prophet as a mediator to stand between you and God? and you deem our pure law and holy rites insufficient for your purification ?"

I saw then, that the sheik fell into a great rage, asking him how he could presume to reason with him, or to express a doubt of the sufficiency of their great prophet, and their holy faith. The disciples, too, of the sheik began to revile the trembling inquirer. Then was Goonah Purist greatly terrified; and perceiving that the religion of Mahommed pointed out no adequate satisfaction for sin, nor any probable means of inward purification; and that, according to it, a man must rise and fall by himself alone; and feeling also, that if he trusted to his own good works, he must be utterly lost; he resolved to go elsewhere in search of salvation. So he arose, and came away in haste from the house of the Sheik Olislam.

Now I looked, and behold when Goonah Purist was come out into the street, and had got a little way from the house of the high-priest, and from the chief mosque, he was met by an immense concourse of people (for it was the month called Mohurrum), who were going about with timbrels, and drums, and trumpets; before which they danced and capered like men frantic, exclaiming, "Hussein! Hossein! Hussein! Hossein!' And presently followed a company of persons clashing their swords, as in a mock fight; and these having passed by, others followed, bearing on their shoulders beautiful models of tombs and sepulchres, formed of light and splendid materials. So Goonah Purist was obliged to stand back, since he could not pass on, by reason of the immense crowd of people; and, being heavily pressed with grief, and the weight of his burden, he sat down on one side, in the dust of the street, waiting till the throng should have passed, and the uproar should cease. But behold, the people continued going and coming till sunset; and at sunset, the confusion became still greater, for the streets were thronged all night, by people intoxicated with strong liquor, and with opium, and with bang; and every man did what was right in the sight of his own eyes: so that the city was filled with abominations.

Now Goonah Purist became anxious to know what all this might mean; and he looked this way, and that way, for one who could explain the matter to him. At

length, seeing a religious mendicant standing at some distance from him, he ventured to put the question to him.

Then answered the mendicant, “Friend, where hast thou lived until now, seeing that thou art ignorant that this is the holy feast of the Mohurrum, and that the people are gathered here to commemorate the deaths of Hussein and Hossein ?"

Goonah Purist. And who may these persons be?

Mendicant. Child of ignorance and folly, knowest thou not that these are the sons of Fatima, the daughter of our holy prophet, Mohammed, and the wife of Ali? and that she, on the day of judgment, will present herself before the throne of the Almighty, and with the head of her murdered son in one hand, and the heart of her poisoned son in the other, will claim, on account of their deaths, the acquittal of their followers?

I saw then, in my dream, that when Goonah Purist heard these words, he was pleased.

"And do you affirm," said he, " that all such as have followed these on earth, will be forgiven their sins, and admitted into everlasting happiness, through their deaths and sufferings?"

Mendicant. Assuredly I do.

Goonah Purist. You have, no doubt, high and good authority for this important assertion. I have been, however, with your high-priest, the Sheik Olislam, and he mentioned not this circumstance to me.

Mendicant. I cannot say that the Koran speaks of it; nevertheless, it is true.

Goonah Purist. Where, then, is your authority? Mendicant. We have the story from tradition, and it is certainly true.

Goonah Purist. By this rule, all the stories the Hindoos relate of their idols are true.

"Infidel!" replied the mendicant, "dost thou compare the grandsons of our holy prophet with the idols of the heathen?"

"I make no comparisons," answered Goonah Purist, "but I speak as a man who eagerly thirsts after truth. As the gazelle, when the hot winds blow over the desert, desires refreshing shade and cooling springs; so do I desire to know, by what evidence or authority you dare to rest the welfare of your immortal souls on mere tradition ?"

"We have more than mere tradition," replied the mendicant;" from time immemorial holy rites have been appointed to commemorate these events."

"This argument," answered Goonah Purist, " may, in like manner, be used by the Bramins in favour of their gods. Their idolatrous ceremonies were instituted, as some say, from the beginning of the world; and we have abundant proof that they were introduced many ages ago."

The mendicant looked indignantly at Goonah Purist; nevertheless, he restrained his anger, and demanded of him what evidence he would deem sufficient of any event to which he himself had not been eyewitness.

Goonah Purist replied, "I am an ignorant man, and little skilled in the art of disputation; yet, without any deep learning, my reason tells me, that those stories which the Hindoos relate of their gods can never be true, although they have tradition and ancient custom to plead in their favour. In like manner, I think that, unless you have more than tradition, and the ancient establishment of certain customs, to rely upon for the truth of this story of Hossein and Hussein, you are placing your hopes of salvation on a foundation which may fail you when you have most need of support. that undertakes to traverse a stormy sea, ought in reason to require satisfactory evidence of the soundness and sufficiency of the vessel in which he is about to embark for that purpose."

He

"You doubt, then," replied the mendicant," of the existence of these noble personages?"

66

No," replied Goonah Purist, "I believe that they did exist. The tradition of which you speak is in favour of that circumstance, and, probably, sufficient evidence of it. But that part of your story which I call in question, relates to the power of those persons to save their followers. Allow me to inquire, how these grandsons of your prophet died? Did they lay down their lives for their people?"

Mendicant. I perceive that thou art in a state of the grossest and most invincible ignorance. Nevertheless, that I may not be made a partaker in the guilt and punishment thereof, I will give thee the information thou desirest.-Huzrut Hussein had poison administered to him, in a date, by one of his concubines; and Huzrut

Hossein was killed by the army of Gazed, in his passage through the desert.

I saw then, in my dream, that Goonah Purist fell into a revery. At length, he said, "I perceive, from what you say, that these men were sinners like ourselves; moreover, that they did 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 the 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 farther inquiry 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! wo 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? Are they not sinners, such as I am ?"