The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-06-24

bricks into a pile. They were arranged In most exquisite designs with reference to size and color. There in jewels the artist pictured the plumage of the birds s1rutting about in the gardens and the eolors of the flowers lifting up their red lips to be kissed by the setting sun and of the rainbows playing among the foun- tains There in this wonderland was the peacock throne upon which Akbar the Great sat. which throne alone was sup posed to De worth $15.000 GOO. 1t was in such an open hall of justice that King Solomon used to sit. and any one who wisheh could come direct ro the king and get justice.
 Let us for little while enter the Jeru- salem court today The great Hebrew llng has been hearing applicant after applicant He begins to look weary with his work. No sooner Is his last case fin ished than he turns sharply and says, "Who Is next?" With that two women come forward. They are both immoral or bad women, yet each laid claim to a little boy as her own. What did King Solomon do? Did he say 'It makes no difference how this judgment goes; they are only social outcasts anyway?' Oh. no, that was not Solomon's way He said to him. self: q must help the true mother. I must give her back her baby. So I must be sure and make a right decision. I can CAhiS No AAiio bS t' ouptti AhSN'
 The True Mother.
 Then he turns in an indifferent way and says to the executioner: Don't let us be bothered any more about this matter. Let us compromise the case. Cut the baby In two and give each claimant a half The true mother at once falls on her knees and begins to beg for the life of her child "Oh, my king. my king, my good kingl'" she said Save the life of my baby. Let this woman have the child if necessary, but save my baby alive" The other woman uttered not one word of protest. She merely turned and said: All right. Let the king kill the child. that 1t be neither thine or mine" No sooner did she say this than at once in that open court Solomon, with flashing eyes, said: Give the baby to the weeping woman. She is the true mother" Was judgment ever better rendered? Could better illustration be presented to show how Christ Is always the friend of the weak and the helpless?
 Christ is such Saviour that though we may come to him without a friend and reeking with sin as social lepers, though we may have sinned not only seven times. but seventy times seven, yet if we will only come in His dear name pleading for forgiveness at the cross He will forgive and He will save us. He will not only save one who comes pleading for mercy, but He will save all.
 In the great money center of Holland. in the city of Rotterdam, there stands a building called the House of a Thousand Fears" During the Eolland-Spanish war of 1572, when Rotterdam was sacked by a foreign foe, 1000 men,s swomen and child ren were supposed to have concealed themselves within these walls At the door of this house the owner killed kid .;,,1yI IN1 tI,a step When the invading soldiers came to this house and saw the blood they sup posed the house had been sacked, and they passed on Those Hollanders in the House of a Thousand Fears found safe ty through the blood of kid. In this world of sin and sorrow hundreds of mill lions of poor mortals have found safety through the sacrifice of the Divine Lamb In the judgment hall of Christ Jesus will always save those who have come plead ing for mercy through His blood. as King Solomon was always the friend and the savior of the weak and the helpless in the great royal judgment hall of the Jeru- salem capital.
 A Worlds Christ.
 When we talk about King Solomon blessing his own people we also find Christ the Saviour of the Jew. When we Ind King Solomon welcoming the Queen of Sheba to his court we find Christ the Saviour of the Gentiles as well. Jesus did not simply come to be Hebrew Christ He came to be worlds Christ. Can you not find this symbol in the glor- ions welcome which the ruler of the Da- yidic capital gave to this beautiful, dusky queen of the southland?
 "Oh what is the use of bothering with the Queen of Sheba?" I hear some Of the cabinet ministers say to the King "She is from a country way ofr 10 the south. We can never get any trade rom her. If there was canal cut through the Suez isthmus, that might be differ ent. But all intercourse with that nation must come overland by camel back through regions infested with robbers Why do we not turn and court the affec- tions of those nearer at homer An, methinks I can hear the great klng say, 'qf we can help any people We must be1n them all alike. All who will come to me T shall help, whether they be Jews or gentiles, whether they be whites or blacks. whether they be men or women They shall all be treated alike" And so, standing amid swaying palms and the incense bearing servants and amid the lowing courters of the welcoming King. I learn that when we go forth to Chris tian work we are not to hem In our gos- nel 1nNltat1OnS by ally iidCiOhoiibS ''i ps any one social class. We must carry the gospel to all peoples of all climes.
 Now comes the practical question Are YOU and I willing to come to our Saviour King, as did the Queen of Sheba, who sat at the feet of King Solomon? Are we ready. like this queen of my text. to bring our priceless gifts? Are we ready to come and bow at the feet of Jesus and give him the most priceless of gifts
 4f, ,rif 0f nfty- oar rthlV of our eternal souls? Oh my friends if we continue much longer to loiter In the faroff country. do you believe we will ever be able to come and sit at the Masters feet in the new Jerusalem?
 The Poets Answer.
 In closing I am going to ask you to put to yourselves the same questions the consumptive college student, Richard Kirk White. put to himself He had but a few more weeks to live One day while he was walking through a flower garden he found a card with these words on 1t pinned to tall plant:
 To think spring Is yet to come
 That I am not to see:
 To think flower Is yet to bloom
 From dust that I shall be.
 With that the dying poet took out his pencil and upon the back of this card he wrote these words, which he had to answer, as well as all of us have to an- swer:
 fled
 And times and seasons OCT.
 When all that can die shall be dead,
 That I shall die no more