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

208 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. IV.

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 jom in respecting the old Persian worship, and sympathise in lamenting

the infamous persecution which has caused its decay.”