Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-01-16

palace, and the one hundred and eighty
thousand dollars in money--she begins
to think that all these presents amount
to nothing in such a place, and she is al
most ashamed that she has brought
them, and she says within herself: Il
heard great deal about this place, and
about this wonderful religion of the He
| brews. but / find it far beyond my high
| est anticipatiOns. l must add more
than fifty per cent TO what has been
related. 1t exceeds every thing that
could have expected. The half-the
| half was not told me-
Learn from this subject what a beauti-
| full thing it is when social position and
wealth surrender themselves to God.
| When religion comes to a neighborhood,
! the first to receive it are the women.
Some men say it is because they are
weak-minded. l say it is because they
have quicker perception of what is right,
more ardent affection and capacity for
| sublimer emotion. After the women
have received the Gospel then all the
| distressed and poor of both sexes, those
who have no friends, accept Jesus.
Last of all come the greatly prospered.
Alas, that it is sol!
If there are those who have been IA
vored of fortune, or, as l might better
put it, favored of God, surrender all
you have and all you expect
to be to the Lord who blessed this
Queen OF Sheba. Certainly you are not
ashamed to be found in this Queens
| l.I ha% or
had His imperial friends inoall ages
Elizabeth Christina, Queen of Prussia;
Maria Feodorovna, Queen of Russia;
| Marie, Empress of France; Helena, the
| imperial mother of Constantine: Area
| dia, from her great fortunes building
public baths in Constantinople and toll
| ing for the alienation of the masses:
Queen Clotilda, leading her husband
| and three hundred of his armed warriors
to Christian baptism; Elizabeth of Bur-
gundy, giving her jeweled glove to a
beggar, and scattering great fortunes
among the distressed; Prince Albert,
singing Rock of Ages in Windsor
Castle, and Queen Victoria, incognita,
| reading Scriptures to dying pauper.
l bless God that the day is coming
when royalty will bring all its thrones,
and music all its harmonies, and paint
ing all its pictures, and sculpture all its
statuarY, and conquest all its scepters,
and the Queens of the earth, in long
line of advance, frankincense filling the
air and the camels laden with gold, shall
approach Jerusalem, and the gates shall
be hOisted, and the great burden of
splendor shall be lifted into the palace
of this greater than Solomon.
Again, my subject teaches me what is
earnestness in the search of truth. Do
you know where Sheba was? 1t was in
Abyssinia, or some say in the southern
part of Arabia Felix. In either case it
was great way from Jerusalem. To
get from there to Jerusalem she had to
cross a country infested with bandits,
and to cross blistering deserts. Why
did not the Queen of Sheba stay at home
and send a committee to inquire about
this new religion, and have the dele
gates report in regard to that religion
and wealth of King Solomon? She wanted
to see for herself, and hear for herself.
She could not do this by work of COM
mittee. She felt she had a soul worth
ten thousand kingdoms like Sheba, and
she wanted a robe richer than any
woven by Oriental shuJtles, and she
wanted a crown set with the jewels of
eternity. Bring out the camels. Put
on the spices. Gather up the Jewels of
the throne and put them on the caravan.
Start now; no time to be lost. Goad on
the camels. When l see the caravan,
dust-covered, weary and exhausted,
trudging on across the desert and among
the bandits until it reaches Jerusalem,
say: There is an earnest seeker after
the truth
But there are a great many who do
not act in that way. They all want to
get the truth, but they want the truth
to come to them; they do not want to go
to it. There are people who fold their
arms and say: Il am ready to become
a Christian al any time; if / am to be
saved l shall be saved, and if l am to be
lost l shall be lost" But Jerusalem
will never come to you; you must go to
Jerusalem. The religion of the Lord
Jesus Christ will not come to you; you
must go and get religion. Bring out
the camels; put on all the sweet
spices, all the treasures of the
hearts affection. Start for the
throne. Go in and hear the waters
of salvation dashing in fountains all
around about the throne. Sit down at
the banquet-the wine pressed from the
grapes of the heavenly ESchol, the
e
on the camels. The Bible declares it:
THE Queen of the South''-that is, this
very woman l am speaking of-''the
Queen of the South shall rise up in
Judgment against this generation and
condemn it; for she came from the ut
termost parts of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon; and, behold! a
greater than Solomon is here" What
infatuation the sitting down in idle
ness expecting TO be saved ''Strive to
enter in at the straight gate. Ask, and
it shall be given you; seek, and We shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you" Take the Kingdom of Heaven by
violence. Urge on the camels!
Again, my subject impresses me with
the fact that religion is a surprise to
any one that gets it. This story of the
new religion in Jerusalem, and of the
glory of King Solomon, who was type
of Christ-that story rolled on and on,
and was told by every traveller coming
back from Jerusalem. The news goes
on the wing of every ship and with
every caravan. and you know a story
enlarges as tits retold, and by the time
that story gets down into the southern
part of Arabia Felix, and the Queen of