The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-05-05

ter came to Jerusalem to live Solomon
built for her separate house that she
might have her Egyptian gods where
she could most enjoy them, and where
they could least injure the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The pal
ace of this grand monarch was not a
simple building, but it was hill COW
cred with marble structures. In these
halls and chambers must have dwelled
two or three thousand regular inmates,
and at times there may have been four
or five Thousand, for the Bible says
that twenty or thirty oxen, hundred
sheep, besides deer and fatted fowl,
were demanded for the tables of sim
gle day.
Splendor must be symmetrical. The
style which characterizes the building
must extend always to furniture, ward
robes, and decorations, and history as
sures us that all the details were in
keeping with the tremendous generali-
ties. Solomon's cups and plates were
gold, the floors were marble or polish
ed cedar, the tapestry the most rich the
East could fabricate-everywhere were
precious stones, tiles, marble, gold.
The throne was all ivory; it was six
steps above the floor; six bronze or
metal lions stood upon each side of the
| ofo,c Tho uoo Of nOId
Gold was so abundant that there was
not silver dish or vessel in the whole
house of Solomon.
But when the palace is built, the in
mates robed in style, and the feast is
over, then must come some entertain
ment that shall be in keeping with all
that surrounds the throne. What did
this Hebrew Louis XIV. do with his
family or for his family and guests, for
perhaps the Queen of Sheba is in the
palace for few days? Let Solomon
reply from his own journal of medita-
tions: 81 employed men singers and
women singers. 1 gathered all the de-
lights Of the sons of men, such as
musical instruments and those of every
kind"
Such an imperfect outline was the
scene which created the phrase 1.-THE
glory of Solomon" which has passed
along down to the day of Christ. But
in the midst of all this barbaric glitter
and higher art there ran certain
greatness of mind. When the Queen
of Sheba paid her famous visit its OBJ
ject was not solely to behold the scenes
of art and all magnificence, but also to
hold wise conversation with the
Hebrew magnate and submit to him
the hard questions of her own heart.
Solomon's father had been a psalm
writer of great fame. In this hill.
crowning-home perhaps one of the most
splendid rooms of all was the studio
and library of the pompous Solomon
Great beams Of polished cedar spanned
its marble walls. In gold-edged cases
were the rolls Of Hebrew and Egyptian
learning, while tables were covered
with the flowers, and insects, and birds
and things of nature this crowned
student was attempting to classify
and comprehend. Seldom, perhaps
did he join in the amusements of the
palace, for they were for the childish
throng rather than for him. They were
to conciliate his own people and the
surrounding tribes. AS for the King
himself he sat down upon his ivory
throne less frequently than upon the
chair of his kind of poetry and science
in his secluded chamber. His large
works were lost in the CONGREGATIONS
of war which followed, and nothing
has come to US except these thous.
and proverbs, song, and the medita-
ton called Ecclesiastes. The song
is of little value to our world, but the
proverbs and the meditation are as
valuable to our far off century as they
were to the Jerusalem in whose streets
they were quoted these thousand years
ago. Wisdom, piety, poetry, and
pathos are inwoven with every sem
tence. The book Of Ecclesiastes pos
sesses greatness of thought, and marks
the superiority of Solomon over Louis
XIV. of France and Henry VIII. of
England, and even perhaps Queen
Elizabeth herself.
Under the broad mind of the Hebrew
monarch all religions enjoyed tolera-
ton such as has since found parallel
only in America. Moses and Joshua
had put to death all who differed with
themselves, but in Solomon, while the
Hebrew religion remained above all, the
surrounding tribes were suffered to live
and to carry with them their gods and
their forms of piety.
This liberation could not have come
wholly from his political policy but
also in part from that breadth of
thought which is seen pervading the
book of Ecclesiastes- confession"
far sweeter than that Of Augustine,
although dark and iron-like as that of
Marcus Aurelius. Read from the