Trading Part 26

"Mustn't what? Do justice?"

"Yes. No--not to ourselves sometimes. You asked me what I knew about him; this is one thing. He says we must not return evil for evil; nor be angry."

"You were angry at Judy, though?"

"Well, for a little while, sometimes. I couldn't always help it; or I _could_, I suppose, but I didn't."

"How could you?" said David. "I cannot. When I am angry, I am angry; and there is nothing to do but wait till I get over it."

"That's another thing I know about Jesus," said Matilda gravely. "He takes the anger away." She wished that David would begin upon his former line of inquiry, now that she had her little book to consult; but she could not hurry him. David looked hard at her, and then his gloom seemed to come over him. He sunk his head again; and Matilda waited.

"What can you tell me?" he said at last.

"I don't know. Perhaps, if you would try it, my book would tell you something."

"What could it tell me?"

"Answer some of your questions, perhaps."

David at last roused to action. He went off upstairs and brought down _his_ Bible--half a Bible, it looked to Matilda's eyes; and under the bright gas lights the two sat down to compare notes.

"I don't know but a part of the things that are said about the Messiah," said David, turning over the leaves; "but what I do know, seem to me impossible to be fulfilled in him you Gentiles think the Messiah. And yet--they said--"

David stopped, in great perplexity.

"What are some of those things?"

"Well, this is one. He is to be of the seed of David; for so Isaiah prophesied."

"'And a rod hath come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch from his roots is fruitful. Rested on him hath the Spirit of Jehovah, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah.'"

"Well, David, Jesus was that. See,--here is the whole list of the names of the people." And she put in the boy's hands the first chapter of Matthew.

"'The son of David, the son of Abraham'!" cried he; but then immediately became so absorbed in the chapter and in that list of names which Matilda had always thought very uninteresting, that she could only watch him and doubt if he would come back to talk with her any more that evening.

"But," said David at last, handing back her book, "that is only one thing. Listen to this. The promise was to David--' I have raised up thy seed after thee, who is of thy sons, and I have established his kingdom; he doth build for me a house, and I have established his throne unto the age.' Where is the throne of--of your Messiah, as you call him? And see here again, in the Psalms of David--

"'I have made a covenant for my chosen, 'I have sworn to David my servant, 'Even to the age do I establish thy seed, 'And have built from generation to generation thy throne.'"

"What is 'to the age'?" Matilda asked.

"For ever! Where is the throne of your Jesus?"

"It is in heaven," said Matilda promptly.

"But Messiah is to reign on earth."

"Now listen, David; this is what the angel said of Jesus, when he came to tell Mary that he should be her son. 'He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord G.o.d shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'"

"Well," said David, "but when? and where?"

"Here is another place that my book turns to, David; now listen. 'David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'"

"Yes, I know, it says so."

"Well, David, then don't you see he will be up in heaven until the time comes? Here is another pa.s.sage--it begins about something else, and then goes on; 'Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all princ.i.p.ality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet.' And here again--'But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of G.o.d; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.'"

"When will that be?" said David.

"I don't know. I don't think it tells."

"But Messiah is to be a Conqueror," David went on, pa.s.sing from one thing to another. It is written,--

"'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty, 'Thy glory and thy majesty!

'As to thy majesty--prosper!--ride!

'Because of truth and meekness--righteousness.

'And thy right hand sheweth thee fearful things.

'Thine arrows are sharp, 'Peoples fall under thee-- 'In the heart of the enemies of the king.'"

"Where is that?" Matilda asked, and David told her. She eagerly consulted her little book, and then cried out,

"Why it is the very same thing! Look here, David; or just listen, and I will read.

"'And I saw heaven opened'--"

"Stop. _Who_ saw heaven opened? Who said that?"

Matilda paused. "It is in the Revelation," she said.

"Yes, but what is that?"

"I don't know exactly; but I know it is the things that were shown to John, the apostle, about what is going to be by and by."

"Who was that John?"

"Why, one of the apostles, David; one of the twelve apostles, that were always with Jesus, and went everywhere with him and saw all that he did. Then after he was gone, they preached to the people, and told what they had seen and heard."

"After he was gone where?"

"Back to heaven."

"Well--read," said David, with a troubled sigh.

"'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of G.o.d. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in white linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty G.o.d. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.'"

"But he was to be a Prophet, like Moses," said David; "and he was to be born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah."

"Well, he was," said Matilda.