The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-19
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis ". Clarl.) Se<FesfS<Sss<s9 <<F <FE<<esfee< <e<

Save for my daily range
 Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ might despair. -Tennyson. Fou. T Quarter. Lesson xii, Kings
 ax, 1-lo. December 20, 1908. The Queen of sheba Visits Solomon.
 The fame of Solomon spread to the ends of earth on the white wings Of her mer- chantmen. No need for his commercial travellers to spin yarns about their kingly employer. The very purchases they made spoke louder than words of his imperial tastes and inexha ustible treasury. His caravans aroused a curiosity that would not be silent until satisfied.
 The, fame of Solomon was singular in this, that. itawas religious. as distinguish. ed from fniIItafy or commercial renown His name was associated chiefly with a temple which he had built to Jehovah and with the worship there maintained It vas matter Of common report, also that he acknowledged his glory, wisdom and power as the gift of God. The fame of Solomon could not be 'dfsassQciated from the name of. the Lord.
 thousand miles away, happy, jewei- strewn Arabia lay, exhaling her aromatic the Red Sea. Such a country would na- turally be the Mecca of Solomon's pur- veyors. Sc he came to he known in the palace as well as on change.
 The queen was no dilettante. content with the attentions of obsequious cour. tiers; no mere dummy to hang royal robes and regalia on She had physical stamina. A thousand miles of Bedou,n and serpent-infested desert had no ter. TOTS for her. She had an alert mind. She coveted the luxury of an intellectual bout SIta vryfeM She hod a program of questions ready. There was a great deal in her heart about which she desired to commune with this imperial oracle.
 That is A superficial view, however, which affirms the queens motive to be one of mere curiosity. No doubt she de- sired to improve herself by travel; to sea a temple, palace. city, and court unri- valed-the wonder of the world. No doubt she wanted to quench her thirst at an intellectual fountain so copious and clear But in the final analysis. the reason fGI the action of this princess was a relig- ious one. Hers was a pious pilgrim ge What impelled her was the fame of Solo, mon, not as Rrince, builder, or mer- chant, but that which was associated witE the name of Jehovah. It was the glory of the Lord. as manifested in the king of Zion. which the queen of the East OSSlESQ LO 6cG.
 The approach of this ideal religious iri- quirer was a strong appeal of Providence to the favored monarch at a crucial hour of his career. At the moment when, in the enjoyment of the life. he was forget. ting the Giver, came this reminder that he was the almoner of the knowledge and grace of God to a world that knew him not. Solomon must needs recognize him. self as torch.bearer in the night of moral ignorance He must see his great advantage. because to him had been com mitted the Oracles of God. He must have felt himself the salt of the earth, the city set upon the hill
 The king met the queenly inquirer in a gracious manner He allowed her to com nune-" with him of all that was in her heart He answered all her questions. With that frankness which is always as- sociated with moral earnestness, the queen admitted her skepticism concern ing the rumors of his wisdom and achieve ments which had reached her in her far away land; but with inimitable naivette she affirmed that what she saw exceeded by more than half what she had heard, and closed with an ascription of praise to Solomon's God, which shows that her re- hgfous quest was not in vain.