Democratic messenger., 1893-08-19
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: ga Bold Challenge"
-

TKxr " Who is he hdf condenineth, II is
Christ that died. yea, rather thai is risen again,
trho is eres al the right hand Of God, ,rho
also mdksth intercessi0R for ss."-Romans
viii, 81.
ssThls IS the last sermon I shall ever
preach" said Christmas Evans on the 18th
OF June, 1888. Three days afterward he ex-
pired. do not know what his text was,
but know that no man could choose a bet
fer rtheme-though he knew IL was the last
time he should ever preach-than the subject
found In this text.
Paul flung this challenge of the text to tho
feet OF all ecclesiastical and civil authority.
He feared neither swords or lions. earth nor
he'll. Diocletian slew uncounted thousands
Under mis- administration. and the world has
been full OF persecution, but all the perse-
cutors OF the world could not alright Paul.
Was 70 because he was physically strong2
On, no. suppose he was very much weak
ened by exposure and maltrcatment Was
Il because he was lacking in sensitfveness?
No. You 1nd the most delicate shades of
feeling playing I'm and out his letters and
sermons. Some OF his communications
burst into tears. What was II lifted paul
Into this triumphant mood? The thought OF
Saviour dead, Saviour risen, Saviour
exalted, Saviour interceding.
All the world has sang the praise of Prin-
cess Alice. One child having died of n con-
tagious disease, she was in the room where
another was dying, and the court physician
said TO her, You must not breathe the breath
OF this child, or you yourself will die" But
seeing the child mourning because OF the
death OF her brother. the mother stopped
down and In sympathy kissed the little one,
caught the disease and persisted. All the
world sang the heroism and the self-sacrifice
OF Princess Alice, but have TO tell you that
when our race was dying the Lord Jesus
afnnnnd A0vwn an1 uof fha Of Yfa
everlasting love and perished that wo might
live. "It Is Christ that died.
Can you tell me how tender hearted Paul
could find anything TO rejoice at in the hor-
rible death scene OF Calvary? We weep at
funerals; We are sympathetic when we see a
stranger die ; when q murderer steps upon
the scaffold we pray for his departing spirit,
and how could Paui-the great hearted Paul
find anything TO be pleased with at the
funeral of God2 Besides that Christ had
only recently died. and the sorrow was fresh
In the memory Of the world, and how in the
fresh memory of n Saviour death could Paul
bo exultant?
II was because Paul saw in that death his
own deliyerance and the deliverance OF race
from ssill worse disaster. He saw the gap
into which the race must plunge, and he saw
the bleeding hands of Christ close II. The
glittering stesl on the top OF the execution
er's spear in his sight kindled into q torch to
over the cross five words written In Hebrew,
Greek and Latin, but Paul saw over the cross
OF Christ only one word-"expiafion He
heard In the dying groan OF Christ his own
groan OF eternal torture taken by another.
Paul said to himself, 'Had II not been that
Christ volunteered In my behalf, those would
have been my mauled hands and feet, my
gashed side, my crimson temples"
Men of great physical endurance have
sometimes carried very heavy burdens-300
pounds. 400 pounds-and they have ssill
said: my strength Is not yet tested. Put
on more weight" But after awhile they
were compelled to cry out s'Stopi I can
carry no more" But the burden Of Christ
was illimitable. FIRST, there was His own
burden OF hunger and thirst and bereaye-
ment and n thousand outra2es that have
been hesped upon Him. and on top of that
burden were the sorrows OF His poor old
mother, and on the top OF those burdens the
crimes OF the rufflans who were executing
Him.
ssSfop! !" you cry 1T Is enough. Christ
can bear no more" And Christ says, .'Roll
on moro burdens roll on Ne the sins OF this
entire nation, and after that roll on Me the
sins OF the Inhabited earth, and then roll on
Ne the sins of the 1000 years past, so far as
those sins have been forgiven And the
angels OF God, seeing the awful pressure,
cry; "Stopi He can bear no more" And
the blood rushing TO the nostril and lip seems
TO cry out Enough! He can endure no
more" But Christ says 'Roll on greater
burden, roll on the sins of the next 1900
years, roll on Ne the sins OF the succeeding
ages, roll on Ne the agonies Of hell, ages on
ages, the furnaces and the prison houses and
the tortures." That is what the Bible
means when II says, "He bore our sins and
carried our sorrows.'
..Now, says Paul, "I am free. That suf.
fering purchased my deliverance. God never
III - -. ID
full. II God Is satisfied with me, then whai
do all the threats of earth and hell amount
to2 Bring on all your witnesses" say'
Paul. s.Show all your force. Do your wors
against my soul defy you. ! dare you
IchalIenge you. Who Is be that condemn
eth? IL Is Christ that died" oh, what 1
strong argument that puts in the hand OF ev
cry Christian man Some day oil the pas
sins Of his life come down on him In tier,
troop, and they pound away at the gate o
his soul, and they say "We have come fol
your arrest. Any one of us could oyercom,
you We are II, 600 strong. Surrender.
And you open the door. and single handel
and alone you contend against that troop
You fling this divine weapon into their midst
You scatter those Sins as quick as you cal
think ID.
'It Ii Christ that died. Why, then. hrin.
up to us the sins Of our past life2 What hav
veto do with those obsolete things? Yol
know how hard IL is for a wrecker TO brin.
mp anything that Is lost near the shore of IN,
sea. but suppose something be lost half WI,
between Liverpool and New York. II can.
not be founde II cannot be fetched up
s'Now, says God, "your sins have been cas-
into the depths OF the sea- Mid-Atlantic
All the machinery eve. fashioned in foun
dries OF darkness and launched from ths
doors OF eternal death. working for 10 OOl
years, cannot bring up one OF our sins for
given and forgotten and sunken into th.
depths OF the sea. When sin is pardoned
II Is gone. II is gone out OF the books; IL /.
gone out OF the memory. II Is gone out OF ex,
istence. "Their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more
From other tragedies men have como away
exhausted and nervous aud sleepiess. but
there is one tragedy that soothes and calnls
and saves. Calvary was the stage on which
Il was enacted, the curtain OF the night fall
ing at midnoon was the drop scene, the
thunder OF falling rocks the orchestra, angels
IN the galleries and devils in the nit the
spectators, the tragedy crucinxion. 1T /.
Christ that died" On. triumphant thought
IL you go through the picture gallery OF
Versailles, YOU will find great change
there. l said to friend who had been
through those galleries. "Are they as they
were before the French war; and ! was
told there was a great change there that all
that multitude OF pictures which represented
Napoieonic trinmphs had been taken away,
II is early Sunday morning, and we start
up 10 find the grave OF Christ We find the
morning sun gliding the dew, and the shrubs
are sweet as the foot crushes them. What d
beautiful place to be buried in! Wonder
they did not treat Christ as well when II,
was alive rs they do now that He is dead.
Give the military salute TO the soldiers who
and In the frames were other pictures rep
resentative Of German success and victory
oh, that all the scenes OF satanic triumph in
our world might be blotted out, and that
the whole world might be picture gallery
representing the triumphant Jesust Down
with the monarchy of transgrsssion Up
with the monarchy OF our King Hail Jesus,
hall
But must give you the second cause of
pauIs exhilaration. II Christ had staid in
that grave, we never would have gotten out
OF IT. The grave would have been dark and
dismal as the conciergerie during the reign
OF terror, where the carts came up only 10
take the victims out to the scaffold. do
not wonder that the ancients tried by EN-
halmment bf the body to resist the dissolution
OF death.