SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1920, Page 9

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

ITS WONDERFUL GRANDEUR. COSTLIEST EVER BUILT. Mr. F. Gloucester, writing in the New York Herald on the proposed restoration of Solomon's Temple, says: —'"This famous fabric was situated on Mount Moriah near the place where Abraham was about to offer up h'is son Isaac, and where Da vid met, and appeasetl the destroying angel, who was visible over the thrashing floor of Oruan the Jebusite. It was begun in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon, the third after the death ot David, 480 years after the passage of the Red Sea, and on the second day of the month Zif, being the second month of the sacred year which answers to the 21st April, in the year of tkj world 22!12, and was "nrried on with such prodigious speed that it was finished in all its parts in little more than seven years. By the masonic art and the wise regulations of Solomon this famous edifice was erected without the sound of the axe, hammer, or any tool of iron, for the stones were all hewed, squared and numbered in the quarries of Zeradatiiah, where they were raised; the timbers were Pitted and prepared in the forest of Lebanon and conveyed by sea in floats to ■lappa and thence by land to Jerusalem, where the fabric was erected by the assistance of wooden instruments prepared for that purpose. And when the building was finished its several parts fitted with such exact nicety that it had more the appearance of being the handiwork of the Supreme Architect, of the Universe than of human bands. The structure, for beauty, magnificence and expense, txceeded any building which was ever erected. It was built of large stones of white marble, curiously hewn and so artfully joined together that they appeared like one entire stone. Its inner wails, beams, posis, doors, floors, and ceilings were made of cedar and olive wood and planks of fir, which were entirely covered with plates of gold with various beautiful engravings and adorned with precious jewels of many splendid colors. The nails which fastened these planks \vei;e also of gold, with heads of curious workmanship. The roof was of olive wood, covered with gold, and when the sun shone thereon the reflection from, it was of such refulgent splendor that it dazzled the eyes of all who beheld it. Tlie court in which the temple stood and the courts without were adorned oil all sides with stalely buildings and cloisters, and the gates entering therein were exquisitely beautiful and elegant. The vessels consecrated to the perpetual use of the temple were suited to the magnificnce of the edifice in which they were deposited and used. "Josephus states that there were 140,000 of those vessels which were made of gold, and 3,340,444 of silver; 10,000 vestments for the priests made of silk with purple girdles, and 2,000,000 of purple vestments for the singers. There were also 200,000 trumpets and 40,000 other musical instruments made use of in the temple and in worshipping God. According to tiie most accurate computation of the number of talents of gold, silver and brass laid out upon the temple, the sum amounts to £(>,U01,522,n00, and the jewels are reckoned to exceed this sum. The gold Vessels are estimated 1 #t £5415,296.203 4s, and the silver ones

!at ,•€430,344,000, amounting in alt to £984,032,230 4s. In addition to this, there were expenses for workmen end jfor materials brought from Mount LeIbanon and the quarries of Zeradaftah. There were 20,000 men per month in het banon employed in felling and preparing ' the timbers for the graftsmen to hew them; 70,000 to carry burdens, 80,000 to hew the stones and timber, and 3300 overseers of the work, who were all employed for seven years, to whom, besides their Wages and diet, King Solomon gave as a free gift £0,733,077! The treasure left by David toward carrying on this noble and glorious work is reckoned to be £911,410,207, to which, if we add King Solomon's annual revenue, his trading to Ophir for gold, and the presents made him by all the earth, as mentioned in First Kings, x., 24 and 25, we shall not wonder at his being able to carry on so extensive a work, nor can we, with impiety, question its surpassing all other was built by the immediate direction of heaven."