But as I have before said, the greatest inconsistency of all is, that Solomon should worship other gods, contrary to the express command of Jehovah, who had given him wisdom, riches, and honors. Leaving Christians, then, to settle with Solomon, how he, with all his wisdom, could so play the fool and madman in the face of his God, some attention will be directed to the God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be recollected that Saul, the predecessor of David, had offended Jehovah by sparing the life of Agag, a captive King. In consequence, it is recorded that the God of Israel repented that he put Saul on the throne. He then chose David, and his family, to succeed the house of Saul; and having made this second choice, he declared he should not repent again. If this last declaration had been made by man, in his choice, after having before been mistaken, the following mode of reasoning would aptly apply; and Jehovah would also thus reason:—“I made choice of Saul to be King over Israel. I sent him to smite Amalek, and not to spare any soul alive, old age and infancy not excepted; but Saul did not obey my orders, but spared the King and brought him a captive, which I did not expect As I took him from driving mules, and made him a King, he ought therefore to have obeyed my commands. I dethroned him and his family forever. I then appointed David, a man after my own heart. In this choice I was happy. He departed not from my worship or my law, but with a few exceptions. It is true, David committed adultery and murder, in the case of Bathsheba and Uriah; but he repented, and I caused the brat to die out of the way, which made room for Solomon. Now, who could ever have thought that Solomon would have turned out so bad? Why, the fellow, in addition to wisdom, riches, and honor, has now seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines! and not content with this number, he marries the daughters of heathens, prostrates himself before their idols, and builds new temples to their gods; but I promised not to repent again, yet Solomon must be punished. I will not, therefore, depose him, but in his son’s reign I will divide the kingdom, and give the greater part of it to one of mean birth. I will not wholly take it away from the seed of David, because I promised him that he should not want a man to sit on his throne; but I will, for the wickedness of Solomon, cause discord among the tribes, that will induce them to fight against each other. It is not for the thousand women that Solomon had, which would not fail to create discord and all manner of misery; neither for putting to death his brother: all that I could have tolerated—but he changed his religion, and worshipped strange gods; I will rend the nation asunder, never more to be united. It would have been more to my honor to have suffered Saul to continue on the throne, for he only disobeyed my Orders once, but the son of David built temples for