The money-changers have two irregular modes of making a profit by their traffic. If they state the fair price of silver to the customer, they cheat him in the weight; if their scales and their method of weighing are accurate, they diminish the price of the silver accordingly. But when they have to do with Tartars they employ neither of these methods of fraud; on the contrary, they weigh the silver scrupulously, and sometimes allow a little overweight, and even they pay them above the market price; in fact, they appear to be quite losers by the transaction, and so they would be, if the weight and the price of the silver alone were considered; their advantage is derived in these cases from their manner of calculating the amount. When they come to reduce the silver into sapeks, they do indeed reduce it, making the most flagrant miscalculations, which the Tartars, who can count nothing beyond their beads, are quite incapable of detecting, and which they, accordingly, adopt implicitly, and even with satisfaction, always considering they have sold their bullion well, since they know the full weight has been allowed, and that the full market price has been given.

The Blue Town is especially noted for its great trade in camels. The camel market is a large square in the centre of the town; the animals are ranged here in long rows, their front feet raised upon a mud elevation constructed for that purpose, the object being to show off the size and height of the creatures. It is impossible to describe the uproar and confusion of this market, what with the incessant bawling of the buyers and sellers as they dispute, their noisy chattering after they have agreed, and the horrible shrieking of the camels at having their noses pulled, for the purpose of making them show their agility in kneeling and rising. In order to test the strength of the camel, and the burden it is capable of bearing, they make it kneel, and then pile one thing after another upon its back, causing it to rise under each addition, until it can rise no longer. They sometimes use the following expedient: while the camel is kneeling, a man gets upon its hind heels,

and holds on by the long hair of its hump; if the camel can rise then, it is considered an animal of superior power.

The trade in camels is entirely conducted by proxy: the seller and the buyer never settle the matter between themselves. They select indifferent persons to sell their goods, who propose, discuss, and fix the price; the one looking to the interests of the seller, the other to those of the purchaser. These "sale-speakers" exercise no other trade; they go from market to market to promote business, as they say. They have generally a great knowledge of cattle, have much fluency of tongue, and are, above all, endowed with a knavery beyond all shame. They dispute, by turns, furiously and argumentatively, as to the merits and defects of the animal; but as soon as it comes to a question of price the tongue is laid aside as a medium, and the conversation proceeds altogether in signs. They seize each other by the wrist, and, beneath the long wide sleeve of their jackets, indicate with their fingers the progress of the bargain. After the affair is concluded they partake of the dinner, which is always given by the purchaser, and then receive a certain number of sapeks, according to the custom of different places.

In the Blue Town there exist five great Lamaseries, each inhabited by more than 2,000 Lamas; besides these, they reckon fifteen less considerable establishments-branches, as it were, of the former. The number of regular Lamas resident in this city may fairly be stated at 20,000. As to those who inhabit the different quarters of the town, engaged in commerce and horse-dealing, they are innumerable. The Lamasery of the Five Towers is the finest and the most famous: here it is that the Hobilgan lives—that is, a Grand Lama-who, after having been identified with the substance of Buddha, has already undergone several times the process of transmigration. He sits here upon the altar once occupied by the Guison-Tamba, having ascended it after a tragical event, which very nearly brought about a revolution in the empire.

Answer. Then you should believe nothing at all, not even that you live, that you see, that you speak, that you hear, &c., &c.; for you do not understand any of these phenomena.

What is noise, color, odor, Where, and why, and how How does it happen that

What is life? What is speech? What is sound? &c.? What is the wind? Where does it begin? does it cease? What is cold, heat? What is sleep? during sleep your ears remaining open exactly as when you are awake, you hear nothing? Why and how do you awake? What takes place then? What is fatigue, pain, pleasure, &c., &c.? What is matter, which takes all forms, all colors, &c.? Who can understand what it is?

How can a man with his eyes, which are two little balls all black inside, see every surrounding object, even those placed at a distance of millions of miles, as the stars? How is it that your soul would leave your body, if you did not regularly introduce into it, as food, pieces of dead animals, of plants, vegetables, &c.? Every thing in me is a mystery. The man who reflects will find a mystery, something which he cannot fully comprehend, in the works of nature as well as in the truths of religion. Where is the individual, however learned, who understands the how and the why of natural phenomena? Who has comprehended even a single one? What mysteries!!... And do you aim at comprehending Him who has created all those things which you cannot understand? You do not understand creatures, and you pretend to comprehend the Creator? You are unable to understand what is finite, limited, and you wish to comprehend the infinite! You cannot understand an acorn, a fly, a pebble, and you hope to understand GoD and His teachings!! ... It is absurd!

The mysteries of religion are like the sun. Imperious in themselves, they enlighten and vivify those who walk with simplicity by their light; they only blind the audacious eye which gazes on them. Mysteries are above reason, but not contrary to reason; which is a different thing. Reason left to itself does not perceive the truth of mysteries; yet neither does it see their impossibility. Take, for example, the mystery of an eternal and infinite Being. I cannot understand how a being may have no beginning, or be every where at the same time. But yet I do not see that such a thing is impossible--that it is a contradiction. The same may be said concerning the mystery of the Trinity. I do not understand how one single infinite nature, one and the same Divinity, can belong at the same time to three distinct persons; but I do not see that it is evidently contrary to truth-impossible in itself. To say: "Three persons make but one person,” would be evidently false and absurd; but it is not absurd to assert: "Three persons possess one and the same divine nature, and consequently are but one God."

Take again the mysteries of the Incarnation, of the Redemption, the Eucharist, eternal rewards and punishments, and all others taught by the Catholic Church.I do not understand how Jesus Christ, a God-man, has atoned by His death for all

He

our sins, and how, by His grace which He has attached to the sacraments, applies that atonement to our souls.—I do not see how His glorified body is present in the Eucharist; how the substance of bread and wine is changed at Mass by the consecration of the priest, into the substance of the adorable body and blood of the Saviour. I do not see how eternal joys and pains are the just recompense of transient virtue, or the just punishment of passing sins, &c.; but I cannot say, and nobody else can say: "It is evidently contrary to truth-evidently and absolutely impossible." Therefore the mysteries of religion are above reason, though not contrary to reason.

No, faith is not contrary to reason; it is the help-mate of reason. It is a more brilliant light that unites itself to a less brilliant one. Faith is to reason what the telescope is to the naked eye. The eye aided by the telescope sees what it cannot perceive by itself. It penetrates into regions which are inaccessible to it without the assistance of that instrument. Will you say that the telescope is contrary to the sight? Faith regulates reason and renders its sphere more extensive. It allows reason to take cognizance of those things which are of its competency; and when its strength is exhausted, faith upholds it, invigorates it, and introduces it to the knowledge of new, supernatural and divine truths, even to the secrets of God.

I believe then the mysteries of religion, as I believe the mysteries of nature, because I am convinced of their existence. I am convinced that the mysteries of nature exist, because irrefragable witnesses testify to their existence. These witnesses are my senses and the authority of men. I am convinced that the mysteries of religion exist, because witnesses still more irrefragable testify to their existence. These are Jesus Christ and His Church. My reason may examine and weigh the value of their testimony. But when I have examined the facts which prove the truth, the divinity, the infallibility of this testimony, my reason has finished its task; faith ought to take its place; reason has led me to truth; faith now speaks: I have only to listen, to believe, to adore. My faith in the Christian mysteries is therefore reasonable in the highest degree. It supposes a solid and logical mind. My reason tells me: "These witnesses cannot either deceive you or be deceived. They bring you TRUTH from heaven!" I would sin against my own reason, if I believed not their words. From all this we must conclude that it is a pitiful weakness of mind to be willing to believe only what we understand.

XII.-I WISH I COULD BELIEVE, BUT I CANNOT.

Answer. It is a mere illusion which will not excuse you before the tribunal of the great Judge, who has declared that, he who believes in Him, has everlasting life, and he who does not believe is already condemned.

"You cannot believe?" What means have you employed to obtain faith? He who sincerely desires the end, desires the means; he who neglects the means, shows evidently that he cares very little for the end. Now, such is your case, if you have not faith. Either you have not taken the means to acquire it, or you have not used them efficiently, which amounts to the same thing.

1st. Have you prayed? Prayer is the first condition for obtaining all the gifts of God, and consequently faith, which is one of the most precious and the most fundamental. Have you asked of God the grace of faith? How have you asked it? Was it not in an indifferent manner, without caring much for it, without perseverance, and only once in a while? Had you when praying, or have you now,

a deep, sincere, and lively desire of believing and being a Christian? There are some who ask for the virtues, but are afraid of being heard.

2d. Have you studied religion with a sincere love of truth? Did you apply to a learned priest, or, at least, to a Christian well instructed in his religion, to lay before him your difficulties and ask their solution?

3d. Are you determined, if God gives you faith, to live according to its holy and and austere maxims, to combat your passions, to labor for your sanctification, to make to God the sacrifices He may demand of you?

We find here the true reason of the situation of most unbelievers. It is passion, much more than reason that rejects faith as too incommodious and painful. "Light came into the world," says Jesus Christ, "and men loved darkness better than light, because their works were evil." The heart persuades the head. Reasonings then have no weight; truth is unwelcome. The worst kind of deafness is when one is unwilling to hear. This blindness is voluntary and culpable in its cause. On this account our Lord declares that he who believeth not, is already judged: he has resisted the truth. Be honest in your inquiries after religious truth; beg of God light with sincerity and perseverance; make known your doubts to a charitable and enlightened priest; be prepared to live in conformity to faith as soon as its divine light shall illumine your soul, and you may rest assured that before long you will believe and be a good Catholic.

TO BE CONTINUED.

LITERARY NOTICES.

The Power of the Pope during the Middle Ages. By M. Gosselin. Vol. II. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co.

In our last issue we noticed the appearance of this volume, which is the second of Dolman's Library of Translations, and completes the learned work of the Abbé Gosselin on the power which the Popes exercised over temporals during the Middle Ages. In the first volume, as we have already observed, the author exposes the grounds of the Pope's temporal dominion, or sovereignty over the states of the Church: in that before us he examines the titles of the power which the Bishop of Rome exercised over temporal princes. For this purpose he states the various theories which have attempted to explain this power, the circumstances which contributed to establish it, the state of society and influence of the clergy in the medieval times, and the peculiar legislation of that period. He then proceeds to show that the power in question was founded on the constitutional law, as it then obtained throughout Europe. The reader will plainly perceive, however, that the author supposes in the Church a directive power in temporals, or indirect temporal jurisdiction, on which this constitutional law itself was based. This work of the Abbé Gosselin is most opportune, and will prove one of the most interesting publications of the present day, by the great mass of information which it presents in relation to the political and religious state of Europe in the Middle Ages. Justo Ucundono, Prince of Japan. By Philalethes. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 12mo. pp. 344.

THE object of this work is to show how the mind, unfettered by prejudice and aided by divine grace, will attain to the discovery of the true Christian faith. The plan of the author is allegorical, and will be found by many readers much more interesting than the dry discussion of theological subjects. The young prince Justo, after having been educated in a secluded valley, far from the errors and crimes of society, and free from