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

218 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. V.

the same emblems to be used also for the same purpose in the Christian Church. And so it is in fact.” Then the Christian divine proceeds to quote passages from the New Testament showing the connection of light and fire with Divinity.

Then as to the use of fire in the Christian ritual, the Bishop says: “A glance at the ritual of the Church shows, then, that the very same position which our Aryan ancestors, following the light of reason, assigned to fire and light in their divine worship in order to represent God’s divine majesty and His presence among His worshippers, is likewise, and largely, given to the same convenient and delightful creature as symbol of God’s sublime splendour and living presence among his beloved children.” A little further on, writing about the similarity between the Parsi firetemple and the Christian sanctuary, he says: ‘On this landing let us rest for a while. We have before us the sanctuary of the Parsi fire-temple and the sanctuary of the Christian Church. In both we see a perpetual flame indicating the presence of God: there the omnipresence of God the Creator, here the sacramental presence of God the Redeemer. I am unable to express in words the deep and vehement feelings which move my heart when I kmeel in the sanctuary of my chapel and think of the Parsi fire-temple a few yards off in which a fire is ever burning like the flame in our sanctuary lamp. Here is one of the