cold-hearted, intellectual, impersonal.  Moreover, it may be that even in the midst of his follies he retained the perception of moral distinctions.  His will was probably enslaved, so that he had not the power to restrain his passions, and his head may have become giddy in his high elevation.  How few men could have resisted such powerful temptations as assailed Solomon on every side!  The heart of the Christian world cannot but feel that so gifted a man, endowed with every intellectual attraction, who reigned for a time with so much wisdom, who recognized Jehovah as the guide and Lord of Israel, as especially appears at the dedication of the Temple, and who wrote such profound lessons of moral wisdom, would not be suffered to descend to the grave without the divine forgiveness.  All that we know is that he was wise, and favored beyond all precedent, but that he adopted the habits and fell in with the vices of Oriental kings, and lost the affections of his people.  He was exalted to the highest pinnacle of glory; he descended to an abyss of shame,—­a sad example of the infirmity of human nature which all ages will lament.

In one sense Solomon left nothing to his nation but monuments of despotic power, and trophies of a material civilization which implied the decay of primitive virtues.  He did not perpetuate his greatness; he did not even enlarge the boundaries of his kingdom.  Like Louis XIV. he simply squandered a great inheritance.  He did not leave his kingdom morally so strong as it was under David; it was even dismembered under his legitimate successor.  The grand Temple indeed remained the pride of every Jew, but David had bequeathed the treasures to build it.  The national resources had been wasted in palaces and in court festivities; and although these had contributed to a material civilization, especially the sums expended on fortresses, aqueducts, reservoirs, and roads for the caravans, this civilization, so highly and justly prized in our age, may—­under the peculiar circumstances of the Jews, and the end for which, by the Mosaic dispensation, they were intended to be kept isolated—­have weakened those simpler habits and sentiments which favored the establishment of their religion.  It must never be lost sight of that the isolation of the Hebrew race, unfavorable to such developments of civilization as commerce and the arts, was providentially designed (as is evidenced by the fact of accomplishment in spite of all obstacles) to keep alive the worship of Jehovah until the fulness of time should come,—­until the Messiah should appear to establish a new dispensation.  The glory and grandeur of Solomon did not contribute to this end, but on the other hand favored idolatrous rites and corrupting foreign customs; and this is proved by the rapid decline of the Jews in religious life, patriotic ardor, and primitive virtues under the succeeding kings, both of Judah and Israel, which led ultimately to their captivity.  Politically, Solomon may have added to the temporary power of the nation, but spiritually, and so fundamentally, he caused an eclipse of glory.  And this is why his kingdom departed from his house, and he left a sullied name.