The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-12-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Pastor Delivers q
Discourse at Jerusalem.
The Mighty Past of the Historic CITY Re-
called With Its Wealth of Interest
and Incident-The New Jeru-
salem of the Future.


salem of the Future.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
following discourse while in Jerusalem,
taking for his text
Jerusalem! Observation-Disclosures kill, 81.
This exclamation burst from Christ's
lips as He came in sight of this great
city, and although things have marvel
ously changed, who can visit Jerusalem
to-day without having its mighty past
roll over on him, and ordinary utter
ances must give way to the explanatory
as we cry: o Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Disappointed with the Holy Land many
friends say their ardor about sacred
places had been so dampened that they
were sorry they ever visited Jerusalem.
But with me the city and its surround
tngs are rapture, solemnity, an over
whelming emotion. o Jerusalem, Jeru-
salem. The procession of kings, con-
querors, poets and immortal men and
women pass before me as / stand
here. Among them are Solomon,
David and Christ. Yes, through these
streets and amid these surroundings
rode solomon, that wonder of splendor
and wretchedness. 1t seemed as if the
world exhausted itself on that man. 1t
wove its brightest flowers into his gar
land. 1t set its richest gems in his
coronet. 1t pressed the rarest wine to
his lips. 1t robed him in the purest pur-
pie and embroidery. 1t cheered him
with the sweetest music in that land of
harps- 1t greeted him with the glad
est laughter that ever leaped from
mirth's lip. 1t sprinkled his cheek
with spray from the brightest fountains.
Royalty had no dominion, wealth no
luxury, gold no glitter, flowers no
sweetness, song no melody, light no
radiance, upholstery no gorgeousness,
waters no CLEAN, birds no plumage,
prancing coursers no mettle. architect
rre no grandeur but it was his. Across
the thick grass of the lawn, fragrant
with tufts of campfire from Engedi, fell
the long shadows of trees brought from
distant forests.
Fish pools, fed by artificial channels
that brought the streams from hills far
away, were perpetually ruffied with fins,
and golden scales shot from water cave
to water cave with endless dive and
swirl, attracting the gaze of foreign pc
tentates. Birds that had been brought
from foreign aviaries glanced and fiut-
tered among the foliage, and called to
their mates far beyond the sea. From
the roval stables there came up the
neighing of twelve thousand horses,
standing in blankets of Tyrian purple,
chewing their bits over troughs of gold,
waiting for the Kings order to be
brought out in front of the palace, when
the official dignitaries would leap into
the saddle for some grand parade, or,
harnessed to some of the fourteen hum
dred chariots of the King, the fiery
chargers with Haunting name and
throbbing nostril would make the earth
jar with the tramp of hoofs and
the thunder of wheels. While within
and without the palace you could not
think of a single luxury that could be
added. or of a single splendor that could
be kindled, down on the banks of the
sea the dry docks of Ezion-geber rang
with the hammers of the shipwrights
who were constructing larger vessels for
a still wider commerce, for all lands and
chimes were to be robbed to make up
Solomon's glory. No rest till his keels
shall cut every sea, his aXmen hew
every forest, his archers strike every
rare wing, his fishermen whip every
stream, his merchants trade in every
bazaar, his name be honored by every
81,
ION, wealth no luxury, gold no glitter,
song no melody. light no radiance, wa
tiers no CLEAN, birds no plumage, pranc-
ing courserS no mettle, upholstery no
Corgeousness. architecture no grandeur,
but it was all his.
If wealth and wisdom could have sat
listed a man, solomon would have been
satisfied. To say that Solomon was
millionaire gives but very imperfect
idea of the property he inherited from
David, his father. He had at his COM
mand gold to the value of six hundred
and eigty million pounds sterling, and
he had silver to the value of one billion,
twenty-nine million. three hundred and
seventJ-seven pounds sterling. The
Queen of Sheba made him nice little
present of seven hundred and twenty
thousand pounds sterling, and Hiram
made Kim present of the same amount.
If he had lost the value of whole realm
out of his pocket it would hardly have
been worth his while to stoop down and
pick it up. He wrote thousand and five
songs. He wrote three thousand proverbs.
He wrote about almost every thing. The
Bible says distinctly he wrote about
plants, from the cedar of Lebanon to the
hyssop that groweth out of the wall, and
about birds, and beasts, and fishes. No
doubt he put of his royal robes, and put
on hunters trapping, and went out with
his arrows to bring down the rarest
specimens of birds; and then, with his
fishing apparatus, he went down to the
stream to bring up the denizens
Of the deep, and plunged into the forest
and found the rarest specimens of flow
ers; and then he came back to his study
and wrote books about zoology, the sci
ance of animals; about ichthyology, the
science of fishes; about ornithology, the
science of birds; about botany, the sci
ence of plants. Yet, Notwithstanding
all his wisdom and wealth, behold his
wretchedness and let him pass on. Did
any other city ever behold SO wonderful
a man? Jerusalem, jerusalem! But
here passes through these streets, as in
Imagination l see him, quite as wonder
full and far better man. David, the
conqueror, the King, the poet Can it
be that / am in the very city where he
lived and reigned? David, great for