h his
jailer had furnished him. He received us with cheerfulness, and at his
side on the single block of stone which the cell provided for its
inmates, we sat and long conversed. I expressed my astonishment that the
favor of a lamp had been allowed him. 'It is not in accordance,' I said,
'with the usages of this place.'

'You will be still more amazed,' he replied, 'when I tell you through
whose agency I enjoy it.'

'You must inform us,' we said, 'for we cannot guess.'

'Isaac's;' he replied. 'At least I can think of no other to whom the
description given me by the jailer corresponds. He told me upon bringing
it to me, that a kind-hearted old man, a Jew, as he believed him, had
made inquiry about me, and had entreated earnestly for all such
privileges and favors, as the customs of the place would allow. He has
even procured me the blessing of this friendly light--and what is more
yet and which fills me with astonishment--has sent me this volume, which
is the true light. Can it be that Isaac has done all this, who surely
never has seemed to regard me with much favor.'

'Never doubt that it is he,' said Julia; 'he has two natures, sometimes
one is seen, sometimes the other--his Jew nature, and his human nature.
His human heart is soft as a woman's or a child's. One so full of the
spirit of love I have never known. At times in his speech, you would
think him a man bloody and severe as Aurelian himself; but in his deeds
he is almost more than a Christian.'

'As the true circumcision,' said Probus, 'is that of the heart, and as
he is a Jew who is one inwardly, so is he only a Christian who does the
deeds of one and has the heart of one. And he who does those deeds, and
has that heart--what matters it by what name he is called? Isaac is a
Christian, in the only important sense of the word--and, alas! that it
should be so, more than many a one who bears the name. But does this
make Christ to be of none effect? Not so. The natural light, which
lightens every man who cometh into the world will, here and there, in
every place, and in every age, bring forth those who shall show
themselves in the perfection of their virtues to be of the very lineage
of Heaven--true heirs of its glory. Isaac is such a one. But what then?
For one such, made by the light of nature, the gospel gives us
thousands. But how is it, Piso, in the city? Are the wolves still
abroad?'

'They are. The people have themselves turned informers, soldiers, and