The leader., 1889-12-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Holy City" preached
at JerusaIem.)

and, although things have marvelously
changed, who can visit Jerusalem to-day
without having its mighty past roll over on
him, and ordinary utterance must give place
for the explanatory we cry, 0 Jeru-
salem, Jerusaleml Disappointed with the
Holy Land many have been, and l have
heard good friends say that their ardor about
sacred places had been so dampened that
they were sorrow they ever visited Jerusa-
lem. But with me the city and its surround
ings are a rapture, a solemnity an over
whelming emotion. o Jerusalem, Jerusa-
lem! The procession of Kings, conquerors,
poets and immortal men and women pass be
fore me as stand here. Among the throng
are Solomon, David and Christ. Yes,
through these streets and amid these sur
roundings rode Solomon, that wonder of
splendor and wretchedness. 1t seemed as
if the world exhausted itself that
man. 1t wove its brightest flowers
into his garland. 1t set its richest
wine to his lips. 1t robed him in the purest
purple and embroidery. It 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 rediance,
upholstery no gorgeouSnesS, waters no gleam,
birds no plumage prancing 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 ruffied 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 huttered among the 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 dignitarieS 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
thunder of wheels. While within and with
out the palace you could not think of a 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
of the shipwrights who were con-
structing larger vessels for a still wider COM
merce, for all lands and climes 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 tribe; and royalty
| shall have no dominion, wealth no luxury,
gold no glitter, song no melody, light no
radiance waters no gleam, birds no plumage,
prancing coursers no mettle, upholstery no
! gorgeouSneSS, architecture no grandeur, but
| it was all his
''Well." you say, eff there is any man
! happy he ought 20 be-" But hear him COM
ing out through the palace and see his robes
actually incrusted with jewels as he stands i'll
! 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 splendor, the tears start and his heart
breaks and he exclaims: Vanity of
vanities; all is vanity" What! Solomon
not happy yet? No, not happy. The
this world bring so many cares with them
that they bring also torture and disquietude.
| Pharaoh sits on one of the highest earthly
emnences, 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 7 aches under his crown because the
people will not pay the taxes and Llewellyn,
! Prince of Wales, will not do him homage.
and Wallace will be a hero. Frederick
William III, 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, the
most shriveling fear, the most rending jeal-
ousies, the most gigantic disquietude, have
walked amidst obsequious courtiers, and been
clothed in royal apparel, and sat on Judgment
seats of power.
Honor and truth and Justice cannot go so
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 a robber." By honesty,
by Christian principle, l would have you
seek for the favor and the confidence of your
fellow men; but do not look upon some high
I 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-
ciates. be content with such 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
in 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 God" Who aspires not
for that royalty? Come, now, and be Kings
and priests unto God and the Lamb forever.
If wealth and wisdom could have satisfied
| To say that Solomon was a millionaire gives
! but a very imperfect idea of the property he
inherited from David. his father. He had at
his command gold to the value of six hun
dred and eighty million pounds, and he had
silver to the value of one billion, twenty-nine
million, three hundred and seventy-seven
pounds sterling. The Queen of Sheba made
him nice little present of seven hundred and
twenty thousand pounds, and Hiram made
him 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 his
/ 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 Le-
banon to the hyssop that groweth out OF the
wall and about birds and beasts and fishes
Nodoubt he put off 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
t of the deep, and plunged into the forest and
found the rarest specimens OF flowers; aneI
:. tnen he came back to his study and wrote
books about zoology, the science of animals;
@ about ichthyology, the science of fishes;
aoout ornithology, the science OF blrds;
9 ABOUT botany, the science of plants. Yet,
b notwithstanding all his wisdom and wealth,