Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1892-03-05
A GREAT SURPRISE.
SERMON PREACHED SUNDAY, FEB. 90
BY REV. 7. DE WITT TALMAGE, D. D.

A Glowing Description of the Wonder
Amazed the Queen of Shcba-The Clio
ries of the Christian Religion.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 2S.-The congrega
ton Mt 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 surprise to all who tried
it for themselves. His text was !
Kings Y. Z, 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 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 ut the chief ford
of the Euphrates and put under
guard everything that passed there.
The three great products of Pales-
tine-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 substi-
tute 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 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 Il 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 limbed. and he resolved to
purchase them. giving eighty five
dollars apiece for them, putting the
best of these horses i'll his own stall,
and selling the surplus to foreign
potentates ut 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 fioated to Joppa, and from
thence to he 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 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 ccdars. and the horsemen run,
and the chariots wheel Hark to the
orchestra, Gaze upon the dance!
Not stopping to look into the wonders
of the temple, step right on to the
causeway and pass up to Solomon's
palace.
TIE 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 i'll 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 laver 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 hon and
chcruhim Solomon sat on throne
Of ivory At the seating place of the
throne, ON each end of the steps.
a braZen lion.
Why. my friends, i'll that place
they trimmed their candles with
snuffcrs 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 water Gold flash
ing 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 process
sion approaching Jerusalem. | think