Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-03-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The GIories of the Chris
tian Religion"

Solomon had resolved that Jerusalem
should be the centre of ali sacred, regal and
commercial magnifcence. He set himself
to work and 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 Of
Solomon's 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 country is the entire substitute for but
ter and lard, and was pressed from the olive
branches until every tree In the country be-
came 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
a feet of ships to be constructed oversaw
the wOrkmen, and watched the launching of
the fotilla 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 named and round Jimbed, and he re-
solved to purchase them, giving eighty-five
these horses in his own stall and selling the
surplus to foreign potentates at great profit.
He heard that there the best of tim
Der on Mount Lebanon, and he sent 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 hOated to Joppa, 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.
Tow tod
gardens and to this very day there are
flowers found in the ruins of that city such
are to be found in other part Of Pales-
tine, 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 see this long train of
camels coming up 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
cedars, and the horsemen run and the char
lots WHEEL Hear the orchestra! Gaze
upon the dance Not stopping to look into
the wonders of the temple, step right on the
causeway and pass up to Solomons palace.
Here we find ourselves amid collection
of buildings on which the king had lavished
the wealth of many empires. The genius Of
Tue dTCnlUeCl, anu OIL CQ0 OGQ0r
artists is here seen in the long line Of corri-
doris, and the suspended gallery, and the ap-
proach to the throne. Traceried window
opposite traceried window. Bronzed orna-
ments busting into lotus and lily and pome-
granate. Chapters surrounded by network
of leaves in which imitation fruit seemed
suspended as in hanging baskets.
Three branches-so Josephus tells us
three branches soul ptured on the marble, so
thin and subtle that even the leaves seemed
to culver. A LAYER capable of holding five
hundred barrels of water on six hundred
brazen OK heads, which gushed with water
and filled the whole place with GOODNESS and
crystalline brightness and musical plash.
Ten tables chased with chariot wheel and
lion and cherubim. Solomon sat on throne
of ivory. At the seating place of the throne,
on each end of the steps, brazen lion.
Why, my friends, in that place they
trimmed their candles with shutters 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 wateri
Gold flashing from the apparel! Gold blaz-
ing in the crown! Gold! gold! gold!
Of course the news of the aftiuence of that
place went out everywhere by every cara
van and by wing Of every ship, until soon
the streets of Jerusalem are crowded with
curiosity seekers What is that long pro-
cesson approaching Jerusalem? | think
from the pOmp of 1t there must be royalty in
the train. | smell the breath of the spices
which are brought as presents, and [ hear
the shout of the drivers, and see the dust
covered caravan showing that they come
from far away. 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 Queen has
ahghted. Shake out the cinnamon and the
saffron and the calamuS and the franklin
cence 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 at the banquet. The cupbearers
bow. The meat smokes. You hear the dash
OF waters from molten sea. Then she rises
from the banquet, and walks through the
Conservatives, and gazes on the archi-
lecture, and she asks Solomon many strange
questions. and she learns about the religion
of the Hebrews, and she then and there be.
comes servant of the Lord God.
She is overwhelmed. She begins to think
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
temple and the palace, and the one hundred
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: II heard a
great deal about this wonderful religion of
the Hebrews, but find it far beyond my
highest anticipations. I must add more
that fifty per cent. to what has been re-
lated. 1t exceeds everything that I could
have expected. The half-the half was not
told me-"
Learn from this subject what beautiful
thing it is when social position and wealth
surrender themselves to God. When religion
comes to neighborhood, the first to receive