Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-08-09
INSPIRING RELIGION.
DR.. TaImage breaches on SOloTon's
Wisdom-,Sweet Spices of
Christianity.
II Counteracts All Trouble =. No Do'orous
Music Needed.
copyright 1901. 7

tCOpyr1Rnt
WASHINGTON, d. Gin this discourse
DR.. Talmage corrects some OF tne lai:t
notions about religion, and represents IL
az being low inspiring instead OF dolorous;
text III Chronicles tx, 8, 'Of spices great
abundance: neither was there any such
spice as the Queen of Sheba gave hing
What is that building out yondeIr, glits,
terinp in the sun? Have you not hearu:
1t is in the house of the forest OF LeoahIH.
King Solomon has just taken 10 IL ms
nillars of the portico and great, tower,
Adorned with 1000 shields of gold, hung
On the outside of the tower 800 OF the
shields Of cold manufactured at Solomons
order. 500 were captured by David, his
father. in battle See how they blaze IN
the MONDAY sun!
Solomon goes up the ivory stars OF MS
throne. between twelve hons IN statuaIy,
and sits down on the back of the golden
hull. the head of the huge beast turned TO-
ward the people. The family and the at
tendants of the king are so many that the
caterers of the palace have to provide
every day 100 sheep and thirteen oxen,
besides the birds and the venison. hear
the stamping and paving OF 1000 hne
horses in the royal stables. There were
important officials who had charge, OF the
work of gathering the straw and the par
lev for these horses. Klng solomon was
take ride out at daybreak, and when III
his white apparel, behind the. swiftest
horses of all the realm and followed by
mounted archers in purple, as the caval'
cade dashed through the streets OF Jeru-
salem 7 suppose it was something worth
getting UP at 5 o'clock IN the morning 10
look at.
Solomon was not like some of the kings
of the present day-crowned imbeclllty.
All the snlendors Of his palace and retinue
were eclipsed by his intellectual power.
IVhv he seemed to know everything. lie
was the first great naturalist the world
ever saw. Peacocks from India strutted
the basaltic walk, and apes chartered IN
the trees. and deer stalked the parks, and
there were aquariums with foreign hsn
and aviaries with foreign birds, and tradl;,
ton saws these birds were so we'll tanned
that Solomon might walk clear across the
citv under the shadow of their wings as
thew lowered and fitted about him.
- More than this, he had great reputa,
t;on for the conumdrums and riddles that
he made and guessed. He and Klng HI
ram. his neighbor, used to sit by the hour
and ask riddles, each one paying In money
If he could not answer or guess the rlddie.
The Solomonic navy visited all the worlo,
and the sailors, of course, talked aoou5
the riddles and enigmas that he MADE mi ana
Balkis. away off south, heard OF 1t, and
sent messengers with a few riddles that
she would like to have Solomon solve and
a few puzzles that she would like to have
him find out She sent, among other
things. to King Solomon diamond with
ahole so small that needle could not pen
citrate it, asking him to thread that ola,
mond. And Solomon. took a worm ana
nut it at the opening in the diamond, and
The worm crawled through, leaving the
thread in the diamond. The queen also
sent goblet to Solomon, asking him to
iii il with water that did not pour from
the skv and that did not rush out from
the earth, and Immediately Solomon put
a slave on the back of a swift horfs ana
galloped him around and around the park
until the horse was nigh exhausted, ana
goblet was filed. She also sent to hi ing
Solomon 500 boys in girls dress, and oVG
girls in boys dress, wondering if he would
he acute enough to find out the deception
Immediately Solomon, when he saw them
wash their faces, knew from the way they
applied the water that it was all CHEAT
Queen Balkis was so pleased with tn, the
acuteness of Solomon that she sand, ~
lust 90 and see him for myself" Yonder
4 comes-the cavalcade-horses and dro
medaries, chariots and characters. jung
ling harness and Gathering hoofs and biaz
ing shields and flying ensigns and clapplne
cymbals. The place is saturated with the
perfume. She brings cinnamon and sat
from and calamus and frankincense and al
manner Of sweet spices. AS the retlnuf
through the fasf ne eres the GUAR
ioteers as the wheels grind the gravel in
front of the pillared portico of the king
Queen Balkis alights in an atmosphere be
witched with perfume. As the dromeda
ries are driven up to the kings store
houses and the bundles of camphor are
unloaded, and the sacks of cinnamon and
the boxes of spices are opened the pur
announces: "Of spices, great abundance
Neither was there any such spice as the
Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon"
Well. my friends, you know that all the
ologians agree in making Solomon a type
of Christ, and in making the Queen Of
Skeba type of every truth seeker, and
will take the responsibility OF saying that
all the spikenard and cassia and franklin
cense which the Queen of Sheba brought
to King Solomon is nightly suggestive OF
the sweet spices of our holy religion
Christianity is not collection OF sharp
technicalties and angular facts and chro-
biological tables and dry statistics.
Our religion is compared to frankincense
and to cassia, but never to nightshade
Tt is a bundle of myrrh. 1t is dash OF
holy light. 1t is a sparkle of cool foun-
tains. 1t is an opening of opaline, gates;
1t is a collection of spices. Would God
that we were as wise in taking spices to
our divine King as Queen Balkis was wise
in taking the spices to the earthly Solo
mon.
The fact is that the duties and cares OF
this life, coming to us from time to time
are stupid often and inane and intolerable
Here are men who have been battering
climbing, pounding, hammering for twenty
years, forty years, fifty years. One great
long drudgery has their life been, theil
faces anxious, their feelings benumbed
their days monotonous. What is neces
sary to brighten up that mans life and tc
sweeten that acid disposition and to put
sparkle into the mans spirits? The spic
erry of our holy religion. Why, if between
the losses of life there dashed the CLEAN
of an eternal gain, if between the betray
ais of life there came the CLEAN of the un'
in business we found ministering spirits
flying to and fro in our office and store
and shop, everyday life, instead of being
stupid monotone, would be glorious In
spiration, penduluming between calm sat
isfaction and high rapture.
How any woman keeps house without
the religion of Christ to help her is q
mystery to me. To have to spend the
greater part of ones life, as many women
do, in planning for the meals, and stitch
ing garments that will soon be rent again
and deploring breakages, and supervising
tardy subordinates, and driving off dust
that soon again will settle, and doing the
same thing day in and day out and year
in and year out until the hair silvers, and
the back stoops, and the spectacles crawl
to the eyes, and the grave breaks open
under the thin sole of the shoe-oh, it is
long monotony! But when Christ comes