trial go
on without you."

"Never shall it be said that I shrunk from such a trial as this," said
I. "It would give grounds for suspicions of guilt that never had
existence, even in thought. I will go and show myself in every public
place, that no slanderous tongue may wag against me. I have shed the
blood of sinners, but of these deaths I am guiltless; therefore I will
face every tribunal, and put all my accusers down."

"Asseveration will avail you but little," answered he, composedly. "It
is, however, justifiable in its place, although to me it signifies
nothing, who know too well that you did commit both crimes, in your own
person, and with your own hands. Far be it from me to betray you;
indeed, I would rather endeavour to palliate the offences; for, though
adverse to nature, I can prove them not to be so to the cause of pure
Christianity, by the mode of which we have approved of it, and which we
wish to promulgate."

"If this that you tell me be true," said I, "then is it as true that I
have two souls, which take possession of my bodily frame by turns, the
one being all unconscious of what the other performs; for as sure as I
have at this moment a spirit within me, fashioned and destined to
eternal felicity, as sure am I utterly ignorant of the crimes you now
lay to my charge."

"Your supposition may be true in effect," said he. "We are all
subjected to two distinct natures in the same person. I myself have
suffered grievously in that way. The spirit that now directs my
energies is not that with which I was endowed at my creation. It is
changed within me, and so is my whole nature. My former days were those
of grandeur and felicity. But, would you believe it? I was not then a
Christian. Now I am. I have been converted to its truths by passing
through the fire, and, since my final conversion, my misery has been
extreme. You complain that I have not been able to render you more
happy than you were. Alas! do you expect it in the difficult and
exterminating career which you have begun? I, however, promise you
this--a portion of the only happiness which I enjoy, sublime in its
motions, and splendid in its attainments--I will place you on the right
hand of my throne, and show you the grandeur of my domains, and the
felicity of my millions of true professors."

I was once more humbled before this mighty potentate, and promised to
be ruled wholly by his directions, although at that moment my nature
shrunk from the