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

224 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. V.

Zarthosht, professing their belief in one God, considering fire only as an emblem of His purity, and the sun as the most perfect of His work; they believe also in the rewards and punishments in a future state, as related in the revelations of Arda Viraf.”

The following is an extract from Niebuhr’s Travels through Arabia and other Countries in the East :“The Parsis, followers of Zarthosht, or Zoroaster, adore one God only, Eternal and Almighty. They pay, however, a certain worship to the sun, the moon, the stars, and to fire, as visible images of the invisible Divinity. Their veneration for the element of fire induces them to keep a sacred fire constantly burning, which they feed with odoriferous wood, both in the temples and in the houses of private persons who are in easy circumstances.”

The following extract from Butler’s Hore Biblice also explains the nature of the Parsi faith :—< Fire was considered by Zoroaster as the purest symbol of the Divinity, and the original element from which Hormazd produced all beings: he therefore enjoined his disciples to keep up a perpetual fire, and to perform other devotional exercises in the presence of fire; and every supposed corruption of fire is forbidden, under the severest penalties. To every act of devotion purity of heart is necessary; and to purity of heart Zoroaster supposes purity of body greatly contributes.”