But the author has not relied on such necessarily hurried observations of foreign travel for the chief materials of his work. His main dependence has rather been the authority of original investigators and explorers, from Bosio down to De Rossi. The single object of the work, then, is to record such facts as I have been able to collect together, bearing upon the original promulgation of Christianity and the establishment of the Catholic Church. The work has as sumed the form of an illustration of the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed, so far as they embody the Christian faith.