History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

198 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. IY.

sage gives of heaven and hell, the happy state in which the good and virtuous souls were located, and the torments and miseries which those who had walked in evil ways were condemned to suffer, are eminently calculated to stimulate virtuous conduct and induce the bad to amend their ways and lead lives of piety and holiness.

Arda Viraf speaks of a place that he beheld, which seemed to him to be composed of diamonds and rubies, the splendour of which surpassed that of the sun at noonday, and bore resemblance to flashes of vivid lightning ; that it appeared like a spacious garden, planted with trees and shrubs of various kinds, and adorned with rivulets and springs; that the trees were alive with singine-birds, filline the air with their melodious notes; that the spring sent out the scent of roses; that this was the residence of those who had worshipped none other than one God, and had walked in the way of holiness and devotion all their lives, performing the duties enjoined by the laws of God with zeal and activity; that the gems represented their virtues, while their souls were absorbed in splendours which could not-be gazed upon. On the other hand, the place of the sinner, the evil disposed, and the wicked, is described in the darkest colours imaginable. When it is remembered that this picturesque style of writing appeals forcibly to an Eastern mind, it cannot be doubted that it held forth the