the servants of so great a king, they would naturally speak of their sovereign, and especially of that subject which gave him a superiority over all the kings of the earth, his wisdom concerning the name of the Lord. This report had been impressed upon her heart; for when it is mentioned that she had heard of the fame of Solomon, it is implied that the report which had been made had much affected her.

And here, my friends, the history represents the first step in the experience of a true Christian. The servants of the true Solomon, the Prince of Peace, are sent into the world on his business. When they are thus employed, they speak wherever they go concerning his famethat is, among those with whom their lot is cast in private. And, especially, his ministering servants declare in public the glories of Jesus, and of his wisdom in the name of the Lord: that he is the Son of God; the Saviour of sinners; the Friend, the Advocate, the Redeemer, the Hope, the King and Lord of all his people. For this you will ever observe, as one of the marks of the servants of Christ,when called to exercise their ministry, like Philip the Evangelist, they open their lips and speak of Jesus. I might refer you to your own observation in proof of this.

In your

travels, in your occasional excursions, or when visited by Clergymen, if you have remarked those ministers who seem really in earnest, who have studied the Bible, whose life and conversation become their sacred characterwhen you hear such ministers, do not they declare the fame of Jesus? Nor is it surprising; for when they serve such a Lord-one so good, so great, so glorious, one from whom they have received such unspeakable grace, and one who is ready to communicate the same grace to others-if they should not set forth his praise, the very stones would speak. There are some who disregard their statements; while others, by Divine mercy, are deeply impressed by them. They hear of the fame of Jesus, and the interest it produces, when compared with the statement of some dry doctrine or philosophical precept, is as different as it would be, were they told of an unexpected visit from a beloved friend, or of a mere every-day occurrence. It is the Messiah of God, the Prophet of the Church, the Saviour of sinners, revealed to their souls.

My friends, how thankful ought we to be that this report of the true Solomon has reached our ears! and still more so, if that report has really impressed our hearts; for this is the

first step to our eternal peace. It leads also to a second, which I mention as the next incident in the history.

II. When she heard of the fame of Solomon, it is said, "she came to prove him with hard questions."

There are indeed some hard questions concerning the name of the Lord, or concerning his religion, which are highly interesting to an inquirer after truth. The first of these is, How can man be just with God? or, how a sinner can stand accepted before the Lord? The interest of this question, and how unable man is to resolve it himself, cannot be more strikingly set forth than by the Prophet Micah. He introduces one making this inquiry, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?*" Such were the difficulties of the subject to his mind. He knew not how he ought to come; whether with a multitude of sacrifices, or with

costly offerings, or even whether he must not present his own child. No philosopher can resolve the question: we may in vain study all that the wisest of the Heathen have written; they cast no light upon the subject. They may endeavour, indeed, to lull the conscience and darken the understanding; but they give no certainty, no satisfaction to the inquiring mind. It is a hard question, how a sinner is to stand before God.

Another of these hard questions is, How one accustomed to do evil may be brought to take delight in the commandments of God? For, my friends, though a dishonest person, who hears of the mercy of the Lord, may abuse that revelation to encourage him to sin, yet the man who is impressed with the fame of Jesus as a Saviour, in hearing of that fame hears of the evil of sin, and of the misery it has produced: and this those who receive the true report will hear, since the very name of a Saviour implies the misery of sin; for where no loss is, no Saviour is required. One who hears this evil of sin, next to his acceptance with God, has no greater desire than to walk in the way of his commandments. But how can one who has been accustomed to do evil learn to do well? How can one who, for twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years, has been pursuing the vain and sinful

habits of the world, how can he turn to another course; take delight in the service of the Saviour, in the society of the children of God, in reading his word, in praising his name, in obedience to his commands, and in all those acts of devotedness in which a true Christian walks? "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?"-This is indeed a hard question; a question which no mere moralist has yet been able to answer. For it is quite a different thing to state an evil, and to provide an adequate remedy for that evil. Plans may be formed, theories may be adopted, resolutions may be made, and yet the habit of sin cannot be overcome. He who has heard, therefore, of the fame of Jesus, comes to have this hard question solved.

A third of these hard questions is concerning a future state; How, after this short span of life is ended, a happy immortality may ensue? This, like the others, is a question that no human philosopher could ever solve. Some, indeed, of the wise men seemed, from the light of reason, to deem it probable that there might be a future state; but to speak with any certainty of its existence, and much more of its nature, was beyond their power. It was hidden in the veil of obscurity; and no lamp that their minds lighted could penetrate the darkness.