'Ah! if I were only
acquainted with it, my education would be complete. Should you call me a
Gentile?'
'I have great doubts whether such an appellation could be extended to
the descendants of Ishmael. I always look upon you as a member of the
sacred race. It is a great thing for any man; for you it may tend to
empire.'
'Was Julius Caesar a Gentile?'
'Unquestionably.'
'And Iskander?' (Alexander of Macedon.)
'No doubt; the two most illustrious Gentiles that ever existed, and
representing the two great races on the shores of the Mediterranean, to
which the apostolic views were first directed.'
'Well, their blood, though Gentile, led to empire,' said Fakredeen.
'But what are their conquests to those of Jesus Christ?' said Tancred,
with great animation. 'Where are their dynasties? where their
subjects? They were both deified: who burns incense to them now? Their
descendants, both Greek and Roman, bow before the altars of the house of
David. The house of David is worshipped at Rome itself, at every seat of
great and growing empire in the world, at London, at St. Petersburg,
at New York. Asia alone is faithless to the Asian; but Asia has been
overrun by Turks and Tatars. For nearly five hundred years the true
Oriental mind has been enthralled.
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