When we shall succeed, then is the time to rejoice.
- 1. Neither impotent nor lame.
- 2. Each to his own place.
- 3. By way of Jesus.
- 4. Home.
XVII.
THE CONCLUSION.
Were it not for a most conspicuous example, now and then, of large success in committing an enterprise to God and then mightily trusting His Providence, faith would lack a very desirable inspiration.
In the case of our Chaldean friends, the success was very large indeed. As we all soon come to know, many good enterprises end in complete failure. Only a few attain complete success, and realize all they proposed to themselves. Still fewer surpass their aim, and accomplish far more than they expected or ventured to hope. Yet such was the enterprise of Cimon and Aleph in Alexandria.
What had they proposed to themselves? To investigate Malus, and bring him to justice; to gather reliable information concerning Him who was born king of the Jews and to whom the miraculous star had guided the Magian sovereigns; to broaden and enrich the education of Aleph, not only by giving him a wider outlook on the world and humanity, but by throwing him, divested of all the insignia and glamour of his rank, entirely on his own resources for guidance and help in dealing with men in new and difficult circumstances. All these objects had been accomplished.