Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-08-15
A JOYOUS RELIGION.
DR.. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON,
Solomon's Wisdom Sweet Spices
of Christianity-No DoIorous Music
Needed.
downright 1901.

WASHINGTON, d. C.-In this discourse
DR. Talmage corrects some of the false
notions about religion. and represents it
as being JOY inspiring instead of dolorous;
text, II. Chronicles ix, 9, ''Of spices great
abundance: neither was there any such
spice as the Queen OF Sheba gave King
solomon"
What is that building out yonder, gilt
tering in the sun? Have you not heard
j is IN the house Of the forest of Lebanon.
FRS solomon has Just taken to it his
bride, the Princess of Egypt. You see the
adorned with 1000 shields of gold, hung
on the outside OF the tower, 500 of the
shields of gold manufactured at Solomon 5
order; 500 were captured by David, his
father. in battle. See how they blaze in
the MONDAY sun,
Solomon goes up the ivory stairs of his
throne, between twelve lions in statuary,
and sits down on the back Of the golden
bull. 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. l hear
the stamping and paving of 1000 fine
horses in the royal stables. There were
important officials who had charge. of the
work of gathering the straw and the bar
ley for these horses King Solomon was
an early riser. tradition saws, and used to
take a ride out at daybreak, and when in
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 | suppose it was something worth
getting up at ) O'Clock IN the morning to
look at
So'omon was not like some of the kings
CT the present dav-cr0wned imbeclllty.
IL y 49,. j -,
were eciipsed by his intellectual power.
Why, he seemed to know everything. He
was the first great naturalist the world
ever saw PeacOcks from India strutted
the basaltic walk and apes chartered in
the trees, and deer sta!6ed the parks, and
there were aGuariumS with foreign hsh
and aviaries with foreign birds. and tradi-
ton says these birds were so vel tanned
that Solomon might walk Gear across the
city under the shadow Of their wings as
they lowered and fitted about him.
Move than this. he had a great reputa-
ton for the conumGrUms and riddles that
he made and guessed. He and King Hi
ram, his neiGhhor, used to sit by the hour
and ask riddles, cacn one paying IN money
if he could not answer OF guess the riddle.
The So.omOnic navv visited all the world.
and the sailors. OF course, talked about
the riddles and enigmas that he made and
solved, and the news spread until Queen
Bajkis, away off south, heard Of it, 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 a diamond with
ahoie so small that a needle could not pen
citrate it, asking him to thread that dia-
mond. And Solomon took a worm and
put 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
fill it with water that did not pour from
the sky and that did not rush out from
the earth. and Immediately Solomon put
galloped him around and around the park
until the horse was nigh exhausted, and
from the perspiration Of the horse the
goblet was filed. She also sent to King
Solomon 500 boys III girls dress and 500
girls in boys dress, wondering if he would
be 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 the
acuteness of Solomon that she said "Pll
Just go and see him for myself" Yonder
it comes-the observation-disclosures and dro-
medaries. chariots and characters. jing-
ling harness and gathering hoOfs and b!aZ-
ing shields and flying ensigns and claDping
cymbals. The place is saturated with the
perfume. She brings cinnamon and SAT-
from and calamus and frankincense and all
manner OF sweet spices. As the retinue
sweeps through the gate the armed guard
inhales the aroma. Halt" cries the char
ioteers rs 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 aud 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
oogians agree in making So ONION type
of Christ, and in making the Queen OF
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
technicalities and angular facts and chro-
biological tables and dry Statistics
Our religion is compared to frankincense
and to cassia, but never TO nightshade.
1t is a bundle of myrrh. It is a dash OF
hoy 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 BalSis was wise
in taking the spices to the earthly Solo
mon.
The fact is that the duties and cares of
this lie. 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 druid gerry has their life been, their
faces anxious, their feelings benumbed.
their days monotonous. What is naces-
sary to brighten up that mans life and to
sweeten that acid disposition and to put
sparkle into the mans spirits? The spic
cry 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 gieam of the I'M
dying friendship of Christ, if in dull times
in business we found ministering spirits
flying to and fro in our Office and store
and shop, everyday life. instead of being
splration, penduluming between calm sat
isfaction and high rapture.
How any woman keeps house without
the religion of Christ to help her is a
mystery to me. To have to spend the
greater part of ones life as many women
do, III 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 cut 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
, the drawing room, and comes to the
kitchen, and comes to the nursery, and
comes to the dwelling, then how CHEEKY
becomes all womanly duties She is never
alone now. Martha gets through fretting
and joins Mary at the feet of Jesus. All
day long Deborah is happy because she can
help Lapidoth: Hannah, because she can
make a coat for young Samuel; Miriam.
because she can watch her infant brother:
Rachel. because she can help her father
water the stock; the widow of Sarepta. be-
cause the cruise of oil is being replenished.
l must confess that a great deal of the
religion of this day is utterly .insipid.
There is nothing piquant or elevating
about it. Men and women go around
cumming psalms in a minor key and cul-
tivating melancholy. and their worship
/ =,