The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-12-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Weekly Discourse OF the Gres,
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subject; ''The Holy city"
Irca chcd az .BcrusaIem.)


Text: "JcrHsaieDL Jerusalem r-Matt.
xiii, 81.
This exclamation burst from Chrst's lips
as He came in sight of this great city,
and although things have marvelously
changed who tan visit Jerusalem to-day
without having its mighty past roll over on
him, and ordinary utterance must give place
for the explanatory as we cry, q Jeru-
salem, Jerusalem Disappointed with the
Holy Land many have been, and | have
heard good friends say that their ardor about
sacred places had been so dampened that
they We're sorrow they ever visited Jerusa-
lem. But with me the city and its surround
iugs are rapture a solemnity, an over
whelming emotion. o Jerusalem, Jerusa-
leml The procession of Kings, conquerors,
posts and immortal men and women pass be-
fore me as | stand here. Among the thropg
are Solomon, David and Christ Yes,
through these streets and amid these sur
roundings rode Solomon, that wonder of
splendor and wretchednesS. II seemed as
It the world exhausted itself on that
man 1t wove its brightest flowers
into his garland It set its richest
gems in his coronet. 1t pressed the rarest
wine to his lips. 1t robed him in the purest
purple and embroidery II cheered him with
the sweetest music in that land of harps 1t
greeted him with the gladdest 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 reliance
upholstery no gorgeousness waters no CLEAN,
olrds no plumage, prancmg coursers no met.
tie, architecture no grandeur, but it was all
his. Across the thick grass of the lawn fra
grant 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 ruffled with fins, and golden
scales shot from water cave to water cave
with endless dive and swirl, attracting the
gaze of foreign potentates. Birds that had
been brought from foreign aviaries glanced
and fluttered among tie foliage, and called
to their mates far beyond the sea. From the
royal 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 dignitares would leap into the
saddle for some grand parade, or, harneSsed
to some of the fourteen hundred 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
out the palace you could not think of single
luxury that could be added, or of 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 con
structing larger vessels for a still wider com.
merce for all lands and chimes were to be
robbed to make up Sclomon's glory. No rest
till his keels shall cut every sea, his axmen
hpv nj la
rare wing, his fishermen whip every stream
his merchants trade in every bazaar, his
name be honored by every tribe and royalty
shall have no dominion, wealth no luxury,
gold no glitter, song no melody, light no
radiance, waters no CLEAN, birds no plumage
prancing coursers no mettle, upholstery no
gorgeousness architecture no grandeur, but
it was all his.
"Well" you say. ''if there is any man
happy, he ought to be-" But / hear him com
ing out through the palace and see his robes
actually ncrusted with Jewels as he stands in
the front and looks out upon the vast domain.
What does he say? King Solomon, great is
your dominion, great is your honor great is
your Joy? No. While standing here amidst
all the spiendor, the tears start and his heart
breaks and he exclaims Vanity OF
yanities; all is vanity" What Solomon
not happy yet? No, not happy. The
honors and the emoluments of
this world bring so many cares with them
that they bring also torture and disquietude.
Pharaoh sits on one of the highest earthly
eminences yet he is miserable because there
are some people in his realm that do not want
any longer to make bricks. The head of
Edward | aches under his crown because the
people viii not pay the taxes, and Llewellyn,
Prince of Wales will not do him homage,
and Wallace will be hero Frederick
William Ill of Prussia is miserable because
France wants TO take the Prussian provinces.
The world is not large enough for Louis XIV.
and William Ill The ghastliest suffering tire
9 @S h t2 Inst ea sa ffs dHss 6a1e
walked amidst obsequious courtiers, and been
clothed in royal apparel, and sat on judgment
seats of power.
Honor and truth and justice cannot go 50
high up in authority as to be beyond the
range OF human assault. The pure and good
in all ages have been execrated by the mob
who cry out Not this man, but Barabbas
Now, Barabbas was robber." By honesty,
by Christian principle, ! would have you
seek for the favor and the confidence of your
fellow men, but do not look upon some high
position as though that were always sun
shine The mountains OF earthly honor are
like the mountains of Switzerland covered
with perpetual ice and snow Having OBJ,
tanned the confidence and love of your asso
GATES, he content WIN Sllcn Things as you
have. You brought nothing into the world,
and it is very certain you can carry nothing
out. Cease We from man, whose breath Is
ia his nostrils" There is an honor that is
worth possessing but it is an honor that
comes from God. This day rise up and take
it. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon US that we should
be called the sons of Cod Who aspres not
for that ROYALTY? Come now, and be Kings
Id tha I fore
II wealth and wisdom could have satisfied
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 command gold to the value or SIX nun.
bred and eighty million pounds, and he had
silver to the value of one billion, twenty-nlne
million. three hundred and seventy-sevep
pounds sterling The Queen of Sheba made
him nice little present of seven hundred and
twenty thousand pounds, and Hiram made
him a present of the same amount. Ii he had
lost the value of a whole realm out of his
pocket, it would have hardly been worth Ma
while to stoop down and pickitup. He wrote
one thousand and five songs. He wrote three
thousand proverbs. He wrote about almost
everything. The Bible says distinctly he
wrote about plants, from the cedar OF Lee
banon to the hyssop that groweth out OF the
wall. and about birds and beasts and fishes
No doubt he put off his royal robes, and put
on hunters trapping, and went out
with his GROWS to bring down tbs
rarest specimens of birds, and the:
with his fishing apparatus he went
down to the stream to bring up the denizens
of the deco. and plunged into the forest and
found the rarest specimens or Mowers; ana
then he came back to his study and wrote
books about zoology, the science of animals
about ichthyo,ogy, the science OF hshes;
about ornithology. the science OF birds
about botany, the science 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
maui o. Jerusalem Jerusaleml
But here passes through these streets as IN
imagination / see him. quite as wonderful
and a far better man. David the conqueror,
the King. the poet Can it be that am II
| the very city where he lived and reignedi
David. great for power, and great for grlef
He was wrapped up in his boy A6salom II,
was splendid boy. judged by the rules o.
worldly criticism From the crown OF M
head to the sole of his feet there was not
single blemish The Bible says that he
had such luxuriant shock OF hair
that when once a year it was shorn,
what was cut off weighed over three
pounds. But, notwithstanding all his
1,r.l l. had