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 l
Kings x,7: 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 circle around Lake
GaliIee, 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 q spell of
fascination that will hold me the rest
Of my life. Solomon had resolved that the
city should be thecenter of all sacred, regal
and commercial influence. He sat himself
to work, aud monopolized the surrounding
desert as highway for his caravans. 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 of their wealth in the hands ofSolomon's g
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 celebrat-
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 ain 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 Ezion-geber and ordered
n feet of HhiDS fn he constructed cVpr-Gaw
the workmen, and watched the launching of
the fiotilla, which was to go out on more
than years voyage, to bring home the
wealth Of the the then known world He
heard that the Egyptian horses were large
and swift, and long named and round limbed,
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 100000
men to hew down the forest and drag the tim
Der through the mountain gorges, to con-
struct it into RATS to be foated to Toppa,
and from thence to be drawn by OK teams 25
miles across the land to Jerusalem. He
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 to catch
them and bring them there, and he put them
into his cages.
Stand back now and see this long train of
caDels coming up to the kings gate, and the
OK trains from Egypt gold and silver and
precious stones, and beasts Of every hoof, and
hipdo of vrino an6 Hah Nf Scalo1
See the peacocks strut under the cedars, and
the horseman run, and the chariots wheel!
Hark to the orchestral Gaze upon the
darcei Not stopping to look into the won.
ders of the temple step right on the cause
way, and pass up to Solomon's pnlacel
Here we find ourselves amid a collection o.
| buildings on which the King had Iavished
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 sculptured
on the marble SO thin and subtle that even
the leaves seemed to quiver. A laver capa,
Bile OF holding 500 barrels of water on 600
Drdceu OK Heaub, WHICH SuSHeU HlUu WdVSF
and filed 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, O 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 wateri Gold flashing from the
apparel Gold blazing in the crownl Gold,
gold; goldl
OF course the news OF the af1uence of that
and by wing of every ship, until soon the
streets of Jerusalem are crowded with curl
osity seekers. What is thatlong procession
approaching Jerusalem? l think from the
pomp of it there must be royalty in the
train. smell the breath of spices which
are brought as presents, and Ihear the shoot
of the drivers, and / see the dust covered
caravans, showing that they come from far
away. Cry the news 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
CInudIuOus duu bto bbuEOus &tlu Tic Cdiduus,
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
the palace. She washes at the bath She
sits down ut 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
gazes on the architecture, and she asks Sol
omon many strange questions and she learns
about the religion of the Hebrews, and she
then and there becomes q servant of the
Lord God.
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
le 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 says
within herself 81 heard great deal about
this place, and about this wonderful region
Of the Hebrews, but find if far beyond my
| highest anticipation. must add more than
| fifty per cent, to what has been related. 1t
exceeds everything that l could have ex
pected. The half-the halfwas not told me. u
Learn from this subject what beautiful
thing it ia when social position and wealth
surrender themselves to God. When religion
comes to neighborhood, the first to receive
1t are the women. Some men say it is be-
cause they are weak minded. l say it is be.
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 sol
ffthere are those who have been favored
of fortune, or, rs might better put it, fav.
ored 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 com
pany. am glad that Christ has had his
imperial friends in all ages Elizabeth
Christina. queen of Prussia; Maria Feodo
rovna, queen of Russia; Marie, empress o
France; Helena, the imperial mother o
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 0-beggar, and
scattering great fortunes among the dis.