Connecticut western news., 1892-03-03
A GREAT SURPRISE.
SERMON PREACHED SUNDAY, FEB. 2s, BY REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D. D.


 fai magnifcence of King soIomon-H
 Amazed the Queen of sheba-The GIo-
 riss of the Christian Religion.
 BROOKLYN. Feb. 2S. The congrega tion at the Tabernacle this morning listened to glowing description of the magnificence of Solomon, which Dr. Talmage likened to the glories of the Christian religion, which would. he said, be a surprise to all who tried it for themselves. His text was l Kings X, 2. Behold, the half was not told me-"
 Solomon had resolved that Jerusa lem should be the center of all sa cred. regal and commercial magnifi cence. He set himself to work and monopolized the surrounding desert as q 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 merchan disc from the east were obliged to stop there, pay toll and leave part of their wealth in the hands of Solo mons merchants He manned the fortress Thapsacus at the chief ford of the Euphrates and put under guard everything that passed there
 The three great products of Pales tune wine pressed from the richest clusters and celebrated 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 became an oil we'll; and honey. which was the entire substi ute for sugar these three great products of the country Solomon ex ported. and received in return fruits and precious woods and the animals of every cline. ....#
 He went down to Ezion-geber and ordered fleet of ships to be con structed. oversaw the workmen and watched the launching of the flo tilla 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 Egyptian horses were large and swift and long maned and round imbed. and he resolved to purchase them. giving eighty-five dollars apiece for 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 timbe on Mount Lebanon. and he sent out one hundred and eighty thousand men to hew down the forest and drag the timber through the mountain gorges, to construct it into rafts to be floated to oJoppa, and from thence to be drawn by OK teams twenty-five 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 luxuriant wing. He sent out people to catch them and bring them there and he put them into his cages.
 Stand back now and zee this long train of camels coming up to the kings gate. and the OK trains from Egypt. gold and silver and precious stones. and beasts of every hoof. and birds of every wing. and fish of every salel See the peacocks strut under the cedars. and the horsemen run. and the chariots wheell Hark to the orchestral Gaze upon the dancel Not stopping to look into the wonders of the temple, step right on to the eauseway and pass up to Solomon's palacel
 THE ARCHITECTURE OF HIRAM.
 Here we find ourselves amid col lection of buildings on which the king had lavished the wealth of many empires. The genius of Hi ram. 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 pomegran. ate Chapters surrounded by net work of leaves. in which imitation fruit seemed suspended as in hang ing baskets.
 Three branches-so Josephus tells us three branches. sculptured on the marble, so thin and subtle that even the leaves seemed to quiver. A layer capable of holding five hun dred barrels of water on six hundred brazen OK heads. which gushed with water and filled the whole place with coolness and crystalline brightness and musical plash. Ten tables chased with chariot wheel and lion and cherubim. Solomon sat on a throne of ivory. At the seating place of the throne, on each end of the steps. Q brazen lion.
 Why. my friends. in that place they trimmed their candles with slsiffers 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 waterl Gold flash ing from the apparell Gold blazing in the crownl Gold! gold! gold!
 Of course the news of the af1uence of that place went out everywhere by every caravan and by wing of every ship. until soon the streets of Jerusalem are crowded with curiosity seekers. What is that long process ,.~ %I,nlx