there, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace, and when thou hearest forgive. And Solomon prayed thus a long time for all Israel before the Lord, that, even in sin and in captivity, if they turned towards God in his holy house they might be forgiven.

And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

And the Lord appeared unto Solomon the second time, as he had done at Gibeon. And the Lord said. unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. If thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments, but go and serve other gods, and worship them, then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and Israel shall be a proverb

And at this

and a byword among all people. house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them, therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices and very much gold, and precious stones. And Solomon told her all her questions. And she gave the king gold, and spices, and precious stones. And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba whatsoever she asked. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her

servants.

Now all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, none were of silver, it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. But it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his

heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father, and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God oí Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Solomon's servant, even he lifted up his hand against the king.

And the time that Solomon reigned over Israel was forty years. And he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

It seems very sad that Solomon, who in his young days was so anxious to serve and please God, should in his old age have turned away and become even an idolator. God had blessed him greatly, and had given him the great honour of building the temple. But Solomon disobeyed God, and married wives out of those idolatrous nations, with whom God had forbidden him to have any thing to do, and in consequence o. this disobedience he fell into fresh sin, and lost the favour of God.

Whose son was Solomon?

What great work did he undertake for God?

How long was Solomon building the Temple?

Did God promise to dwell and answer prayers there?

What queen came to see Solomon?

Was Solomon the richest as well as wisest of men?

How did he lose God's favour? and how long did he reign?

Ahab and Elijah.

JING Ahab reigned with feeble hand,
Led by his wicked queen ;

And everywhere throughout the land
Were idol temples seen.

For Jezebel, the queen, was born

On Zidon's heathen shore,

And Israel learned to treat with scorn

The God they loved before.

But God in mercy sent again
His messenger to teach;

Who, all through Ahab's wicked reign,
Failed not the truth to preach.

This was Elijah the Tishbite,

Who dwelt by Cherith's brook ;
Whilst from the ravens in their flight
His daily food he took.

For him strange miracles were wrought,
The widow's store was blessed;

And fire from heav'n, when he besought,
God's majesty confessed.

But Ahab, knowing what was true,
In sin persisted still;

So hard we find it to renew

A once perverted will.

CHAPTER XXV.

Ahab's wicked reign. Elijah the Tishbite. His miracles. God shews the idolators his power.

IND after the death of Solomon all Israel rose

up against Rehoboam his son, and made

Jeroboam their king. But the tribe of Judah followed David's house, and had Rehoboam as their king. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

Now Rehoboam and Jeroboam both died, and Asa the grandson of Rehoboam was reigning over Judah, when Ahab the son of Omri was made king over the rest of Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, daughter of the king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel which were before him.

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not