The Bossier banner., 1892-05-05
ORIENTAL SPLENDORS.
Rev. DR.. Talnnage Discourses on
the Glories Of the East.
Their Comparison with the Beauties of
the Christian Religion is All to the
Advantage of the Letter-1he Half
Has Not Been Told.

The following discourse by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage was delivered in the
Brooklyn tabernacle, the text being:
Behold, the half was not told mel Kings,
I.,7
Solomon had resolved that Jerusalem
should be the center of all sacred, regal
and commercial magnifcence. He set
himself to work and monopolized the
surrounding desert as a highway for
his caravans. He built the city of Pal
myra around one of the principal wells
of the east, SO that all the long trains
of merchandise fran the east were
obliged to stop there, pay toll and
leave part of their wealth in the hands
of Solomons 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 Palestine
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
well; and honey, which was the entire
substitute 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 construct
ed, oversaw 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 then
known world. He heard that the Egyp-
tian horses were large and swift, and
long-maned and round-limbed, and he
resolved to purchase them, giving
elghty-hve dollars apiece for them, put
ting 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 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 RATS to be foated to
Joppa, and from thence to be drawn by
oX-teams twenty-five miles across the
land to Jerusalem. He heard that there
were beautiful flowers in other lands.
lie 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 descend
ants of the very flowers that Solomon
planted. He heard that in foreign
groves there were birds of richest voice
and most luxuriant wings. 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 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 scale,
See the peacocks strut under the ce-
OARS, and the horsemen run, and the
chariots wheel. Hark to the orches-
ira! Gaze upon the dance! Not STOP
ping to look into the wonders of the
temple, step right on to the causeway.
and pass up TO Solomon's palace.
Here we find ourselves amid colIec-
ton of buildings, on which the king
had lavished the wealth of napy en-
pires. The genius of Hiram, the arcbi-
tect, 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 Or
poslte traceried window. Bronzed Or |
naments bursting into lotus and ily |
and pomegranate. Chapters surround |
ed by network of leaves, in which imi- |
tation fruit seemed suspended, as in |
hanging baskets. Three branches-so |
Josephus tells us-three branches sculn- |
tured on the marble. SO thin and subtle |
that even the leaves seemed to culver. |
laver capable of holding five hundred
barrels of water, on six hundred brazen |
OK heads, which gushed with water that |
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 throne of ivory. At the seat
ing place of the throne, on each end of
the steps, brazen lion. Why, nv
friends, in that place they trimmed
their candles with snuffers of gold. and
they cut their fruits with knives of
gold, and they scooped out the ashes
with shovels of gold, and thev stirred
the altar fires with tongs of gold. Gold
reflected in the water! Gold flashing
from the apparel! Gold blazing in the
crown! Gold! gold! gold!
OF course the news of the affluence
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 procession
approaching Jeruslem? l think from
the pomp of it there must be ROYALTY
in the train. I smell the breath of the
spices which are brought as presents,
and hear the shout of the drivers.
and l see the dust-covered caravan.
showing that they come from far awav.
Cry the news up 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