The design of the queen of Sheba, in repairing to Jerusalem, was not merely to pay a visit of ceremony. She "heard of his fame concerning the name of the Lord," and "she came to prove him with hard questions." The report, not only of the riches, splendour, and wisdom of Solomon, but also of the miraculous interferences of the God of Israel on behalf of his people, and of his peculiar favour to this monarch, had reached the distant residence of this Arabian queen; and so deep was the interest it excited in her bosom, that she determined to undertake a journey, long and hazardous as it might be, for the sake of investigating these extraordinary facts. It is evident she attached a considerable degree of credibility to the representations she had received; and relying no longer upon subordinate means of information, she resolved upon a course of diligent inquiry. When and where shall we discover a similar zeal to acquire a knowledge of "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God?" How often have Christian ministers occasion to adopt the prophetic strain, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" How often do all the personal excellencies, the moral glories of him who is described as "a greater than Solomon," fail to attract mankind? Satisfied with mere report--few apply to the sacred Scriptures as the immediate and purest means of instruction in "the truth as it is in Jesus," after the long-recorded example of the ancient Bereans, who "received the word (of Paul and Silas) with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Bishop Hall very pertinently remarks, "No doubt many, from all coasts, came to learn and wonder, none with so much note as this noble daughter of Cham; who herself deserves the next wonder to him whom she came to hear and admire: that a woman, a princess, a rich and great queen, should travel from the remotest south, from Sheba, a region famous for the greatest delicacies of nature, to learn wisdom, is a matchless example. We know merchants that venture to either Indies for wealth; others we know daily to cross the seas for wanton curiosity; some few philosophers we have known to have gone far for learning; and among princes, it is no unusual thing to send their ambassadors to far distant kingdoms, for transaction of business either of state or commerce: but that a royal lady should in person undertake and overcome so tedious a journey, only to observe and inquire into the mysteries of nature, art, religion, is a thing past both parallel and imitation. Why do we think any labour great, or any way long, to hear a greater than Solomon? How justly shall the queen of the South rise up in judgment, and condemn us, who may hear wisdom crying in our streets, and neglect her?"