’And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

’Behold, I have done according to thy words:  lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

’And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour:  so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.’

And the promise, says Solomon himself, was fulfilled.

In his days Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea-shore, for multitude, eating and drinking and making merry; and Solomon reigned over all kings, from the river to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt; and they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.  And he had peace on all sides round about him.  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his own vine and his own fig-tree, all the days of Solomon.

‘I was great,’ he says, ’and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour . . .

’Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do:  and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

’And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly:  for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.’

Yes, my dear friends, we are too apt to think of exceeding riches, or wisdom, or power, or glory, as unalloyed blessings from God.  How many are there who would say,—­if it were not happily impossible for them,—­Oh that I were like Solomon!  Happy man that he was, to be able to say of himself, ’I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.  And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour.’

To have everything that he wanted, to be able to do anything that he liked—­was he not a happy man?  Is not such a life a Paradise on earth?

Yes, my friends, it is.  But it is the Paradise of fools.

Yet, Solomon was not a fool.  He says expressly that his wisdom remained with him through all his labour.  Through all his pleasure he kept alive the longing after knowledge.  He even tried, as he says, wine, and mirth, and folly, yet acquainting himself with wisdom.  He would try that, as well as statesmanship, and the rule of a great kingdom, and the building of temples and palaces, and the planting