alem. The victories of Judas Maccabeus were in every mind and on
every tongue. Glad prophecies were circulated amongst the guests that
the next Passover would not be held in secret, and kept with maimed
rites like the present; but that ere the circling year brought round
the holy season again, the sanctuary would be cleansed, the city free,
and that white-robed priests and Levites would gather together in the
open face of day, where the smoke of sacrifice should rise from the
altar of God's Temple.

Zarah was the most silent and sad of those who met in the house of
Salathiel. Many thoughts were flowing through her mind, which she
would not have dared to put into words.

"Is it sinful to desire that the blessings of the covenant were not so
exclusive?" Thus mused the young Hebrew maid. "Is it sinful to wish
that the wall of partition could be broken down, and that Jews and
Gentiles, descended from one common Father, and created by one merciful
God, could meet to break bread and drink wine in loving communion
together? And, if my mother Hadassah reads Scripture aright, may not
such a time be approaching? Precious and goodly is the golden
seven-branched candlestick of the Temple; but is not the Sun of
Righteousness to arise with healing on His wings (Mal. iv. 2), and will
the candlestick then be needed? The candles illumine but one chosen
spot; the sun shines from the east to the west, the glory and light of
the world! Can God care only for the children of Abraham? Lycidas has
told us of far-distant isles in the West, where the poor savages are
sunk in darkest idolatry, where they actually offer human sacrifices to
their huge wicker-idols. Yet might not God in His loving-kindness have
mercy even on such wretches as these? Would it be quite impossible
that Britons should receive the light of His Word, even as they receive
the light of His sunshine? I would fain cling to this hope; I trust
that the hope is not presumptuous. And if even these savage islanders
be not quite beyond reach of the mercy of the Great Father, will not
that mercy embrace the Greeks, the brave, the noble, the gifted? But
my thoughts wander upon dangerous ground. Can there be salvation for
any that may not partake of the Paschal lamb? Is not exclusion from
this feast exclusion from pardoning grace? Oh that there could be a
Lamb whose blood could take away the sins of all the world--a Sacrifice
of such priceless worth, that not in Jeru