Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/457

Rh has been visited by dreams—or rather by the same dream in repetition. A voice—it is nothing more—comes and tells me, 'Haste—arise! He whom thou hast so long awaited is at hand.'&quot;

&quot;You mean he that is to be King of the Jews?&quot; Ben-Hur asked, gazing at the Egyptian in wonder.

&quot;Even so.&quot;

&quot;Then you have heard nothing of him?&quot;

&quot;Nothing, except the words of the voice in the dream.&quot;

&quot;Here, then, are tidings to make you glad as they made me.&quot;

From his gown Ben-Hur drew the letter received from Malluch. The hand the Egyptian held out trembled violently. He read aloud, and as he read his feelings increased; the limp veins in his neck swelled and throbbed. At the conclusion he raised his suffused eyes in thanksgiving and prayer. He asked no questions, yet had no doubts.

&quot;Thou hast been very good to me, O God,&quot; he said. &quot;Give me, I pray thee, to see the Saviour again, and worship him, and thy servant will be ready to go in peace.&quot; The words, the manner, the singular personality of the simple prayer, touched Ben-Hur with a sensation new and abiding. God never seemed so actual and so near by; it was as if he were there bending over them or sitting at their side—a Friend whose favors were to be had by the most unceremonious asking—a Father to whom all his children were alike in love—Father, not more of the Jew than of the Gentile—the universal Father, who needed no intermediates, no rabbis, no priests, no teachers. The idea that such a God might send mankind a Saviour instead of a king appeared to Ben-Hur in a light not merely new, but so plain that he could almost discern both the greater want of such a gift and its greater consistency with the nature of such a Deity. So he could not resist asking,

&quot;Now that he has come, O Balthasar, you still think he is to be a Saviour, and not a king?&quot;

Balthasar gave him a look thoughtful as it was tender.

&quot;How shall I understand you?&quot; he asked, in return.

&quot;The Spirit, which was the Star that was my guide of old,