not give up their lives as a willing sacrifice for their followers, but that they perished by fraud and violence."

"Whom dost thou mean to confound by these remarks?" returned the fakeer; "for who ever asserted that they gave up their lives willingly, or that they were not men of like passions with ourselves?"

"Then I greatly fear," replied Goonah Purist, "that my case, and that of mankind in general, is such as cannot be relieved by men like ourselves. We are the creatures of a pure God, before whom we have made ourselves unclean. We have broken the holy laws of our Maker; we have disturbed the beauty and order of his work: we are as a blot and blemish in the creation: and, on these accounts, we must needs appear utterly vile and unclean in his sight. We can make no atonement for our own transgressions; because all we can do goes not beyond the limits of our bounden duty. We must, therefore, seek a mediator, who is able to stand between us and God; who, being himself without spot or blemish of sin, is worthy to become our surety; and who, having undergone the penalty incurred by our transgression, is able to cleanse and purify

our sinful nature, in order to prevent our again offending against God: and, as our sins are beyond calculation, so his merits must be infinite, in order that, when the angel of justice shall hold up his scales with our sins on one side, and the merits of our Redeemer on the other, those divine merits may abundantly overbalance the whole incalculable weight of man's offences. We require a redeemer infinitely holy, and infinitely merciful. What mortal man can answer this description? Who among the sons of Adam, or among all the created hierarchies of heaven, can say, 'I am he?' Where, where," added Goonah Purist," is he to be found? And yet, without him, I am lost. Oh! miserable man! happy had it been for me had I never been born-had I never seen the light of the sun, nor ever beheld that radiant moon which now traverses the heavens in cloudless splendour!

Upon this I saw that Goonah Purist began to shed tears abundantly; and the fakeer, giving way to the anger which this conversation had excited in him, took up stones and dirt, to cast at the man whom he so unjustly despised. But Goonah Purist, perceiving his intention, urged his way through the intoxicated and vicious

crowd, making his escape into a place of graves; where he sat for a while without hope, believing that all further enquiry after the way of salvation would be wholly in vain. He had found as little comfort in the religion of the Mussulmauns, as in that of the idolaters: for although it was true that the followers of the prophet abhorred idols, and held some rational doctrines, yet their religion had no power to cleanse him from the filthiness of his moral leprosy, nor to provide an adequate means of atonement for his past offences.

CHAPTER III.

SHOWING HOW GOONAH PURIST SOUGHT THE MEANS OF
SALVATION AMONG THOSE CALLED CHRISTIANS.

"Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions."-Eccles. vii. 29.

Now I saw, in my dream, that, while Goonah Purist sat meditating in the place of graves, as it were without hope, and counting himself a dead man, he became greatly troubled in mind; crying out from time to time, in the bitterness of his heart, "Ah! woe is me, miserable sinner! Where shall I find deliverance? where is my hope? Verily, I have none. The gods of my fathers are but wood and stone: they have eyes, and see not; ears have they, and hear not. How can these help me, who cannot help themselves? And what is this Mahommed, or his grandsons, of whom their followers make so much boast? How can these help me, who are

but men? I am?"

Are they not sinners, such as

While, however, he uttered these sorrowful expressions, it pleased Him who ruleth all things to bring certain words of the Sheik Olislam with power to his mind; importing, that one Huzrut Esau had aforetime been sent to mankind with offers of pardon and peace. "If this be true," thought Goonah Purist, "this Huzrut Esau must prove to be the deliverer whom I have so long and so earnestly sought. At any rate, it will be worth my while to make some inquiry concerning him among the followers of this holy prophet."

At the same time Goonah Purist recollected that there were certain Feringhees, or white people, living not far from his own house, who were followers of this holy prophet; and he remembered a neighbour of his own, who lived by trading in the market of these Feringhees. Goonah Purist, therefore, arose in haste, and went forthwith to join himself to those merchants who traded with the Feringhees. So I looked again, after a while, and behold Goonah Purist had joined himself to a company of merchants, and was on his way to the nearest mart