to give greater efficiency to His prayers, unites them to those of all the Parsis, of all the souls acceptable to Hormazd, which have existed, or shall exist until the resurrection. He declares also that he takes part in the good deeds of all the righteous, and that he joins his action to theirs. This communion of prayers and actions appears in all the forms and all the offices which compose the liturgical works of the Parsis. It is well adapted to maintain the spirit of peace and union which ought to characterise a people who profess to adore the Author of all good.

"The Parsis commence prayers with a sincere confession of the sins they have committed."

This is a sufficiently accurate account of the theological system of Zoroaster reduced to practice, though Anquetil du Perron commits the grave error, alluded to before in the words of Dr. Haug, of not clearly understanding the speculative philosophy taught by Zoroaster himself, inasmuch as he places Ahreman, the bad principle, directly in opposition to Ahura Mazda, whereas it ought to be to Spenta Mainyush, the good principle.

Dr. Hyde also, in his celebrated work on the ancient Parsi religion, says that "the Persians, from the beginning of their existence as a nation, always believed in only one and the same true and omnipotent God. They believed in all the attributes of

1 Translated from the French by the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell.

the Deity believed by us; and God is called in their own writings the Doer, the Creator, the Governor, and the Preserver of the world. They also believed that the Deity was eternal (without beginning or end) and omnipotent, with a great many attributes, which to enumerate particularly would be tedious. They also believed this Deity to be the judge of all men, and that there was to come a general resurrection of every man, to be judged and accounted according to his merits or demerits. And they also believed that God has prepared for the blessed a place of happiness called heaven or paradise. And as there was a heaven for the good, there was also a place of torture for the wicked (as may be proved from their old works), where they undergo a punishment for their faults and misdeeds. They acknowledged that they sinned daily, but professed themselves to be penitent for all the sins committed by them either by thought, word, or deed."

In alluding to these remarks of Dr. Hyde, Sir William Ouseley says, "I sincerely join in respecting the old Persian worship, and sympathise in lamenting the infamous persecution which has caused its decay."

CHAPTER V.

MONOTHEISM AND FIRE-REVERENCE.

The Parsis are monotheists-Fire-temples--Respect for fire-The best symbol of the Almighty-The purification of fire-Nine times purified-Repudiation of idolatry - The antiquity of fire-reverence - The Roman Flamines - Bishop Meurin's writings-Dean Prideaux on the Parsis— Anquetil du Perron-Further evidence in favour of Parsi religion-The name of fire-worshippers unmerited-A poet's opinion-Parsi fidelity— Firm but not bigoted-Parsi toleration- A Parsi martyr--Innovations— A Religious Reform Association-A successful essay-Religious booksTranslations into Gujarati-The Parsi priesthood-A hereditary profession-Educating the priests-The present "dasturs"-The Bareshnum ceremony The dignity of Navar-The induction of a priest.

WE have already mentioned in the two preceding chapters a certain number of facts which tend to prove that the Zoroastrians are and have always been theists. There is no doubt also of their being monotheists. They tolerate no other worship than that of a Supreme Being; and we are confirmed in this view not only by European authorities but by the practices and religious prayers of the Parsis at the present day. That the Parsis are not idolaters has been plain to all Europeans coming into contact with them. Zoroaster raised his powerful voice against the idol-worship prevalent at his epoch in Persia, and active efforts are said to have been made to extinguish heretical

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forms of worship, and to destroy the idols worshipped in the bordering countries. Xerxes, the immediate successor of Gushtasp, was filled with such hatred of idolatry that he destroyed all the Grecian temples dedicated to the gods.

The charge of worshipping fire, sun, water, and air has, however, been brought against the Parsis by those imperfectly acquainted with the Zoroastrian faith, and consequently unable to form a just opinion. The Parsis repel these charges with indignation. Ask any Parsi whether he is a worshipper of the sun or fire, and he will emphatically answer-No! This declaration itself, coming from one whose own religion is Zoroastrianism, ought to be sufficient to satisfy the most sceptical. God, according to Parsi faith, is the emblem of glory, refulgence, and light, and in this view, a Parsi, while engaged in prayer, is directed to stand before the fire,1 or to turn his face towards the sun, because they appear to be the most proper symbols of the Almighty.

1 In Bombay at the present day there are three Atash-Behrams or chief fire-temples for public worship. The first was built in the year 1783 by Dadibhai Nasarvanji Dadiseth. The second was built by the sons of Hormasji Bamanji Wadia in 1830, and the third was built in the year 1845 at the joint expense of Framji Kavasji Banaji, Kharshedji Kavasji Banaji, and Dadabhai Rastamji Banaji. There is one Atash-Behram at Navsari, and there are two at Surat, and one, the oldest of all, at Udvada. Fire-temples next in grade to the AtashBehram are called Atash-Adarans, of which more than a hundred exist in different cities of India. Fire-temples are open day and night for the offering up of prayers. Parsis can pray there at any hour by themselves.

All Eastern historians have acknowledged that the Persians from the earliest times were not idolaters, and that they worshipped one God, the Creator of the world, under the symbol of fire. Such is still the present practice among their descendants in India.

It will not be out of place here to examine some of the causes that induce a Parsi to reverence fire.

Firstly, fire is held by a Parsi to be the emblem of refulgence, glory, and light, the truest symbol of God, and the best and noblest representative of His divinity. In the words of a learned author, in the eyes of a Parsi "its (fire's) brightness, activity, purity, and incorruptibility bear the most perfect resemblance to the nature and perfection of the Deity." He looks upon fire as "the most perfect symbol of the Deity on account of its purity, brightness, activity, subtilty, fecundity, and incorruptibility."

Secondly, fire is the noblest, the most excellent, and the most useful of God's creations. Take it in its visible form as the manifestation of heat and light, or in its invisible form as heat, light, etc., it serves innumerable purposes in the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds. As an important agent in our innumerable arts and manufactures, as an invaluable helpmate in our domestic life, and as an essential factor in the production of hundreds of natural phenomena, not only on the surface of our earth but in the