w:is (or is) the ,alue of it? We may consider the extent to which the plentifulness of silver and gold is- I. A ~ouncE OF PRESE1'"T GRATJFIOATJON. Undoubtedly Solomon, his courtiers, and hi~ subjects did_ find a pleasure in the fact that all these objects were "of beaten gold," that gold and silver met their eye everywhere. At first that pleMure ma.y h:we been keen cnongh. Bnt it was one of those joys that pall and pass with time; familiarity with it made it to lose its charm; it must have become less delightful as it became more common, until it became literally true that "it was not anything accounted of" (ver. 20). Splendid su1Toundings are pleasurable enough at first, but their virtue fades with the passing years and even with the fleeting months; and it is not long before that which seemed so brilliant and promised so much enjoyment is "not accounted of" at all. II. A LASTING E:(RICHMENT. Abundance of material wealth often proves a transient good. In the nation it becomes a prey for the spoiler, a temptntion to the neighbour- ing power that can come up with a victorious army and go back with a well-stored treasury (see 1 Kings xiv. 25, 26). In the man it often allures the fraudulent adventurer and becorr.es his possession. No one can be sure that he will hold what he has gained. "Securities" are excellent things in their way, but they go down before some of the forces which no finite power ca.n control. III. .A. REAL EKLARGEMENT. Great wealth does not go far to enrich a nation when it does nothing more for it than provide targets and shields, drinking-vessels and ivory thrones o-rerlaid with gold with golden footstools-nothing more than multiply splendours about the royal palace. When it promotes healthful and remunerative activities among the people, when it facilitates and quickens the expenditure of profit- able labour in agriculture, in ~eamanship, in manufacture, in art, in literature, in worship, then it is really and truly serviceable. So with individual men. Wealth that only ministers to luxury does very little good to its owner. But when it enables a man to put forth mental and physical powers that otherwise would slumber for lack of opportunity, when it stimulates to worthy and elevating enterprise, when it opens the do0r of usefulness and helpfulness, then it is a blessing indeed, a real and true enlargement. IV. A SPIRITUAL PERIL. Serious and strong indeed are the Master's words (Mark x. 23-25). But they are amply verified by human hfatory, both national and individual. Wealth tends to luxury; luxury to indulgence; indulgence to deterioration; deteriora- tion to ruin. Much gold and silver may be attractive enough; but they need to be well fortified with sacred principles who would stand the test of them, and be quite unscathed by them. V. PICTORIAL OF A WEALTH THAT IB TRUER AND BETTER. It is possible to be endowed with those resources that make rich and that add no sorrow thereto; it is possible to be "rich toward God;" io have treasures within our keeping which the strong thief of time has no power to steal. These are to be had of the ascended Lord. He counsels us to buy of himself "gold tried in the fire, that we may be rich.'' Of him we may gain the riches of a reverence that ennobles, a faith that saves, a love that blesses and beautifies, a hope that strengthens and sustains, a joy that "satisfies and sanctifies" the souL-C.
Vers. 21-31.-Grandeur without godliness. These words and those that precede them are as suggestive by reason of what is absent from them as by that which is contained in them. They are significant of- L GRA1''DEUR WITHOUT GODLTh"Ess. The historian is drawing his records of the reign of Sol0mon to a close; and, in taking his view (or hie review) ofit, he has much to say of the splendours of his throne and of hie surroundings; of the multitude of hie horses and chariots, with their stalls and stables; of his store of gold and silver ; of his apes and peacocks; of his ships and his cedars; but he says nothing of his service of J~hovah; nothing of the gratitude he showed to God for the very oountiful blessings he had bestowed upon him, and the high estate to which he had raised him, and the special gifts of mind with which he had endowed him. Here there is a painful absence, a sile11ce that speaks only too forcibly. When Solomon came to review his own life and to ernmine his own career in the light of ~arlr influence and special privilege, he must c11. Ix. 1-31.] THE SECOND BOOK Oli' THE CHRONICLES. 115