built for the worship of God with humble and earnest prayer. Have we dedicated the temples of our hearts to God? He is ready to take up his abode in them, and fill them with holiness and peace. Does he dwell in your heart, my young friend? Have you consecrated it to his service? Or is it still the sad and fearful residence of selfish, sensual, and unhallowed desires?

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CHAPTER XLVI.

THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLS THE TEMPLETHE FEAST OF DEDICATION, FOLLOWED BY THAT OF TABERNACLES-SOLOMON'S BUILDINGS.

WHEN Solomon had made an end of praying, he arose from his knees, and standing, blessed all the congregation with a loud voice, in these words, "Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. And let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require : that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his com

mandments, as at this day." To this he added, "Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant." The petitions which Solomon offered up were heard and answered; the solemn services of dedication in which he and his people had been engaged were accepted. "The fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory · of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.".

The feast of dedication was followed by that of tabernacles, both together occupying a space of fourteen days. At the expiration of that period the king sent the vast concourse of people to their

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respective homes, to which they returned, blessing their young monarch, and rejoicing, with grateful hearts, in all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to the nation at large. Happy sovereign! Happy people! at peace with all the world; at peace among themselves; and enjoying, in an eminent degree, the divine protection and favor. Alas, that their king should afterwards fall into the grossest sins, and by his example lead his people also to depart from their allegiance to Jehovah; and that both should thus forfeit their exalted privileges and blessings, and draw down upon them the severe judgments of that Being whom they offended.

Having completed the temple, and dedicated it in so auspicious a manner to the worship of God, Solomon soon began to turn his attention to other great works which he had in view, and especially the erection of some splendid buildings for his own residence and that of his wife. In doing this, he aimed to maintain the dignity to which he felt that a monarch of his power and wealth was entitled. He gives us himself, in the second chapter of Ecclesiastes, an account of many of these operations, in which he was engaged for a series of years. "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of

all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me seryants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem."

Three principal buildings are spoken of as having been erected by Solomon: a palace for himself, another for his wife the daughter of Pharaoh, and "the house of the forest of Lebanon." Some suppose that the two former were only wings of the same great edifice, of which the latter was the front and main part, deriving its appellation from the fact that it was built almost entirely of materials brought from the forests of Lebanon. Others think that it was a royal residence in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, and was named from the great number of cedar pillars which supported its galleries and halls, or because it was surrounded by groves of such trees.

No pains and expense were spared to give to these edifices the highest degree of magnificence