The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-08-21
DR., TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

DIVINE.
Subject: A Joy Inspiring Rellgion-solo
| mons Wisdom-Sweet Spices OF Chris
| tianity - It Counteracts All Trouble -
| No Dolorous Music Needed.
Copyright 1ool.l
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse
DR.. Talmage corrects some OF the 1aise
notions about religion, and represents IL
as being Joy inspiring instead OF doiorousi
text, II. Chronicles ix, 9, "Of spices great
abundance; neither was r. there any sIcn
s spies as, as ;, the Queen OF She0a gave A'ns
What is that building out yonder, glito,
tering in the sun? Have you not heard:
It is in the house Of the forest OF Lebanon. o:
| King Solomon has just taken to 1t ms
bride, the Princess Of Egypt. You see the
| pillars of the portico and great tower,
| adorned with 1000 shields OF gold, nung
on the outside of the tower, 50o OF the
shields of gold manufactured at solomon
order: 500 were captured by David, his
father, in battle. See how they blaze In
the MONDAY sun! L..
Solomon goes up the ivory stairs OF MS
| 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 80 many that tne
caterers of the palace have to PROVIDE
every day 100 sheep and s thirteen oxen. Ken
the stamping and paving of 1000 tne
horses in the royal stables. There We're
important officials who had charge, of the
work of gathering the straw and the bar
lev for these horses. King Solomon was
an early riser, tradition says, and used to
take ride out at daybreak, and when IN
his white apparel, behind the swl5test
horses of all the realm and followed py
mounted archers in purple, as the caval-
cade % dashed through the streets Of Jeru-
salem 7 suppose it was something worth
getting up at S o'clock in the morning to
| look at.
Solomon was not like some of the kings
| Of the present day-crowned imbecillty.
| All the splendors Of his palace and retinue
were echpsed by his intellectual power.
| Why, he seemed to know everything ne
was the first great naturalist the worid
| 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 tlsh
and aviaries with foreign birds, and tradl;;
| tion saws these birds were sot we'll tanned
| that Solomon might walk clear across the
| city under the shadow of their wings as
| they hovered and fitted about him.
More than this, he had great reputa-
ton for the conumdrums and riddles that hf,
he made and guessed. He and King; 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 riddle.
| The Solomonic navy 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
Balkis, 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 otner eI
things, to King Solomon a diamond with
| ahole go small that needle could not pen
citrate it, asking him to thread that cia:,
| mond. And Solomon took 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 a 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
| a slave on the back of swift horse and
| qalloped him around and around the park
until the horse was nigh exhausted, and
| from the perspiration of the horse the
| goblet was filled. She also sent to King
| Solomon 500 boys in 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 u cheat.
Queen Balkis was 80 pleased with the
| acuteness of Solomon that she said. I'll
just go and see him for myself" Yonder
| it comes-the cavalcade-horses and dro-
medaries, chariots and charioteers. jing-
| ling harness and Gathering hoofs and blaz-
ing shields and flying ensigns and clapplng
| cymbals. The place is saturated with the
| perfume. She brings cinnamon and sat,
| from and calamus and frankncense and all
manner of sweet spices. AS the retinue
sweeps through the gate the armed guard
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-
veyors of the palace discover what my text
announces: "Of spices, great abundance.
| Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon"
Well, my friends, you know that all the
ologians agree in making Solomon type
of Christ, and in making the Queen of
Sheba a type of every truth seeker, and 1
| will take the responsibility of saying that
all the spikenard and cassia and frankin-
cense which the Queen of Sheba brought
to King Solomon is nightly suggestive of
the sweet spices of our holy religion.
| technicalities and angular facts and chro-
nological tables and dry statistics.
Our religion is compared to frankincense
| and to cassia, but never to nigltshadc.
| 1t is bundle cf myrrh. 1t is a dash of
! holy light. 1t is a sparkle of cool foun-
tains. It is an opening of opaline gates:
| It is a collection of spices. Would God.
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 intolerab!e.
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, their
their days monotonous. What is neces-
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 gleam
| cf an eternal gain, if between the betray-
ais of life there came the gleam of the un-
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
stupid monotone, would be glorious in
spiration, penduuming 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 srend the
greater part of cnes life, as many women
do, in planning for the meals, aal stitch
ing garments that will soon Re rent again,