Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-11-20
PICTURES OF PALESTINE.
DIR. TALMAGES SIXTH DISCOunSE
on THE HOLY LAND.

~N A4AX1 AAOA AdNOs
Solomon's Pools and the Place of the
Nativity Visited. - Grandeur and
Wealth that Failed to Make Hap
Ply ktng.-Earth's Greatest Glorics
Insignificent Compared with those
. OF Heaven. - A Pancgyric ON the
Cradle.
BROOKLYN. N. Y. Nov Or Talmagc
preached the sixth sermon on his tour in
lsiestihe today. After q pastorate of
t"enty-tw years in this city 1t is astonish.
ing 10 see the crowds OF people who throng
the Academy of Music every Sunday morn
Ing TO listen to his discourses. No less re-
markable are the audiences that New York
city furnishes at the services every Sunday
night. Today's sermon was on the gardens
ana public works Of Isracl's magnificent
king, and the text, Ecclesiastes 2:4-6: Il
made me great works. builded me houses,
planted me vineyards. made me gardens
and orchards. and planted trees in them OF
all kinds OF fruits; l made me pools Of wa
ter to water Herewith the wood that bring
eth forth trecs." DR.. Talmage said:
spring morning and before breakfast Mt
Jerusalem; king with robes snowy white
IN chariot decked with gold. drawn by eight
horses, high melted, and housings as bril-
liant as II scolloped out OF that very sun
rise, and like the winds for speed, followed
oy regiment OF archers on horseback with
hand ON gilded bow, and arrows with steel
points flashing in the sun, clad from head
TO loot in Tyrian purple, and black hair
Sprinkled with gold-dust, all dashing down
rOHd hnrsaS Mt f,rn ratr,
loose on their nccks, and the crack OF whips
and the halloo OF the reckless cavalcadc
putting the miles at defiance Who is it,
and what is it? King Solomon taking an
outing before breakfast, from Jerusalem,
to his gardens, and parks, and orchards, and
reservoirs. six miles down the road towards
hebron. What contrast between that and
myself on that very road one morning last
December, going afoot. for our plain vehicle
turned back Tor Photographic apparatus
korgotton. we on the why to find what is
called Solomon's pools. the ancient water
works OF Jerusalem and the gardens of q
king nearly 5000 years ago. We cross the
aqueduct again and again, und here we are
at the three great reservoirs, not
ruins OF reservoirs, but the reser-
voirs themselves. that Solomon built three
millenniums ago for the purpose of catching
the mountain streams. and passing them to
Jerusalem to slake the thirst of the city,
and also to irrigate the most glorious range
| OF gardens that ever bloomed with all colors
or breathed with all redolence. for solomon
was the greatest horticulturalist, the great
ert botanist, the greatest ornithologist, the
greatest capitalist and the greatest scicnt-
list OF his century.
Come over the piles OF gray rock. and
here we are at the first OF the three rcscr-
voirs. which are on three great levels, the
base OF the top reservoir higher than the
top OF the second. the base OF the second
reSprVpir hfvbpp than bo ~ 4 In, ,cI
| so arranged that the waters gathered from
several sources above shall descend from
| basin to basin, the sediment OF the water de-
posted in each OF the three, so that by the
time 1t gets down to the aqueduct which is
to take it to Jerusalem, it has had three Ill
terings, and is as pure as when the clouds
rained 1t. Wonderful specimens OF masonry
are these three reservoirs The white cement
| fastening the blocks OF stone together is
now just as when the trowels three thousand
years ago smoothed the layers. The highest
reservoir $50 feet by 2"9; the second, 423
feet by 160; and the lowest reservoir $50
feet by 1859. and deep enough and wide
enough, and mighty enough to float an
ocean steamer.
| On that December morning. We saw the
waters rolling down from reservoir to reser-
voir. and can we'll understand how in this
neighborhood the imperial gardens were
one great blossom, and the orchard one
great basket OF fruit. and that Solomon in
bis palace, writing the Song Ct Songs. and
Ecclesiastes may have been drawing illus
trations from what he had seen that very
morning In the royal gardens when he al
luded to melons and mandrakes. and april
cots, and grapes, and pomegrantes. and
figs, and spikenard, and cinnamon and cal
anus, and campfire. and apple trees among
the trees OF the wood. and the almond tree
IS fourishing, and to myrrh and franklin
cense, and represented Christ as 'gone
down into His gardens, and the beds OF
spices to feed In tho gardens. and to gather
lilies, ana to 'eyes like fsh-pools," and
TO the voice OF the turtle dove as heard In
tho land. think 1t was when Solomon was
showing the Queen OF sheba through these
gardens that the bibie says OF her: ''There
remained no more spirit In her." She gave
up.
But all this spiendor oid not make Solo
mon happy. One day. after getting bacl
from MS morning rae ana before the horses
nao YET Deen cooleo on ana rubbed down by
the royal equerry' solomon wrote the mem
orao!e WORDS following my text, like
dirge played after grand march,