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wonder and astonishment; and she told the king, that she had heard in her own land more of his wisdom and greatness than she was able then to believe, but now that she had seen and heard it for herself, she felt that the half had not been told her; for that his wisdom and prosperity exceeded all that she had heard. And then she exclaimed, “Happy are thy men; happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.” After this she gave the king a rich present of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones; there came no such abundance of spices, as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. And Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked; such presents, no doubt, as were suited to his magnificence and royal bounty, So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

And now, Edward, I have almost done with my history of Solomon. There is but one thing more for me to tell you about him; and you will be grieved, when you find how sad a thing this is. What will you think, when I tell you that this king, who had astonished all the earth with his wisdom in all matters of government, and in all the learning of this world, was not himself wise towards God: but so miserably foolish in his old age, as to spoil the worship of God by mixing it with the worship of idols !

Who would have believed that the same person, who had built so great and glorious a temple to the house of the Divine Name, could ever have built to idols? But so it was. He allowed his wives, whom he had married from among the heathen nations round

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forsaken him. There is a book in the Bible, called the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is supposed to have been written by the fallen king, in which he seems to have felt, at the last, the vanity of every thing, excepting the favour of God; and that those only are truly wise and truly happy, who are “ good in the sight of the Lord.”

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE KINGDOM DIVIDED.

M. WHEN king Solomon was dead, his son Rehoboam was made king, and reigned in his stead. He was king, as Saul and David and Solomon had been before him, over all the twelve tribes of Israel, which descended from the twelve sons of Jacob.

So all Israel met together, and came to the city of Shechem, which was in the middle of the kingdom, to make Rehoboam king; and Rehoboam also came there to receive his father's crown from their hands.

Now it happened, at this time, that the people were very much discontented. They, therefore, complained to Rehoboam, and begged of him to take away those evils under which they were suffering, that so he might begin his reign happily, and have a willing people to serve him.

Had Rehoboam been wise, he would have listened to the complaint of his people, and spoken kindly to them. So indeed the wise old men, who had waited on his father, advised him to do.

But Rehoboam was a young man, and, like most

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