CHAPTER VI.

SHOWING HOW GOONAH PURIST WENT ON IN THE NARROW WAY, EVEN THE WAY OF SALVATION, WITH LITTLE DEVIATION, UNTIL HE ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE OF THE INTERPRETER.

"In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.”—Prov. xii. 28.

Now it came to pass in my dream, that I looked anxiously after the pilgrim: and behold, he went along the way of salvation, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left. I perceived also, that from time to time he consulted his book, even the book which the Christian messenger had given him, pondering the words thereof as he walked by the way; and they were made a lamp unto his feet, and a light unto his path.' (Psalm cxix. 105.)

It happened then, about mid-day, that the pilgrim, coming upon a wide and bare heath where there was no shade, began to look forward to some place of rest. So presently he

espied, not half a coss before him, a serai, built on the wayside, for the convenience of pilgrims; hard by which was a well. A few broad-leaved plantain-trees grew by the well-side, in a ditch; but it was not the season for ripe fruit.

Close by the well another road put itself into the King's highway; and this path I observed was full of loose stones, among which a man could hardly walk without stumbling as he went.

The pilgrim presently knew that there was some traveller in the serai, by the smoke that issued from an opening in the roof. So he hastened forward, hoping to find company there to his liking; for he anxiously longed to have a companion in his journey. And when he was come up over against the serai, behold, just within the door thereof, he saw a pilgrim, an aged man of an agreeable aspect, with a beard white as the cotton when it first bursts from the pod. This old man, having gathered a few dry sticks and leaves, had made a fire; over which he was now cooking his rice in water drawn from the well in his lota. Not far off lay his turban and his coat; his holy book being respectfully wrapped in the folds of his cummerbund. And behold, as he sat watching his fire,

and feeding it from time to time with a little fuel, he brake forth into songs of praise.

So Goonah Purist drew near, and saluted him; and the old man, seeing that he was a brother pilgrim, besought him to come in until the heat of the day was past. Goonah Purist therefore went in, and seated himself over against the old Christian, who in the most courteous manner addressed to him many questions, relative to his coming on pilgrimage, and leaving the gods of his fathers; for he soon perceived by his conversation from what part of the 'City of the Wrath of God' he had come forth. After receiving satisfactory replies to his successive inquiries, he, in his turn, gratified Goonah Purist with the following relation of his own history.

THE HISTORY OF THE OLD PILGRIM.

There is a village in the 'Valley of Destruction' called Betea, where, for many years, there has been a church bearing the name of Christ, though not maintaining the pure doctrines of Christianity: the members of this church having added much of their own to the revealed word of God, with many ordinances of man's appoint

ment and of will-worship, whereby they go about to establish their own righteousness, instead of wholly submitting themselves to that righteousness of Christ, by which alone sinful man can be saved. Moreover, the ministers of this church hold it good to withhold the sacred Scriptures from its members, thus keeping their flocks in darkness and ignorance from generation to generation.

In this street was I born. The name I am known by among my Heathen neighbours is Ghinoosa; but the name I received in baptism is Bartholomew. The first of my family who embraced Christianity was my grandfather. He was of the goldsmith's caste, a man possessing considerable wealth. The circumstances of his conversion I do not remember to have heard; but he was induced to become a Christian by the example and persuasion of a Christian messenger, who visited our street. My father was a merchant in the same street where my grandfather had resided; and at his death the wealth that descended to me amounted to no less than four thousand pieces of silver.

All this time, though a Christian in name, I lived without any knowledge of the saving

benefits of that holy religion; and could have been contented to remain for life an inhabitant of the City of the Wrath of God,' had my temporal concerns prospered. Being ambitious of an increase of wealth, I engaged in speculations to a large amount; and procuring from the Feringhees some of the most rare and expensive articles of their manufacture, I carried them to a remote street of the city, where a certain rajah holds his court. There I disposed of my goods to advantage, among the great men of the court, and all things went on with me according to my wish; till, at length, one of the nobles of the court gave me a commission to procure for him certain costly wares from the Feringhees, on the delivery of which he promised me payment at the end of six months. At the appointed time, I returned, hoping to receive my due; when I found that my noble debtor had fallen into disgrace with the rajah, who had confiscated his goods, and cast him into prison. This was a death-blow to all my hopes of worldly advancement, as I had expended nearly the whole of my property in purchasing those expensive articles.

For a time, I lingered about the street, hoping