down into the grave as a beast which perisheth. And behold, the Lord blessed this affliction to him that survived; so that he who was dead in sin, began to revive.

And first, the Lord God Jehovah, by the power of his Holy Spirit, made Goonah Purist sensible of his vile and abominable state; by opening his eyes, and turning them upon his own pollutions. And now, he remembered all his sins and iniquities, and they became as an heavy burden upon his back, too heavy for him to bear. (Psalm xxxviii.). He could now no longer take delight in any of his former pleasures; now, for the first time, he perceived the clouds charged with vengeance, that hung over the town; and felt the quaking of the earth beneath. Then I saw, that he cried out, "What shall I do to save myself? Whither shall I fly? for these my sins, which weigh me down as a heavy burden, will sink me into hell."

Now I saw in my dream, that while he lay in the street, weighed down with the burden of his sins, and lamenting his sad condition, an aged man came up to him. In his hands he held the vidus, his head was bald, and his loins were girt with many folds of cloth: the portu, or sacred cord, which passed over his shoulder, marked him to be a Bramhun; and the marks on his face were indicative of the peculiar deity to whom he paid his devotions.

And behold, the Bramhun questioned him that was lying on the ground, concerning the state in which he found him, and wherefore he lay thus in the dust, crying and bemoaning himself.

Then answered Goonah Purist, "I am a man possessing great riches, and once was esteemed one of the honourable ones of the city: but now I am unable to enjoy those things which were formerly my delight; for I am weighed down, and brought

to the dust, by this burden of my sins, which is greater than I can bear, and which will assuredly (unless I find some means of deliverance, which as yet I see not) sink me into hell. And behold, my whole flesh is infected with a deadly disease; so that there is no part about me uncorrupted thereby. I am altogether filthy and abominable, and must, I feel, be hateful in the sight of the Creator of all things."

"I would know," answered the Bramhun, "how you, first came by these thoughts, for, from your own account, you had them not always?"

"The time was," answered Goonah Purist, "when I lived like other men, enjoying the pleasures of sense, and taking no thought for the morrow; gliding down the stream of time into the ocean of eternity, without looking before me, or even considering my present state; till, all at once, I was visited by many sore distresses in my own family, together with a sudden and dreadful calamity, which, befalling one of my familiar friends, seemed to pierce me to the heart. By these afflictions, I was brought seriously to consider the state of mankind upon earth, and was made sensible of our depraved and miserable situation. I then began to consider the nature of God, and to reason upon his attributes.

"I became convinced, by the force of reason, that he who had power and wisdom sufficient to make the heavens and the earth, must, in all respects, be a perfect being: perfectly holy, just, wise, and good; omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. By contemplating these perfections of the Deity, I became more and more sensible of my own depravity; and have been hence led to cry, in bitter agony and anguish of mind, How shall I, who am utterly unclean and abominable, a rebel from my birth, a lover of self rather than

a lover of God, how shall I dare to appear before my Creator?' And yet, appear I must, when death shall summon me away from this mortal state; and must then, I feel, be eternally miserable, unless, before that time, I find some way of atoning for my sins, and cleansing myself from this my corruption."

Then I saw that Goonah Purist broke out afresh into lamentations and bitter cries, from which the Bramhun interrupted him, by begging him to arise, saying, "Be comforted, my son; your case is not different from that of other men. Your present degraded and polluted state proceeds from that portion of matter to which your soul, which is a part of the divine Spirit, is united. Your deliverance from the influence of this matter may be obtained in several ways: either by separation from human society; from the practice of bodily austerities; from entire abstraction of mind; or, from the observance of devotional duties."

When Goonah Purist heard these words of the Bramhun, which seemed to afford him some prospect of relief, he arose, and professed himself willing to become his disciple. I saw then, that the Bramhun sat down under the shade of a tree, and Goonah Purist took his place opposite to him, while they discoursed in the following

manner:

"You seem," said the Bramhun, "to have lived, hitherto, in the most profound ignorance, being scarcely acquainted with the name of the Supreme Being, upon whose nature you nevertheless pretend to reason."

Goonah Purist, with his eyes fixed on the ground, confessed the ignorance with which he was charged, and professed his desire of instruction.

"The Supreme Deity," replied the Bramhun, "is Brumhu. Brumhu and life is one.

Every

kind of matter is without life. That which is created, cannot possess life; therefore, all life is the Creator, or Brumhu. He is the soul of the world; and that which animates your body, is only an emanation from the Divinity. Brumhu is everlasting, unchangeable; the world, which is his work, is changeable."

"My reason tells me," replied Goonah Purist, "that my spirit, soul, and body, are the work of God; and, in that sense, an emanation from God. But, I feel myself to be a distinct being; and, so far from existing, in every sense, as a part of the Supreme Being, that I have hitherto lived in enmity to him, an alien from him, and capable of an everlasting separation from his presence."

The Bramhun answered, "When the soul takes its mortal birth, it is separated from God, the source of happiness, and remains a miserable wanderer, in various births and states, till it regain its place in the divine essence. But, when the soul is delivered from the world, and is again absorbed in the divine nature; this is the utmost happiness to which we can aspire. This is the happiness after which, in holy aspirations, the yogee devotes his life, in perfect abstraction from all objects of sense."

"Then," replied Goonah Purist, "we are to understand, that, when the soul is restored to the Divinity, from whence it emanated, all self-consciousness is gone."

"Our holy books," said the Bramhun, "teach us that it is so. The deliverance of the soul from the world, and its absorption into the divine nature, is the utmost happiness to which we can aspire; and, if not obtained in one birth, is to be sought through every future transmigration till obtained."

"According to this doctrine," replied Goonah Purist, "it would have been better for the human

race, had it never existed; since it appears, that the most holy persons, after having endured the severest penalties, and the utmost acts of selftorment, attain, at the end, a state, in which they were as if they had never been."

"Cease," said the Bramhun," from this profane language. Do you despise that state of absorption for which the holy yogees endure torments unspeakable, subduing every passion, and living in perfect abstraction from every sense? But you are as yet, I see, incapable of estimating the sanctity and happiness of that man to whom gold, iron, and stones are the same; who is the same in friendship and in hatred, in honour and dishonour, in cold and in heat, in pain and in pleasure."

"Have patience with me," replied Goonah Purist: "I have chosen you for my instructor, and I am willing to be led by you; I am willing to drink the water in which your feet have been bathed. I beg you to speak further to me on the nature of the Supreme Being.

The Bramhun proceeded then to describe Brumhu, the Supreme Being, in his state of repose, in which he is supposed to remain during the revolution of ages; being destitute of ideas or intelligence, remaining in a state of undisturbed tranquillity, from which, after certain long intervals, he awakes to the work of creation. He spoke, also, of the various destinies which are impressed upon souls as soon as they are united to matter; and of the qualities or indications of the mind, by which those who come into life under the influence of an evil destiny may be known from those who are born under happier auspices.

I saw, then, as the Bramhun continued to speak, that Goonah Purist became more and more dejected: he folded his arms, and sat with his eyes bent downward, attentively and eagerly hearkening