This was said with deep feeling, and with an expression of anger mingled with sorrow.
"What do you worship?" I asked.
"The God of Abraham."
"Abram was a Syrian prince," I said. "He must have worshipped fire, and the sun."
"In his youth he did. But the great Lord of heaven revealed Himself to him as One God, and thenceforth he knew and worshipped only the Lord of heaven and earth."
"How knowest thou mysteries which are approached with the greatest awe by the most sacred priests?"
"Abraham, our father, gave to Isaac, his son, the knowledge of One God, God of gods!—above, beyond, higher, and over the fabulous Osiris, Apis, Thoth, Horus, and all other so-called deities. Isaac left the knowledge with his son Jacob. From Jacob it descended to his twelve sons, princes by birth; and we are their progeny; and though in bondage, and tempted to bow down ourselves to the gods of Egypt, yet there remain a few in Israel who have never bowed the knee to the black statue of Apis, or crossed the breast before the golden image of Osiris."
"What is the name of the One God you, and minds like yours, worship?" I asked.
"He is called the One Lord; not only Lord of the sun, but Lord of the lords of the sun. He is One in His being, One in power, and yields not His glory and dominion to others. Such is the tradition of our faith."
"How hast thou resisted the worship of Egypt?" I asked. "Hast thou not from a child been an inmate of this palace?"