The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-11-04
A FINISHED WORK.
Sermon by Rev. t. De Witt Tai.
mage, D. D.
Christ's Earthly Mission-ThO stupendous
Difficulties Which He Had to Meet and
Overcome-His Triumph Over Nat
ure, the Grave and Death.

ure, the Grave and Death.
BROOKLYN, Oct. A.-Rev. Dr. Talnagt
preached this morning at the Tabernacle
from the text John 17;4): ~ have finished
the work which Thou gavest me to do
The eloquent divine said;
There is a profound satisfaction in thu
completion Of anything we have under
taken. We lift the capstone with exulta
zion, while, on the other hand, there is moth
ing more disappointing than, after having
tOiled in certain direction, to find that oul
time is wasted and our investment profit
less. Christ came to throw up highway
on which the whole world might, if 1T chose
mount into Heaven. He did it. The foul
mouthed crew who attempted to tread on
Him could not eXtinguish the sublime satis-
faction which He expressed when He said
81 have finished the work which Thou
gayest me to do.n
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 inn
mediately it 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 it to
him, and the wound was healed.
Well, the human race had been hurt with
the ghastliest of all wOunds-that of sin. It
was the business of Christ to bring balm
for 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 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 circum-
stances all calculated to depress and de-
feat. In the first place, His worldly occu-
patton was against Him. l 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, nsensate 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 man has been toiling all day with
adze and saw and hammer, plane and axe,
about all he can do is to rest A weary
body is an unfavorable adjunct to toiling
!
dom, or the proclamation of new code of
morals, or the starting of revolution
which should upturn all nations, could get
some idea of the incoherence of Christ's
worldly occupation with His Heavenly mis-
sion.
In His father's shop no 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 gnashed upon him with
their teeth, and many wanted Him out Of
their 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 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 men of
Christ's time did not appear in apparel with
out 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 Indeed it was far from shabby, for
after he had worn it long while the gam
blers thought it worth rafting 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 in His
diet. No cup-bearer with golden chalice
brought Him wine to drink On the sea-
shore He ate fish, first having broiled it
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,
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.
ahead, aud applauding subjects behind;
Christ's retinue was made up of sunburned
fishermen. Other Kings sleep under en-
broidered canopy; this one on shelterless
hill. Riding but once, as far as 1 now re-
member-on a colt, and that borrowed.
Again, His poverty was against Him. 1t
requires money to build great enterprises.
Men of means are afraid Of penniless
1oef ha
quires money to print books, build institu-
tions, 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 reIigionl Who is to
charter the ships to carry the mssionariesi
Who is to pay the salaries Of the teachersl
Shall wealthy Judaism be discounted by a
penniless Christ2n
The consequence was that most Of the
people that followed Christ had nothing to
lose. Wealthy Joseph, OF Arimathea, bur-
led Christ, but he risl1ed no social position
In doing that. 1t is always safe to bury
dead man. Zaccheus risked no wealth or
social position in following Christ, but took
q position in a tree to look down as He
passed. Nicodemus, wealthy Nicodemus,
risked nothing Of social position in follow
ing Christ for he skulked by night to find
Him.
All this was against Christ So the fact
that He was not regularly graduated was
against Him. If man comes with the di-
plomas of colleges and schools and theolog-
ical seminaries, and he has been through
foreign travel, the world is disposed to
listen. There was man who had gradu-
ated at no college, had not in any academy
nv ordinary means learned the alphabet of
the language he spoke, and yet ne proposed
to talk, to instruct in subjects which had
confounded the mightest intellects. John
says: "The Jews marveled, saying how
hath this man letters, having never
learnedl"
We in our day have found out that man