St. Landry democrat., 1885-11-14
TALMAGEs SERMON.
The Queen Of sheba's Visit to
King Solomon.
The Manner In which h Jewish Mon.
arch's M~agnihcence Impressed His
Royal Visitor and the Useful Lesa
sons TO be Drawn Therefrom.

subject of the queen OF SheDa'S vlSlb TO
King Solomon for his theme. The text
was
Behold, the half was not told neil Kings,
x.sT
Solomon had resolved that Jerusalem
should be the center of all sacred, regal
and commercial magnificence. He set
himself to work and m~onopolized the sur
rounding desert as q highway for his car
avans. He built the city of Palmyra
around one Of the principal wells of the
East, so that all the long trains of mer-
chandise from the East were obliged to
stop there, pay toll and leave part OF their
wealth in the hands of Solomon's mer-
chants. He named the fortress Thapsa-
Gus of the chief part of the Euphrates, and
put under guard everything that passed
bhere. The three great products Of Pales-
tine-wine pressed from the richest clus-
kers and celebrated all the world over; oil,
which in that hot country is the entire
substitute for butter and lard, and was
pressed from the olive branches until every
tree in the country became an Oil well; ana
honey which was the entire substitute for
sugar-these three great products OF
the country Solomon exported; and re-
ceived in turn fruits and precious woods
and the animals Of every cline. He went
down to Ezion-geber and ordered a fleet OF
ships to be constructed, oversaw the work
men and watched the launching of the TO
tilla which was to go out on more than a
years voyage to bring home the wealth OF
the then known world. He heard that b
Egvptian horses were large and swift and
lone-maned and round -limbed, Ind he re-
solved to purchase them, giving SS5 apiece
for them, putting the best of these horses
in his own stall and selling the surplus to
foreign potentates at great profit. He
heard that there was the best of timber on
Mount Lebanon, and he sent out lSO,WO
men to hew down the forest and drag the
timber through the mountain gorges to
construct it into RATS to be floated to Jop-
pa. andsfrom thence to be drawn by OK
teams twenty-five miles across the land
30 Jerusalem. He heard that there were
beautiful flowers in other lands. He sent
for them, planted them in his own gardens,
and to this very day there are flowers
found in the ruins of that city such as are
to be found in no other part of Palestine,
the liueaI descendants of the very flowers
UldU SOLOMON EDdub0uS IAO hNo4 OAo IA
Roreign groves there were birds of richest
voice and most luxuriant wing. He sent
out people to catch them and bring them
there, and he put them into his cages.
Stand back, now, and see this long train
of canels coming up to the Kings gate,
and the OK trains from Egypt, gold and
silver and precious stones and beasts of
every hoof and birds of every wing and
fish of every scale. See the peacocks strut
under the cedars, and the horsemen run,
and the ehariots wheel. Hark to the or
chestra. Gaze upon the dance. Not stop
ping to look into the wonders of the Tenn
pie. step right on to the causeway and pass
up to Solomon's palace. Here we find our
selves amid a collection of buildings on
which the king had lavished the wealth of
many empires. The genius Of Hiram, the
architect, and of the other artists, is here
seen in the long line of corridors and the
suspended gallery n the approach to the
throne. Traceried window opposite tracer
led window. Bronzed ornaments burst
ing into lotus and lily and pomegranate.
Chapters surrounded by network of leave
in which imitation fruit seemed suspended
as in hanging baskets. Three branches
SO Josephus tells us-three branches sculpt-
nred on the marble, so thin and subtle
shat even the leaves seemed to culver. A
Aaver capable of holding 500 barrels of wa
ter on 600 brazen oxheads, which gushed
with water and filed the whole place with
GOODNESS and crystal line brightness and
musical pIash. Ten tableschased with char
lot wheel and lion and cherubim. Solomon
sat on q throne of ivory. At the seating
place of the throne, on each end of each of
the steps, a braxen lion. Why, my friends,
in that place they trimmed their candles
with suffers Of gold, and they washed
their faces in basins of gold, and they
scooped out the ashes with shovels Of gold,
and they stirred the altar fires with tongs
of gold. Gold reflected in the water; gold
flashing from the apparel; gold blazing in
the crown. Gold, gold, gold.
OF course the news of the afnuence of
that place went out everywhere by every
caravan and by wing of every ship, until
soon the streets of Jerusalem are crowded
with curiosity seekers. What is that long
procession approaching Jerusalemy !
think from the pomp of it there must be
ROYALTY in the train. Ismell the breath of
the spices which ara brought as presents,
and / bear the shout OF. the drivers, and /
see the dust.covered caravan showing that
thew come from far away. Cry the news
up to the palace. The Queen of sheba ad-
yances. Let all the people come out to see.
Let the mighty men come out on the palace
corridors. Let Solomon come down the
stairs Of the palace before the Queen has
alighted. Shake out the cinnamon and the
saffron and the calamus n the frank
incense, and pass it into the treas
nre house. Take up the diamonds
until they glitter in the sun. The