“And you have not kissed the Black Stone?”

“Neither have I kissed the stone.  By my faith, if it has become blackened by the kiss of sinners, those poor simpletons caress it in vain!  On the word of a Bedouin, it can hold no more, since it is as black as well may be already.”

“The worship of our little church, then, suits you better?” The priest’s tone scarcely concealed the anxiety with which he asked the question.

“You seem to worship in truth,” returned the youth, solemnly.  “You seem to find a comfort in your service which these poor blindlings seek in vain.  Aye, Yusuf, in living among you I have noted the peaceful tenor of your lives, the rest and confidence which nothing seems to overthrow.  You rejoice in life, yet you do not fear death!  Could such a life be mine, I would gladly accept it.  But I do not seem to be one of you.”

The priest made no reply for a moment.  Kedar did not know that he was praying for the fit word.  Then his deep, tender tones broke the silence.

“You believe in Jesus, whom we love?”

“I believe that he was the Son of God; that he lived on the very hills to the north of us; that he died to reveal to us the greatness of his love.  Yet—­” He paused.

“‘Whosoever believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,’” said Yusuf in a low tone.

“I know, but—­” the youth hesitated again.

“But what, Kedar?” asked the priest.

“Jesus said to Nicodemus,” returned the youth, “’Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.’  Yusuf, this is what bothers me.  I cannot understand this being born again.”

“Let us call it, then, just ‘beginning to love and trust Jesus,’” said Yusuf quietly.

Kedar almost started in his surprise.  This aspect of the question had never appeared to him before.  For a long time he sat, deep in thought, and Yusuf did not break in upon his meditations.

“Is that all?” he asked at length.

“That is all,” returned Yusuf.  “To trust him you must believe in him, love him, recognize his love, and leave everything to his guidance—­everything in this physical life, in your spiritual life, and in the life to come.  Then you will find peace.  All your days will be spent in a loving round of happy labor, in which no work seems low or trifling—­happy because love to Jesus begets the wish to do his will in every affair of life; and perfect love renders service, not a bondage, but the joyful spontaneity of freedom.”

Kedar was again silent, then he said slowly: 

“Yusuf, I begin to understand it all now; yet—­is there something wrong still?—­I have not the overpowering thrill of joy, the exuberance of feeling, the wondrous rapture of delight, which Amzi says he experienced, when, in the prison of Medina, he saw the light.”

“Be not discouraged, my son,” was the reply.  “To different temperaments, in religion as in all else, the truth appeals in different ways.  If you are trusting implicitly now in God’s love, go on without doubt or fear.  Most Christians—­growing Christians—­find that at different stages in their experience certain truths stand out more clearly, and, as the days go by, their difficulties clear away like mists before the morning sun.”