8 THE FLOWERS

believed as an article of faith, or be thought
requisite or necessary to salvation.

But I forget that I am writing for such as
cannot be supposed to enter fully into dis-
cussions of this nature. I shall therefore
avoid going more deeply into them; simply
requesting my youthful reader to bear these
things in mind, namely, that of the two
principal orders of persons calling themselves
Christians, the first, namely the Protestants,
profess to take the Bible as their rule of
life and of belief; the second, the Papists,
bind themselves to obey the commandments
of their church, of which the pope is, as
they pretend, the father, the spiritual head,
the absolute and infallible ruler; and the
priests of that church assume to themselves a
power and authority far beyond that of any
mortal being, in all matters connected with
religion.

But to proceed with my narrative. As
I before said, I was born in France, and
educated for the pastoral office; the parish
which was appointed me lies upon the
Seine: it extends along the left bank of