Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-11-03
TALMAGE'S TALK.
THE SIXTH SERMON on HIS TRAVELS IN TIE
HOLY LAND.
The (}lOries Of SOlomon'S Times-The Wonderful
Works That Can 90 Seen-The Birthplace
Of Christ-Refsciicns on the Spirit
ual Place Of the Soul.
SpeciaL Tsl.aram % Ne Reastlr.

Special Telegram 10 NE Register.
BnooKLYN. November 2.-Dr. Tai
mage preached the sixth sermon on his
tour in Palestine to-day. After pas
torate of twenty-five years in this city
| it is astonishing to see the crowds OF
people who throng the Academy of Mu-
sic every Sunday morning to listen To
ten to his diScourseS. No less remark
able are the audiences that New York
city furnishes at the Christian Herald
services every Sunday night. Today
sermon was on the garden and public
works of ISrael's magnificent king, and
the text, Ecclesastes, ii:4-6: Il made
me great works, builded me houses,
planted me vineyards, | made me gar
dens and orchards, and planted trees in
them all kinds OF fruit; | made me
pools of water to water Herewith the
wood that bringoth forth trees" DR..
Talmage said:
A spring morning and before break
fast at Jerusalem. A king with robes
snowy white in chariot decked with
gold, drawn by eight horses, high-met-
tied, and housings as brilliant as if
Scollopcd out of that very sunrise, and
like the winds for speed, followed by a
regiment of archers on horseback with
hand on gilded bow, and arrows with
steel points flashing in the sun, clad
from head to foot in Tyrian purple, and
black hair sprinkled with gold-dust, all
daShing down the rood, the horses ut
| full run, the reins loose on their neckS,
and the crack of whips and the halloo of
! the reckless cavalcade putting the miles
at defiance. Who is it, and what is it?
King Solomon taking an outing before
breakfast, from Jerusalem to his gar
dens and parks and orchards and
reservoirs six miles down the
road towards Hebron. What a
contrast between that and
myself Oh that very road one morning,
last December, going afoot, for our
plain vehicle turned back for photo
graphic apparatus forgotten, we on the
way TO find what is called SOlomOn's 5
pools, the ancient water-workS of Jeru-
salem, and the gardens OF king nearly
three thousand years ago. We cross the
aqueduct again and again, and here we
are at the three great reservoirs, not
ruins of reservoirs, but the reservoirs
themselves, that Solomon built three
millenums 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 horticulturiSt, the greatest
botaniSt, the greatest ornithologiSt, the
greatest capitalist, and the greatest sci
enlist of his century.
Come over the piles of gray rock, and
here we are at the first Of the three
reservoirs, which are on three levels,
the base of the top reservoir higher than
the tod OF the cond, the base of the
second reservoir higher than the top Of
she third, so arranged that the waters
gathered from several sources above
shall descend from basin to basin. the
sediment of the water deposited in each
of the three, so that by the time it gets
down TO the aquedlct which is TO take
it to Jerusalem, it has had three filter
ings, and is as pure aS when the clouds
raincd It. 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 res
ervoir $50 feet by 229: the second, 423
feet by 100, and the lowest reservoir 5S9
feet by 1863; and deep enough and wide
enough, and mighty enough to iloat an
ocean steamer.
PICTURE OF SOLOMON'S TINES.
On that December morning we saw
the waters rolling down from reservoir
to reservoir. and can well understand
how in tbs ncighborhood the imperial
gardens were one great. at.bloSsom, and the
lorchard one great basket OF fruit, and
that Solomon in his place, writing the
Song of Songs, and EccleSiaStes, may
have been drawing illustrations from
what he had seen that very morning in
the roval gardens when he alluded to
melons, and mandrakeS and aprlcotS,
and grapes, and pomegranteS, ana hgs,
and spikenard, and cinnamon, and Gala
mus. and campfire, and 'apple trees
among the trees of the wood" and the
almond tree as ilourishing, and to myrrh
and frankincense, and represented
Christ as "gone down into His gardens,
and the beds of spices to feed in the
gardens, and to gather lilies, and to
"eyes like fsh-pools," and to the voice
of the turtle dove as heard in the land.
( think il was when Solomon was show
ing the Queen of Sheba through these
gardens, that the Bible says OF her:
"There remained 10 more spirit in her
She gave it up.
But all this splcndor did not make
Solomon happy. One day, after getting
back from his morning ride and before
the horses had yet been cooled off, and
rubbed down by the royal eQuerry, Sol
omon wrote the memorable words. fol-
lowing my text, like a Dirge played
after a Grand March, Behold all was
vanity and vexation of spirit. and
there was no profit under the sun" In
other words, 1T don't pay Would
God that we might all learn the lesson
that this world cannot produce happl-
ness, At MarSeilleS there Is castellated
house on high ground crowned with all
that grove and garden can do, and the
whole place looks out upon as enchant-
inc 4 landscape as the world holds, water
and hill claSping hands in a perfect be-
witchment of scenery, but the owner OF
that place is totally blind, and to
him all this goes for moth
ing. illustrating the truth, that,
whether one be physically or morally
blind. briliancy of surrounding cannot
give satisfaction. But tradition says
that when the wise men Of the East
were being guided by the star on the
wav TO Bethlehem, they, for little
while. lost sight of that star, and in
despair and exhaustion came to well to
drink, when looking down into the well
they saw the star reflected in the water,
and that cheered them, and they re-
sumed their journey, and l have the no
tion that though grandeur and pomp OF
surroundings may not afford peace, at
the well of Gods consolation, close by,
YOU may find happiness, and the plain
est cup at the well of salvation may
hold the brightest star that ever Shone
from the heavens.
WONDERFUL WORKS.
As look upon this great acqueduct
of Palestine, a wondrous specimen OF
ancient masonry, about seven feet high,
two feet wide. sometimes tunnelling the
solid rock and then rolling its waters
through Stoneware pipes, an acqucduct
doing its work ten miles before it gets
10 those three reservoirs, and then gath
ering their wealth of refreshment and
pouring it on, to the mighty city OF
Jerusalem and filling the brazen sea Of
her temple. and the bathrooms of her
palaces. and the great pools OF Sloan,
.Al.n.l., 1 Er,h Ii ~