Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-05-23
DR. TAIN
The Brooklyn Divine's
Sunday Sermon.

TEXT "Of Spices gree, abundance:
neither cas- there ons such SPICE as the
Vaeen Of Shebn yure King S~olonaoa."-I1
Chronicles, tx, 9.
What is that building out wonder glitter
ing In the sum Have you not heard 1t is
the house OF the forest IF Lebauon King
Solomon has just taken 70 it his bride, the
Princess Of F. III t. You SEE the pillars Of
the portico and a great tower, adorned with
one thousand shields 81 gold, hung on the
outside Of the tOwer-hve hundred Of these
shields Of gold manufactured at Solouion's
order. five hundred were captured by David,
his father. in battle, See how they blaze In
the MONDAY sun.
Solomon goes UP the ivory stairs Of MS
throne between twelve lions in statuary. and
sats down On the back Of the golden bull. the
head of the bronze beast turned toward the
people. The family and attendants Of the
king are 50 many that the caterers Of the
place have to provide every day one hundred
sheep and thirteen oxen. besides the birds
and the yenison. | hear the stamping aud
paving OF four thousand fine horses in the
royal stables. There were important Officials
who had charge Of the work of gathering
the straw and the barley for these horses.
KING Solomon was an ecriy riser, tradition
says and used t. take a ride out at daybreak:
and when i'll his white apparel, behind the
swlftest horses OF all the realm, and followed
by mounted aTchers III purple. as the caval-
cade dashed through the streets OF Jerusalem
/ suppose 1t was something worth getting up
at five o'clock in the morning to look at.
Solomon was not like sone Of the kings Of
the present d6y-erowued lmbecility. All
the splendor Of his palace and retinue was
eciipsed by his intellectual power Why. he
seemed 70 know everything. He was the first
great naturalist the world ever saw. Pea
cocks from India strutted the basaltic walk,
and apes chatted IN the trees and deer stalked
the parks, and there were aquariums with
foreign fish and aviaries with foreign birds,
and tradition says these birds were SO we'll
tanned that olornon might walk clear across
the city under the shadow of their wings as
they lowered and fitted about him.
More than this, he had a great reputation
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 Solo
monlc navy visited all the world, and the
sailors, of course, talked about the wealth Of
their king, and about the riddles and engimas
that he made and solved, and the news
spread until Queen Balkis, away off south,
heard Of it, and sent messengers with a few
riddles that she would like to have Solomon
solve, and a few puzzles which she would like
to have him find out. She sent among other
things to King solomon a diamond with
hole So small that a needle could not pene-
tTdIC II, dSklQR I'LL 10 tuI66Q VuaU Ql6HOQO,
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.
the queen also sent a goblet to Solomon.
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
q slave on the back of a swift horse and
galloped him around and around the park
until the horse vas nigh exhausted, and from
the persplratlon of the horse the goblet was
filled She also sent King Solomon five
hundred boys in girls dress, and five hun
dred girls IN boys dress, wondering if he
would be cute enough to find out the decep-
ton. 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
20 and see him for myself" Yonder it
coInes-the cayalcade horses and dromeda-
ries, chariots and characters, jingling har-
NESS and gathering hoofs, and blazing
shields, and flying ensigns, and clapping
'ymbals. The place is saturated with the
perfume. She brings cinnamon and saffron
and calamus and frankincense aud all man
Ier OF sweet spices. AS the retinue sweeps
through the gate the armed guard inhale the
aroma. Halt" cry the characters, as the
wheels grinds the gravel i'll front of the pill
Jared portico Of the king. Queen Balkis
alights III an atmosphere bewitched with per-
fume. As the dromedaries are driven uD to
the kings store-houses, and the bundles of
camphOr are unlOaded. aud the sacks of Gin
namon, and the boxesof spices are opened,
the purveyors OF the palace discover what
my text announces, "Ot spices, great abun-
dance; neither was there any such spices as
the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon !"
Well, my friends, you know that all the.
ologians agree IN making Solomon a type OF
! lhri-f and rnokinn rho [l1Aop ,f Sboto a
type Of every truth seeker, and l shall take
the responsibility of saying that all the
spikenard and cassia and frankincense which
the Queen Of Sheba brought to King Solo
mon are nightly suggestive of the sweet
spices Of our holy religion. Christianity Is
not u collection Of sharp technicalities anC
angular facts and chronological tables anC
dry statistics. Our religion Is compared tt
frankincense aud to cassia, but never K
nightshade. 1t is a bundle of myrrh. 1t lis {
dash Of holy light. 1t is ii sparkle of coo
fountains. 1t is an opening Of opaline gates
1t Is d collection OF spices. Would God tina
we were as wise III taking spices to our Dl
vine King as Queen Balkis was wise in tax
ing the spices ~ this earthly Solomon, VIVA
many of US most need is to have the hum
drum driven out of cur life and the hum
drum out of our religion. The American ant
English church will die of humdrum unles:
there be a change.
An editor from San Francisco a few week.
ago wrote me sayln- he was getting up fol
his paper a symposium from many clergy
iaen, discussing among other things, why
do not people go to church, and he wanted
my opinion, and | gave il i'll one sentence
People do not go to church because the
cannot stand the humdrum." The fact i
that most people have 50 much humdrum il
their worldly calling that they do not wan
TO have added the humdrum of religion. w
need In all our sermonS aud exhortations an,
songs and prayers more of what Queen Bal
ks brought to Solomon-namely, NOR
spice.
The fact is that the duties and cares OF tni
life, coming TO US from time 10 time, ar
stupid often aud inane and intslerable. Her
are men who have been barterlng and lit
gotiating. climbing, pounding, hammerin
for twenty years, forty Years. fifty year:
One II eat long drudgery has their life beer
Their face anxious, their feelings b%enuLnbel
their days monotouou> What Is necessar
TO brighten up that man ; life, aud To sweete
that acid disposition. aud u put sparkle in,
the man spirits The splcery If our hol
religion. Why. If between the Losses of Iii
there dashed a gleam of an eternal gain;