christ
"Why," they said, "who is to pay for this new
religion? Who is to charter the ships to
carry the missionaries? Who is to pay the
salaries Of the teachersa Shall wealthy
Judaism be discounted by penniless Christi
The consequence was that most of the