The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-11

AT SANTIAGO.
Rev. DR.. ]. G.. Eckman, in his pre-
liminary remarks at Elm Park church
yesterday morning, referred to the
presidents proclamation regarding the
observation of the crisis in national
affairs and offered earnest prayer for
the success and safety Of our army and
navy. The hymns sang were patriotic
in character.
At the evening service Rev. j. y.
Sweet occupied the pulpit and gave a
strong sermon. He spoke from Mat
thew xii: ~: "The Queen of the South
came from the uttermost parts of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon
and behold greater than Solomon
is here He said:
To enforce truth Jesus Christ drew,
not alone from nature and the things
of nature, but from the facts OF history.
The life of a king, the anXieties of
queen became illustrations for the es-
tablishing of the facts of His new king
dom. The wisdom of the wisest man of
the past. the determination of heath
en- queen to know somewhat of the re-
markable utterances of this presumably
wise man. These things were on record
and constituted n part of the past his
tory of the people of Israel
We but speak the names of Solomon
and of the Queen of Sheba and three
thousand years are oblterated. We are
in the land of promise, the beauties and
glOries of the Orient the magnificent
court of the marvellous King, swaYing
with his sceptre the destines of nations
and yet moving them to wonder at the
GtI INIT icHn ,f !, tie
Great was Israel and great was Solomon,
the king. The memory of his court, the
power of his dominion, the sagacity of
his reign, the greatness of his govern
ment, his riches, possessions, and above
ALL his wisdom. were discussed and glor-
led in when thousand years had passed
away.
HIS FAME SPREAD.
No wonder then that his fame spread
abroad until it touched the South of
Arabia and that from there queen de-
termined to see for herself his greatness
and hear his wisdom.
Look for a moment at the greatness
of Solomon Great in wisdom. Now wis
dom has been defined to he '"rhe use of
the best means for attaining the best
ends" 1t is, practically, knowledge and
the capacity to make due use of it. In
these directions the greatness of Solo
knowledge. great gift of Oh servation,
great force of discernment and if the
aggregate of these things count for wis
dom then great is Solomon, the king of
Israel.
Numerous are his songs, many are his
proverbs. He spoke 5000 proverbs and
his songs were thousand and five. His
versatility is seen in that he could dis
cuss natural science and natural history
as well as the theories of government; ;
could lay principles for true living. pro-
pound and answer riddles attend to the
demands of his nation, lead his people
in religious devotions, and write treatises
on the religious life. He had the Capac-
ity to make use of his knowledge.
Great I'm riches Now riches are rela-
tive. Upon some of the charges that
have served men We're counted rich il
they could lay claim TO five or ten thous-
and dollars. At other places the stand
ard has been raised so that twenty
to fifty thousand constituted riches.
Here, in this Electric City, to count
man as rich his fifty thousand dollars
must be touched with the magic lode
stone to increase it to one-half or a
whole million. So to speak of the riches
of Solomon as contribution to his great
ness it must he considered relatively
He is but the third king of Israel Saul
the first king, was practically a rude
barbarian; his court was marked with
no glitter, display or pomp. No state
ments of great wealth are made con-
Cernng him.
DANID'S REIGN.
David following up to almost the close
| of his reign, was so engaged with wars
| for the safety of Israel and for the eX-
tension of territory that he paid but lit
tie attention to court life, and, with the
exception of the erection of a palace,
| gathered but little of wealth for the
| furtheranco of kingly or courtly lux
| uries. I presume that both Saul and
David We're rich men. according to their
relation to Israel, but neither We're rich
enough to attract undue attention. But
the riches of solomon We're almost be-
yond compute. Wealth poured i'm upon
| him from many sources. The nations
| and tribes subject TO him, from the river
of Egypt to the Euphrates and from
| Syria to the Red sea, paid fixed yearly
| tribute, while their kings and chiefs sent
| rich gifts to Jerusalem annually as eX-
pressiOns Of homage-Nessels ana vases
| of gold, rich garments and robes, costly
| armor and arms, spices of great price
| and the nobcst horses and mules.
Such prosperity had never been seen
| in Israel. Silver became as stones in
| Jerusalem gold was common metal,
| and costly cedar wood was more plenti-
| full than the common sycamore Four
| teen thousand persons We're at the court
| of the king and fed daily by his gem
| erosty, and his magnificent resources
| and immense wealth We're superior to
all demands. Great Were the riches of
| King Solomon
Two other points of Solomons great
| ness We're then enumerated and dis
| CusSed. namely: Possessions and king
| ly might. following which the speak
| er declared that though all these
| things constituted greatness from GER
| tain standpoints vet weakness and
| poverty and folly We're discernible, and
these things We're the clay i'm the feet
To bring it all tumbling to the ground
CHRIST WAS GREATER.
Then in all that Solomon was great,
Christ was greater" said Mr., Sweet
Greater I'm wisdom, greater in riches
| greater i'm possessions, greater in king
| ly might The development of each
statement revealed the surpassne
greatness of Jesus Christ for with
| II i'm there was true solidity.
Solomon could not stand a halt
century, Jesus Christ has stood tive
thousand years and will stand in in
Creasing power forever. for of His
| Kingdom there shall be no end"
The concluding illustration was OF
the destruction of the lauded Span
ish fleet and the wonderful victory of
the American ships, out from which
| tl,n s.,..olyar hi,o IIN. ,,i,t,,ol