lence"
and, placed on an iron bier, is exposed to the fowls of the air and the
dew of heaven and to the sun until the flesh has disappeared, and the
bleached bones fall through into a pit beneath, and are afterwards
buried in a cave.

They believe the holy fire is brought down from heaven. Only priests
can approach it and they must wear a half-mask over the face lest their
breath should defile it, and never touch it with hands, but by
instruments. Tobacco smoking is prohibited as the smoker would defile
the holy fire. They say there are five kinds of fire and great respect
is shown to them. I remember having had a conversation with a Parsee in
which he said: "Fire purifies all things, is stronger than all things,
is cleaner than all other things, more beautiful than all things;
therefore, fire is _god_. Your own Bible says: 'I am a consuming
fire.'"

The Parsees have five kinds of sacrifices. These are the slaughtering
of animals for the public and poor men; prayer, the Doruns sacrament
with its consecrated bread and wine in honor of the founder of the law,
Heromah (or Sama) and Dahman. This sacrament resembles our Lord's
Supper. It is eaten publicly as a feast of joy. Fourth, the sacrifice
of expiation which is offered by all men and is killed in their
temples. Lastly the sacrifice for the souls of the dead. The removal of
moral and physical impurities is effected by holy water and earth and
by prayer. Prayer and holy words from the Avesta are recited several
times every day. Fasting and celibacy are hateful to the divinity. The
ethical code may be summed up in three words--purity of thought, of
words and of deeds. This, they claim, will become the universal
religion of the world.

A Parsee believes the soul of a dead man is for three days walking near
the tomb where the dead body is laid. The fourth day the gates of
heaven will be opened and he will approach the bridge of Chin-vat. Here
the good and evil deeds of his life will be weighed in the balances of
justice. If the good deeds of his life outweigh the bad, he will pass
over the bridge into heaven. If the bad are heavier than the good the
candidate falls beneath the bridge into hell. In both heaven and hell
there are three states. In heaven, good words, thoughts, deeds and
words. In hell, bad words, thoughts and deeds.

CHAPTER II.

MOHAMMEDANISM.

Mohammed means "Praised One." One of the Mohammedan divines once spoke
in the presence of the write