CHAPTER XIV
It was now the beginning of the third watch, and at Bethlehemthe morning was breaking over the mountains in the east, but sofeebly that it was yet night in the valley. The watchman on theroof of the old khan, shivering in the chilly air, was listeningfor the first distinguishable sounds with which life, awakening,greets the dawn, when a light came moving up the hill towardsthe house. He thought it a torch in some one's hand; next momenthe thought it a meteor; the brilliance grew, however, until itbecame a star. Sore afraid, he cried out, and brought everybodywithin the walls to the roof. The phenomenon, in eccentric motion,continued to approach; the rocks, trees, and roadway under it shoneas in a glare of lightning; directly its brightness became blinding.The more timid of the beholders fell upon their knees, and prayed,with their faces hidden; the boldest, covering their eyes, crouched,and now and then snatched glances fearfully. Afterwhile the khan andeverything thereabout lay under the intolerable radiance. Such asdared look beheld the star standing still directly over the housein front of the cave where the Child had been born.
In the height of this scene, the wise men came up, and at the gatedismounted from their camels, and shouted for admission. When thesteward so far mastered his terror as to give them heed, he drewthe bars and opened to them. The camels looked spectral in theunnatural light, and, besides their outlandishness, there werein the faces and manner of the three visitors an eagerness andexaltation which still further excited the keeper's fears andfancy; he fell back, and for a time could not answer the questionthey put to him.
"Is not this Bethlehem of Judea?"
But others came, and by their presence gave him assurance.
"No, this is but the khan; the town lies farther on."
"Is there not here a child newly born?"
The bystanders turned to each other marvelling, though some ofthem answered, "Yes, yes."
"Show us to him!" said the Greek, impatiently.
"Show us to him!" cried Balthasar, breaking through his gravity;"for we have seen his star, even that which ye behold over thehouse, and are come to worship him."
The Hindoo clasped his hands, exclaiming, "God indeed lives! Makehaste, make haste! The Savior is found. Blessed, blessed are weabove men!"
The people from the roof came down and followed the strangers asthey were taken through the court and out into the enclosure;at sight of the star yet above the cave, though less candescentthan before, some turned back afraid; the greater part went on.As the strangers neared the house, the orb arose; when they wereat the door, it was high up overhead vanishing; when they entered,it went out lost to sight. And to the witnesses of what then tookplace came a conviction that there was a divine relation betweenthe star and the strangers, which extended also to at least some ofthe occupants of the cave. When the door was opened, they crowded in.
The apartment was lighted by a lantern enough to enable the strangersto find the mother, and the child awake in her lap.
"Is the child thine?" asked Balthasar of Mary.
And she who had kept all the things in the least affecting thelittle one, and pondered them in her heart, held it up in thelight, saying,
"He is my son!"
And they fell down and worshipped him.
They saw the child was as other children: about its head was neithernimbus nor material crown; its lips opened not in speech; if it heardtheir expressions of joy, their invocations, their prayers, it madeno sign whatever, but, baby-like, looked longer at the flame in thelantern than at them.
In a little while they arose, and, returning to the camels,brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and laid thembefore the child, abating nothing of their worshipful speeches;of which no part is given, for the thoughtful know that the pureworship of the pure heart was then what it is now, and has alwaysbeen, an inspired song.
And this was the Savior they had come so far to find!
Yet they worshipped without a doubt.
Why?
Their faith rested upon the signs sent them by him whom we havesince come to know as the Father; and they were of the kind towhom his promises were so all-sufficient that they asked nothingabout his ways. Few there were who had seen the signs and heard thepromises--the Mother and Joseph, the shepherds, and the Three--yetthey all believed alike; that is to say, in this period of the planof salvation, God was all and the Child nothing. But look forward,O reader! A time will come when the signs will all proceed fromthe Son. Happy they who then believe in him!
Let us wait that period.
BOOK SECOND
"There is a fire And motion of the soul which will not dwell In its own narrow being, but aspire Beyond the fitting medium of desire; And, but once kindled, quenchless evermore, Preys upon high adventure, nor can tire Of aught but rest."
Childe Harold.