Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/286

Rh &quot;Son,&quot; said Balthasar, &quot;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 Saviour 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 Cæsar 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.&quot;

Balthasar raised his eyes devoutly.

&quot;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 such as hath not entered imagination—original, incomparable, impossible of increase.&quot;

&quot;What thou sayest, father, is a riddle to me,&quot; said Ben-Hur. &quot;I never heard of such a kingdom.&quot;

&quot;Nor did I,&quot; said Ilderim.

&quot;And I may not tell more of it,&quot; Balthasar added, humbly dropping his eyes. &quot;What it is, what it is for, how