Connecticut western news., 1891-05-06
DR. TALMAGES SERMON.
HE URGES PEOPLE TO MAKE THEIR
 RELIGION LIVELY.

Ehe Queen of Sheba Brought Wonderful Spices to Solomon, the Great King. Why Should Not the Church Offer the
 Spice of Energetic Religion to God?
 BROOKLYN, May 3.-The capacity of the New Tabernacle was fully tested this morning by the vast audience which assembled to hear Dr. Talmage In his handsome and spacious church. He is now preaching there morning and evening, and The Christian Herald services in New York have been dis continued. This has caused much re- gret to many people in that city. A memorial was prepared and signed by influential citizens asking Dr. Talmage to continue the services. He could not zee his way to comply at the time, but as he was evidently impressed by the warmth of the welcome given him in the metropolis, and deeply moved by the good that was done, it is not i'm probable that in the near future he will again be found duplicating his use- fulness by ministering to two congre- gations, as he has been doing during Ul1o pltSU S0VCA llOAO11S. LID ouOJOSt this morning was ''Humdrum Abol- ished," and his text II Chronicles ix, 9, "Of spices great abundance; neither vas there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon"
 What is that building out yonder, ,,,ttering in the sun2 Have you not heard2 It is the house of the forest of Lebanon. King Solomon has just taken to 1t his bride, the princess of Egypt You see the pillars of the portico, and a great tower adorned with one thousand shields of gold hung on the outside of the tower-ffve hun dred of the shields of gold manufactured at Solomon's order, five hundred were captured by David, his father. in bat tie. See how they blaze in the noon ds.y sun.
 THE STORY OF SOLOMON
 Solomon goes up the ivory stairs of his throne between twelve lions in stat nary, and sits down on the back of the golden bull. the head of the beast turned toward the people. The family , and attendants of the king are so many that the caterers of the palace have to provide every day one hundred sheep and thirteen oxen, besides the birds and | lhe venison. I hear the stamp.lg and paving of four thousand fine horses in the royal stables. There were impor- ',,it officials who had charge of the york of gathering the straw and the barley for these horses. King Solomon was an early riser, tradition says, and used to take a ride out at daybreak. and when in his white apparel, behind the swiftest horses of all the realm, and followed by mounted archers in pur pie, as the cavalcade dashed through the streets of Jerusalem I suppose it was something worth getting up at five o'clock in the morning to look at. Solomon was not like some of the kings of the present day-crowned i'm becility. All the splendor of his palace and retinue was ecipsed by his intel lectual power. Why, he seemed to know everything He was the first great naturalist the world ever saw. | Peacocks from India strutted the basal | tic walk, and apes chattered in the trees, and deer stalked thes parks, and l there were aquariu1ns with foreign fish, and aviaries with foreign birds; and tradition says these birds were so well tanned that Solomon might walk clear across the city under the shadow of their wings as they lowered and fitted | about him.
 l HIS WISDOM
 More than this, he had great repu- tation for the conundrums and riddles that he made and guessed. He and King Hiram, his neighbor, used to sit by the hour and ask riddles, each one paying in money if he could not answer or guess the riddle. The Solomonic navy visited all the world, and the sail ors, of course, talked about the wealth of their king, and about the riddles and enigmas that he made and solved; and the news spread until Queen Balkis, away off south, heard of it, and sent messengers with few riddles that she would like to have Solomon solve and few puzzles which she would like to have him find out She sent among other things to King Solomon dia- mond, with hole so small that a needle could not penetrate it, asking him to thread that diamond. And Solomon took a worm and put it at the opening in the diamond, and the worm crawled through, leaving the thread in the diamond.
 l The queen also sent @ goblet to Sol omon, asking him to fill it with water that did not pour from the sky, and that did not rush out from the earth :; and immediately Solomon put a slave on the back of a swift horse and gal loped him around and around the park until the horse was nigh exhausted, and from the precipitation of the horse the goblet was filled. She also sent King Solomon five hundred boys in girls dress and five hundred girls in boys dress, wondering if he would be acute enough to find out the deception. Immediately Solomon, when he saw them wash their faces knew from the way they applied the water that it was all a cheat.
 Queen Balkis was so pleased with the acuteness of Solomon that she said, I'll just go and see him for myself " Wonder it comes, the cavalcade - horses and dromedaries, chariots and charioteers, jin ,ling harness and clat- tering hoofs, and blazing shields and flying ensigns and clapping cynbals. The place Is saturated with the per fulne. She brings cinnamon and Haf- iron and calamus and frankince nse and all manner of sweet spices. As the ret- inue sweeps throu"h tho gate the armed guard inhale the aroma. 'Ualt!' cry the chariotecrS. as the wheels grind the