honour are built the temples on the Ganges' banks, where his
true priests, the Brahmins, worship him. They know the true God, and
none but they. A thousand score of years have passed, and yet through
revolution after revolution these priests have held their sway, because
Brahma, the one true God, has protected them."

So spoke the Brahmin, thinking to convince every one; but a Jewish
broker who was present replied to him, and said:

"No! the temple of the true God is not in India. Neither does God
protect the Brahmin caste. The true God is not the God of the Brahmins,
but of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. None does He protect but His chosen
people, the Israelites. From the commencement of the world, our nation
has been beloved of Him, and ours alone. If we are now scattered over
the whole earth, it is but to try us; for God has promised that He will
one day gather His people together in Jerusalem. Then, with the Temple
of Jerusalem--the wonder of the ancient world--restored to its splendor,
shall Israel be established a ruler over all nations."

So spoke the Jew, and burst into tears. He wished to say more, but an
Italian missionary who was there interrupted him.

"What you are saying is untrue," said he to the Jew. "You attribute
injustice to God. He cannot love your nation above the rest. Nay rather,
even if it be true that of old He favored the Israelites, it is now
nineteen hundred years since they angered Him, and caused Him to destroy
their nation and scatter them over the earth, so that their faith makes
no converts and has died out except here and there. God shows preference
to no nation, but calls all who wish to be saved to the bosom of the
Catholic Church of Rome, the one outside whose borders no salvation can
be found."

So spoke the Italian. But a Protestant minister, who happened to be
present, growing pale, turned to the Catholic missionary and exclaimed:

"How can you say that salvation belongs to your religion? Those only
will be saved, who serve God according to the Gospel, in spirit and in
truth, as bidden by the word of Christ."

Then a Turk, an office-holder in the custom-house at Surat, who was
sitting in the coffee-house smoking a pipe, turned with an air of
superiority to both the Christians.

"Your belief in your Roman religion is vain," said he. "It was
superseded twelve hundred years ago by the true faith: that of Mohammed!
You cannot but observe how the true Mohammed faith continues to s