o it still more of His goodness, visited
the sleeping Solomon in the stillness of the night.

"Ask what I shall give thee," He said; and as the voice fell upon
Solomon's ear--

"The heart of the sleeper beat high in his breast,
Joy quickened his pulse;"

for that was the voice that he then most loved, and most desired to
hear.

And what an exceedingly gracious offer it made! To get whatever he
should desire! Had ever grandest king been so favoured? But what should
he ask for--this youthful king, to whom life was just opening out as a
pleasant paradise, offering him all that seemed worth the coveting? Was
there anything yet wanting to him? How many things he might have
requested!

His father is said to have died, at the age of seventy years, feeble and
broken down. Would he, in so short a time, be tired of living? Would he,
so soon, be ready to leave the glory and honour to which he had been
called? Should he ask for length of days? Should he request that, till
he had reached an age exceeding that of Methuselah, the cold hand of
death might not be laid upon him, and the greedy and all-devouring tomb
might not claim him as its victim? Should he ask that he might plant his
feet upon the neck of all his enemies, not one daring to raise up a
finger against him? Or should he desire that the vast riches, that had
been heaped up by his father during his long and victorious wars, and
that had been left to him, might be still further increased, and that he
might be the richest and grandest king on the face of the earth? Or
should he ask that he might become so famous, that so long as the world
should endure, his name might be a household word, not only amongst his
own people, but in distant lands, from east to west, and from north to
south, wherever the foot of man might tread?

[Illustration: VIEW NEAR GIBEON.]

Oh, no! All these things, which many would have desired, were to him but
empty things of earth, trifles that must pass away, vain bubbles that
must burst and disappear, leaving behind them no true and lasting
benefit. His thoughts did not dwell upon them, but upon higher, and
better, and nobler things.

[Illustration]

He, the last born of David's sons, had been chosen before all his
brethren, to sit upon the glorious throne of his father. Those over whom
he had been called to rule were the chosen people of God. They had been
taken out of all the nations of the world to be His own peculiar people,