When I told him that I also worshipped the same God, he took my hand, kissed it reverently, and said solemnly—
"There is but one God!"
"What is your form of worship, that your king is also your priest?" I inquired.
"By sacrifices. Morning and evening, the priests offer up to God incense, and oblations, and sacrifices of lambs. Hence we have large flocks and herds. On great days, the king himself officiates, lays his hand upon the head of the victim, and asks the Almighty to take the life of the sacrifice instead of that of the people, and to visit upon its head the wrath which the kingdom had incurred."
"Did Abram thus sacrifice?"
"Not only Abram, but Noah, the first father, and all the fathers of the old world. Our worship, therefore, O prince, consists in offering the life of a victim, to preserve our own!"
"Yes, if the great Lord of Heaven will so receive it! For who can weigh the life of a man with that of his lamb?" I said.
"None but God, who, in His goodness and glory, wills it so to be!" answered the Midianite.
"Hast thou ever heard, in Midian, of a Hebrew called Moses?"
"Dost thou mean Moses the Egyptian?" he asked, quickly.