our Lord appointed to act as chief Pastor under himself, to watch over his whole flock here on earth, and to preserve the unity of it, investing him with all the power requisite to that end; ordaining also that he should have successors, with the like charge and power, to the end of time. This successor therefore of our first great Bishop, for the time being, we consider as universal Pastor of the whole Catholic church: to him we give the name of Papa, or Father; he is the centre of Catholic unity; the inferior Bishops and Priests communicate with him, and, by his means, with one another, every one of them receiving authority from him in their respective situations."

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Then," said Goonah Purist, "I am to understand that you consider it as a duty to obey implicitly this your supreme head, whom you call Father?"

"We hold it as one of the fundamental tenets of our holy religion," replied the priest, "that our church is infallible; for we consider that an infallible living judge is absolutely necessary to determine controversies, and to secure peace in the Christian church." (See Council of Trent.)

I saw then that Goonah Purist began to look perplexed and troubled, and, after some hesitation, I heard him put this question to the priest, "How can this man, whom you call Father, being of the same corrupt nature with ourselves, be an infallible judge, or faultless guide? You do not pretend that he is more than man?"

The priest replied, "We know that our holy Apostolic Father, when considered as a private teacher, is liable to mistakes as well as any other man; but we believe that when he teaches the whole church, he is divinely preserved from error.”

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You, no doubt," returned Goonah Purist, "have authority for all this in your holy Book?"

The priest answered, that many unwritten traditions ought and must be added to the Holy Scrip

tures, in order to supply their defects, inasmuch as in some points the Scriptures were not found to be sufficiently large and full.

I heard then that Goonah Purist put further questions to the priest, as, for instance, What their belief was concerning man's depraved and sinful state? Whether any thing depended on man himself for justification from sin, or whether the sacrifice of Christ was fully sufficient thereunto? I hearkened diligently to the answers of the priest on these important subjects: but they were not sufficiently direct to the points in question, neither did they convey satisfaction to the mind of the enquirer.

He affirmed that Christ, when upon earth, had appointed seven sacraments, or seven outward and visible signs, conveying inward and spiritual grace; and that whoever denied these, would be anathematized. All of these he affirmed to convey grace by their mere administration: and he also added, that the good works of justified persons were truly meritorious; deserving, not only increase of grace, but eternal life and an increase of glory.

He enforced also the duties of penance and bodily mortification, of the confession of sins in the ear of the priest, of frequent prayers, masses, and celibacy.

To this Goonah Purist replied, "If this be the case, and if salvation according to your faith depend so much on outward ceremonies and bodily mortifications, wherein are you better than the idolaters; inasmuch as they, in all these points, are, beyond comparison, more rigorous than yourselves, judging of you even by your own accounts? And where was the need of the incarnation and death of the Son of God, if such a sacrifice was not adequate to the accomplishment of our salvation?"

I saw then that Goonah Purist would know the meaning of all those images which he beheld in

every part of the building. And he asked the priest if his religion allowed the worship of images; "for I," said he, "although born of idolatrous parents, have been lately led, I believe through the teaching of God, to hold in great abhorrence the worship of any creature, fully persuaded, that he who worships any created being, bestows on it that which is due to the Creator only." When the

priest replied to this effect: that these images represented the saints, certain holy men and women, many of whom had given up their lives for their religion; and that the people were taught to look through these images to the things which they represented.

But what are the things thus represented?" asked Goonah Purist, "are they not mere men and women?"

"These,” replied the priest," are, as I before told you, the images of those saints, who are now with God; and our holy council saith, that it is good and profitable to desire the intercession of saints reigning with Christ in heaven." (See Council of Trent.)

"But did we not begin this conversation," returned Goonah Purist, "by speaking of the Son of God, who, being equal with God, took man's nature upon him, and bore the punishment of our sins? If this be true, think you not that he, having done so much, will perfect his own work? Will he, who died for us, refuse to mediate and intercede for us? What need therefore of other intercessors? -What!" added he, "when the King's Son himself is my stedfast friend, and proved himself to be such by dying on my account, if what you report of him be true; would it not be putting an affront upon Him, to seek for mediators and intercessors among his Father's servants?"

I saw then that the priest would have made some further reply: but Goonah Purist, being

F

offended, walked out of the church, and, passing through the inclosure, quickly found his way again into the open street; notwithstanding the reiterated calls of the priest, and the urgent orders he issued for closing the gates of the court to prevent the man's escape.

And after a while, behold, Goonah Purist was in the Feringhee bazar, or market-place of the white people; where he talked with one and with another, of the doubts which hung upon his mind respecting all religions. At length, one with whom he had been conversing about his sorrowful estate, mentioned to him a certain Feringhee gentleman, who dwelt in those parts, in high estimation as a religious teacher; advising him, if he wished to make further enquiries about the Christian religion, to visit the house of this great man.

Now was I desirous to know the name of this gentleman, and the opinions he maintained. And on listening attentively, I heard one tell another, that this gentleman's name was Self-Confidence; that he was a man who lived in great credit in the city; and that, although he acknowledged Christ to be a holy man and a prophet, he believed him to be no more than man; and that he was sent into the world merely as a teacher and expounder of the divine law.

So Goonah Purist having enquired the way, lost no time in reaching the house of this gentleman; and behold, it was a handsome house, and every thing about it was clean, and decent, and orderly. Moreover, there were many servants in attendance, who were of the sons of the Hindoos and the Mussulmauns; and these servants, together with the cattle, looked fat and well-favoured. Now all these things pleased Goonah Purist, who went up boldly to the porch of the house, and solicited admission to the master. So the servants admitted him, and led him into a fair hall, where

they presented him to their master: and behold, the man was of a comely aspect; though there appeared a haughtiness in his manner, which rather intimidated Goonah Purist.

And I heard Goonah Purist explain to this gentleman the reason of his coming to him; to wit, that he was utterly dissatisfied with the religion of his forefathers, and that, finding himself in a lost condition, he was willing to apply to the Saviour of the Christians, if thereby any hope could be afforded him of deliverance from the burden of his sins, and the plague of that leprosy, with which his whole flesh was polluted.

To this the gentleman answered, "Art thou acquainted with the Laws of God, or the Ten Commandments, which were delivered by God unto Moses?"

Goonah Purist replied, that he had heard of them, but had never seen them.

I saw, then, that the gentleman delivered unto him a roll, in which the Commandments were written, and bade him read them, saying, "By these thou must stand or fall."

When Goonah Purist had read the roll, he began to tremble, saying, "Sir, I have lived in the breach of all these from my youth up. If by these therefore I must stand or fall, I am undone! utterly undone! and there remaineth no hope for me."

"Forsake thy sins," replied Mr. Self-Confidence, renounce thy idolatries, lead henceforth a virtuous life, and fear not; God will have mercy upon thec."

"But, Sir," replied Goonah Purist, "supposing that even from henceforward I could lead a blameless life, which I fear is utterly impossible, seeing that even the thoughts of my heart are impure; yet, in such circumstances, what satisfaction could I offer to a righteous God for my past offences? or wherewith should I, who am an absolute bank