sion," he said--"for whom wert
thou required to ask at the gates of Jerusalem?"

The sheik threw him a grateful look.

"I was to ask of the people," said Balthasar, quietly, "'Where is
he that is born King of the Jews?'"

"And you saw him in the cave by Bethlehem?"

"We saw and worshipped him, and gave him presents--Melchior, gold;
Gaspar, frankincense; and I, myrrh."

"When thou dost speak of fact, O father, to hear thee is to believe,"
said Ben-Hur; "but in the matter of opinion, I cannot understand the
kind of king thou wouldst make of the Child--I cannot separate the
ruler from his powers and duties."

"Son," said Balthasar, "we have the habit of studying closely the
things which chance to lie at our feet, giving but a look at the
greater objects in the distance. Thou seest now but the title--KING
OF THE JEWS; wilt thou lift thine eyes to the mystery beyond it,
the stumbling-block will disappear. Of the title, a word. Thy Israel
hath seen better days--days in which God called thy people endearingly
his people, and dealt with them through prophets. Now, if in those
days he promised them the Savior I saw--promised him as KING OF THE
JEWS--the appearance must be according to the promise, if only for
the word's sake. Ah, thou seest the reason of my question at the
gate!--thou seest, and I will no more of it, but pass on. It may
be, next, thou art regarding the dignity of the Child; if so,
bethink thee--what is it to be a successor of Herod?--by the
world's standard of honor, what? Could not God better by his
beloved? If thou canst think of the Almighty Father in want of
a title, and stooping to borrow the inventions of men, why was
I not bidden ask for a Caesar at once? Oh, for the substance of
that whereof we speak, look higher, I pray thee! Ask rather of what
he whom we await shall be king; for I do tell, my son, that is the
key to the mystery, which no man shall understand without the key."

Balthasar raised his eyes devoutly.

"There is a kingdom on the earth, though it is not of it--a
kingdom of wider bounds than the earth--wider than the sea and
the earth, though they were rolled together as finest gold and
spread by the beating of hammers. Its existence is a fact as our
hearts are facts, and we journey through it from birth to death
without seeing it; nor shall any man see it until he hath first
known his own soul; for the kingdom is not for him, but for his
soul. And in its dominion there is glory suc