ceived by the priests, who were naked from their waists upwards, having a kind of petticoats of cotton hanging down from the girdle to their knees, and pieces of calico covering their arm-pits; their heads, legs, and feet bare. They were distinguished by wearing certain threads over their right shoulders, which crossed over their breasts and under their left arms, much in the way in which our priests used formerly to wear their stoles when they said Mass. These men are called Kafirs, and are idolaters, serving as priests in the pagodas of Malabar; and on the general going into the pagoda, they took holy water with a sprinkle from a font, and threw it over the Kutwal and him, and their attendants. After this they gave them powdered sandalwood to throw upon their heads, as used to be done amongst us with ashes; they were directed to do the same on their arms. But our people, as being clothed, omitted this latter part of the ceremony, complying with the other. In this pagoda they saw many images painted on the walls, some of which had monstrous teeth, projecting an inch from their mouths, and some had four arms; all of them so ugly that they seemed like devils, which raised doubts amongst our people whether they were actually in a Christian church. In the middle of the pagoda stood a chapel having a roof or dome of free-stone, like a tower, in one part of which was a door of wire, to which there led a

flight of stone steps. On the inside of this tower an image was observed in a recess of the wall, which our men could not see distinctly, as the place was somewhat dark, and they were not permitted to go near, as none were allowed to approach except the priests. But from certain words and signs, our people understood this to be an image of the virgin; on which the general and his attendants went upon their knees to say their prayers. John de Sala, however, being very doubtful that this was not a Christian church, owing to the monstrous images on the wall, said as he fell on his knees, If this be the devil, I worship God;-on which the general looked at him with a smile."

VIII. In the history of the world nothing is more wonderful than the change of Christianity into Popery. Nothing can be more dissimilar to the mild religion of heaven, than the intolerant and absurd superstition which has assumed the name and place of Christianity in countries where true religion once flourished. Each departure from the truth was gradual; those who were removing from the doctrines of the Bible, and adhering to the traditions of men, had little conception how far the stream of corruption to which they were yielding would at length carry them away.

No doubt, the doctrines of Christianity are retained by the Romish Church, as the Bible itself is retained, but both are considered too spiritual and

elevated for daily and general use; and the saints take the place of the Saviour, and vain legends usurp the authority of the Scriptures, and idolatrous and absurd sacrifices conceal from the view the one great sacrifice which has abolished sin and death to all believers. Of all the artifices of the father of / lies for the destruction of the human race, Popery/ is the most dangerous and successful, which effectu-/ ally destroys the essence of Christianity/) while it preserves the name, and deludes its votaries with a pretence of trusting in the Saviour, while it is causing them to bow down to dumb idols, which can neither profit nor save.

Popery is Paganism under a thin disguise of Christianity; and, accordingly, in all things it is but a gross and material counterfeit of true and spiritual religion/The Church of Christ is ever one and/ the same, and Popery aims at the same identity and/ universality; but instead of the true Church, which/ is a spiritual body, with Christ for its head, Popery/ is but a putrifying and noisome carcase—a collec-/ tion of unregenerate men, the doers of every evil/ work, with those who love and those who make a lie, with the Pope, not the Saviour, for their head. Whosoever believes in the Saviour is infallible in the best sense; all things are working together for good to him; he shall be led by the Spirit, in due time, into all useful truth, and delivered from every hurtful error. Popery has its infallibility, but this

infallibility consists in being infallibly wrong; even when convinced of its errors it cannot change them; having made a wrong step, it cannot recede. Thus, while religion is the guidance of the believer unto all truth, Popery, by its assumption of infallibility, is the leader of the credulous into inextricable error.

IX. The enmity which God has placed between the seed of the woman and the serpent never ceases. Those who outwardly acknowledge a revelation from God, do not the less hate and persecute those who receive the divine word inwardly and in reality. The Jews, while they made their boast of being the depositaries of God's messages of mercy to mankind, yet slew and evil-entreated the messengers who brought them; and while their minds were filled with expectations of the arrival of the great King, of whom all the prophets had spoken, they betrayed that King to the Gentiles, and nailed him to the Cross.

It was certainly not to be expected that the mere acknowledging Christianity to be from God, and the assumption of the Christian name, should of itself put an end to persecution. Those who are after the flesh, will ever hate those who are after the spirit, and will never cease to inflict injuries upon them, when not restrained by the prevalence of better principles, or at least by the coercion of the laws, or by the check of public opinion.

But though it could not be expected that perse

cution should cease, yet it could never have been imagined that persecution should have been augmented, instead of being diminished, when Paganism ceased, and that Christians should suffer more from bishops, and sovereigns who professed Christianity, than they had ever done from the Pagan priesthood and the Pagan emperors of Rome.

Yet the persecutions of Pagan Rome are not to be compared to those of Papal Rome, either in frequency, in duration, in cruelty, or in success. When the Christians were punished by the Roman magistrates, it was generally on the information of voluntary informers. The Papists do not trust to this alone, but have established a system of permanent and salaried accusation against all real Christians, by the appointment of a regular inquisition. The furnace of persecution was only occasionally heated by the Pagans, but by the Papists it is kept continually and intensely burning. A general persecution was only resorted to by the Pagans at particular times; with the Papists there are no seasons of relaxation or intermission; and not only those who oppose the Church of Rome are persecuted, but even those who are merely suspected of differing from it. All might re-enter the Pagan Church by a single act of conformity, in casting incense upon the flames; but the idols of modern Rome are not so placable; suspicion is almost equivalent

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