News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-01-16
SURPRISES OF RELIGION.
A Sermon by Rev. DIR. Talmage at
Vienna Sunday, Jan. 5.

|
The Brooklyn Preacher on His Homewart
Way-Fascination Exercised by Hi
Sight of the Holy City-The Lesson o
Sheba's Visit to Solomon-A Surprise IN
Store.
VIENNA, Jan. 5, 1890. Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, d. D., Of Brooklyn, preached IL
the city today on F'The Surpr SEES of Religion
His text was l. 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 lst arrived
you will expect me to revert to some of the
scenes once enacted there. Mark 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. Jeru-
salem was spell Of fascination that will hold
me the rest of my life. Solomon had resolved
that that city should be the centre of all sa-
cred, regal aud commercial magnifcence. He
set himself to work, and monopolized the
surrounding desert as a highway for his car
| avans.
He built the city of 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 VI lHtlT wealth. III the MINUS Oh DOlOHuOHS'
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-wine
| pressed from the richest clusters, and cele-
| brated 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 well; and honey, which was the
entire substitute for sugar-these three great
of hn 1frxr Snln nrfo
and received in return fruits and precious
| " Gods and the animals of every cline.
| He went down to EZion-geer and ordered
| fleet of ships to be constructed, oversaw the
workmen aud watched the launching of the
| hotilla which was to go out on more than a
| years voyage to bring home the wealth of the
then known world. He heard that the Egyp-
were larsSS.sssTsi swift, and long
- and he resolved to
| pur, axapiece for them,
| putting the Desr u .Iu4c horses in his own
| stall and selling the surplus to foreign poten-
tates at great profit. He heard that there was
| the best of timber on Mt. Lebanon, and he
| sent out 1S0, 900 men to hew down the forest
and drag the timber through the mountain
| gorges, to be constructed into RATS to be
| foated to Joppa, and from thence to be
| drawn by OK teams % miles across the land
to Jerusalem. He heard that there were
| beautiful flowers in other lands. He sent
for them, planted them in his own gardens
and to this very day there are flowers found
In the ruins Of that city, such as are to be
found In no other part of Palestine, the lineal
descendants of the very flowers that Solomon
planted.
He heard that in foreign groves there were
birds of richest voice and most luxurious
wing. He sent out people to catch them, and
bring them there, and he put them into his
cages. Stand back now and see this long
train Of camels coming up to the kings gate,
and the OK trains from Egypt, gold and sill
yer and 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 horsemen run, and the
chariots WHEEL Hank to the orchestra
into the wonders of the temple, step right on
to the causeway, and pass up to Solomon,s
palace!
Here we find ourselves amid a 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 i'm the long line
of corridors and the suspended gallery and
the approach to the throne. Traceried Win
dow opposite traceried window. BronZed
ornaments bursting into lotus and lily and
pomegranate. Chapters surrounded by net
work of leaves in which imitation fruit
seemed suspended as in hanging baskets.
Three branches-so Josepheus tells US
three branches sculptured on the marble, so
thin and subtle that even the leaves seem to
culver. A LAYER capable of holding 500 bar
rels of water on 600 brazen OK heads, which
gushed with water and filed the whole place
with GOODNESS and crystalline brightness and
musical plash. Ten tables chased with cha
riot wheel and lion and cherubim. Solomon
sat on 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 trim
med their candles with shutters of gold, and
they cut their fruits 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 altar fires with
tongs of gold. Gold reflected in the water!
Gold flashing from the apparel! Gold blaz-
ing in the crown Gold, gold, gold! OF
course the news of the affluence 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 that long procession
approaching Jerusalem? 1 think from the
pomp of it there must be royalty in the train,
| smell the breath of the spices which are
brought as presents, and l hear the shout of
the drivers, and see the dust-covered cara
van, showing that they come from far away.
Cry the news up to the palace. The queen
of Sheba advances.
Let all the people come out 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 franklin
cense and pass it into the treasure house.
Take up the diamonds until they glitter in
the sun: The Queen of Sheba alights. She
enters the palace. She washes at the bath. |
She sits down at the banquet. The cup bear |
ers bow. The meat smokes. The music |
trembles in the dash of the waters from the |
molten sea. Then she rises from the banquet, |
and walks through the conservatories, and |
gazes on the architecture, and she asks Solo
mon 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 aH tho spi.~, -sl.S ought, ed III .La
precious woods that are intended to be turned |
Into harps and psalteries and into ratings for
the causeway between the temple and the
gins to think that all these presents amount |
to nothing in such place, and she is almost
ashamed that she has brought them, and she
says within herself: 81 heard a great deal
about this place, and about this wonderful |
religion of the Hebrews, but find it far be-
You'd my highest anticipations. / must add |
more than 90 per cent to what has been re-
lated. 1t exceeds everything that ] could |
have expected. The half-the half was not
told me-"
Learn from this subject what beautiful
thing it Is when social position and wealth
surrender themselves to God. When religion
comes to a neighborhood, the first to receive
1t are the women. Some men say it is be-
L
cause 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
the poor of both sexes, those who have no
friends, accept Jesus. Last of all come the
greatly prospered. Alas, that it is so
If there are those who have been favored
of fortune, or, as / might better put it,
favored of God, surrender all you have and
all you expect to be to the Lord, who blessed
thisQueen of Sheba. Certainly you are not
ashamed to be found in this Queens COM
pany. / am glad that Christ has had his i'm
perial friends in all ages-Elizabeth Chris
tina, Queen of Prussia; Maria. Feodorovna,
Queen of Russia; Marie, Empress of France;
Helena, the imperial mother of Constantine;
Arcadia, from her great fortunes build
ing public baths in Constantinople and
toiling for the alienation of the masses;
Queen Clotida leading her husband and
5000 of his armed warriors to Christian bap-
tism; Elizabeth of Burgundy, giving her
jewelled glove to a beggar and scattering
great fortunes among the distressed; Prince
Albert, singing Crock of Ages in Windsor
Castle. and Queen Victoria, incognita, read
ing the scriptures 10 dying pauper.
bless God that the day is coming when
royalty will bring all its thrones, and music
all its harmonies, and painting all its pic
lures, and sculpture all its statuary, and
all its pillars, and conquest all its
sceptres, and the queens of the earth, in long
line of advance, frankincense filling the air.