Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-06-01
REV. On, 1ALMAGE.
rHR KMuNENr ptVNE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject. The VictOr's Shout-The Joy
OF Overcoming charlottesville Salts.
faction Expressed by Christ on the
Outcome OF His Earthly LabOrs,


copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage shows In an unusual way the
antagonisms that Christ overcame AMI
finds a balsam for all wounded hearts;
text, John xviii, 4, 81 have finished the
work which Thou gavest Me to do"
There Is 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
nothing more disappointing than, aftei
having toiled In certain direction, to find
that our time Is wasted and our Invest.
meDt profitless Christ came to throw up
highway on which the whole world
might, II 1t chose mount into heaven. He
did it, The foul mouthed crew who at.
tempted to tread on Him could not ex'
tinxuish the sublime satisfaction which
He expressed wheE He said: 81 have
finished the work which Thou gavest Me
do"
Alexander the Great was wounded, and
the doctors could not medicate mis- 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 1t 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 chast.
Hest of all wounds-that OF sin. It was
the business OF Christ to bring a balm fol-
that wound-the balm OF divine festota.
tion. In carrying thi, business to asuc.
cessfui issue the difficulties we're stipend.
Gus,
In many of our plans we have our friends
TO help us, some to draw 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 occupbtion
was against Him. find that He earned His
livelihood by the carpenters trade, an oc'
cupation always to be highly regarded and
respected. But you know as we'll as dc
that In order to succeed In any employ.
ment one must give his entire time to 1t,
and have to declare that the fatigues o;
carpentry were unfavorabIe to the execu.
tion of 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 concen.
trated energies even OF Christ. We have
great many romantic stories about what
men with physical toll have accomplished
In intellectual departments, but you know
that after man has been toiling all day
with ADJ and saw and hammer, plane and
ak, about all he can do is to rest. A weary
body Is an unfavorabe adjunct to toiling
mind. You, whose life In purely mechani-
cal, II you were called TO the upbuilding oil
q kingdom, or the proclamation Of a new
code of morals, or the starting OF n revolu-
ton which should upturn all nations,
could get some idea OF the incoherence OF
Chrst's occupation with His heavenly
mission.
In His fathers 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 use
of tools of trade, was called forth to be.
come q 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 assembIages is not SO easy
as 1t may seem, but 1t requires more
energy and more force and more concen'
tration to address IN exasperated mob.
The villagers OF Nazareth heard the pound
Ing OF His BANNER, but all the wide
reaches OF eternity were to hear the stroke
of His spiritual up building.
So also His habits of dress and 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 a man, here was a
protested king, who always wore the same
coat. Indeed 1t was far from shabby, for
after He had worn it long while the
gamblers thought it worth rafliDg about,
but still it was far from being an imperial
robe. 1t was coat that any ordinary
man might have worn on an ordinary &C.
casion.
Neither was there any pretension in His
diet. No cupbearer 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 we'll in
Samaria, He begged drink. He sat at
only one banquet. and that not at oil
sumptuous, for to relieve the awkward
ness 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;
Christ's retinue was made up OF sun
burned fishermen. Other kings sleep
under embroidered canopy; this one on a
shelterless bill, riding but once, as far as
now remember, On colt, and that bor-
rowed.
His poverty was against Him. 1t re.
euires money to build great enterprises.
Men OF means are afraid OF penniless
protector lest loan be demanded. 1t re-
quires money to print books, to build in
situations, to pay instructors. No wonder
the wise men of Christ's time laughed at
this penniless Christ. "Why." they said,
Is to charter the ships to carry the mis-
sionaries? Who is to pay the salaries OF
the teacbers2 Shall wealthy, established
religion be discounted by penniless
Christi"
The consequence was that most OF the
people that followed Christ had nothing to
lose. Affiuent Joseph Of Arlmathea buried
Christ, but he risked no social position In
doing that. 1t is always safe to bury o
dead man.
Zaccheus risked no wealth or social posi-.
lion In following Christ, but took aposition
In tree to look down as He passed.
Ncodemus, wealthy Nicodemus, risked
nothing OF social position In following
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. II a man come with diplo,
mas of colleges and'schools and theological
seminaries and he has been through for.
eign travel. the world is disposed to listen.
But here was man who had graduated at
no college, had not In any academy by or.
binary means learned the alphabet OF the
language He spoke, and yet He proposed to
talk, to instruct in subjects which had con.
founded the mightiest intellects. John
said. "The Jews marveled, saying, How