The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-01-09
THE HALF NOT TOLD
DR.. Talmage is on His Way
Home From The Holy
Land.
Sermon Preached at Vienna
on The Surprises of Re-
ligiOn.

VIENNA. Special-Rev T. De Witt Talmage
d. D., of Brooklyn, preached in this city on
THE Surprises of Religion. His text was
Kings x, Z: Behold the half was not told
me-" The sermon was as follows:
Appearing before you today, my mind yet
agitated with the scenery of the Holy Land
from which we have just arrived, you will ex
pect me to revert to some of the scenes once
! enacted there. Mark a circle around Lake
Galilee and another circle around Jerusalem,
and you describe the two regions in which
cluster memories of more events than IN any
other two circles. Jerusalem was spell of
fascination that will hold me the rest
of my life. Solomon had resolved that the
city should be the center of all sacred, regal
and commercial influence. He sat himself
to work, aud monopOlized the surrounding
desert as n highway for his caravans. He
built the city o. Palmyra around one of the
principal wells of the East, SO that all the
long trains of merchandise from the East
were obliged to stop there, pay toll and leave
part of their wealth in the hands ofSOIOmOn 8
merchants. He manned the fortress Thap-
sacus at the chief ford of the Euphrates. and
put under guard everything that passed there.
, The three great products of Palestine-winp.
pressed from the richest clusters and celeb brat
ed all the world over; oil, which in that hot
country, is the entire substitute for butter
and lard, and was pressed from the olive
branches until every tree in the country be-
came an oil we'll; and honey, which was the
entire substitute for sugar-these three great
products OF the country Solomon exported,
and received in return fruits and precious
woods and the animals of every cline
He went down to kZiOn-geber and Ordered
q feet Of ships to be constructed. Cver-saw
the wOrkmen, and watched the launching Of
the fotilla. which was to go out on more
! hOn To hrIn lo
wealth Of the the then known world. He
heard that the Egyptaiu horses were large
and swift, and long named and round linn bed
and he resolved to purchase them, putting
the best of these horses in his own stall and
selling the surplus to foreign potentates at
great profit.
He heard that there was the best of timber
on Mt. Lebanon, and he sent out 10000
men to hew down the forest and drag the tim
Der through the mountain gOrges. to con-
struct it into RATS to be- fioated to TOppa
and from thence to be drawn by OK teams p
heard that there were beautiful flow
ers in other lands. He sent for
them, planted them in his own gar
deus, and to this very day there are flow
ers found in the ruin ofthat city such as are
found in no other part of Palestine, the lineal
/ DEFENDANTS of the very flowers that solomon
/ planted. He heard that in foreign groves
/ there were birds of richest voice and most
| luxuriant wing. He sent out people tocatch
! them and bring them there, and he put them
into his cages.
! Stand back now and see this long train of
canes coming up to the kings gate, and the
OK trains from Egypt. gold and silver ard
precious stones, and beasts Of every hoof. and
birds of every wing and fish of every scale.
See the peacOcks strut under the cedars, and
the hOrseman run, and the ChariOts wheel.
Hark to the orchestra! Gaze upon the
dance! Not stopping to look into the won
ders OF the temple, step right on the cause
way, and pass up to Solomon s pnlace!
Here we find ourselves amid collection OF
buildings on which the King had lavished
the wealth Of many empires. The genius Of
Hiram. the architect, and of the other artists
is here seen in the long line of corridors. and
the suspended gallery. and the approach to
the throne Traceried window opposite
traceried window. BrOnzed ornaments burst
ing into lotus and lily and pomgranate.
Chapters surrounded by network of leaves in
which imitation fruit seemed suspended as in
/ hanging baskets. Three brancbes-so
JOsephus tells us-three branches sculptuTed
on the marble, SO thin and subtle that even
the leaves seemed to culver. laver capa-
! bic OF holding 500 barrels of water on 900
bracen OK heads which gushed with water
| and filled the whole place with GOODNESS and
| crystalline brightness and musical plash.
! Ten tables chased with chariot wheels and
lion and cherubim. Solomon sat on a
throne of ivory. At the seating place
of the throne, on each end of the
steps brazen lion. Why my friends. in
that place they trimmed their candles with
snuffers OF gold, and they cut their fruit with
/ knives of gold, and they washed their faces in
| basins of gold, and they scooped out the
ashes with shovels of gold, and they stirred
| the alter fires with tongs of gold. Gold re-
! fected in the water! Gold flashing from the
apparel! Gold blazing in the crown! Gold.
| gold gold!
OF course the news OF the af1uence of that
place went out everywhere by every caravan
and by wing of every ship, until soon the
! streets of Jerusalem are crowded with curl
osity seekers. What is thatlong procession
approaching Jerusalem? | think from the
pomp of it there must be royalty in the
train | smell the breath of spices which
are brought as presents, and hear the shoot
| of the drivers, and | see the dust covered
caravans showing that they come from far
away. Cry the news up to the palace. The
! Queen OF Sheba advances. Let all the people
come ont to see. Let the mighty men of the
| land come out on the palace corridors. Let
| Solomon come down the stairs of the palace
before the queen has alighted. Shake out the
cinnamon. and the saffron, and the calamus,
and the frankincense and pass it into the
treasure house. Take up the diamonds until
they glitter in the sun.
The queen OF Sheba alights She enters
sits down at the banquet. The cup bearers
bow. The meat smokes. The music trem-
bles in the dash of the waters from the mol
ten sea. Then she rises from the banquet,
and walks through the conservatories and
! cazes on the architecture and she asks Sol
| ONION many strange questions and she learns
about the religion of the Hebrews. and she
then and there becomes servant of the
| Lord God.
She is overwhelmed. She begins to think
that all the spices she brought, and all the
| precious woods which are intended to be
turned into harps and psalteries and into
ratings for the causeway between the temp
| lie and the palace, and the one hundred and
eighty dollars in money-she begins to think
that all these presents amount to nothing in
such place, and she is almost ashamed
| that she has brought them, and she saws
within herself: II heard great deal about
| this place. and about this wonderful region
| Of the Hebrews, but l find if far beyond my
highest anticipation. must add more than
fifty per cent, to what has been related. 1t
exceeds everything that | could have ex-
| pected. The half-the halfwas not told me. ="
Learn from this subject what beautiful
| thing it ia 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 be-
cause they are weak minded. say it is be-
| cause they have quicker perception Of what
ia right, more ardent affection and capacity
for sublimer emotion. After the women have
received the gospel then all the distressed
and the 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 favored
of fortune, or, as l might better put it, fav-
ored of God, surrender all you have and all
you expect to he to the Lord who blessed
this queen of Sheba. Certainly you are not
ashamed to be found in this queens COM
pany. am glad that Christ has had his
imperial friends in all ages-Elizubeth
Christina. queen of Prussia; Maria Feodo-
rovna, queen of Russia; Marie, empress of
France; Helena, the imperial mother of
Constantine; Arcadia, from her great for
tunes building public baths in Constantine
pie and toiling for the alienation of the
masses; Queen Clotilda, leading her hus.
band and 5000 of his armed warriors to
Christian baptism; Elizabeth of Burgundy,
giving her jeweled glove to a -beggar, and
scattering great fortunes among the dis
treaaad. PRINCE Albert ainrino tRnck of