The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-10-29
A FINISHED WORK.
Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tai.
mage, D. D.
Chrlst's Earthly AIission-The stupendous
Dimculties which lie Had to Meet and
OFereome-His Triumph Over Nat
ure, the Grave and Death.

okercome-Atts Triumph Over Nat
ure, the Grave and Death.
BROoKLYN, Oct. 24-Rev. DR. Talmage
preached this morning at the Tabernacle
from the text John IL :4) Il have finished
the work which Thou gavest me to dO.'
The eloquent divine said:
There is q profound satisfaction in the
completion of anything we have under
taken. We lift the capstone with eXulta-
ton, while, on the other hand, there is moth
ing more disappointing than, after having
t0iled i'm "A certain direction, to find that our
time Is wasted and our Investment profit
less. Christ came TO throw up a highway
on which the whole world might, if IT chose,
mount into Heaven. he did IT, The foul
mOuthed crew who attempted TO sead on
Him could not eXtinguish the sublime salts
faction which he expressed when He said:
II 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 iln-
mcdiately IL was cured. And Alexander,
waking from his dream, told this to the
physician, and the physician wandered out
until he found just the kind Of plant which
the sick man had described, brought IL TO
him, and the wounA was healed.
Well, the human race had been hurt with
the ghastliest of all wounds-that or sin. It
was the business Of Christ 70 bring a balm
Tor that wOund-the balm of Divine resto-
ration In carrying this business to a sue
cessful issue the difficulties were stupen-
dous.
In many of our plans we have our friend,
TO help us; some 20 draw a sketch Of the
plan, others 70 help us in the execution.
But Christ fought every inch OF His way
against bitter hostility, and amid circum
stances all calculated TO depress and de-
feat. In the first place, His worldly occu-
patton was against Him. ! 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 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 unfavOrable TO the exc
cutiOn Of a mission which required all men,
tai and physical faculties. Through high,
hard, dry, husky, insensate Judaism, to
hew way for new and glorious dispen-
sation was stupendOus undertaking 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 accomplished in intel
lectual departments; but you know that
after "a man has been tOiling all day with
Rdze and saw and hammer, plane and axe,
about all he can do Is to rest A weary
body is an unfavorable adjunct to a tOiling
mind You whose upbuilding Of q king
dom. or the proclamation of a new code of
morals, or the starting Of a revolution
which should upturn all nations, could get
some idea OF the indifference of Christ's
worldly occupation with His Heavenly mis-
sion.
In His fathers shop no more intercourse
was necessary than is ordinarily necessary
ss,n
do; yet Christ, with hands hard from touch
of tools of trade, was called forth to become
n public speaker, to preach in the face of
mObs, while some wept, and some shook
their lists. and some CRASHED upon him with
their teeth, and many wanted Him out of
their way.
To address orderly and respectful assem-
blAges is not 30 easy as it may seem, but it
requires more energy and more force, and
more concentration 70 address an 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 man of
Christ's time did not appear in apparel with
out trinlxets and adOrnmcnts. None of the
Caesars would have appeared in citizens
apparel. Yet here WAS man, here was
pretended King, who always wore the same
W
after he had worn it long while the gam
blers thought il worth railing about, but it
still was far from being an imperial robe
II was coat that any ordinary man might
have worn on any ordinary occasion.
Neither was there any pretensiOn i'm His
diet. No cup-bearer with golden chalice
brought Him wine 10 drink. On the sea-
Himself No one fetched Him water to
drink, but bending over the well in Samaria
He begged drink He sat at only one
banquet, and that not at all sumptuOus, for,
70 relieve the awlIyvardness of the host, one
OF the guests had TO prepare wine for the
company.
Other Kings ride in chariot; He walked.
Other Kings as they advance have heralds
ahead, and applauding subjects behind
Christ's retinuc was made up OF sunburned
fishermen. Other Kings sleep under en-
broidered canopy; this one on shelterless
hill Riding but once, as far as l now re
member-On a colt, and that borrowed.
Again, His poverty was against Him. II
requires money to build great enterprises
Men of means are afraid of a penniless
protector, lest a loan be demanded. Ii re
quires money 10 print books, build institu
tions, TO pay instructors. No wonder the
wise men of Christs time laughed At this
penniless Christ why" they said, "whc
Ia 10 pay for this new religion! Who is Il
charter the ships TO carry the missionaries
Who is 10 pay the salaries Of the teachers
Shall wealthy Judaism be discounted by
penniless ChristT'
The consequence was that most Of the
people that followed Christ had nothing Il
lose. Wealthy Joseph, Of Arimathea, bur
led Christ, but he risked no social position
IL doing that. 1t is always safe to bury
dead man. Zaccheus risked no wealth Of
social position in following Christ but tool
position in a tree TO look down as HI
n.
rtsked nothing of social position in follow
ing Christ, for he sSull1ed by night 20 tin,
Him.
All this was against Christ So the fac
that He was not regularly graduated wa
against Him. II "a man comes with the di
plOmas of colleges and schools and theolog
ical seminaries, and he has been through
foreign travel, tho world is disposed 4
listen. There was man who had gradu
ated at no college, had not in any academy
by ordinary means learned the alphabet o
the language he spoke, and vet he propose,
70 talk, TO instruct in subjects which has
confounded the mightiest iutelects. JOIN
says: "rhe Jews malveled, saying, how
hath this man letters, having neve
learned.7
We in our day have found out that a maj
without diploma may know as much as
man with one, and that a college can no
transform sluggard into a Ilhilosophc~ @
theological seminary teach "A I.lan q
preach. Nu empty hcal AFTER the layin:
uu IT hr. .s of sba r.eeshr@ NV ia on e.
still But il shocked all existing prejudice:
An these olden times for "a man with nt
scholastic pretension and no graduation
from a learned institution to set himself al
for a teacher. 1t was an against Him.
So also the brevity Of His life was agains
Him. He had not come 20 what we cal
midlife. But very few men do any thins
before thirty-three years Of age and We
that was tho point at which Christs hf