"He was to be a King on David's throne," interrupted the boy.
"He is. Wait. Do you remember, in the promise to Abraham it was said that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him?"
"Yes."
"And Isaiah declares, 'In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek.'"
"Yes, but they will come to Messiah; not the Messiah go to them," said David, lifting his head with the same air again.
Mr. Richmond answered in words of Isaiah. "'Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And again in the forty-ninth chapter—and Master Bartholomew, you know that these words were spoken of Messiah—'And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.'"
Matilda looked eagerly at David as these words were finished; the boy's face was troubled and dark. He made no answer.
"Now let us see how those words were to be fulfilled," Mr. Richmond went on. "It is a hard reading for you; but we are seeking the truth, and you are seeking it. The apostle John, one of the servants and witnesses of Christ, says, 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not.'"
David looked up with a white face. "If that is true"—he said. "I just want to know whether that is true!"
"You know Isaiah said it would be true. 'Who has believed our report?' 'He is despised and rejected of men;... we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.'"