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 I
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 "ZOROASTER" 
 
 THE GREAT PERSIAN 
 
 BY 
 
 LOREN HARPER WHITNEY 
 
 OF THE CHICAGO BAR 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 *'A QUESTION OF MIRACLES'' 
 
 PARALLELS IN 
 THE LIVES OF BUDDHA AND JESUS 
 
 THIS WORK ALSO INCLUDES A COMPARISON 
 
 OF THE PERSIAN AND HEBREV/ RELIGIONS 
 
 SHOV/ING THAT "THE WORD OF THE 
 
 LORD" CAME TO THE HEBREWS BY 
 
 WAY OF PERSIA 
 
 PART SECOND 
 
 OFFERS PROOF THAT THE JEWS COPIED 
 HEAVILY FROM THE HINDU BIBLE 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 Arranged for publication in its present form by Dr. L. W. 
 de Laurence, who is now sole owner of this wonderful 
 work, the same to now serve as "TEXT BOOK" NUM- 
 BER THREE for THE CONGRESS OF ANCIENT, 
 DIVINE, MENTAL and CHRISTIAN MASTERS. 
 Published exclusively by 
 de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. 
 Chicago, III., U. S. A.
 
 Copyright 1905 
 LOREN HARPER WHITNEY 
 
 OF THE CHICAGO BAR 
 
 DONOHUE & CO.. PRINTERS ASD BINDEFIS. 407-429 DEARBORN ST.. CHICAGO
 
 / ^ ' ^ 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Adam Came Alone 37 
 
 Angels Direct the Prophet 70 
 
 Angels Visit the Prophet 87 
 
 Animals in the Ark 15 
 
 Apes, The 244 
 
 Arabs Victorious 177 
 
 Archangel Meets Zoroaster 62 
 
 Ark, The 14 
 
 Aryans 7,000 Years Ago 78 
 
 Astronomy Against Genesis 231 
 
 Atheist, Not An 197 
 
 Avesta Conflicts with Genesis 10 
 
 Babylon, Deluge Story 247 
 
 Babylon and Ur 45 
 
 Benda, A Border Chief 135 
 
 Berosus and Babylon 42 
 
 Bibles, Persian and Jewish 13 
 
 Birth, Second or Spiritual One 214 
 
 Births, Miraculous ■. 21 
 
 Blind, Healing of 146 
 
 Bodily Resurrection, None 158 
 
 Brahmanism Older than the Flood 192 
 
 Brahma's Day 237 
 
 Bridge, The Kinvad 96 
 
 Bum the Wicked 183 
 
 Burnt Oblations 215 
 
 Captain Cook and the Nails 189 
 
 Casts, Four Great Ones 210 
 
 Catholics Take Hamistaken for Their Purgatory 101, 183 
 
 Chrisna, the Hindu Savior 196 
 
 1
 
 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Christian Hell, The 159 
 
 Chronology Wrong 88 
 
 Churches Quarrel 205 
 
 Conclusion 188 
 
 Conflicting Creeds 205 
 
 Convert, Zoroaster's First One 40 
 
 Cows of the Sky 81 
 
 Creation— When 230 
 
 Creations Final Change 169 
 
 Creators, Two 113 
 
 Creed-makers 193 
 
 Dante's Inferno 183 
 
 Darkness in the Ark 246 
 
 Death of Zoroaster 172 
 
 Defeated, If Persia Had Been 176 
 
 Deities, Two New Ones 193 
 
 Deluge, a Babylonian Myth 18 
 
 Destruction of the World 250 
 
 Deuteronomy Was Foimd 253 
 
 Devil Tempts Zoroaster 72 
 
 Devils as Lingiiists 115 
 
 Devils in All Religions 76 
 
 Diaglogue with the Serpent 233 
 
 Dives and Lazarus' Story, The Original 147 
 
 Divine Radiance at Zoroaster's Birth 48 
 
 Dualism, Doctrine of 105, 187 
 
 Early Deities 79 
 
 Earth Is Old 38 
 
 Egoism, What Is It? 229 
 
 Egypt and Zoroaster 166 
 
 Egypt Gave the Soul a Trial 164 
 
 Evil, Did the Lord Create It? 137 
 
 ^^Evil, Why It Exists 108 
 
 Ezekiel's Vision 120 
 
 Ezra and Ezekiel in Babylon 170 
 
 Faith No Justification 122 
 
 Fasts 206, 207 
 
 Fire, None in the Ark 241 
 
 ^^ Fire Worshippers, Zoroastrians Not 155 
 
 First Man and Woma^ , , .35, 36
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 
 
 Fish Saved Manu 238 
 
 Five Senses, Will They Survive 228 
 
 Floods, Two of Them ..236 
 
 Future Life Not Taught by Moses 223 
 
 Genesis of Hindu and Hebrew Bibles 227 
 
 God, The God of 1900 Years Ago on Trial 168 
 
 Gods, Elect of Animals 243 
 
 Good and Evil Created 34 
 
 Gulf, An Impassable One 213 
 
 Hamistaken 101 
 
 Heaven and Hell Mental States 157 
 
 Heaven Has Doors and Rooms 184, 185 
 
 Heaven of St. John 186 
 
 Heaven Promised 91 
 
 Heaven Visited by Zoroaster 63 
 
 Hebrews in Babylon 169, 170 
 
 Hell Beneath Kinvad Bridge 97 
 
 Hell of Christians Not a Drop of Water 160 
 
 Hell of Jesus is Barbarous 171, 183 
 
 Hell of Persians They Have Foul Food 160 
 
 Hell of the Perisans 100 
 
 Hells, Persian and Jew 103 
 
 Hindu Bible 208, 209 
 
 Hindu Eve 238 
 
 Hindu Speculation 257 
 
 Hindus Our Ancestors 199 
 
 Holy Mountains 56 
 
 Homer and Zoroaster 140 
 
 Hom- Juice 82 
 
 Hushedar to Surpass Joshua 151 
 
 Immortality Not Taught by Moses 223 
 
 Immortality of the Soul 180 
 
 Indian History 202, 203 
 
 Iranians and Hindus Separate 29 
 
 Iranians Older Than Hebrews 58 
 
 Jesus Copies Zoroaster 169 
 
 Jesus Hell is Barbarous 171 
 
 Jesus Hell the Wicked Bum 183 
 
 Jews as Copyists 11 
 
 Jews Found Their Devil in Babylon 119
 
 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Jews Had One God 194 
 
 Joshua Fable 150 
 
 Karpans, The 136 
 
 Kinvad Bridge 96 
 
 Legends and Myths 74 
 
 Man and Woman Grew from the Earth 35 
 
 Many Countries Claim Him 28 
 
 Mashaya and Mashyoi 36 
 
 Matthew Copies from Zoroaster 184 
 
 Metempsychosis 251 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost 221 
 
 Miracle, A Great One if True 143 
 
 Miraculous Births 21 
 
 Miraculous Exits, Many 174 
 
 Miraculous Release from Prison 86 
 
 Mohammedanism 194 
 
 Moon Sacrifices 216 
 
 Moses and Zoroaster 149 
 
 Moses a Unitarian 226 
 
 Oblations, Burnt 215 
 
 Osiris Court 2,300 years B. C 200 
 
 Noah's Orders 240 
 
 Nodites, The 235 
 
 Parting of the Tribes 31 
 
 Paul and Zoroaster 182 
 
 Persian and Hebrew Bibles 8 
 
 Perisan Hell 100 
 
 Persian Hell, They Have Foul Food 160 
 
 Persians on the Oxus 30 
 
 Persians Truthful 55 
 
 Peter Copies the Hindus 256 
 
 Poor, The, Zoroaster's First Converts 67 
 
 * Predestination 252 
 
 Primal Spirits, Two 109 
 
 Prison, In 85 
 
 Purgatory and Hamistaken the Same 101, 183 
 
 Records 4,000 Years B. C 198 
 
 Released from Prison 86 
 
 Religion a Matter of Education 162 
 
 Religion at Times Depends on Battles 178
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 
 
 Religion Slowly Changing 167 
 
 Religions All Have Devils 76 
 
 Religious Wars 127 
 
 Renovated World 102 
 
 Resurrection of the Dead 95 
 
 Retribution Not Taught in Egypt 181 
 
 Rig- Veda, Its Age 224 
 
 Sacrifices 153, 210 
 
 Sacrifices to the New Moon 216 
 
 Scoffers Punished 144 
 
 Serpent and the Lord 233 
 
 Seven Thousand Years Ago 78 
 
 Shirt, The Sacred .' .' 53 
 
 Sin's Penalty 124 
 
 Sons to Be Bom to Zoroaster 93 
 
 Soul, Immortality of .... 180 
 
 Souls of the Righteous and Wicked 98, 99 
 
 Spirits, Two Primal Ones 109 
 
 Spiritual Birth 214 
 
 St. John's Heaven 186 
 
 Still in Prison 35 
 
 Story, Original of Dives and Lazarus 147 
 
 Sudra, His Punishment 232 
 
 Swine Flesh Forbidden 222 
 
 Tanzis' Ark I9 
 
 Theologies Are Inventions 219 
 
 Three Hundred Years Ago 189 
 
 Translation of Persian Bible 9 
 
 Trinity, The I95 
 
 Tur, the Scanty Giver 66 
 
 Two Creators II3 
 
 Visions gg 
 
 Visions Are Dreams 148 
 
 Visited by Angels 37 
 
 Vistaspa §4 
 
 Vistaspa Embraces the Faith 156 
 
 •War Between Good and Evil 114 
 
 War of the Religions . I33 
 
 Wars of Aryans 80 
 
 Where Did Zoroaster Live ? 33
 
 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Wicked, The Souls of 99 
 
 Wicked, The, to Bum 183 
 
 Window, One Only in the Ark 240 
 
 Wolf's Den, Zoroaster Flung Into 50 
 
 Woman, The First Hindu 239 
 
 Word of the Lord Came via Persia 12 
 
 World, Its Destruction 250 
 
 World Strife 200 
 
 World, The Under 118 
 
 Worshipped on Mountains 57 
 
 Writers of Bibles 39 
 
 Yima Builds a Vara 17 
 
 Yima, The Persian Noah 17 
 
 Zend-Avesta 7 
 
 Zerana, Akerana 110 
 
 Zoroaster and an Angel Visit Heaven 63 
 
 Zoroaster, Attempt to Murder Him 49 
 
 Zoroaster Died at 77 Years 175 
 
 Zoroaster, His Faith Tested 64 
 
 Zoroaster in Prison 84 
 
 Zoroaster 6,000 Years Ago 44 
 
 Zoroaster Was Named for a Star 24 
 
 Zoroaster's Birthplace 25 
 
 Zoroaster's Doctrines 26 
 
 Zoroaster's Marriage 59 
 
 Zoroaster's Mother 47 
 
 Zoroaster's Prayer 128
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 § I. For more than three thousand years the name of 
 Zoroaster has been known in the world. Yet, during the 
 middle ages Europe was under such a cloud that his 
 name and his precepts faded, almost, from the memory 
 of man. It was known that Persia, until the battle of 
 Marathon (490 B. C.) was master of Western Asia, and 
 the doctrines of Zoroaster were dominant in her realm. 
 But Persia, even as late as three hundred years ago, was, 
 to Europe, almost a sealed book. With the revival of 
 learning, however, inquiry began to be made into her 
 ancient doctrines and their author. 
 
 Early Greek and Roman writers had made frequent 
 mention of Zoroaster's name, and this stimulated later 
 scholars to know more of him. Travelers in the far East 
 were not then as numerous as to-day; but they kept 
 bringing back word concerning the Persian Holy Book, 
 the Avesta,^ and, finally, some two hundred years ago, 
 Thomas Hyde, an Englishman, and an Oxford professor 
 and oriental scholar, undertook to write a history of the 
 Persian religion. His materials to draw from were 
 scanty, though he at once discovered, to his amazement, 
 the striking analogies and parallels, existing between 
 
 1 The Avesta is the Holy Book, the Bible of the Ira- 
 nian or Persian religion. It is called the Zend Avesta. 
 The prefix *'Zend" seems to have improperly crept into 
 use in Europe. The translations are called "Zend Aves- 
 
 7
 
 8 PERSIAN AND HEBREW BIBLES 
 
 Zoroaster's Bible and the Jewish Bible. But he got the 
 "cart before the horse" in stating that the great Iranian 
 drank his inspiration from a Jewish fountain. We now 
 know, to an absolute certainty, the exact reverse of this 
 to be true. Hyde thought the exiled Jews, in Babylon, 
 had carried their religion with them, and that Zoroaster 
 learned from them. How could this be, for the Persian 
 lived and taught many centuries before the captivity ? ^ 
 We shall find overwhelming proof of this farther on. 
 
 § 2. In the year 1754, Anquetil Du Perron, a young 
 Frenchman, then only twenty-four years old, a student 
 of oriental languages, in Paris, chanced one day upon a 
 fragment of the Persian Bible, the *'Avesta." He had 
 not the means to transport himself to Persia, but he was 
 determined to possess the whole work, and also to learn 
 its language; that he might translate it into his own 
 mother tongue. Impatient to get away, he enlisted in the 
 French East India Company, as a private soldier, and 
 marched with his command through mud and rain to the 
 port, whence the fleet was to sail. Here he learned that 
 his government, impressed with his great zeal in the mat- 
 ter, had ordered his discharge and given him a small 
 stipend. England and France were then at war, and 
 there were many delays ; so that he did not set sail until 
 
 ta." The word ''Zend" is not the name of an exact lan- 
 guage ; it is at most only a dialect of Sanscrit. The words 
 **Avistak va Zend" mean Avesta and translation. 
 
 1 shall omit the word "Zend" and use only ''Avesta," 
 meaning thereby the Holy Book, or Bible, of the Iranians, 
 and after them the Persians. 
 
 2 Tj^e ]t\\s were carried as slaves, into Babylon, by 
 Nebuchadnezzar, about 597 years B. C.
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE PERSIAN BIBLE 9 
 
 February, 1755. On reaching India he found the whole 
 country in an uproar, by reason of the war, and added to 
 this, he suffered a long spell of sickness. On recovering 
 he renewed, with tireless patience, his great self-imposed 
 task. On foot and on horseback he traveled throughout 
 Hindustan, meeting endless dangers and adventures. To 
 a mind less resolute, or less on fire with a sublime pur- 
 pose, these discouragements would have been fatal. 
 After three years of wandering, struggles and dangers, 
 he reached Surat, where he found a community of Per- 
 sis, and their priests. Here commenced another struggle, 
 not dangerous, but not less disheartening. 
 
 The priests were unfriendly ; they were neither willing 
 to part with their books, or their knowledge. They did 
 not want to teach him the language of the Avesta. But 
 he persevered and waited, and waited and persevered, 
 until, at the end of three years more, he won a victory; 
 not as memorable as Arbela or Waterloo, but one requir- 
 ing equal courage and fortitude. They not only taught 
 him their language, but they gave him one hundred and 
 eighty manuscripts of the Avesta, which he brought back 
 in safety to Paris, and in 1771 published the first Euro- 
 pean translation thereof. 
 
 It was, at once, assailed as a silly, modern affair, with 
 stories about demons and angels. There were the names 
 of trees and plants unknown ; for who in Europe had 
 ever heard of Hom juice or the Bareshnum ceremony, of 
 gnomes, and the Kinvad Bridge ? Here was a cosmogony 
 of the world, and how did Zoroaster and those Iranians ^ 
 
 3 Persia or Iran, Persians and Iranians I shall use as 
 meaning the same. The word Iran, at one time, meant
 
 10 THE AVESTA IN CONFLICT WITH GENESIS 
 
 know about that? Besides, the Avesta conflicted with 
 Genesis, and that could not be allowed. But Du Perron 
 and his work found sturdy defenders, as well as fierce 
 assailants. The battle for and against the Avesta, among 
 scholars, raged in Europe for many years; Sir William 
 Jones, leading the forces against it, and Elenker, a pro- 
 fessor in the University of Riga, who at once published, 
 in German, a translation thereof, defending it. But the 
 more this old forgotten book was studied ; the more sun- 
 light let in, the more certain it became that here was a 
 long lost monument of a great people, and a great faith. 
 Jones, himself, after twenty years of opposition, coming 
 tardily around to believe in it. 
 
 The Avesta has now been under the fire and cross-fire 
 of critics for one hundred and thirty years. 
 
 The question, after all this lapse of time and patient 
 research concerning this book, which the Iranians, and, 
 after them, the Persians, call Holy, is as permanently set- 
 tled, that it was composed by Zoroaster and his immedi- 
 ate followers, as that the Jewish prophets composed the 
 works ascribed to them. Such scholars as "Max Miiller, 
 Roth, Westengard, Duncker, Professor Geldner, Spiegel, 
 Dr. Haug, Bunsen, Burnouf, Lassen and Rhode, all 
 agree that there is not the least doubt that the Avesta 
 contains the books ascribed in the most ancient times to 
 Zoroaster." They possess all the inward and outward 
 
 more than Persia proper. Persis, originally, embraced 
 only that strip on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf. 
 They were called Pars — later Persians. Iran and Aryan 
 once meant about the same. Arya and Aryana, of the 
 Avesta, are the same.
 
 THE JEWS AS COPYISTS 11 
 
 marks of the highest antiquity, and only prejudice or 
 ignorance can doubt it.* 
 
 § 3. As Professor Hyde found many analogies and 
 parallels between the Persian and Jewish Bibles, I will 
 here mention a few, that the reader may catch a glimpse 
 of this book, in the pages to follow. A statement that the 
 Jewish prophets drew their inspiration largely from the 
 Persian Bible, will no doubt be controverted. But it was 
 "after the return of the Jews from Babylon that the 
 devil and demons in conflict with man became a part of 
 the company of spiritual beings, in the Jewish mythology. 
 Angels there were before, as Messengers of God, but 
 devils there were not; for until then an absolute Provi- 
 dence ruled the world. Satan, in Job, is an angel of God, 
 doing a low kind of work — a fault-finder, but no devil. 
 He is critical, looking after the flaws of the saints, but 
 still no devil. After the captivity, the horizon of the 
 Jewish mind enlarged, and it took in the conception of 
 God ; as allowing freedom to man and angels ; thus per- 
 mitting bad, as well as good, to have its way. 
 
 Then came in also the conception of a future life and 
 resurrection for ultimate judgment. These doctrines 
 have been supposed, with good reason, to have come to 
 the Jews, from the influence of the Great System of 
 Zoroaster.^ 
 
 The Jewish prophets, however, carefully concealed, or 
 at least did not mention the fact that *^The word of the 
 Lord" came to them by way of Persia, for not until the 
 
 * Quoted from Rhode ; but the others are equally firm 
 in their statements. If I err I am in splendid company. 
 ^ J. F. Clark's 10 great religions, vol. i, p. 205.
 
 12 THE WORD OF THE LORD VIA PERSIA 
 
 exile in Babylon, where they came in contact with Per- 
 sian thought, do any of the Prophets mention that 'The 
 word of the Lord" came to them. The two religions, 
 after the captivity, travel oftentimes, nearly the same 
 road. 
 
 The Persians claimed to be a favored race ; and, to all 
 appearances, Ahura-Mazda (God)^ had approved them, 
 and exalted them, at that period, far above the Hebrews. 
 The latter were hewers of wood and drawers of water; 
 in fact slaves, in the worst sense, to their conquerors, the 
 Persians. The Jews also claimed to be a favored people, 
 and while it is true that they captured Ai, and leveled the 
 walls of Jericho,"^ and prevailed against the Midianites, 
 yet to-day they have no place on the map of the world. 
 Persia herself, afterward, came under the yoke, and yet 
 it would seem that she has always been more highly 
 favored than those Jewish wanderers. 
 
 § 4. The Persians and the Jews, each undertook in 
 their Bibles, to give the cosmogony of the world. The 
 Avesta mentions sixteen good lands or countries which 
 Ahura-Mazda created ; and that Angra-Mainyu (the 
 Devil) thereupon counter-created the serpent and sin 
 
 ^ This compound word was subsequently abridged to 
 Ormazd, sometimes Ahura or Mazda is used, meaning 
 God. 
 
 "^ I have never yet been able to bring myself to believe 
 that the tooting of a ram's horn caused the walls of Jeri- 
 cho to fall down flat (Joshua, ch. 6), nor do I believe, 
 as stated in the Avesta, that part of the waters of a river 
 were made to stand still, and part to flow forward so as 
 to leave a dry passage for Vistauru. See Aban Yast, § 76 
 to § 78. Both of these Bible stories are improbable.
 
 PERSIAN AND JEWISH BIBLES 13 
 
 (Vend. ch. i), unbelief and tears and wailings, and sor- 
 cery and winter (Vend., ch. i.). 
 
 In the Jewish Bible when God creates the heavens and 
 the earth, the serpent is on hand, but there is no mention 
 of winter. ^ In the Avesta, the ancestry of the human race 
 are Mashya and Mashyoi, and they sprout up from earth, 
 as we shall hereafter see.^ The word Mashya means 
 "man." In Genesis we have Adam and Eve. The word 
 Adam means "man." The Avesta gives the Lord six 
 great periods in which to create the world ; Genesis hur- 
 ries him through in six days, but gives him a rest on the 
 seventh^. The compiler of Genesis says the Lord "sancti- 
 fied" the seventh day, but Babylon had sanctified it long 
 before that, and called it "Sulum," meaning "rest."^ In 
 fact, the Babylonians had "sanctified" it so thoroughly 
 that they would not even allow their King to take a drive 
 in his chariot, on their sanctified "Sulum." In both 
 Bibles, man is the last animal created. Neither Bible 
 was written by any one man ; nor was either produced in 
 any one age.^ In fact the Jewish Bible, if its chronology- 
 be correct (?) covers the long period of nearly seventeen 
 hundred years, and Moses is the chief figure in its early 
 pages. The chronology of the Avesta is still more defi- 
 cient; in truth it can only be tentatively fixed by outside 
 events. But it is certain that no one age or century saw- 
 its completion ; yet Zoroaster towers on every page. In 
 the Jewish Bible we have the old Hebrew tongue; later 
 the Aramaic. The modern Greek does not understand the 
 Greek of Demosthenes; nor is the language of Chaucer, 
 
 8 Ch. 2, Sec. I. 
 
 ^ Br. Ency. Tit. Babylonia, Vol. 3, p. 191.
 
 14 THE ARK 
 
 that of Tennyson. The older Avesta, is the language of 
 ancient Iran, — a language so far back that no certain 
 date can be fixed for it. The Pahlavi bears about the 
 same relation to it that Aramaic does to Hebrew. 
 
 § 5. In both Bibles the human race (except a few) is 
 to be destroyed. A great cataclysm of waters is to over- 
 whelm and drown the world, according to Genesis. In 
 the Avesta mankind is to be exterminated by the deadly 
 frosts of winter. In the Jewish Bible we are told that it 
 "Grieved the Lord at his heart" and that he ''repented" 
 that He had made man,i<^ and would destroy him because 
 every imagination of his heart was only evil continually. 
 The Avesta tells us^^ that the earth had become so full 
 of flocks and herds, of men and dogs, and birds, that 
 there was no room for more and hence (except a few) 
 they must be destroyed. 
 
 The Lord directs Noah to build an Ark, the length to 
 be 300 cubits, and the breadth 50 cubits ; the height thereof 
 30 cubits.^ 2 Of clean beasts of the field and fowls, Noah 
 was directed to take into the Ark by sevens ; but of those 
 not clean, by twos — male and female. And Noah and his 
 family went into the Ark, and the beasts and fowls of the 
 air, and everything that creepeth on the earth. We are 
 
 10 Gen., ch. 6. 
 
 ^1 According to ch. 2, Vendidad, Yima had made the 
 earth grow larger several times because it had become 
 too populous. 
 
 12 The Hebrew cubit was a little over 21 inches ; the 
 ark was, if we make generous allowance, about 450 feet 
 long, 75 feet wide, and 3 stories, with one window, with a 
 door for each story. The window was only one cubit, 
 or 21 y2 inches square.
 
 AND THE ANIMALS 15 
 
 not told how the slow-footed sloth of South America got 
 there. But if the world was only created about 2000 years 
 before the flood, then the sloth must have started some 
 five or six hundred years before its creation, in order to 
 be on hand in time to be saved; for "all flesh died that 
 moved upon the earth; all in whose nostrils was the 
 breath of life";!^ gave only Noah, and those in the Ark 
 with him. The waters, we are told, prevailed upon the 
 earth one-hundred-and-fifty days. And as we are asked 
 to believe this fabulous story, let us examine it. In the 
 first place, the Ark^^ is too small to contain one-tenth 
 of the animals, and their food, for one-hundred-and-fifty 
 days. How many sheep and goats and oxen would the 
 carnivorous animals require for food in that time? The 
 hay and the grain, for the herbivorous animals, where 
 did Noah get it ? But suppose that trouble be tided over, 
 and the animals all came forth from the Ark, what then ? 
 Would not the lions and the tigers, the wolves and the 
 hyenas, the jaguars and the leopards, and the other car- 
 nivora instantly pounce upon the sheep and the goats, and 
 the cattle, and exterminate them? If they killed one of 
 either sex, it would be the same as if both were destroyed. 
 Even if the cattle and the sheep escaped the teeth of the 
 flesh-eaters, they would soon perish with hunger, for all 
 grass and herbage of every kind would be utterly de- 
 stroyed in one-hundred-and-fifty days. But if we believe 
 the record, it was not until the eighth month that even 
 the tops of the mountains could be seen, and it was nearly 
 
 ^^ Gen., ch. 7. 
 
 ^^ The word Ark properly translated means box. It 
 should be Noah's box.
 
 16 YIMA, THE PERSIAN NOAH 
 
 a year before Noah and the animals went forth.^'^ Noah 
 himself, by reason of his long tossing on the deep, must 
 have become somewhat demoralized; for in celebrating 
 the fruitage of his vineyard, ''he drank of the wine and 
 was drunken ; and he was uncovered in his tent." Some 
 enquiring mind might ask if Noah possessed the ability 
 to construct a boat 450 feet long and 75 feet wide, and 
 three stories, why was it that he did not build a house 
 instead of living in a mere tent? 
 
 § 6. In the Persian Bible, Yima, the son of Vivan- 
 ghat, "at a meeting of the best of Mortals", is told by 
 Ahura that a deadly frost and evil winters are about to 
 fall upon the world, and that deep snow will cover the 
 earth, even to the mountain tops. That he, Yima, must 
 make a vara (an underground abode) to shelter man and 
 animals, lest they all perish. As with Noah, the Lord 
 gives particular directions. The vara must be two 
 hathras^^ long on every side, and a great stream of water 
 must be made to flow through it, one hathra long, to 
 quench the thirst of man and beast. Thither Yima must 
 bring sheep and oxen, dogs and birds; and dwelling 
 places must be fixed for man, and food provided for all. 
 Before that awful winter, Yima is told that the earth shall 
 bear plenty of grass for cattle. He is not restricted, like 
 Noah, to one family; but is told to bring the greatest, 
 best, and finest specimens of men and women on earth : 
 and the finest cattle of every kind, and the choicest seeds 
 
 15 Gen. ch. 8. 
 
 1® A hathra is about i mile; the vara, therefore, would 
 be two miles square, more than one hundred times larger 
 than the Ark.
 
 YIMA BUILDS A VARA 17 
 
 of every kind of fruit. From all these the earth is to be 
 replenished. But no hunchbacks, no impotent, or lunatic 
 or malicious one, or liar; no spiteful one, or leprous, or 
 jealous one, should he bring into the vara.^^ He was told 
 to make streets in this underground abode, and a door 
 and a window. (Noah had one window.) Yima could 
 not understand how a window would be of service in this 
 subterranean retreat, and is told that there are created 
 lights, and uncreated lights. That the only thing missed 
 there will be the sight of the sun, moon and stars. But 
 as a compensation for this, men will live such happy Hves 
 that a year will seem only as a day. Streets are to be con- 
 structed in this subterranean abode; and in one of the 
 longest of them a thousand men and women are to be 
 brought; in another, six hundred men and women; and 
 in another three hundred.^^ And that window, self- 
 shining within, will give them light sufficient to make it 
 seem an eternal day. Avarice will not be there; and 
 gluttony will be so far overcome that ten men can feed 
 upon one loaf and be filled. With all these instructions 
 Yima was at a loss to know with what material to con- 
 struct so vast a place; and was told to "crush the earth 
 with his heel, and knead it with his hands as a potter 
 kneads his clay." 
 
 The Avesta is silent as to the exact time of exit from 
 the vara ; but they dwelt there in blissful peace for years, 
 and until a bird was sent from heaven bearing the reli- 
 gion of Mazda to its occupants.^^ 
 
 ^'^ Vendidad, ch. 2. 
 
 ^^ Fargard, 2 vend., § 30. See also § 32 id. 
 
 ^^ We must not be shocked that they have birds in
 
 18 NOAH'S DELUGE— A BABYLONIAN MYTH 
 
 § 7. Concerning these two supposed destructions of 
 life, that of the Noachian deluge was, as it appears, com- 
 piled with almost literal exactness from two old Babylo- 
 nian records, and those records are made up from worn 
 out old legends. 
 
 The first is that of Berosus, and is as follows : ^^ 
 Xisuthrus, the tenth King of Babylon, noted for his piety, 
 was warned in a dream,^'^ of a coming great deluge, to 
 prepare an Ark, thus to save his family and friends. The 
 Ark is prepared; they embark, and the deluge comes. 
 When the waters begin to subside, Xisuthrus, at three dif- 
 ferent times, sends out doves, the same as did Noah after- 
 wards. The Ark rested on a mountain, after which those 
 in the Ark disembark, and Xisuthrus builds an altar, and 
 offers sacrifice. Thereupon he and his companions all 
 mysteriously disappear. Perhaps they were translated 
 like Enoch.22 This flood story seems to have drifted 
 even to the Ganges. For Manu, who is called the Father 
 of Mankind, escapes from a deluge by building an Ark. 
 
 the Iranian heaven, for in the Jewish heaven they have 
 lions and horses and birds, and locusts — plenty of them. 
 See Revelation. 
 
 20 Berosus was a Chaldean priest and historian, living 
 in the time of Alexander the Great. It is known that he 
 had access to Babylonian records. Hence the value of 
 his works. Berosus hits Genesis a very hard blow when 
 he fixes the period before the flood, at 34,080 years. 
 
 21 This is the first recorded instance of any one, in 
 matters of importance, ''being warned in a dream." Vol. 
 7, Br. Ency., Deluge. 
 
 22 Gen., 5, 24. God took Enoch, but just how we are 
 not told.
 
 A FISH STORY 19 
 
 He is warned of the coming flood, and the necessity of a 
 ship, by a fish. Manu heeds the warning, builds a boat, 
 and keeps this loquacious fish, which grows to an enor- 
 mous size. When the flood comes, Manu uses the fish to 
 tow his craft about; and the fish, being a skillful pilot, 
 lands the Ark on the top of a high mountain, where it 
 rests until the waters subside. 
 
 § 8. In the next deluge story, Tamzi, the hero of the 
 epic, is warned to build a ship or Ark, and put his family 
 into it, and all animals; as all flesh is about to be de- 
 stroyed. He was told, as was Noah afterwards, to coat 
 the seams of his Ark with pitch, within and without. 
 The ship being ready, the windows of heaven are opened ; 
 the rain flood pours, drowning every living thing not in 
 Tamzi's Ark. The waters, after a time, subside, and the 
 Ark rests upon Nizir, a mountain.^^ Thereafter Tamzi 
 sent out a dove and a swallow, and they returned. Then 
 he sent out a raven, but the raven came not back. When 
 dry land appeared, Tamzi, on coming from the Ark, gave 
 a thank-offering. In this story, Hea, the God of Waters, 
 intercedes with Bel, the chief deity of the triad of Baby- 
 lon,25 that the world be not again drowned. 
 
 24 The mountain upon which Tamzi's Ark rested is 
 southwest of Lake Urumiah. Mt. Ararat is northwest of 
 that lake. These mountains are about 400 miles apart. 
 But there have been no floods there for the past 4000 
 years. 
 
 25 Gen., 8, 20. For the Babylonian deluges see George 
 Smith's Chaldean account of Genesis, also Br. Ency., Vol. 
 7, p. 54.
 
 20 A FEW PARALLELS 
 
 Noah, on leaving the Ark, built an Altar and offered 
 some of the animals, which he had saved from the flood, 
 as burnt offerings to the Lord, and ''the Lord smelled 
 them'' and promised that "He would not any more curse 
 the ground."26 But even these myths of the Babylonians 
 were not original with them, for they copied an old, worn, 
 and faded Accadian legend, which was floating around the 
 world long before there was any Babylon at all. Whence 
 the Avesta fable, about Yima and his Vara, started, is 
 more difficult to trace. Possibly it is simply an exaggera- 
 tion of the Armenian plan of burrowing, during the win- 
 ter, in the earth. We know that, about four hundred 
 years B. C, when Xenophon and his Greeks passed 
 through Armenia, they found plenty of Varas, or under- 
 ground villages, filled with people who, there, in security, 
 defied the biting frosts of winter, and this practice is not 
 entirely abandoned to this day. 
 
 F § 9. Let us notice a few more parallels : Thraetona, 
 the descendant of Yima, divided the earth between his 
 three sons, Selma, Tura and Airia. He bestowed Turan 
 upon Tura ; to Selma he gave Rum (Europa) ; and Turan 
 fell to Airia. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and 
 Japhet; and "of them the whole earth was overspread." 
 As we shall hereafter see that Zoroaster talks with Ahura, 
 so also does Moses with the Almighty. 
 
 The Persian Bible tells us that Ahura revealed the law 
 to Zoroaster "on the Mount of the Holy Conversations."^^ 
 The Jewish Bible sets forth that the Lord gave to Moses, 
 
 2« Gen., 7. 
 
 27 Ormazd Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E. § 31 and note i.
 
 MIRACULOUS BIRTHS OF ZOROASTER'S SONS 21 
 
 on Mount Sinai, the ten commandments .^^ The New 
 Testament, the latest part of the Jewish Bible, tells us 
 that God's only begotten son, Jesus, came to reclaim 
 the world and save man from his errors and his sins. 
 He is said to have been born of a Virgin. This part of our 
 Gospel was long preceded by the Avesta, which said that 
 three unborn sons of Zoroaster were to be born of Vir- 
 gins, at different periods, to renovate the world. They 
 were to bring immortal life to the race. Soshyans, the 
 latest born of these sons, is called the Beneficent One; 
 for it is said, he will benefit the whole bodily world. He 
 is also called Aastvat-Erata ; for he will cause the resur- 
 rection, — bodily resurrection, the same as the New Testa- 
 ment teaches.29 But the Avesta was not followed exactly, 
 in all things, by the New Testament, for the God of the 
 Avesta has a son Atar 2*^ and a daughter Ashi-Vanghui, 
 who is said to be tall formed, and of such intelligence that 
 she can bring heavenly wisdom at her wish.^^ 
 
 As we shall see numerous other parallels further on, I 
 will only add that the Avesta, after the death of Zoroaster, 
 was taught everywhere in Iran, and, thereafter, was 
 written in gold letters on twelve thousand Ox-hides ; one 
 copy of which was deposited among the archives at Per- 
 sepolis. This copy was burned by Alexander the Great 
 when he overran Persia ; but it had been previously pub- 
 
 28 Exodus, ch. 20. 
 
 29 Famardan Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E., Bund, ch. 22 ; 
 Dinkard, ch. 14. 
 
 30Zamyad Yt, §§46 to 50. 
 
 31 Ashi Yast, Vol. 23, S. B. E., §§ i, 2, and 3.
 
 22 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER 
 
 lished in all the seven regions.^^ piato, an hundred years 
 before this, had studied and admired the simplicity of the 
 doctrines of the Great Persian, who taught, and Plato 
 believed, that good thoughts, good words and good deeds 
 were sufficient to insure a happy tranquillity in the eter- 
 nal beyond. Does Jesus' Gospel go beyond this ? 
 
 32 Dinkard 7, ch. 6, § 12. The Persians divided the 
 earth into seven Karshvares or zones.
 
 PART FIRST 
 
 The Word of the Lord " Came to the 
 Hebrews by Way of Persia
 
 ' Life and Teachings 
 
 OF 
 
 ZOROASTER 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ZOROASTER, HIS NAME AND BIRTHPLACE. 
 
 Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed, each left 
 such an indehble impress upon the age in which he Uved 
 that millions since their day have taught, reverenced and 
 believed the doctrines which they proclaimed. The first, 
 and earliest of these names, Zoroaster, like a distant and 
 lofty mountain peak, partly obscured by clouds that hang 
 about it, is somewhat enveloped in tradition. Yet seeing 
 the top, we are certain the mountain has a base. And 
 finding numerous records, supplemented by traditions 
 almost without number, and, from various quarters, we 
 are sure that Zoroaster lived and was, and is, in truth, a 
 great historic reality. 
 
 There is no more doubt that he lived and wrought a 
 great work among the people of ancient Iran (Persia) 
 than that Moses, or Solomon, or George Washington 
 lived, and left great names ; which blaze and sparkle, upon 
 the historic page. In truth, the foot-prints of Zoroaster 
 are so trampled into and indented into old Persian legends, 
 and history, that we might as well undertake to gainsay
 
 24 WAS HE NAMED FOR A STARf 
 
 the existence of any other monumental character, as to 
 controvert his Hfe, or his personality. 
 
 § 2. Much curious speculation, and many wild guesses 
 have been made concerning the etymologies of this great 
 man's name. The Greeks called him Zoroastres. In the 
 Avesta, his full name is given as Spitama Zarathrustra. 
 In the Pahlavi, he is called Zartust, and Zardust. Some- 
 times he is designated as the Spitama; and again as the 
 Righteous. The appellative Spitama comes, probably, 
 from one of his ancestors, back several generations. His 
 name may be a compound, "Zoe" Hfe, and "aster" star. 
 The latter part of his name, "ustra" (camel), may give us 
 a hint.^ Some writers have endeavored to trace his line 
 back to royalty; but for our purpose, it makes no differ- 
 ence whether that ancestor plowed with camels, or wield- 
 ed a scepter, or was named for a star. Of this we are 
 certain, that no scholar, however learned and critical, can 
 with absolute certainty state either the derivation of his 
 name or its signification. 
 
 § 3. A more important question presents itself just 
 here. Was Zoroaster born on the bank of distant Oxus, 
 in eastern Iran, or did he first see the light in Bactria, or 
 in Ragha, or was Ardibagan, which lies to the west of the 
 Caspian Sea, his native place? Rival cities. Cyme and 
 Smyrna, and others, claimed the honor of giving Homer 
 to the world. It is possible that they were all wrong. 
 Let an intellectual colossus appear in any age, and, if 
 
 ^ Burnouf and Casartelli both have urged that his 
 name, or a part of it, was derived from the word *'ustra," 
 meaning camel.
 
 HIS BIRTHPLACE 25 
 
 there be a question as to his birthplace, some land, which 
 was the scene of his activity, will make haste to appropri- 
 ate him. It was thus in the case of Zoroaster. He did 
 not, as did Cyrus, marshal armies and establish a king- 
 dom. His place, for a time, was less conspicuous. He 
 became the prophet and founder of a religion, which 
 taught the hosts of light to wage unceasing warfare 
 against the powers of darkness. He taught that Ahura- 
 Mazda (Ormazd) was a mighty God, who created 
 heaven, earth and man. He gave a new religion to an- 
 cient Iran, to Media, and to surrounding tribes and 
 nations. Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, 
 were the prime factors in his teachings. Can any religion 
 strike deeper at the root of evil than this? If the mind 
 be filled with good thoughts; if the tongue utters only 
 good words; if the hands perform only good deeds, can 
 the soul's aspirations mount higher? Did the gentle 
 teachings of the Man of Galilee reach beyond these three 
 cardinal points ? They surely did not, because they could 
 not. All beyond this is exegesis. Thus it appears that 
 Zoroaster, many centuries before Jesus was born, an- 
 nounced the very beginning, and end, of every religion. 
 It was philosophy, logic and religion, all compressed into 
 one short, pithy sentence. The most ignorant and the 
 most stupid could follow the reasoning to the end. The 
 very pillars of heaven can find nothing better, or beyond 
 this, to rest upon. Nations and distant peoples saw, un- 
 derstood, believed and appreciated these short, simple 
 truths. But we shall see how like another great teacher, 
 many centuries later, he perished in their advocacy. Jesus 
 sufifered on Calvary for teaching "peace on earth and 
 good will to all" mankind. In other words, for teaching
 
 26 HIS DOCTRINE— GOOD THOUGHTS 
 
 men to hold good thoughts, and to utter good words, and 
 to do good deeds to every one. Zoroaster was slain, his 
 blood quenching the holy fires, as he worshipped at the 
 altar. We shall find him all along, to be a man of sub- 
 lime, undaunted courage, and of unsurpassed patience ; a 
 man of such strength of mind, and such firmness of pur- 
 pose, that mountains of obstacles could not move him. 
 No wonder, therefore, that different places should claim 
 the honor of his birth. 
 
 § 2. The Bundahis^ calls the Daraga river, the chief 
 of exalted rivers, because the mansion of Porushaspa, the 
 father of Zoroaster, stood upon its high banks ; and it 
 says, Zoroaster was born there. The locality of this river 
 is fixed in Airan-Veg. But the Bundahis is, to say the 
 least, a very uncertain guide. It is a curious old book, 
 made up from some worn and tattered manuscripts, which 
 have suffered several recensions, additions, and revisions, 
 and took its present form about the ninth century A. D. 
 It is in fact a collection of fragments, purporting to give, 
 among other things, the history of creation ; the conflicts 
 of the good and evil spirits, and is much longer than 
 Genesis, and, if possible, is even more unsatisfactory. It 
 goes into elaborate details about things unknown, to man, 
 and forever unknowable. But in extremities we must not 
 Cavil too much with our guide. 
 
 2 Chapter 30 of the Bundahis is the end of the original 
 book. The four other chapters seem to have been added 
 at a much later date. Chapter 34, on "the reckoning of 
 the years," is perhaps the latest interpolation. The whole 
 four last chapters are probably apocryphal. The Bunda- 
 his has probably as many recensions as the Pentateuch.
 
 THE CASPIAN AND OXUS 27 
 
 However, let us inquire somewhat as to the location 
 of this Arian-Veg. According to the Vendidad (ch. i) 
 it was the first of the good lands created by Ormazd 
 (God), through which flowed the river Vanguhi Daitya; 
 and this stream, the Bundahis insists, is in the direction 
 of Adarbaigan. In Sassanian times, Vauguhi was the 
 name of the Oxus. The Araxas was also called the same. 
 Now, if we assume that ancient Adarbaigan is that coun- 
 try between Lake Urumiah and the Caspian, there are 
 several rivers, in that confine, to be considered. 
 
 If it was the Arraxes (modern Aras), that large 
 stream whose waters flow down from the mountains of 
 Ararat, where Noah's Ark rested, after a very trouble- 
 some and destructive rainy season, then, indeed, Zoroaster 
 was bom in classical and historic fields, and well might 
 aspire to write a Bible and found a religion.^ But if we 
 place him there, must we not fix Vistaspa, Gamaspa and 
 others of his satellites there also? For those men con- 
 tinually, after he brought his religion to their notice and 
 acceptance, were simply satellites revolving around an 
 attractive center. In this uncertainty it may have been 
 the Keizel river, farther south, on the banks of which the 
 prophet of Iran first saw the light.^ Again, there was 
 
 3 The Bundahis says, in the direction of Ataro-patakan. 
 Persian, Adarbaigan. But where was the writer when he 
 said **in the direction of," etc.? He might have been in 
 Tehran or in Balkh. He does not say the river Daraza 
 is in Adarbaigan, nor are we told where Adarbaigan is. 
 
 ^ I call him a prophet on the authority of Luke, ist, 
 who says, "there have been prophets since the world be- 
 gan."
 
 28 MANY COUNTRIES CLAIM HIM 
 
 an insignificant stream called the Darej, whose source 
 was Mt. Savalan, about eighty miles south of the Arraxes, 
 which some writers have sought to make the "chief of 
 exalted rivers." Yet there is nothing whatever about 
 that little sprinkle of waters to make it famous, unless it 
 be the certainty that it is the Daraga, where Porusaspa 
 lived, and where his famous son was born. 
 
 § 3. In those early days, we may ask, did Media in- 
 clude Adarbaigan ? If not, then we have another country, 
 at once claiming to have given the prophet of Eran to the 
 world. For the twelfth of the good lands created by 
 Ormazd, was Ragha (Greek Ragia), of the three races, or 
 classes, priests, warriors and husbandmen. 
 
 Many oriental scholars have placed this Ragha about 
 ninety miles south of the Caspian, near the present city 
 of Tehran, and, as a help to this argument, it is claimed 
 there were two Raghas, one in Adarbaigan, and another 
 in Media. That Zaratust's father was of Adarbaigan, 
 and his mother from Ragha, near Tehran. 
 
 But in ancient Persian, Raga means district or prov- 
 ince (dahya), and there would hardly be the confusion 
 of two Ragas, in the same province. 
 
 § 4. Persons anxious to fix the Bethlehem of this 
 early religion think they have surely solved the problem 
 when they cite us to Yasna, 19, section 18; but if that be 
 the finger-board to point us the way, it is, to say the least, 
 a very obscure one. 
 
 It mentions four classes and five chiefs in the political 
 world ; the house, the village, the tribe, the province, and 
 the Zarathrustra chief, as the fifth. These five chiefs are 
 only necessary in provinces outside of the Zarathrustrian
 
 IRANIANS AND HINDOOS SEPARATE 29 
 
 regency. Ragha had four chiefs only ; the house, the vil- 
 lage, the tribe, and Zarathrustra as the fourth. But 
 province chief, and the Zarathrustra, being united in one 
 person does not carry with it the proof, nor even a sug- 
 gestion, that the prophet was born there. That the Pope 
 resides at the Vatican is no proof that it is his birthplace. 
 
 No doubt Zarathrustra was the head of the order while 
 living; his exalted character being probably recognized 
 by uniting in him both the temporal and spiritual power 
 for a time at Ragha. 
 
 § 5. Bactria now claims our attention. Here the 
 prophet's ministry became active and effective. And 
 here, unless many concurring traditions be wrong, he 
 suffered martyrdom. We have already seen that the 
 Oxus and Arraxes were both, in former times, called 
 Vanguhi ; but this is not surprising, for they are fourteen 
 hundred miles apart, and thirty-five hundred years ago 
 were in provinces held by different peoples. Bactria was 
 in eastern Iran, and is an historic spot; for historians, 
 ethnologists and philologists have agreed that here, or 
 not far from here, the division and separation of one 
 branch of the great Aryan race occurred. Here the Hin- 
 dus and the Iranians (later Persians), children of that 
 wonderful Aryan family, bade each other farewell.^ The 
 
 sAban Yast, §§ 3, 4 and 5. Farvarden Yast, § 8. 
 I am aware that there are those who claim that this 
 refers to the Araxas ; but the Araxas is a small stream 
 compared to the Oxus. The former is only 500 miles long, 
 and is shallow and fordable in the summer. The Oxus is 
 navigable more than 1,000 miles, and some of its affluents 
 are nearly as large as the Araxas.
 
 30 THE PERSIANS ON THE OX US 
 
 Hindus to cross the mountains linger along the shaded 
 banks of the great Indus, where they develop their civili- 
 zation, and write the Veda ; the Persians to find a home, 
 for a time, on that other renowned stream, the Oxus, 
 until their swelling numbers reach out beyond the Caspian 
 and until they give law and religion to all the land from 
 the Tigris to the Oxus, and from the Caspian to the Per- 
 sian Gulf.^ 
 
 The Oxus, in its long acquaintance, has borne various 
 names. In early Persian times it was called Veh-Rud. 
 The Mohammedans called it El-Nahr; later Jihun. At 
 present the Asiatics call it Amu-Daria. As the Jihun, it 
 was said to be the Gihon of Genesis, that figures in the 
 garden of Eden. In this region many changes in nations, 
 and great changes in nature, have occurred to make it 
 remarkable. For when the Avesta was composed, the 
 Oxus poured its volume into the Caspian. To-day it 
 empties into the Aral. 
 
 The Avesta says ''that large river, known afar, that is 
 as large as the whole w^aters that run along the earth; 
 that runs powerfully down to the sea — Voru-Kasha (the 
 Caspian). All the shores of the sea Voru-Kasha are boil- 
 ing over when she streams down there." From this river 
 flow all the waters that spread over the seven Karshvars. 
 
 § 6. An observation might be made just here, that 
 the Hindu Bible has an antiquity of probably more than 
 four thousand years; and yet there are those who say 
 
 ^ There is scarcely a dissenting voice on this point, at 
 this day ; their language, their race habits, and even their 
 skulls are similar. The names of their ancient Gods are 
 almost the same.
 
 THE PARTING OF THE TRIBES 31 
 
 that Zoroaster's Bible, and his reHgion were not given to 
 Iran until about six hundred years B. C. 
 
 Were these children of the Indus favored like the 
 Jews? Were they the chosen people of the ''Great I 
 Am?" and were the Iranians the unfortunate Esau's of 
 the ancient Tribes ? We know that the Veda was not in 
 existence at the time of the separation; hence we know 
 that the parting of the tribes took place more than four 
 and possibly five or six thousand years ago. We also 
 know that the Vedic religion, and that of the Avesta 
 followed the old Aryan system of ancestral worship. 
 This they carried with them into their new homes; for 
 the Vedas teach the worship of the Pitris or fathers, and 
 oblations were offered to themJ The Iranians were also 
 zealous in their reverence of the Fravashis or spirits of 
 their progenitors. 
 
 After the separation, there must have been friendly 
 intercourse between these children of the same family; 
 for the Vendidad^ tells us that the fourth of the good 
 lands created^ was the beautiful Bakhdi (Greek Baktra), 
 with high lifted banners; and that the fifteenth of the 
 good countries was the land of the seven rivers (the 
 Indus and its affluents), the lands of the Hindus. 
 
 It is possible that it was a religious schism that caused 
 
 "^ The first Gathas, those composed by Zoroaster, make 
 no mention of ancestral worship. He was too intent on 
 the worship of Omazd. 
 
 ^ Vendidad, ch. i. 
 
 ^ The Vendidad fixes different periods of time for the 
 creation of the earth. It does not hold to the creation of 
 the world in six days.
 
 32 QUARRELED ABOUT THEIR GODS 
 
 the separation, for we shall see, hereafter, how they 
 quarreled about their Gods and their religions. But it 
 was only in argumentation, as to whether the Veda or 
 the Avesta pointed the true way to the shadow-land. 
 
 Although the earlier Gathas are undoubtedly the pro- 
 duct of Zoroaster's heart and brain, yet they nowhere 
 fix his native home ; and with all the light at the present 
 day obtainable, it is impossible to determine that vexed 
 question to a certainty. 
 
 Speculation on this point might lead us through several 
 pages, but in the end we should only have a multitude 
 of conflicting opinions. Of one thing we are certain, 
 that the life-work of this great soul was of such magni- 
 tude and importance that his doctrines and his influence 
 have crossed oceans and continents and are yet an active 
 force in the world.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHEN DID ZOROASTER LIVE? 
 
 § I. The most learned scholars, for the last twenty- 
 four hundred years, have disagreed about the period in 
 which Zoroaster lived. Some place him far back in an- 
 tiquity ; yet others assign him to a more recent date. One 
 of the latter. Dr. West, thinks he was born six hundred 
 and sixty years before Jesus. That argument, it would 
 seem, is not difficult to overthrow. Dr. West pins his 
 faith, in this matter, to the 34th chapter of the Bundahis, 
 which, as we have heretofore stated, is an old work com- 
 piled about one thousand years ago. To have a better 
 comprehension of that work, we may add that it treats of 
 the cosmogony, or beginning of the world, and its crea- 
 tures, as revealed by the religion of Ormazd (God). 
 ^Good and evil spirits appear at once. Ormazd is su- 
 preme in goodness, and his region is endless light. He 
 ever was, and ever will be. Aharman, with desire for de- 
 struction, and not aware of the existence of Ormazd, was 
 in the abyss. Both of these spirits are limited and unlim- 
 ited ; but as to their own selves, they are limited. Ahar- 
 man, the evil spirit, who is elsewhere called Akemano, on 
 rising from the abyss, and seeing Ormazd, and the light, 
 rushed back to his gloomy abode, and there created de- 
 mons and fiends to assist him in the conflict which he saw 
 was at hand. Ormazd, who knew the end from the 
 beginning, thereupon first created Vohu-Mano, the 
 
 33
 
 34 GOOD AND EVIL CREATED 
 
 archangel of good thought, afterwards he created others. 
 The evil one produced Mitoket (falsehood), then Ako- 
 man, the demon of evil thought, that great father of 
 wickedness, and after that created others ; then the dread- 
 ful strife began, which is to last until Aharman is over- 
 thrown; at which time the renovation of the universe 
 will take place. It is the old story of Genesis, much 
 amplified; good and evil in fierce, never-ending conflict.j 
 The original Bundahis, no doubt, ended with the thir- 
 tieth chapter, which gives an account of the resurrection. 
 The 34th 'chapter fixes the existence ^ of the world, from 
 its beginning to its end or decay, at twelve thousand 
 years; three thousand of which was the duration of the 
 spiritual, when creatures were unthinking, unmoving, in- 
 tangible. Three thousand years was the duration of 
 Gayomard and the Ox 2 in the world ; ^ when the evil 
 one rushed in and Gayomard (he was the first man), 
 after thirty years of tribulation, died. But in dying he 
 gave forth seed, which was kept in charge of two angels, 
 and placed in the earth, where, after forty years, Mashya 
 and Mashyoi grew up from the earth in the form of a 
 Rivas, w^hich is a vegetable, something like a rhubarb 
 plant.^ This was the first human pair, the Adam and 
 Eve of the race, if we follow the Bundahis ; and they 
 
 ^ Dr. West, himself, admits that the 34th chapter of 
 Bundahis is a late addition, and of doubtful authority. 
 See Vol. 5, S. B. E. Introduction, p. 43. 
 
 2 This primal Ox is supposed to be the progenitor of 
 all animals, also certain grains. Chap. 4, Bund. 
 
 3 It is said that Gayomard was watching for the com- 
 ing of Zaratust. Bund., ch. 24. 
 
 ^ Chapter 15, Bund., also Zad-Sparan, ch. 10 and ch. 
 34, Bund.
 
 MAN AND WOMAN GREW FROM THE EARTH 35 
 
 grew up from the earth in such a manner that their arms 
 rested behind; and their waists were so close together 
 that it was impossible to distinguish the male from the 
 female. They were thus fifty years together, but were 
 not yet husband and wife ; but, finally, changed from the 
 shape of a plant, into the perfect human form, and 
 breath (nismo, which is the soul), came into them. 
 
 The ethnology of the Tibetans is about as sensible as 
 either Genesis or the Bundahis as to the origin of man. 
 The three accounts united, and leaving out certain parts 
 of each, and adding certain things from the others, may 
 come near the correct solution of that enigma: man's 
 creation. 
 
 The Tibetans claim (in the legend of Tanjur) to be the 
 descendants of an ape (sent to Tibet by the deity Chen- 
 resig) and a female demon. This ape and the demon 
 became the parents of six children, every one of whom, 
 as soon as weaned, were abandoned by their parents, .in 
 a great garden of fruit, there to survive or perish, as best 
 they might. But they lived, and their numbers multiplied 
 prodigiously, so that in a short time they increased to 
 five hundred. The fruits of the garden being all devoured, 
 they were on the point of starvation, when the Ape, their 
 ancestor, returned. Amazed at their number, and seeing 
 their sore distress, he besought Chenresig, for their relief. 
 That God listens to this entreaty, and promises to become 
 their guardian and protector. In fulfillment of his prom- 
 ise, he threw to them, in great abundance, from a lofty 
 mountain peak, five kinds of grain. Upon this grain the 
 monkeys fed and fattened; but the eating of it worked 
 marvels. Their tails began to grow shorter and shorter, 
 and their hair commenced to drop off. After a time their
 
 36 MASHYA AND MASHYOI GREW TOGETHER 
 
 tails disappeared entirely, and their hair was gone. In- 
 stead of a wild gibberish, they began to talk, and were 
 transformed into men and women. They then clothed 
 themselves with leaves. Adam and Eve, we are told, 
 made themselves aprons of fig-leaves. The Lord after- 
 ward, according to the record, clothed Adam and his wife 
 with the skins of beasts. The poor Tibetans, however, 
 were not thus highly favored. The Lord did not become 
 their clothier, nor did Chenresig assist them any further, 
 but left them to earn their bread in the sweat of their 
 faces. 
 
 § 2. Those persons who wrote the Bundahis over- 
 looked the 19th chapter of the Vendidad, which says the 
 Good Spirit "made the creation in the boundless time.'' 
 Thus, time is not limited to the little span of twelve thou- 
 sand years. But not to be outdone by Genesis, the Bunda- 
 his writers set it down that Ormazd (the Lord) appears 
 on the scene and makes a speech to Mashya and Mashyoi. 
 In Genesis, the Lord punishes Adam and Eve for eating 
 of the tree of knowledge, and curses the ground, and 
 drives them out of Eden, because they disobey Him ; and, 
 lest they get back again, he puts cherubims, with flaming 
 swords, to keep them out. But Mashya and Mashyoi are 
 not met with reproaches, and curses, and punishments. 
 The Lord, in his speech to them, says: "You are the 
 ancestry of the world; and you are created in perfect 
 devotion, by me; perform, then, devotedly, the duty of 
 the law; think good thoughts; speak good words; do 
 good deeds, but worship no demons. (Bund., ch. 15.).' 
 
 There is another clash at this point, between these 
 authorities, which must be noticed. Genesis tells us that 
 the world was created in six days, and that Adam was the
 
 ADAM CAME ALONE 37 
 
 product of the last day. Eve was, as yet, unthought of; 
 for the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and 
 then took out one of his ribs and constructed Eve. This 
 must have been a long time subsequent to Adam, for, be- 
 fore she came, he had given names to "all the cattle of the 
 fields and all the fowls of the air, and every living thing" ; 
 and as there were many tens of thousands of "living 
 things", it must have taken him years to accomplish this 
 task. During all which time "there was no help-meet 
 for Adam" (Gen. 2). The Bundahis makes the time six 
 thousand and thirty years from the creation to Gay- 
 omard's death. His seed, whatever it was, remained in 
 the ground forty years ; then it was fifty years before 
 Mashya and Mashyoi were changed into the full human 
 form. It was, therefore, six thousand one hundred and 
 twenty years when breath came to this Iranian Adam and 
 Eve. (Ch. 15, Bund.) 
 
 But it would seem that even one hundred and twenty 
 years is a short time for Gayomard's seed to progress 
 and develop from a protoplasm into a protozoan, and 
 thence ascend to the radiates, thence on to the mollusks, 
 and still higher to the articulates, thence up to the verte- 
 brates and the full stature of man. 
 
 Nature is slow and toilsome in her methods; is never 
 hurried for time; and had those writers said ten thou- 
 sand years instead of one hundred and twenty years, or 
 what is better still, forty thousand years, and many thou- 
 sands beyond that, they probably would have been more 
 nearly exact. Dr. James Croll, in his great work on 
 "climate and time", puts the age of the earth at sixty 
 millions of years, and thinks it is probably much older. 
 Lord Kevlin has furnished abundant proof that the earth
 
 38 THIS OLD EARTH 
 
 has been a solidified body for at least thirty millions of 
 years. Yet these unscientific Parsee dreamers, and blun- 
 derers, and those old and unknown compilers of some 
 ancient and worn out legends concerning Adam and the 
 creation, ignorant about the very subject upon which 
 they are treating, write down our globe ^ as a youngster 
 of only a few thousand years. But it may be said that 
 chapter 34, Bundahis, only fixes the chronology of the 
 race after Mashya and Mashyoi make their appearance. 
 Suppose that be so ; how did those writers learn that dur- 
 ing the first three thousand years creatures were unthink- 
 ing, unmoving and intangible ? How did they know that 
 Gayomard and the Ox held sway for only three thousand 
 years ? How did they know that Gayomard died in tribu- 
 lation, thirty years after the adversary rushed in? For 
 he died while Mashya and Mashyoi were yet in the 
 ground sprouting up, like rhubarb plants. Gayomard, 
 therefore, could not give this Adam and Eve of the Ira- 
 nians the word and let them pass it on down to the Bunda- 
 his writers. We have no proof that the Ox told them, 
 though we might as readily believe that the Ox did tell 
 them as to believe that the Ass talked to Balaam. But, if 
 that Ox was not gifted with speech, how then did they 
 learn of this wonderful chronology?^ Did they write 
 it from old and worn out traditions, the same as Ezra and 
 
 ^ The Jews make our world less than 6,000 years ; and 
 the Parsees make it less than 10,000 years old. 
 
 ^ In the Iranian Bible the Primeval Bull is even more 
 loquacious than Balaam's Ass in the Jewish Bible. For 
 the Ass, see Numbers 22, for the Bull see ch. 4, Bund., 
 p. 20.
 
 WRITERS OF BIBLES 39 
 
 Nehemiah wrote the Pentateuch? How did the writers 
 of those Bibles learn of the marvelous matters which 
 they set forth? The answer in each case is the same. 
 They say they were inspired and the things they write 
 about are revelations from on High. 
 
 § 3. Instead of trusting to traditions, myths and un- 
 certainties, let us now take a date that is fixed and un- 
 impeachable. In the year 585 B. C, the Modes under 
 Cyaxares were waging war against the Lydians. 
 
 It had progressed, as most wars do, with varying for- 
 tunes, for five years. But on the 28th day of May, in 
 that year, while a great battle was in progress, the sun 
 suddenly suffered a total eclipse. The darkness of night 
 coming on at mid-day, the terrified combatants saw, or 
 thought they saw, an omen of divine displeasure. In- 
 stantly the battle ceased, and both sides became anxious 
 for peace, and peace was at once concluded. They were 
 not aware that Thales, a Milesian astronomer had calcu- 
 lated this eclipse and had foretold the same to the day 
 and hour.''' Here is something that can be disproved or 
 verified; for God's laws are uniform and certain. They 
 are without variableness or shadow of turning. It is a 
 wonderful science that can reach out into the future and 
 tell the exact position of the earth or sun, or his satel- 
 lites, at a certain hour of a certain day. Yet the masters 
 of astronomy have accomplished this for thousands of 
 years past, and are doing the same to-day. And on this 
 28th day of May, 585 years B. C, astronomers, who have 
 traced backward the path of the King of Day, find that 
 
 ■^ Herodotus i ; 103. Br. Ency., Vol. 18, p. 563; Title 
 Persia.
 
 40 ZOROASTER'S FIRST CONVERT 
 
 in Asia Minor, where this battle was being fought, there 
 was a total eclipse of the sun. Here, then, is a reckoning 
 that is indisputable. Now, if Zoroaster was born only 
 660 years before Christ, he was exactly seventy-five years 
 old at the date of the eclipse. 
 
 At the age of twenty, we are told by Zad-Sparam, that 
 Zoroaster, abandoning all worldly desires, and laying 
 hold on righteousness, went forth on his mission and 
 commenced his labors by assisting the poor; and it was 
 ten years before he secured a single convert. This was 
 Medyomah, his cousin. This leaves him exactly forty-five 
 years in which to convert the whole Median nation before 
 this battle with the Lydians. The Medes, we know, pro- 
 fessed the Zoroastrian religion. But the time here is too 
 short. Did anything approaching it ever before or since 
 happen on this earth ? The Jews from the time of Moses 
 down to Jesus, a period of fifteen hundred years, labored 
 to convert surrounding nations, but did not succeed in a 
 single instance; and they were, so they said, especially 
 favored by the Most High. 
 
 Who, then, were these Medes, that they so speedily, as 
 is claimed, adopted the faith of Iran ? They were then a 
 great people ; they were no longer a mere tribe. Genera- 
 tions before this six tribes became merged into one, and 
 they called themselves Medes. Their religion, for genera- 
 tions before this battle, was Zoroastrian. Even before 
 Zoroaster's day they sacrificed to the earth, to fire, to 
 water, to the winds, the sun and the clouds, after the 
 manner of the Iranians. The latter did not erect temples 
 or altars ; they worshipped in the open air ; on high hills 
 or mountains; and the Medes practiced the same rites. 
 In fact, the Medes and the Persians were both children
 
 MEDES AND PERSIANS 41 
 
 of the same Aryan family. The Medes were formerly 
 called Aryans. The Persians wore the Median uniform 
 in war. The Medes never buried a dead body until it had 
 been torn by a dog or a bird ; the Persians did the same.^ 
 
 Now how could Zoroaster teach those two nations all 
 this in forty-five years? The Medes and Persians of that 
 period occupied a strip of territory, reaching westward 
 from the Oxus, more than twelve hundred miles. We 
 have seen that the prophet was ten years in securing one 
 convert. How long was it before he captured two na- 
 tions ? 
 
 We shall see further along that surrounding nations 
 made war on him and his people because of his new reli- 
 gion. We shall see his armies defeated and driven from 
 the field ; and only at the last rally were they successful, 
 but at that moment the prophet himself was slain. 
 
 It was three hundred years after Jesus' day before Con- 
 stantine could make the religion of Jesus the national re- 
 ligion. And even then there were chisms and conflicting 
 creeds, and bloodshed, and persecutions, before the tumult 
 ended. And to this day religious factions glare at each 
 other fiercely. A new religion among a barbarous people, 
 or any other people, is a plant of slow growth. It would 
 seem, therefore, that we must search for the epoch of 
 Zoroaster more than six hundred and sixty years before 
 the Christian era. Besides this, the Avesta nowhere 
 speaks of the Persian nation; and the reason is, that it 
 was composed before there was any Persian nation in 
 existence. There were only Tribes in that day ; and Yasna, 
 
 ^ Herodotus i, 140. Ibid. 7, 62.
 
 42 B EROS US AND BABYLON 
 
 33, section 5, speaks of ''our tribes". According to Gos- 
 Yast, it was the gallant Husravah who united the Aryan 
 tribes into a kingdom. 
 
 § 4. Now, let us see what Berosus, a Chaldean priest, 
 born in Babylonia about three hundred and sixty years 
 B. C, has to say about this matter. He translated into 
 Greek a history of Babylon, and there are very many 
 things in the Jewish Bible so strikingly similar to Berosus' 
 work that suspicion is aroused that the Jewish writers 
 drew their inspiration largely from Berosus. 
 
 True, his system of chronology will startle staid and 
 devout believers in the theory that our earth was created 
 only six thousand years ago ; for Berosus makes the rec- 
 ord of the race four hundred and thirty-two thousand 
 years old down to the flood, and over thirty-four thou- 
 sand years since the flood. In connection with his his- 
 tory he mentions the name of Zoroaster as living a period 
 twenty-four hundred years before Jesus' time. Berosus 
 was not a prophet, predicting the birth of this great teach- 
 er at some future day. He was simply a chronicler of 
 facts and events, as he found them stamped in clay or 
 burnt upon bricks. It happened that Babylonia was over- 
 run and conquered at that distant period, and Zoroaster's 
 name is mentioned in connection with that event. He 
 must, therefore, have lived before the historian could 
 write of him. 
 
 A still more distant period is set for the prophet by 
 Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great, and one of 
 the greatest scholars and philosophers that the world has 
 ever known, whose masterly mind ought to entitle his 
 utterances to serious consideration. Aristotle is sure that
 
 ZOROASTER 6,000 YEARS AGO 43 
 
 Zoroaster lived six thousand years before Xerxes. This 
 carries him back into remote antiquity; back over eight 
 thousand years; back three thousand years before Gene- 
 sis. It is a strong utterance, not carelessly made, but 
 when we consider that this earth is millions, and millions 
 of years old, and that the Aryans were in Asia, probably 
 ten thousand years ago, and more likely before that 
 period, Aristotle's date for Zoroaster may not seem so 
 utterly extravagant. Bunson thinks the date set by Aris- 
 totle is not far out of the way; but adds that whether 
 the date be set too high cannot at present be answered. 
 
 Plato, twenty-three hundred years ago, mentions Zoro- 
 aster's religion as being established among the Medes in 
 western Iran, but does not fix a date for its appearance. 
 He intended visiting the Medes and Persians to investi- 
 gate their religious doctrines, but their wars with the 
 Greeks prevented. 
 
 § 5. All the early Greek writers, those living 2000 to 
 2500 years ago, agree in placing the date of Zoroaster 
 about six thousand years before the Christian Era. It 
 is those only, of a more recent period, who claim that the 
 Iranian prophet came upon the stage only about twenty- 
 five hundred years ago. It must be noticed that these 
 late writers seem chained to the theory that the earth is a 
 recent production, and that man is a late arrival. They 
 seem to stand in awe of fixing a distant date for the 
 prophet, lest they collide with Genesis. In some things 
 Genesis may be right; but its chronology is misleading. 
 
 Pliny the Elder (born 23, A. D.), not being thus ham- 
 pered, speaks of Zoroaster as living and teaching centu- 
 ries before Moses. In fact, Pliny speaks of two Zoroas- 
 ters; the first of whom flourished long before Genesis;
 
 44 ZOROASTER CENTURIES BEFORE MOSES 
 
 the latter about the time of Darius Hystaspes. Hermip- 
 pus, who Hved 250 years before Jesus, assigns the Great 
 Persian to a time centuries before the siege of Troy. 
 Plutarch holds to the same opinion. 
 
 Xanthus of Lydia (B. C. 500) thought the great 
 teacher lived six thousand years before Xerxes. Edward 
 Clodd, in his childhood of religions, says, we are sure 
 that Zoroaster lived more than three thousand years ago, 
 because his religion was established before the conquest of 
 Bactria by the Assyrians, which took place twelve hun- 
 dred years before Jesus' day. Justin makes the direct 
 assertion that the prophet was a Bactrian priest, and 
 ruler of the Bactrians. Now, if he is right, then the 
 Persian antedates, by centuries, both David and Solomon. 
 
 It must be admitted that at a very early period Zoroas- 
 ter's name had traveled far; for in old Irish history 
 there is mention of him and of a star, and a strange light 
 at his birth.» 
 
 Ctesias, who lived 400 years B. C, states that Ninus, 
 with a vast Assyrian army, made war on the Bactrians; 
 took their Capitol, and that Zoroaster was there slain. 
 Ctesias, though not always reliable, fixes this event about 
 nine hundred years before Jesus. 
 
 Ancient writers vary considerably as to the period of 
 the prophet, but they agree in placing him anterior to the 
 Jewish exile a century before the founding of Rome. 
 In any event it cannot be considered "extravagant", as 
 Dr. West claims, if we place him back to the time, or 
 even beyond the time, of Moses. For we cannot overlook 
 
 ® See Valiancy's vindication of ancient history of Ire- 
 land: Vol. 4, p. 202.
 
 BABYLON AND UR 45 
 
 the fact that in recent researches among the rocks and 
 ruins of the ancient city of Nippur, there have been found 
 stamped records upon burnt clay, which carry the writ- 
 ten history of man back beyond Genesis more than three 
 thousand years. 
 
 Old Babylon and Ur, of the Chaldees, are also yielding 
 up their secrets and telling us of their Gods, their Kings, 
 and their religions. That part of the world was teeming 
 with populations more than eight thousand years ago, 
 and probably more than ten thousand years ago ; and is it 
 unreasonable to suppose that the Great I Am, would, and 
 did, inspire some devout souls on the banks of the Oxus, 
 as well as on the Tigris, and the Euphrates, to teach the 
 Parsees and their progenitors the way to a better life? 
 The great and renowned leader of that religious throng 
 was Zoroaster; but for himself he took no "thought of 
 the morrow" ; and so left the world in an eternal contro- 
 versy, as to the period in which he lived. And to this 
 day no human being can state the exact time of his 
 sojourn on earth, although it is highly probable that he 
 lived before Solomon, and probably before Moses.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Zoroaster's early years. 
 
 It is certain that Zoroaster's life was one long contin- 
 ued struggle to build up all that was good; in other 
 words, to teach his people to hold good thoughts, and 
 utter good words, and do good deeds to all mankind. But 
 it is probably a fiction and a myth, as stated in the Vendi- 
 dad, that Angra Manyu (the Devil), knowing of his 
 birth, summoned the fiends to assemble at the head of 
 Arezura — the ridge at the Gate of Hell, because, as he 
 said, the Holy Zaratust was just born in the house of 
 Porushaspa. ^ 
 
 Nor shall I write down, as a sober truth, that in his 
 birth and growth, the waters and the plants rejoiced and 
 grew, and that all the creatures of the Good Creation 
 cried out "Hail". "Hail to us ; for he is born the Athra- 
 ven (priest) Spitama Zarathrustra. He will offer us 
 sacrifices, with libations, and bundles of baresma ; and 
 there will be the good law of the worshippers of Mazda. 
 It will come and spread through all the seven zones of 
 the earth.2 Mithra, the Lord of Wide Pastures, will 
 increase all the excellencies of our countries and allay 
 all our troubles." 
 
 1 Vend., ch. 20, § 46. We have elsewhere said that 
 Porushaspa was the prophet's father. 
 
 2 Farvarden Yast, S. B. E., Vol. 23, §§ 93, 94. 
 
 46
 
 ZOROASTER'S MOTHER 47 
 
 That other wild statement, that the soul of the Primal 
 Bull, thousands of years before Zoroaster's appearance, 
 obtained a vision of him, is strangely fabulous. So, also, 
 we must class that later statement, that another gifted 
 Ox foretold the coming of the prophet. 
 
 The safer road to follow is the old beaten path; that 
 this man was born the same as other mortals ; though it 
 would not be extraordinary if he inherited a predilection 
 for his future mission. For the tradition is that Dugda- 
 hova, his mother, was so filled with that divine nimbus, 
 effulgence, or glory, that her father, thinking her be- 
 witched, sent her away from home ; sent her to the village 
 of Porushaspa. On her journey thither, as she stands 
 upon a lofty eminence, surveying with wonder, the beau- 
 ties of the landscape that stretched out before her, Revela- 
 tion mentions that she heard voices bidding her go for- 
 ward. She listened further, and, the voices giving assur- 
 ance that the village whither she was tending would be 
 compassionate, she proceeded ; and there she met Poru- 
 shaspa, whom she subsequently married. And this di- 
 vine radiance, or glory, passed on down to Zoroaster, her 
 son.^ 
 
 Another story current among the Iranians at this time 
 is that the production of Zaratust was caused by his 
 parents drinking Hom juice, infused with cow's milk ; the 
 Hom, being a plant or shrub, that grew in the mountains 
 of Persia, and when pounded and the juice squeezed out 
 and mixed with milk it became pleasant to the taste. It 
 was used as a libation in ceremonial worship; and the 
 
 3 Dinkard 7, S. B E, ch 2 ; 7 to 9
 
 48 DIVINE RADIANCE AT HIS BIRTH 
 
 Jews,^ as told in the book of Numbers, probably copied 
 as to their drink offering from the Iranian Hom juice 
 worship. But besides pouring ''strong wine to the Lord" ; 
 the Jews went beyond this, and poured drink-offerings 
 unto other Gods. 
 
 § 2. It has been, and will be further noticed, that 
 there are many parallels and striking resemblances be- 
 tween what is said of Zoroaster and his religion, and later 
 moral heroes, and their religions. I shall give dates and 
 other matters, as far as attainable, that the reader may 
 judge if one has been, or is, copied from the other. 
 
 We may now notice the following: The New Testa- 
 ment distinctly sets forth that a star came and stood over 
 the place where Jesus was bom; and that Herod sought 
 to destroy him. But many centuries before Jesus came 
 more marvelous things were written and told in the Per- 
 sian Bible about Zoroaster. For three days before he 
 was born the whole village where his father lived became 
 luminous. A divine radiance or light encircled his fath- 
 er's house : and the child laughed outright as he came into 
 the world. Those present, who saw and heard these 
 strange occurrences, wondered much, and some were 
 frightened. Thereupon Porushaspa, the father, visited 
 Durasrobo, an idolatrous priest, hard by, renowned for 
 his sorcery and witchcraft, and the child was pronounced 
 foolish. This fatal piece of information so wrought 
 upon the mind of the father that he gave his consent 
 that the Karap ^ might at once make way with the babe. 
 
 ^ See Numbers, ch. 28, V. 7. Jeremiah 19, v. 13. 
 ^ S. B. E., Vol. 47, ch. 3. Those wizards were called 
 Karaps.
 
 ATTEMPT TO MURDER HIM 49 
 
 r 
 
 Thereat, the wizard sought to compress and twist the 
 head of the child to cause his death. Instantly an invisi- 
 ble power stayed his hand — withered it; and it fell 
 harmless at his side. The Karap, in pain and alarm at 
 this unknown power, seized the infant and threw him in 
 front of a herd of cattle that he might be trampled to 
 death. But an old Ox, at the head of the column, stood 
 guard over the child while the drove, on either side, 
 passed him by. A similar attempt was made by throwing 
 the child in front of a herd of horses, and the leader 
 stood guard, the same as the Ox. The wizard then un- 
 dertook to burn the babe, and heaped a great pile of 
 wood ; and put the infant thereon ; but the fire would not 
 bum; thus was the child thrice saved. This story is 
 many centuries older than that of Herod and Jesus — was 
 this later story a copy? 
 
 ZOROASTER AND THE WOLF. 
 
 § 3. If the reader can believe that Daniel was thrown 
 into a den of hungry lions, and there remained over 
 night, and came out unharmed, it will not be very trying 
 for him to credit the story of Zoroaster and the wolf. 
 The Persian legend surely surpasses, if possible, the 
 Jewish one; both being very improbable. The strange 
 happenings, above mentioned, have so shattered Poru- 
 
 Kavis and Karaps. Of course every one is familiar with 
 the story that Herod sought to kill Jesus. But outside 
 of the New Testament there is no mention of Herod's 
 order to slay the innocents ; nor does history, other than 
 the Persian Bible or its commentaries, make mention of 
 this attempt to kill Zoroaster.
 
 50 FLUNG INTO A WOLFY DEN 
 
 shaspa's mind that he consents that his son may be 
 thrown into a wolf's den, her cubs being first killed to 
 make her more furious. But two angels are on guard, 
 Vohuman, the angel of good thought; and Srosh, the 
 angel of obedience; and they close the Wolf's mouth.^ 
 
 In the case of Daniel it took only one angel to close 
 the mouths of a den of lions. But Vohuman and Srosh 
 did not cease their ministrations with the closing of the 
 wolf's mouth ; the babe was hungry ; and during the night 
 they brought a sheep, her udder being full of milk, into 
 the den, and it gave suck to the famished child. At dawn 
 the mother of the babe ran into the lair, expecting to find 
 only the bones of her child, but found him safe, and up- 
 braided her husband bitterly, that the wolf was kinder 
 to her child than its father. 
 
 Here we may consider that if God saved Daniel from 
 the lions, and if he knows all things, he knew that the 
 Persian child was born to preach a better religion than 
 the Karaps and the Wizards were doing. The Persians 
 being older and a more numerous people than the Jews, 
 why should they not have a teacher to direct them in 
 the right paths ? The Lord, it would seem, was mindful 
 of them, surely. 
 
 Zoroaster lived long centuries before Daniel, and if 
 either story is suggested or copied from the other, with 
 the variations above mentioned, that of the lions is surely 
 subsequent to that of the wolf."^ 
 
 Another parallel will be here noticed. Jesus at twelve 
 is found in the Temple, in the midst of the wise men 
 
 ^ Dinkard 7, ch. 3, § 16, and Dink., p. 146. 
 7 Dinkard, Book 7, ch. 3, § 46.
 
 REVERENCES THE POOR 51 
 
 hearing and asking questions.^ Zoroaster at seven years 
 is engaged in a religious discussion with the Karaps and 
 declares that he reverences the poor, and the righteous, 
 but not the wicked. If we may trust the Dinkard, he 
 early began to manifest wonderful intellectual powers, 
 and an exalted mind filled with a desire for righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 The same authority speaks of the beauty of his person, 
 and the grandeur of his character, which fitted him for 
 the priesthood, or warriorship, and that he was an enemy 
 to everything vile. Such gifts of heaven, in any age, 
 stamp their possessor as a born leader of men. If the 
 warrior spirit predominates, he marshals armies and sub- 
 dues empires. If devoutly inclined, he remodels and 
 reforms old religions or establishes a new one. 
 
 § 4. Whether it be true, as stated in the Zartust-Nama, 
 that Porushaspa placed the future prophet at the age 
 of seven in charge of a noted teacher for instruction, we 
 have no certain means of knowing. Educational matters, 
 at that early period, were highly primitive, and rudimen- 
 tary; and what he was taught, we can only conjecture. 
 If he lived only thirty-five hundred years ago it is prob- 
 able that the learning of Egypt, prior to his coming, had 
 penetrated to the Oxus, and beyond. As far back as five 
 thousand years ago the civilization of Egypt was won- 
 derful. In truth, Egypt was the land of learning, and 
 her people, as Herodotus mentions, ''were excessively 
 attentive to the Gods." The Greeks borrowed nearly all 
 the names of their Gods from the Egyptians. Rome did 
 
 8 Luke 2, vs. 42 to 49.
 
 52 THE SACRED SHIRT 
 
 the same. The Egyptians assigned a particular God to 
 preside over each of the thirty days of the month; the 
 Iranians, at least in the later Avesta, followed, with 
 especial care, this example. 
 
 It is possible, nay, it is probable, that Zoroaster's in- 
 structor may have been a learned Egyptian scholar; for 
 he could not be very learned, unless he knew much of 
 that extraordinary people. But that matter will be con- 
 sidered further along; it being only necessary to here 
 add that Zoroaster, after the age of seven, like other 
 Parsee children, was allowed to wear the sacred shirt. 
 This was a loose tunic, of white, with short sleeves ; the 
 body of it reaching below the waist. Jews, Greeks and 
 Romans, afterward adopted this form of dress, except 
 that they made them much longer. The Dinkard calls it 
 "the Star spangled garment." At the age of fifteen, 
 young persons tied it on with the sacred girdle, in token 
 that sin was ended.^ 
 
 Whether the putting on of the sacred shirt was in 
 vogue before Zaratust's time, is not so clear; but we are 
 sure that the religious formula of the girdle (Kusti) was 
 known and practiced long before the separation of the 
 Hindu Aryans, from the Aryans of Iran.^^ The Hindus 
 called it the sacred cord; the Iranians the sacred-thread 
 girdle. The former wore it over the left shoulder and 
 
 ^ Dinkard, Vol. 37, S. B. E., p. 474; also Dadistan, ch. 
 38, § 22. Isaiah, ch. 59, v. 17. Put on a garment of 
 vengeance. 
 
 ^^ That separation took place more than 4,300 years 
 ago.
 
 THE SACRED GIRDLE 53 
 
 tinder the right arm; the Iranians passed it three times 
 around the waist. 
 
 After Zartust brought the good reHgion the girdle was 
 put on with a solemn religious ceremony, and was worn 
 as a sign of worship. The man or woman about to as- 
 sume the girdle, recites a prayer : **May Ahura Mazda be 
 Lord, and Aharam (the Devil) be unprevailing, smitten 
 and defeated. May the demons, fiends, wizards, Kavis and 
 Karpans, tyrants, sinners, apostates, and enemies, be 
 smitten and defeated. May enemies be confounded. Or- 
 mazd is the Lord. I renounce all sin, all evil thoughts, 
 evil words, evil deeds. For sins of thought, word and 
 deed, do thou pardon. I am penitent. I have scorn for 
 Aharman. Righteousness is the best good, a blessing it 
 is. Perfect rectitude is a blessing. Come to my protection, 
 O! Ormazd! A Mazda worshipper am L I praise the 
 Mazda religion, the best and most excellent of things. I 
 profess (Ashem-vohu) holiness is the best of all good." ^^ 
 
 ^1 The prayer is quite long and I have abridged it 
 somewhat, but have omitted only repetitions. See p. 383, 
 Dadistin. The girdle consisted of six strands; each 
 strand having twelve fine white woolen.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ZOROASTER FROM FIFTEEN TO TWENTY YEARS. 
 
 § I. When Zoroaster had attained the age of fifteen 
 his brothers ^ demanded of Porushaspa, their father, their 
 portions. And among the goods there was a girdle, and 
 instead of wealth the future prophet wound the sacred 
 girdle about himself, in token of his devotion to the Lord. 
 If the other brothers demanded a girdle there is no record 
 of it, and even if they sought one the luster and halo 
 that surrounds the great name of their illustrious brother 
 so overshadows them that they are left in dark obscurity. 
 
 Such things as risking himself to assist some aged 
 people across a swollen and treacherous river, and in 
 feeding the famine-stricken beasts of burden from his 
 father's crib, are blazoned forth as indicating a heart 
 touched with sympathetic emotions. Those unknown 
 brothers may have joined him in those generous acts, but 
 history and tradition pass them by without mention. 
 
 We next catch a glimpse of him when, at the age of 
 twenty, abandoning worldly desires, and seeking only 
 righteousness, he leaves home without the consent of his 
 parents, and goes forth filled with compassion to assist 
 
 1 We are told that he had two brothers older than him- 
 self, and two younger. These were not children of 
 Dugdhova. Polygamy, then, was common ; and Poru- 
 shaspa must have had at least three wives, one of whom 
 preceded the mother of the prophet. 
 
 54
 
 PERSIANS TRUTHFUL 55 
 
 the poor. That which is most favorable to the soul, he 
 says, is to nourish the poor, give fodder to hungry cattle, 
 keep the holy fires burning, and to reclaim the wicked.^ 
 
 There is one matter which concerns the whole Iranian 
 people, that ought to be here mentioned. Their love of 
 truth-speaking was cultivated to such an extent as to 
 cause Herodotus, who wrote four hundred and forty 
 years B. C. to make special mention of it.^ 
 
 He says that to tell a lie is ''considered by them as the 
 greatest disgrace. Beginning at the age of five, they in- 
 struct their sons in three things only: to ride, to use the 
 bow, and to speak the truth." The teaching of this 
 ancient people, in the matter of truth-speaking, no doubt 
 proceeded from the prophet; for we shall further along 
 see that he fought the lie-demon, during all his mature 
 life. 
 
 § 2. There is a tradition that has floated along for a 
 thousand years, that the prophet lived in a desert or wil- 
 derness, twenty years, on cheese. This is so highly ques- 
 tionable that we dismiss it, by asking where he obtained 
 this peculiar diet? Or was the cheese brought to him 
 that he might eat it there? He may have fasted some- 
 what ; Jesus fasted ; John the Baptist lived in the wilder- 
 ness on locusts and wild-honey; Buddah fasted until he 
 nearly perished. The Jews, later on, and yet, have their 
 periods of fasting; and it is not improbable that Zoroas- 
 ter fasted for a time. But the statement that his diet, for 
 twenty years, consisted solely of cheese is absurd; and 
 
 2 Zad-Sparam, Vol. 47, S. B. E., ch. 20, § 7 to § 16. 
 
 3 Herodotus-Clio, i, 138. He was bom 484 years B. C.
 
 56 HOLY MOUNTAINS 
 
 only crept into history through one of the fables of the 
 Zartust-Namah.4 
 
 Another tradition is that in the beginning of his 
 career he lived in solitude, in a cave, on the top of a high 
 mountain, the Persian Sinai. This was the "mount of the 
 Holy Questionings'' ; where he held communion, it is said, 
 with the Most High. The mountain quaked and flamed 
 and burned up, but the prophet escaped without harm. 
 Is chapter 19, Exodus, copied from this ; or is this a weak 
 imitation of Moses at Sinai? 
 
 The Lord, we are told, descended upon Sinai in fire, 
 and "the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a fur- 
 nace, and the whole mount did quake greatly. And the 
 Lord came down upon Mt. Sinai." Now, the Parsees 
 believed, and the remnant of them yet stoutly insist, that 
 the Lord talked with Zoroaster "on the Mountain of the 
 Holy Questionings." They persistently believe that the 
 Lord, there, taught their prophet the good religion, and 
 that he was the Divine Instrument to teach it to the peo- 
 ple. They insist that the Avesta — their Bible — is the 
 inspired word of God.^ 
 
 The compilers of Exodus may have read the Avesta; 
 and, on the other hand, the Iranian sage may have known 
 of the teachings of Moses. This much, however, is cer- 
 tain ; they both taught that there was one God, the Crea- 
 tor and Ruler of the Universe. But which of those 
 
 4 Zartust-Namah is a fabulous life of the prophet, writ- 
 ten in the thirteenth century A. D. It is a grain of wheat 
 to a bushel of chaff. 
 
 ^ The Christian Church will not admit this ; nay, it 
 dare not, lest it go to pieces.
 
 WORSHIPPED ON MOUNTAINS 57 
 
 great souls, Moses or Zoroaster, antedates the other, who 
 can tell? We are, however, certain of this: that high 
 mountains, the wilderness, deserts and caves, have, in the 
 history of the race, played conspicuous parts. At the 
 period when the earth was supposed to be flat, a high 
 mountain was thought to be nearer heaven, and the Gods 
 did not have so far to travel, and could make the journey 
 to the earth more easily. 
 
 § 3. The Iranians canonized their holy mountain in 
 a hymn of praise. They say ''We w^orship the mountain 
 that gives us understanding of the law. We worship it 
 with offerings and libations by day and by night." "We 
 worship all the Holy creations of Ahura." ''We worship 
 Ahura, who smites the fierce Angra Mainyu." "We wor- 
 ship Thee, Omarzda, who will give life in the blissful 
 abode of the Holy Ones." "We come to Thee for help, 
 O, Lord, Ashem-Vohu, Holiness is the best of all good." ^ 
 
 There has been much discussion as to which of these 
 mountains shall have precedence, as to those marvelous 
 sayings about them. The reasoning is as follows : 
 
 The separation of the Hindu Aryans, from those of 
 Iran, took place forty-three hundred years ago, and pos- 
 sibly before that date. Now, if the Iranian mountain 
 episode or tradition had been prevalent before the separa- 
 tion some mention of it would probably be found in the 
 Rigveda. But concerning this matter, it is absolutely 
 silent. Therefore, the Zoroastrian Sinai (the Mountain 
 
 ^ Ormazd-Yast, § 31, etc., S. B. E., Vol. 23. The name 
 of this mountain is Osdastar, and it is in Seistan. It is 
 the Sinai of the Iranians. Ahura there revealed the Law 
 to Zoroaster.
 
 58 IRANIANS OLDER THAN THE HEBREWS 
 
 of the Holy Questionings), and all that is said to have 
 happened there, is perhaps later than four thousand three 
 hundred years ago. But the separation above mentioned 
 was at least eight hundred years before Moses led those 
 Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. The Iranians are, there- 
 fore, an older people than the Hebrews. They were in 
 Bactria, and along the Oxus, at least eight hundred years 
 before the Hebrews fed upon manna in the Wilderness. 
 
 § 4. The period of Moses, at the time of the happen- 
 ings at Sinai (if such things really did happen), and if 
 the Chronology of the Jewish Bible is correct, was about 
 fifteen hundred years B. C. Was Zoroaster in existence 
 at that time? Did he live before that date, or subse- 
 quently? These questions cannot be safely and surely 
 answered, either in the affirmative or the negative. Of 
 course, those writers who stand in dread of Genesis, will 
 reply that Zoroaster was a Persian, living about six hun- 
 dred years B. C. 
 
 While this late date for him is certainly wrong, it may 
 be that his period is not so far back as the alleged date 
 of Moses. But the date and supposed writing of Moses 
 are assailed. We are told that he did not write the Penta- 
 teuch, and that Ezra and Nehemiah, about five hundred 
 years B. C, compiled some old Jewish legends and what 
 records they could find, and thus gave us the books cred- 
 ited to Moses. We are cited to Second Kings, chapter 
 22, where Hilkiah, the high priest, about six hundred and 
 twenty years B. C, says he found the book of Deuter- 
 onomy in the House of the Lord. If Moses wrote that 
 book, it lay hidden about nine hundred years. If written 
 on paper or papyrus, the folios would be rotten in five 
 hundred years. If on cowhides, the ink would fade long
 
 ZOROASTER'S MARRIAGE 59 
 
 before nine hundred years. The "find" was, therefore, a 
 recent production. Then arises the question : If Deuter- 
 onomy was not written until six hundred years B. C, 
 when were the other books of the Pentateuch produced? 
 Were they not all written long subsequently to thirty- 
 four hundred years ago? Regarding both of these state- 
 ments about the mountains, and the fire, and the conver- 
 sations with the Lord, if a person writing to-day were to 
 make such assertions, he would be discredited at once. 
 We can readily believe a legend that has consistency 
 about it, one that is not so utterly at variance with all our 
 experience ; but when a legend, or the record of one, about 
 the improbable is given us for a sober verity, we have a 
 right to be suspicious and to question it. 
 
 The legend that when Zoroaster wished to get married 
 his father went in search of a wife for him, and that the 
 son insisted that the young lady should show her face 
 before the espousals, is not hard to believe. It is pre- 
 cisely what any sensible young man would wish to see 
 before the ceremony. Our credulity is not, in such a 
 case, taxed. 
 
 Marriage, however, must have been a pleasant condi- 
 tion for him, as we are told that he married three wives ; 
 and they were all living in his life time. We frown upon 
 this; but polygamy with the Iranians, as with the Jews, 
 was not only tolerated, but it was approved. David had 
 numerous wives, and Solomon, not to be surpassed, took 
 seven hundred, and for good measure, added three hun- 
 dred concubines."^ 
 
 ■^ 1st Kings, XI, 3. Solomon alas had so many wives 
 that ''they turned away his heart."
 
 60 HIS CHILDREN 
 
 § 5. Zoroaster, by his first wife, had one son and three 
 daughters; by his second, two sons; and by Hvovi, no 
 earthly children were born.^ But here again, legend 
 comes in, to say that Hvovi shall become the mother of 
 three sons: Hushedar, Hushedar-mah, and Soshyans; all 
 of the seed of the prophet. The angel Neryosang, it is 
 said, took charge of this seed, and a myriad of guardian 
 spirits are protecting it ; and by these sons, who are to be 
 born at later and different periods, the renovation of the 
 world will be accomplished. Hushedar is to be born 
 first, and will bring in the first Millennium, at which time 
 the renovation of the universe will take place. He will 
 have a conference with the Lord; and when he comes 
 away from that conference he will far surpass Joshua. 
 For he will say to the swift horse, the sun, "stand still," 
 and the sun will stand still ten days and nights. And 
 when he cries "Move on," the sun will move on ; and 
 all mankind will then believe in the good religion of 
 Mazda.9 
 
 ^ Bund., ch. 32, § 7, and note. 
 
 ^ The reader will smile at this foolish nonsense ; for he 
 will know that the earth is traveling around the sun at 
 the rate of about 1,580,000 miles each day. Now Joshua 
 halted it only one day. He was kind enough to let it 
 move on during the night. He only wanted it to stop 
 long enough for his people to avenge themselves on their 
 enemies. (Joshua X, 13.) Hushedar, evidently, desires 
 a miracle for the purpose of "getting all mankind to be- 
 lieve in the good religion." Bundahis, pp. 231 and 2^2, 
 Vol. 5, S. B. E. Part i. Of course, both of these legends 
 are so utterly false and untrue that comment is unneces- 
 sary. 
 
 Shakespeare would say, "a plague on both of your 
 houses."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Zoroaster's vision. 
 
 § I. How long and how deeply Zoroaster pondered 
 the great problems of the future destiny of the human 
 family, before he commenced his crusade against the idol- 
 atrous practices which he everywhere saw around him, 
 we cannot definitely state. But if we rely upon those two 
 uncertain guides — Zad-Sparam and Zartust-Nama — he 
 was between fifteen and twenty years old before he be- 
 came definitely fixed in his opinions, and determined on 
 his course of action. 
 
 We recognize at once that he is a man of unsurpassed 
 courage, patience, and determination; for he labors ten 
 years before he secures his first convert. This was his 
 cousin, Medyomah. Perhaps some of those ten years 
 were passed in seclusion, on the mountains already re- 
 ferred to. He may have wandered about the country 
 preaching and teaching the doctrines which he, subse- 
 quently, emphasized in the Persian Bible. But we cannot, 
 for a moment believe that in one of those journeys he 
 passed through a sea whose waters receded and fell back 
 to allow him a dry passage. This foolish statement, made 
 in the Zartust-Nama, is probably copied from Second 
 Kings (chapter 2d), where Elijah smote the waters of 
 the Jordan with his mantle and they parted hither and 
 thither, so that he went over on dry land. But if it be 
 fomid difficult to credit the story of the parting of the 
 
 61
 
 62 AN ARCHANGEL MEETS HIM 
 
 waters, how shall we credit that which is about to fol- 
 low? We are told that at the age of thirty, while walk- 
 ing in a solitary plain, he caught a vision of Medyona, at 
 the head of a mighty concourse of people, coming from 
 the North. This was a cheering omen to him, that the 
 good religion would yet attract all mankind. 
 
 He was then on his way to the river of conference (the 
 Daitu), which he crossed; but this stream did not part 
 its waters for him. He waded it. And just at break of 
 day, as he came up from the water, and was putting on 
 his clothes, he caught sight of the Archangel, Vonu- 
 Mano, approaching him. He was not startled at the 
 vision ; for it was in the human form ; handsome and ele- 
 gantly dressed in silk, though it was nine times larger 
 than man.^ The angel seems to have been aware of the 
 toils, the aspirations and hopes of the Prophet, and has 
 come to show him the splendors of the Eternal Presence. 
 "Whom mayest thou be, and what is thy great desire?" 
 the angel asks, and the "Prophet replies: "I am Zartust 
 of the Spitamas ; righteousness is my chief desire, and 
 my wish is to know and do the will of the sacred beings, 
 as they show me." 
 
 The angel directs the Prophet to lay aside his mortal 
 vestments, his body ; that they may proceed to the assem- 
 bly of the just and confer with the Almighty. This being 
 done, they go forward on foot, for the record is, that 
 Vohumano walked as much in nine steps as Zartust did 
 in ninety. The Iranian heaven has doors, the same as 
 
 ^ We must not be surprised at this, for Isaiah saw the 
 Lord sitting on his throne, high and lifted up. Isaiah, ch. 
 6. Sacred Book of the East, Vol. 47, p. 156.
 
 THEY VISIT HEAVEN 63 
 
 the Jewish heaven ; there are also windows in the Jewish 
 heaven. But the Jewish heaven further surpasses the 
 Iranian, in that it has horses of different colors.^ 
 
 § 2. As the Angel and the Prophet approach the Ira- 
 nian heaven the brilliancy of the Archangels becomes so 
 great that there is not a shadow in that glorious abode. 
 Ormazd is there, presiding. Zartust offers homage to 
 Him and to the Archangels, and takes a seat among 
 them. Here he is initiated into all the mysteries and mar- 
 vels that will greet the ecstatic soul on the eternal shore. 
 
 The Prophet questions the Almighty as to the perfec- 
 tion of the Saints ; and Ormazd makes answer, that the 
 first perfection is "good thoughts ; the second, good 
 words ; and the third, good deeds." And he admonished 
 him, that the carrying out of the commands of the Arch- 
 angels, is the best of all habits. Then the Lord explained 
 to Zaroaster that the evil spirits practice iniquities, be- 
 cause they love darkness ; and their thoughts, words, and 
 deeds, are in eternal divergence and conflict from those 
 loving the light. 
 
 Zoroaster is favored with three audiences by the Om- 
 niscient One the same day. The Archangels, thereupon, 
 expressed a desire to test his faith by having him walk 
 through fire, which he did, and was not burned. They 
 then poured melted metal upon his breast, and he was 
 unharmed. But this was not enough. They slashed his 
 
 2 Gen., 7. The windows of heaven were opened, etc. 
 Rev., 4, St. John saw a door, and behold it was opened. 
 Rev., 6. He saw horses, red, white and pale, etc. The 
 Iranian heaven is located in Iran. Vol. 47, S. B. E., p.
 
 64 HIS FAITH TESTED 
 
 abdomen, in a vital part, with a knife, so that the blood 
 gushed forth; but the supposed mortal wound was in- 
 stantly healed by rubbing the hand lightly over it. 
 
 Shall we inquire whether these startling, marvelous 
 and incredible statements precede, or are they faint re- 
 flections from those other marvelous sayings in the book 
 of Daniel (ch. 3) where Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- 
 nego are bound, in their coats and hats, and flung into a 
 fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than it was wont 
 to be heated? And, did those three persons really come 
 forth from that furnace with not a hair of their heads 
 singed, or their garments burned? 
 
 Respecting these extreme tests mentioned in the Iranian 
 scriptures I will add that they are set forth to prove that 
 the religion of Ormazd is the true one. So, also, was the 
 furnace-story of Meshach written to prove that the God 
 of the Hebrews was the only true God. For the same 
 reason St. Mark (ch. 16) states that a believer in Jesus 
 may drink any deadly thing, and he shall not be harmed.^ 
 
 The careful reader will at once detect contradictions in 
 this Iranian legend; for let it be borne in mind that 
 Vohumano told Zoroaster to lay aside his body ^ so that 
 he might confer with the Lord. While at that conference 
 the angels tested the Prophet by pouring hot metal on his 
 chest, and by wounding him with a knife, until the blood 
 gushed forth. That writer overlooked the fact that a 
 disembodied spirit hath neither flesh nor blood. 
 
 3 But the test in Mark seems never to have been made. 
 It is too dangerous to be attempted. 
 
 ^ The Dinkard says, Vol. 47, S. B. E., p. 49. Deposit 
 this one garment, meaning the body, the vesture of the 
 soul.
 
 A VISION OF ANGELS 65'^ 
 
 Of course, no sane mind will believe that Zoroaster 
 actually obtained a personal audience with Ormazd, and 
 received by word of mouth from him directions and in- 
 structions as to establishing his religion. Did he, like St. 
 John on the Isle of Patmos, in the spirit see these mar- 
 vels above mentioned? St. John says he saw a throne, 
 and one that sat thereon; and he saw four and twenty 
 seats, and four and twenty elders, clothed in white, sit- 
 ting upon those seats. He saw, also, seven angels. Now 
 the Iranian Bible has seven amshaspands (angels). Per- 
 haps St. John saw the amshaspands themselves. 
 
 § 3. The earlier Gathas, those believed to have been 
 actually composed by the Prophet, do not go to the ex- 
 travagant length of St. John in Patmos, or the writers 
 of the Dinkard. Those Gathas are exhortations and 
 prayers, in meter, repeated again and again, of a strug- 
 gling Saint, who seeks to know how he may approach the 
 Good Mind more devoutly. And the nearest approach to a 
 conference found in them is where the Prophet speaks of 
 the Herald sent to him by Ormazd, and the Herald asks 
 what he most desires ? ^ But if we turn our backs upon 
 the Dinkard, the Bundahis, Zad-Sparam, and other like 
 records, we shall have an imperfect picture of early Ira- 
 nian times, and perhaps of the Prophet himself. If we 
 take the middle ground between an actual conference with 
 Ormazd, and a vision, or trance, whereby the mind sees, 
 or seems to see, objects intangible and invisible to the 
 natural eye, we may well suppose that the Prophet's 
 
 B Yasna, 43, § 9.
 
 fee TUR, THE SCANTY GIVER 
 
 elysian of joy came to an abrupt end when his enraptured 
 soul returned to his body. For he found that the real 
 battle of Hfe was now to begin. 
 
 He was, it must be remembered, thirty years of age, 
 and with great earnestness ^ he began inviting all man- 
 kind to the religion of Ormazd. His methods are aggres- 
 sive; and he boldly announces that he declares doctrines 
 ''till then unheard ;" '^ and he prays for a "Mighty King- 
 dom, by whose force he may smite the Lie-demon." He 
 called unto all the world to extol righteousness, and to 
 resist the demons. The demons here mentioned are the 
 Kigs and Karpans, unbelievers and heretics. But when 
 he invited them and the nobles of the realm to the reli- 
 gion of Ormazd, they clamored for his death. 
 
 But Tur, called the scanty giver, the ruler of the Prov- 
 ince, would not allow the Prophet to be harmed ; though 
 neither the "scanty-giver" nor any of his nobles or follow- 
 ers would lend an ear to the hew religion. 
 
 Zoroaster, in rebuke of his treatment, exclaims on go- 
 ing forth: "I tell thee, thou Tur, and scanty-giver, that 
 thou art a stricken and smitten supplicant for righteous- 
 ness ; a producer of lamentation, worthy of death." ^ 
 
 § 4. He had made the mistake of commencing the ref- 
 ormation of the Iranian religion, by preaching to princes 
 and nobles ; they spurned him and thrust him out. Jesus, 
 walking by the sea of Galilee, and seeing two fishermen, 
 Simon and Andrew, casting their nets, said: "Follow 
 me, and I will make you fishers of men." And straight- 
 
 ^ "With a loud voice." Dink., 7, ch. 4, § 2. 
 '^ Yasma, 31, §§ i and 4. 
 8 Dinkard, 7, ch. 4, § 20.
 
 HIS FIRST CONVERTS ARE THE POOR 67 
 
 way they followed him. The common people, the poor 
 and the humble are the first to embrace any new-born 
 faith. The nobles and the rich patrician Jews held to 
 Saduceeism long after the masses had changed their faith 
 and become Pharisees. Methodism started in an obscure 
 corner, neither princes nor plutocrats were there. It was 
 born among the poor. 
 
 Patrician Romans persistently clung to Paganism gen- 
 erations after the lower classes had become Catholic. 
 Luther, on foot, and on his way to Augsberg to combat 
 Tetzel, and his indulgences, and later leaving by stealth 
 to escape capture and imprisonment, is but a picture 
 made some thousands of years later of Zoroaster escap- 
 ing with his life from Tur, the scanty-giver. From Tur, 
 the Prophet trudges wearily towards Vadevost, a rich old 
 Karap, who clings to his wealth with all the tenacity of a 
 Morgan or a Rockefeller. Vadevost is living in luxurious 
 splendor, and is the owner of vast herds of cattle and 
 horses. Slaves come and go at his bidding; streams of 
 wealth, from various sources, are pouring in upon him. 
 His rent roll is no doubt large. He is the prototype of 
 the Goulds and the Vanderbilts, of a later period. Zar- 
 tust asks a gift of some of this wealth for Ormazd ; and 
 promises Vadevost further splendor and glory if he com- 
 plies. With the arrogance of a newly-fledged American 
 Nabob the Karap shouted back, ''there is no opulence 
 for me in that. Besides my flocks and herds I have 
 many droves of a thousand swine f I am more opulent 
 than Ormazd himself." For this insolence a retribution, 
 
 ^ He would, to-day, say ''there is no money in that." 
 Vol. 47, S. B. E., ch. 4, §§ 24 and 25.
 
 68 KARPANS WOULD DESTROY HIM 
 
 which was to be meted to him after death, was pro- 
 nounced against him, and he was left for the present with 
 his vanity and his riches. 
 
 Thence Zoroaster journeyed to Seistan, on the borders 
 of Afghanistan, and presented himself before Parshad, 
 another provincial chief, and besought him to praise 
 righteousness and resist the demons. To this he con- 
 sented, but by no insistence would he accept the religion 
 of Mazda. Here, again, the Karpans sought the Prophet's 
 destruction, but he saved himself by chanting the Ahun- 
 avair.^^ 
 
 1^ Yatha-ahuna Vairyo (Ahunavair), "The will of the 
 Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu- 
 Mano, to the deeds done in the world for Mazda, etc." 
 This prayer was thought to possess great efficiency in 
 thwarting evil-doers.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MORE VISIONS, CONFERENCES AND TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 All religions deal in the marvelous. It is a marvel if 
 God talked to Moses and Abraham. It is marvelous that 
 the Angels ate Abraham's calf.^ It is amazing if Elijah 
 could smite the waters of Jordan with his mantle and 
 compel them to roll back hither and thither, so that he 
 could pass. It is a marvel that Jesus could walk upon 
 the waters, and another marvel that after his crucifixion 
 his body could rise up into the sky ; that is, if it did ? 
 
 It is as great a marvel that Zoroaster talked with Or- 
 mazd as that Adam and Moses and Abraham talked with 
 God. But preternatural things and preternatural beings 
 make up the volume of all religions. Now, if we brush 
 these all aside, do we not make a great rent in the world ? 
 If angels really did appear, and lend a helping hand to 
 the Hebrews, is there any reason why they should with- 
 hold their good offices from Zoroaster and his people? 
 It would seem that the Karpans and heretics of Iran 
 needed reformation, as well as the idolatrous Jews. The 
 Iranian Scriptures tell us that Zoroaster had six other 
 
 1 They not only ate his calf, but they ate his milk and 
 butter. Gen., ch. i8, v. 7 and 8. The angels did not 
 come away without their dinner, for it was in the heat of 
 the day when Abraham sat in his tent ; so it must have 
 been noon when they approached him. 
 
 69
 
 70 ANGELS DIRECT HIM 
 
 conferences with the angels, besides the one already men- 
 tioned. The first was with Vohumano, who instructed 
 him as to the care and protection of animals. The next 
 conference was with the angel Asha-Vahista, who en- 
 joined him to guard the sacred fires and places of wor- 
 ship. Then came the angel Shatvar, who directed him as 
 to the preservation of metals, that he might have domin- 
 ion over them. Spendarmad, the female Archangel, who 
 is also called "Bountiful Devotion" and has charge of 
 the earth, and virtuous women, advised him as to their 
 care. 
 
 In the sixth conference, the Spirits of the Seas and 
 Rivers came to instruct him. Lastly, the Spirits of Plants 
 came to him and told him of their care. 
 
 These several conferences were held when the Prophet 
 was between thirty and forty years of age. They ended 
 when he was forty, and the places of meeting, of the 
 last ones, were near the southern extremity of the Cas- 
 pian.2 
 
 These archangels admonished and warned Zoroaster 
 that the idolaters, the Kavi, Karpans, and skeptics, deaf 
 and blind to the truths he was about to proclaim, would 
 beset his path, and that at every turn the demons would 
 seek his ruin. But the angels gave him assurance that 
 whenever the demons made their assaults he could in- 
 stantly shatter their schemes and put them to flight by 
 chanting aloud the Ahunavair.^ 
 
 2 The Daraga river is mentioned, but the locality of 
 that stream is uncertain. 
 
 3 See note at foot of preceding chapter.
 
 REFORMS ALWAYS OPPOSED 71 
 
 § 2. People to-day, and all along the centuries, as to 
 their religion, are, and have been, very much like the 
 Kavis and Karpans in that far-off period. Any innova- 
 tion upon established methods was objected to and was 
 fought to the bitter end. Luther met a similar opposi- 
 tion. Jesus undertook a great reform, and was nailed 
 to a tree. Wyckliffe (B. 1320 A. D.), for preaching and 
 teaching ecclesiastical reforms, died before he could be 
 executed. But after he had lain in his grave thirty years 
 a Catholic council ordered his bones dug up and burned. 
 John Huss, the great Bohemian reformer, for the same 
 reason, as late as 141 5 A. D., was publicly burned at the 
 stake, and his ashes were thrown into the Rhine. John 
 Calvin, that blood-thirsty old Presbyterian, about three 
 hundred and fifty years ago, caused Servetus to be cre- 
 mated on a pile of faggots because he disbelieved in the 
 Trinity.^ Even up to this hour schismatics are punished 
 by the churches ; but the stake and the faggot are super- 
 seded by censure and expulsion. Need we, therefore, 
 wonder that Iran's great teacher, in those earlier and 
 more savage times, encountered a fierce and deadly oppo- 
 sition ? 
 
 § 3. If we may believe the Vendidad, the Archangel's 
 premonition and promise were soon put to the test ; for we 
 are told ^ that Angra-Mainyu (an actual personal devil) 
 sent Biuti, one of his demons, to kill the Prophet, and that 
 the Prophet, to save himself, chanted the Ahunavair. 
 
 ^ If that old bigot were alive to-day, and was to engage 
 in that line of business, he would be obliged to have 
 numerous bonfires. 
 
 ^ Ch. 19, Vendidad.
 
 72 ANGRA-MAINYU TEMPTS HIM 
 
 Biuti, on hearing of this, rushed, dismayed away, and 
 reported to Angra-Mainyu, the superior arch-fiend, that 
 the glory of Zartust was so great that it was impossible 
 to kill him. 
 
 The same chapter (19) is a riddle of perplexities; for it 
 tells us that the Prophet went forward, swinging stones 
 in his hand, as big as a house, which Ahura-Mazda gave 
 him. Whereat, the devil asked him, **Why dost thou 
 swing those stones? The Prophet answered: "To smite 
 the creations of the devil ; to smite idolatry ; and I will 
 smite it until the victorious Soshyant shall come up to 
 life." ^ When this threat is made the Devil replies : "By 
 thy mother I was invoked," ''' and he begs Zoroaster not 
 to destroy his creatures and promises him that if he will 
 renounce the good religion of Mazda he will make him 
 the ruler of nations for a thousand years.^ 
 
 This intended bribe is spurned by Zoroaster, who de- 
 clares, "That not for my life, even should my body be 
 torn, will I renounce the good religion." The Devil is 
 not yet satisfied, and asks, "By whose word and with 
 what weapons wilt thou smite my creatures ?" The Saint 
 replies, "O, Angra-Mainyu, evil-doer, the good spirit 
 
 ^ Soshyant is the unborn son of Zoroaster, who is to 
 come bringing resurrection and the restoration of the 
 world. 
 
 ^ This sentence plainly implies that Zoroaster's reli- 
 gion was different from his mother's. His was a re- 
 formed belief. 
 
 ^ That is, he should gain such a boon as Vadhagnd 
 gained, who ruled one thousand years. Vend., 19, § 6. 
 (20) This temptation of the Devil precedes Jesus by a 
 thousand of years.
 
 OTHER TEMPTATIONS 73- 
 
 made the creation. He made it in the boundless time. 
 The sacred cups; the Haoma; the Word; these are my 
 weapons. By these will I strike and repel thee." ^ 
 
 § 4. It must be borne in mind that the Vendidad was 
 composed after Zoroaster's period. Our Gospels were 
 likewise composed long after Jesus' death, and they are 
 supposed to reflect what happened to their great actor.^* 
 
 Now, as to Zoroaster, if anything is certain, it is that 
 he speaks in the Gathas; and they bear the same stern 
 impress of what is said in the Vendidad. However, these 
 lines from the Iranian source must not be passed lightly 
 by. That temptation there set forth is the great proto- 
 type and pattern of others that have followed. These 
 others are believed to be copies, dressed up a little, to 
 meet changed times and conditions ; yet they are written 
 in books, and hundreds of millions of people believe and 
 trust in the copies, but not the original. 
 
 Let us see as to this. About five hundred years B. C. 
 Gautama, the Buddha, who lived centuries later than 
 Zoroaster, started out to lead a life of penance, fasting 
 and prayer. He had not gone far when suddenly Mara, 
 the evil one, appeared, hovering over him, in the sky. 
 This devil, seeming to know the purpose of Gautama, 
 called out to him, saying, "You are a prince of earth; 
 
 ^ The followers of Jesus use the sacred cup, with wine, 
 for their Homa; and St. John's mention of the Word 
 finds its antecedent here in the Parsee religion, long be- 
 fore Galilee, and the crucifixion were heard of. 
 
 ^^ The first Gospel composed after the death of Jesus 
 was written A. D. 90, and one hundred years elapsed 
 before we had any such Gospels. The truth is three of 
 the Gospels were written in the second century.
 
 74 MYTHS AND LEGENDS 
 
 do not go away and lead the life of a mendicant. If you 
 will return to your father's palace, I will, in seven days, 
 make you a Monarch. You shall rule over four great 
 continents." The bribe or temptation failed, and Buddha 
 led a life of sanctity. Thus the truth or legend of the 
 Vendidad had traveled along with passing generations, 
 keeping step with the ages, and was finally written as a 
 fact into Hindu records. To-day more than three hun- 
 dred and fifty millions of people believe in this trans- 
 planted legend. 
 
 § 5. But myths and legends lose nothing by lapse of 
 years. This same legend, slightly varied, looms high in 
 the New Testament.!^ Let us, for a moment, carefully, 
 and with reverence, examine it. We are told that "J^sus 
 was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted 
 of the Devil." We are not told who led him up. Did 
 the evil one? Now, he was led up on purpose to be 
 tempted; but what was the purpose of this temptation? 
 Was it to see if he would lapse and. abandon his high 
 mission, or was it to set an example for all time that 
 men should resist, when tempted? 
 
 After forty days of fasting the devil, knowing that he 
 was weak and exhausted from his long vigil, came and 
 took him up into the Holy City and sat him on a pinna- 
 cle of the temple. A pinnacle, we know, is a slender 
 turret, or cupola, elevated above the rest of the building. 
 How the devil got Jesus up there we are not told. Did 
 he climb a ladder? Did he carry him? He may have 
 dragged him; he may have coaxed him; he may have 
 seized him ; and hustled him through the air. But when 
 
 11 Matthew, ch. 4.
 
 MORE TEMPTATIONS 75 
 
 he got him up there, he sat him on the pinnacle. How 
 long he sat there we are not told. It was at least a very- 
 prominent place to be sitting. Did any one see him sit- 
 ting there? It was at a dangerous height. Somebody 
 must have observed this strange performance. " There sits 
 Jesus, at that dizzy height, on the pinnacle of the temple ; 
 but as he was a carpenter he may have climbed to such 
 awful elevations before. Zoroaster, we are told, went 
 forward swinging stones in his hands, as big as a house, 
 to smite the wicked one.^^ It must not be overlooked 
 that all these devils are represented as living, acting, and 
 talking. It is plain that Zoroaster possessed a more war- 
 like spirit than did Jesus ; for he would smite the devil ; 
 but Jesus merely said, ''Get thee hence, Satan." 
 
 When Buddha was tempted, angels came to his assist- 
 ance, and frightened the fiends away. In the temptation 
 of Jesus, the devil is not yet satisfied; for he takes him 
 from the pinnacle of the temple up into an exceeding high 
 mountain, and shows him all the Kingdoms of the World, 
 and he offers them all to him if he will fall down and 
 worship him. 
 
 Now, here are three supposed great temptations, to 
 three great religious teachers. Worldly possessions, ex- 
 travagantly great, are offered in each instance. Zoroas- 
 ter is offered a thousand years' rule ; Buddha could hold 
 the scepter over four great continents, and Jesus was 
 offered all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of 
 them. The Parsees, millions of them, have believed that 
 Angra-Mainyu (the Devil) offered Zoroaster a thousand 
 years of worldly dominion. Millions of Buddhists are 
 
 12 Ante, § 2.
 
 76 ALL RELIGIONS HAVE DEVILS 
 
 certain that Mara (the Devil) offered Buddha the rule 
 of four great continents ; and millions of Jesus' followers 
 believe that the Devil offered him all the Kingdoms of 
 the World. But the Christians do not believe that Angra- 
 Mainyu held the above dialogue with Zartust; nor do 
 they think that Mara proffered to Buddha four great 
 continents. On the other hand, the Buddhists are sure 
 that Mara actually appeared in the sky, to Gautama, with 
 that tempting bait. In short, neither of these peoples 
 believe the creed of the others. Their own, in their opin- 
 ion, is the right one; every other is a heresy. Now, if 
 majorities count in this matter, the Buddhists hold the 
 correct views; for they outnumber the others vastly.^ ^ 
 and they are steadfast in their faith. 
 
 Are there not grave improbabilities against the actuali- 
 ties of all three of these legends? We are careful not 
 to affirm that they did happen ; nor shall we say they did 
 not happen. The credulous, in each of these religions, 
 will follow their own creed, and dispute and reject all the 
 others. But while we must admit that the poets, who 
 wrote these things, allowed a loose rein to their imagina- 
 tions; yet, are not the lessons they taught, that we must 
 ever resist temptation worthy of a place in all religions? 
 
 13 The Buddhists number about 400 millions. The 
 Christians, including Catholics, about 150 or 160 mil- 
 lions.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARYAN CUSTOMS AND RELIGION. 
 
 Having now reached that point where we find Zoroas- 
 ter devoting his Hfe to the religious instruction of his 
 people, it is important that we make brief inquiry into 
 their lives, habits and customs. And as his struggle is 
 to establish a new religion, we ought to know something 
 of that which he sought to displace. The certain facts 
 are meager, but it is undisputed that he came from that 
 great prolific Aryan family which for thousands of years 
 has ruled and mastered all the other races upon the earth. 
 
 At Zoroaster's period the Aryans in Iran and Bactria 
 were no longer nomads. They lived in houses and led 
 settled lives. They were further advanced than Abraham, 
 who lived in a tent, and was a wandering nomad; and 
 this, at a time when the Iranians were cultivating their 
 fields. The Aryans owned cattle, and horses, pigs, and 
 fowls. And having passed beyond the nomadic period, 
 to that of tillers of the soil, they thought themselves more 
 noble than roving nomads. In fact, Arya, in Sanscrit, 
 means noble ; and the word Iran, is simply a later name 
 for Aryan, which probably came from the root Ar — to 
 plow. It was more than one thousand years after Abra- 
 ham's day that Isaiah mentioned "the young Asses that 
 ear the ground"; that is plow or Ar the ground.^ 
 
 While it is probably true that a great share of the 
 
 ^ Isaiah, ch. 30, v. 24. 
 
 77
 
 78 THE ARYANS 7,000 YEARS AGO 
 
 wealth of the old Aryans consisted in herds of cattle, yet, 
 at the time of the Prophet, the pastoral was secondary to 
 the agricultural life. They had surely progressed be- 
 yond Genesis (ch. 4) ; for Abel, *'a keeper of sheep," was 
 approved above Cain, a tiller of the ground. The Aryans 
 held ''the thrifty toiler in the fields in higher esteem than 
 the keeper of flocks." 
 
 It is plain that those Aryans, six or seven thousand 
 years 2 ago, were further advanced than Adam in his day. 
 Geology and Philology join hands in proof of this. They 
 had houses with doors ; they plowed the fields ; they were 
 clothed; and they made potter}'. Glue and pitch were 
 known to them. They made their bread with yeast. 
 They had wagons, and hammers, and anvils. They had 
 stone mortars, in which to pound their grain. Later on 
 they had iron mortars. We know this, because they used 
 words which mention, and describe all these things. But 
 they lived at a time when law and order were not as well 
 established as to-day. 
 
 We smile at their childish superstitions, which led them 
 to believe that, in the gloom of night, witches and ghosts 
 swarmed in the air, and that demons stalked abroad with 
 evil intent. 
 
 § 2. The sun dispelled that gloom ; and what more 
 reasonable than to give thanks to it. The Aryans, like 
 Joshua, believed that the sun, instead of the earth, moved ; 
 therefore the sun had life. 
 
 The waters in the rivers were moving ; the clouds above 
 were drifting across the sky; the sun traveled all day 
 long; in short, they all moved; and as the Aryan could 
 
 2 Yasna, 31, § 10.
 
 THEIR EARLY DEITIES 79 
 
 move, because he had Ufe, he reasoned that they, like 
 himself, must be living things. They were believed to be 
 persons, infinitely greater than himself; and in his time 
 of trouble, and hour of need, he addressed them for help. 
 They were deities ; and he prayed to them as such ; but 
 among them all, the sun was the supreme or highest God. 
 He called him Dyaus, the shining God, or God of Light. 
 The Greeks, later, called this God Zeus. The Veda men- 
 tions him as Dyaus-pater or Heaven-God. It is but a 
 step beyond this Heaven-God, to say Heavenly Father. 
 In the later Avesta, this Dyaus is called Mithra, the 
 Lord of wide pastures, who hath a thousand ears, and 
 ten thousand eyes. He knows the truth, and he seeth 
 all things ; and the wretch who would lie unto him would 
 bring ruin upon the whole country. He is called, also, 
 the undying, shining, swifthorsed sun ; and the Aryans 
 believed that if he should not rise up, then the Daevas 
 (devils) would destroy all things, and the angels or good 
 spirits would not be able to withstand them. Sacrifices 
 and libations were offered unto this "Lord of the wide 
 pastures" ; for he was the first of the heavenly Gods who 
 lit up the beautiful summits of Hara, and ''from thence, 
 with a beneficent eye, looked over the abode of the 
 Aryans." ^ 
 
 Now, if this later Avesta was written about six hun- 
 dred years before Jesus' day, the Jews were similarly 
 engaged; for they were ''burning incense unto Baal; to 
 the sun; and. to the moon and the planets; and to all 
 the hosts of Heaven." But Josiah, with great rigor, 
 
 3 Mihir Yast, § 13.
 
 80 ARYAN WARS AND SLAVES 
 
 punished the Jews for their idolatry. He slew the priests, 
 burned the images, and burned the bones of the priests, 
 on their overturned altars. Nevertheless, with all his 
 murderous cruelty and barbarity, he performed one pious 
 act; for he destroyed Tophet, in the valley of Hinnon, 
 that no man might thereafter cause his son or daughter 
 to pass through the fire to Moloch.^ 
 
 § 3. Those early Iranians were merely the antetypes 
 of all the tribes and nations to this day. Man is a quarrel- 
 some, fighting animal ; and if the dark side of this story 
 must be told, the Aryan tribes and clans often engaged 
 in bloody, cruel and desolating wars. It was with them, 
 as with later peoples ; until such time as it became profit- 
 able to retain prisoners of war as slaves, they were bar- 
 barously murdered. In truth, this old earth has been 
 cursed with slavery almost from man's day of coming. 
 The inspired word of God, directed the Jews to purchase 
 their bondsmen, from the heathen round about them.^ If 
 we may really suppose that to be a direction from Heaven, 
 and the Aryan ignorantly followed it, they of course did 
 no wrong. Now, if Zoroaster lived about the time of 
 this Leviticus order, he probably saw its fulfillment many 
 times over. The ancient Aryans, however, either origi- 
 nated or copied a system of tyranny, which followed on 
 down to the days of Rome. In each family a petty des- 
 potism prevailed. The house-father held the keys of life 
 and death. He possessed the power to sell his sons and 
 daughters; to banish them; to marry them to whom he 
 wished, or to destroy them at will. If the house-father 
 
 ^ 2d Kings, ch. 23. 
 5 Leviticus XXV., 44.
 
 CLOUDS WERE COWS OF THE SKY 81 
 
 was worshipped, it was probably two or three genera- 
 tions back; far enough at least for time to have erased 
 all memory of his tyrannical acts.^ 
 
 The old Aryans were gifted with fervid imaginations, 
 and from them have sprung all the great poets and 
 writers of the world. They saw the clouds, like creatures 
 of life, flying across the heavens; and they named them 
 the cows of the sky; for they dropped their milk (the 
 rain) to the earth, which made the woods and hills green 
 with verdure. 
 
 If the clouds did not appear, and the earth became dry, 
 parched and barren, they fancied that the evil one had 
 imprisoned them in some corner or mountain fastness.*^ 
 
 The cow, as one of the means of honorable support to 
 the Aryan family, was held in high esteem. This love of 
 that animal traveled west, penetrated Syria, and there, 
 on the top of the pillars of a great temple, was sculptured 
 more than twenty-five hundred years ago the recumbent 
 form of a cow. 
 
 It may seem childish that the Aryans should sacrifice 
 to the cows of the sky, but mankind, all along the cen- 
 turies, has been following the myths, fictions and fables 
 of his imagination, or worshipping idols made by his 
 
 ^ The Jews, in the fifth commandment, are directed to 
 "Honor their fathers and mothers, that their days may 
 be long in the land." Exodus, 20, 12. 
 
 ^ This same old fable was carried across the mountains 
 to the Indus, and when I come to speak of Buddha, and 
 his religion, it will there be seen that Indra, one of the 
 Hindu Gods, destroyed the monster Vritra and released 
 the cows.
 
 82 HOM-JUICE 
 
 own hands. The Jews prostrated themselves before 
 Aaron's golden calf; and the leaven of that lump seems 
 to have permeated, to this day, the whole family of man. 
 
 The old Aryans did not lack for deities ; they had multi- 
 tudes of them. Haoma, a creature of their own hands, 
 was one of their earliest. Far back, beyond the days of 
 Zoroaster; back before the Rig- Veda was composed; 
 back more than five thousand years ago ; in that distant 
 age, while yet the future Hindu and the future Iranian 
 were one people, they brewed from a vine or plant, a 
 liquor, called Haoma, which when drank, produced a sort 
 of exhilaration or ecstasy. 
 
 § 4. The Hindus, after the separation, called it Soma. 
 It was made from the Hom plant, a small bush or vine 
 somewhat resembling the milk bush of India.^ 
 
 It is probable that the drinking of Hom- juice produced 
 more than mere ecstasy ; for the Hindus, subsequently, 
 used this beverage on going into battle, as a stimulant to 
 their courage. Our estimation of it may not be ver>' 
 exalted, but the old Aryans considered it of great virtue 
 and efficacy. They used it in religious rites and cere- 
 monies, and called it ''the Holy One, driving death afar." 
 All other intoxicants, they said, "go hand in hand with 
 rapine of the bloody spear; but Homa's stirring power 
 goes hand in hand with friendship." 
 
 Zoroaster did not believe in this ; for he prayed Mazda 
 and asked: "When will men drive hence this polluted, 
 drunken joy, whereby the Karpans with their angry 
 
 ^ In ch. 3, § I, we have seen that Zoroaster was pro- 
 duced by his parents drinking cow's milk and Hom- juice 
 infused.
 
 WE TAKE WINE— NOT HOM-JUICE 83 
 
 zeal would crush us? and by this inspiration the tyrants 
 of the provinces hold their evil rule." ^ 
 
 We ask, do the professed Christians of the present day 
 copy, in the Eucharist, this ancient Homa usage? It 
 was in the world as a thanksgiving feast, long centuries 
 before the Lord's Supper was instituted. Did Jesus and 
 his followers copy this old Aryan custom? 
 
 ^ Yasma, 48:10. The Karpans or Kavi, we have seen, 
 were unbelievers in Zoroaster's gospel. They were his 
 bitter enemies all his life; and one of them finally slew 
 him. Dinkard, B. 8, ch. 35, note 3.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VISTASPA — ZOROASTER IN PRISON. 
 
 § I. As we shall hereafter see Vistaspa's name fre- 
 quently mentioned in connection with Zoroaster's, it may 
 be well to here notice some of the foolish legends con- 
 cerning him. In the Persian Bible, Vistaspa is frequently 
 called a king; but he was not a king of any noted prov- 
 ince or realm. He was at most only a petty chief, or king 
 of a small tribe or clan. This is all that can be rightly 
 claimed for him ; and even this rests upon sandy founda- 
 tions, unless we believe Lactantius, who makes him an 
 ancient king of Media, centuries before the founding of 
 Rome. 
 
 Persian history does not mention him. Median history 
 is silent about him; and it is only the colossal figure of 
 Zoroaster that rescues him from oblivion. 
 
 Now, if we allow that the Prophet's time was coeval 
 with the Rig- Veda, we must place Vistaspa and Frashos- 
 tra, and others mentioned in the Gathas there also. If 
 Vistaspa lived in Seistan, down on the borders of Af- 
 ghanistan, or at Bactria or Media, then Frashostra, and 
 Gamaspa, and the Prophet were there also. 
 
 Tradition tells us that when the Prophet presented 
 himself at the court of Vistaspa, he encountered every 
 possible kind of opposition. First, he had a long debate, 
 lasting two or three days, with the most learned of the 
 realm, about his new religion. They propounded thirty- 
 
 84
 
 STILL IN PRISON 85 
 
 three questions to him; and he, having come off vic- 
 torious, his antagonists scheme and plot against him until 
 he is thrown into prison and left to starve. This part of 
 the story has many duplicates and counterparts, even 
 down to a late period; for innovators, upon old creeds 
 and beliefs, have always found the Karpans and Tetzels 
 arrayed against them. The seer had now been at Vis- 
 taspa's court two years ; laboring zealously for his con- 
 version, but evil influences had overborne him vastly. 
 He was condemned and in prison, for righteousness' sake. 
 But no angel came at night, as in Peter's case,^ to loose 
 his bands and lead him forth. Even Vohu-Mano seems 
 to have neglected him. His sufferings in prison, in heavy 
 fetters, and from starvation, are so great that his hearing 
 grows dull, his vision becomes impaired, his legs refuse 
 to bear up his wasted body, he is so tortured with hunger 
 and thirst that he is ready to collapse.^ 
 
 It would look as though the end were not far off ; but 
 now comes a miracle by which he is released. Vistaspa 
 owns a beautiful horse, whose legs, at this time, are so 
 drawn up to his body that it is impossible for him to 
 move. In some way the Prophet, in his cell, learns of 
 this and sends word to the King that he will, on four 
 certain conditions, restore his charger. The King, anx- 
 ious about his favorite, inquires the terms, which are: 
 that one fore-leg will be released, if he will accept the 
 new faith. This agreed to, Zoroaster fervently prays for 
 the restoration of the horse, and the fore-leg immediately 
 comes down. The next stipulation is that Isfander, the 
 
 ^ Acts, 12. 
 
 * /VCIS, 12. 
 
 2 Dinkard 7, ch. 4, § 67.
 
 86 RELEASED— SUPPOSED MIRACLE 
 
 King's son, shall do battle for the new religion. This 
 agreed to, one of the hind legs is healed. For another 
 leg, the prisoner stipulates the conversion of Hutaosa, the 
 Queen. Lastly, the Prophet demands the names of his 
 false accusers, and that they be punished; which, being 
 done, the horse is instantly restored. 
 
 This story, which may be one for casuists to consider, 
 and probably reject, hath, at least, as much semblance of 
 truth about it as that concerning Peter, when he was 
 escaping from prison; that the gates thereof "opened of 
 their own accord," and let him out.^ Either the imagina- 
 tions of the poets, who detailed these adventures, had 
 much to do with the escapes of Peter and Zoroaster, or 
 angels, truly, must have assisted them. The reader, 
 learned or unlearned, will have no difficulty in deciding. 
 
 § 2. Immediately after Zoroaster's release from pris- 
 on, we are told, that Mazda, the Lord, sent three Arch- 
 angels, Vohuman, Asha-Vahista and Burzhim-Mitro (the 
 angel of fire) to Vistapa to encourage him, or as it were, 
 to brace him up in the new faith. The radiance or efful- 
 gence of these angels is so astounding that the king and 
 all his court are shaken with fear. Seeing his trepida- 
 tion, Burzhim-Mitro bespoke his assurance that the an- 
 gelic envoys were not sent to do him ill ; but to promise 
 him a long life and a prosperous reign on condition that 
 he shall push forward the faith preached by Zoroaster. 
 "But," added the angel, ''thou must chant the Ahunavair ; 
 thou must not worship demons ; thy reliance must be 
 upon the new religion. We promise thee an immortal 
 
 3 Acts, 1 2, 10.
 
 ANGELS' VISITS 87 
 
 son, Peshyton, who shall be hungerless and thirstless; 
 predominant both here, and with the Spirits. We will 
 give unto thee a long sovereignty of one hundred and fifty 
 years. But if thou wilt not praise the good and pure 
 religion, of the righteous Zaratust, we will not convey 
 thee up on high. Vultures will devour thy body; the 
 earth shall drink thy blood." 
 
 Now, these angels either finding that the prince spread 
 an elaborate table, or that he must be further admonished, 
 conclude to take up their abode with him.^ 
 
 Ormazd, knowing that this acceptance of the religion, 
 by Vistaspa, will provoke an invasion of his realm by 
 Arjasp, and the Khyons, sends the angel Neryosang to 
 draw aside the veil of the future, and allow the prince to 
 catch a glimpse of his own glory and the discomfiture of 
 his enemies. This oriental picture is not yet complete. 
 Marzda sends Asha Vahista, the foremost angel in holi- 
 ness, who bears a most beautiful saucer, the finest that 
 can be made for royalty, and this is filled with a magical 
 nectar, fit for the Gods, which Vistaspa quaffs. His vis- 
 ion thereby is instantly so amplified that he is enabled to 
 see the rapturous spot set apart for him in Paradise. 
 Nor are his family and court overlooked. They are either 
 endowed with universal wisdom or they are made in- 
 vulnerable to the assaults of their enemies. 
 
 § 3. One of these pledges, we know, did not come 
 true; for Isfander, Vistasps' son, at this princely and 
 angelic gathering, sought to have his body made invulner- 
 able to the shafts of the enemy, that he might do battle 
 
 4 Dinkard 8, 11, 3. Dk. 7, 4, 76 to 86.
 
 88 DEFICIENT CHRONOLOGY 
 
 more effectively for the new religion. For that purpose 
 he was given a drink of Pomegranate. But the angelic 
 promise, and the Pomegranate, both failed him in dire 
 time of need ; for he was afterward slain, as we shall see, 
 while doing valiant battle for the new religion, which he 
 had so heartily espoused. 
 
 If asked the dates of these supposed angelic visits, I 
 am totally unable to make answer. For the Avesta, and 
 in fact all ancient Iranian writings, are lamentably defi- 
 cient in chronology. It is difficult to account for this, 
 except on the theory that the people of Iran were, as were 
 the authors of Veda, deficient in their organs of eventual- 
 ity.'^ Or it may have been that no great event or epoch 
 in their history furnished a starting point from which to 
 date their records. In fact, the ancient Persians kept no 
 dates; even their Holy Book, the Avesta, their Bible, is 
 silent as to when and where it was composed. Nor does 
 it mention the birthplace of Zoroaster, its great and 
 world-famous apostle. 
 
 The Jews, more considerate of Abraham, their own 
 
 ^ The Rig- Veda is an old record, having an established 
 antiquity of 4,100 to 4,300 years, and perhaps even be- 
 yond that. It is, in short, the Hindu Bible. The word 
 Veda means knowledge, and the Hindus claim that their 
 prophets, or seers, heard (Sruti) the words there written 
 as uttered by Brahma (their God). It dates back beyond 
 the flood. In fact, when Noah was gathering the animals 
 into the Ark ( ?), the Hindu priests were composing their 
 Bible. The Hindus being a religious people, there was 
 no occasion to droum them ; for they were worshipping 
 God the best they knew. The flood, therefore, did not 
 reach India, nor did it touch Egypt.
 
 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER 89 
 
 first great teacher, tell us of his birthplace ; they mention 
 his ancestry, and they follow him with considerable par- 
 ticularity from Ur of the Chaldees, to the closing scene 
 in the field of Ephron. Zoroaster was not so fortunate, 
 hence the interminable disputes, as to when and whence 
 he came.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ZOROASTER READS THE AVESTA TO VISTASPA. SOSHYANS TO 
 BE BORN OF A VIRGIN, AND TO BRING ON THE RESSUR- 
 RECTION OF THE DEAD. THE FOOD OF THE RESURRECTED. 
 
 § I. In the preceding chapter many marvelous and 
 questionable things are related about the conversion of 
 Vistasp. But, shall we call it marvelous, if Persian rec- 
 ords mention Zoroaster in the same manner that the 
 Pentateuch speaks of Moses? Now, the Persians say- 
 that God taught their Holy Book, the Avesta, to their 
 Prophet. They insist that God said to Zoroaster: "Go 
 and read to Vistasp this Sacred Book, that he may come 
 unto the faith. Keep all my counsel, and repeat it word 
 by word to him." 
 
 In obedience to this command Zoroaster went to the 
 court of Vistasp, where he called down a blessing upon 
 him. He said : 'T bless thee, O, Man ! Lord of the coun- 
 try, I pray thee to live a good life, an exalted life, that 
 thou mayest live long. May sons be born unto thee! 
 Mayest thou have a son as wise as Gamaspa ; ^ may he 
 bless thee ! Mayest thou be glorious and strong, like 
 Keresaspa, wise without fault : rich in cattle, and rich in 
 horses. Mayest thou be holy, beloved by Mazda, and 
 reverenced by men. Mayest thou follow the law of truth, 
 
 1 Gamaspa was Prime Minister, and had early em- 
 braced the new religion. 
 
 90
 
 HEAVEN PROMISED 91 
 
 conquer thy foes, have fulness of welfare, and be freed 
 from death, like King Khosrav, who went alive into the 
 blissful abode of the Holy Ones." 2 
 
 The Prophet then read to him the Avesta, and said: 
 "Learn its truths, and walk therein. If thy desire is 
 towards its laws, thy abode shall be in the Paradise of 
 heaven. But if thou turnest away from its command- 
 ments, thou wilt bring down thy crowned head to the dust. 
 God will be displeased with thee, and thou wilt surely be 
 overthrown, and at the last thou shalt descend into hell. 
 Listen, then, O King, to the counsel of the Almighty." ^ 
 
 Thereupon, Zoroaster offered up a sacrifice by the river 
 Daitu, with Homa and meat, and baresma^ and liba- 
 tions; and "with words rightly spoken," that he might 
 bring the Kavi (King) Vistaspa to think and speak and 
 
 2 King Khosrav, like Enoch and Elijah, got into heaven 
 without dying. Three very fortunate ones. But, did 
 they? If so, then we take our bodies to heaven. 
 
 3 Vol. 23, S. B. E., Vistasp-Yast. 
 
 * The Baresma ceremony of purification, when a man 
 or woman had become unclean, through contact with 
 the dead, or other defilement, differs, somewhat, from 
 the purification ceremony in Leviticus ; but the object is 
 the same. The Persian priest cut a handful of twigs, 
 from a dry clean part of the earth, and while holding 
 them in his hand, recited parts of the liturgy ; during 
 which he washed the twigs and tied them together with 
 the Kusti or girdle. The unclean person was then 
 sprinkled on the head and jaws ; then the right ear, then 
 the left, etc. It was a silly ceremony, and on a par with 
 the foolish cleanings in Leviticus. There the tip of the 
 right ear was touched with the blood of the slain lamb 
 (Leviticus, eh. 14) ; then the thumb of the right hand;
 
 92 ZOROASTER, A MAN OF SORROWS 
 
 act according to the law of the Lord.^ He offered a 
 similar sacrifice for the conversion of Hutaosa, Vistasp's 
 queen, and prayed that she might spread the Holy Maz- 
 dean law throughout all the world. These sacrifices 
 were most probably offered before Zoroaster visited 
 Vistaspa ; or about the time he set out on that dangerous 
 and trying mission. One thing is certain; that he faced 
 a long and arduous struggle in establishing his creed. 
 
 We have seen that he encountered such fierce opposi- 
 tion, that it was ten years before he secured Medyomah, 
 his cousin, as a follower. One convert in ten years was 
 surely a severe test of his courage, his zeal, and his 
 patience. That he was a "Man of sorrows and acquaint- 
 ed with grief," none who will ponder his words, will 
 dispute. Listen to his mournful plaint. It is the voice 
 of one crying in the wilderness: "To what land shall 
 I turn? aye, turning, whither shall I go? On the part of 
 kinsman, prince or peer^ none to give offerings; none 
 to help my cause ; nor yet the throngs of labor ; still less 
 the evil tyrants of the provinces. How, then, O Lord, 
 shall I establish the faith? My following is scant, there- 
 fore, I cry unto Thee, O Lord, desiring helpful grace. 
 
 then the great toe of the right foot But the Jewish 
 priest got a dinner from the meat offering (Leviticus, 
 ch. X, 12). Which of these foolish ceremonies preceded 
 the other? Will the reader answer? 
 
 5 Was the river Daitu in Bactria ? If so, it helps to 
 fix the birthplace of the prophet. Abah-Yast, § 105; 
 Gos-Yast, § 25 ; S. B. E., Vol. 23. 
 
 ^ He had married Frashostra's daughter, and Fra- 
 shostra was a peer of the realm; but had not yet em- 
 braced the faith.
 
 SONS TO BE BORN OF VIRGINS 93 
 
 When is the Savior, Soshyans, with his lofty revelations, 
 and plans for the renovation of the universe, to appear?" 
 These are words of gloom and waning hope; but in a 
 moment the spirit of resistance comes; for the Prophet 
 was a man of courage, and did not scruple to use force, 
 to overthrow or destroy those hostile to him. He lived 
 in perilous and warfare times. The authorities were 
 against him and his creeds ; and he exclaims : "Whoever 
 will hurl the evil governor from power or from life, 
 makes for the general good." 
 
 § 2. As to this Soshyans, mentioned above, a word 
 must be said. According to the later Avesta, the Din- 
 kard, the Bundahis, Zad-Sparam and other works ; Husa- 
 dar, Husadar-Mah, and Soshans, are three unborn sons 
 of Zoroaster; and a myriad of angels are protecting his 
 seed. Wonderful fictions are told of what these sons are 
 to do and perform. They are to be born of virgins; and 
 Husedar and Husedar-mah are to appear at different 
 times, or millenniums, to renovate and restore the earth. 
 But in the fullness of time, Soshans is to appear. He 
 will be born of a virgin, the same as Jesus. Her name 
 is Eredat-Fedhri."^ She bathes in the sea of Zara, in 
 Seistan, conceives, and Soshans is born. 
 
 "He will make glad the whole world. He will be called 
 Astvat-Erata ; for he will make bodily creature rise up. 
 He will restore the world, which will, thereafter, never 
 grow old and never die, but ever increasing. Creation 
 shall grow deathless; the Drug (the devil), though he 
 may rush on every side to kill the holy beings, yet he 
 
 ^ Yast 13, § 62, and note 2.
 
 94 RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 
 
 and his evil brood shall perish. It is the will of the 
 Lord." 8 
 
 § 3. The resurrection of the dead is of such stupen- 
 dous importance that it eclipses all other questions. It 
 demands, therefore, from every one the most serious con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Zoroaster taught that all good thoughts, good words 
 and deeds, will reach Paradise ; ^ that all evil thoughts, 
 words and deeds drag the soul toward the abode of the 
 demons. And he prayed: ''O Mazda! Most beneficent 
 Spirit! Maker of the Universe! How shall I free the 
 world from the Drug, that evil doer? How shall I drive 
 away defilement? And the answer came: "Invoke my 
 Fravashi (Spirit), whose soul is the Holy Word."^<^ 
 
 The final happiness of the just, and the discomfiture 
 of the wicked, is repeated again and again, all through 
 Zoroaster's writings; but he does not, in direct and un- 
 equivocal language, teach the resurrection of the body. 
 That senseless and fallacious doctrine is a plant of later 
 growth. But the resurrection of the body is plainly and 
 distinctly taught by later Persian priests. 'The dead," 
 they say, "shall rise up, and life shall come to the bodies \ 
 and they shall keep the breath." All the bodily world 
 shall become free from old age and death, from corrup- 
 tion and rot, forever and forever.^i Soshans, by order 
 of Ormazd, will give to every man the reward and 
 recompense of his deeds.^^ 
 
 « Farvadin Yast, § 129, S. B. E., Vol. 23, p. 220; Zam- 
 yad Yt., § 89. 
 
 ^ Westengard fragments, p. 247, Vol. 4, S. B. E. 
 1^ Vend. Fargard, 19, §§37 and 38. 
 ^^ Zend, fragments, p. 253, Vend. 
 12 Bund., ch. 30, §27
 
 RESURRECTION CONTINUED 95 
 
 It must be admitted that if the dead are to be resur- 
 rected, with the stomach and internal parts as they now 
 are; the eternal bread-and-butter question will confront 
 the resurrected world; and it did confront those Iranian 
 writers. They saw the dilemma, and solved it, as fol- 
 lows: They said in the Millennium of Hushedra-Mah, 
 the strength of appetite will diminish, so that men can 
 remain three days and nights in superabundance, with 
 one taste of food. That by dieting down from meat to 
 milk, and milk to water, they can, even before Soshans 
 comes, remain ten years without food and not die.^^ 
 
 The Jews in Jesus' day did not all believe in the resur- 
 rection. The Sadducees said there is no resurrection, 
 neither angel nor spirit. The Pharisee confessed both.^^ 
 But Jesus said, ''the resurrected are the children of 
 God"; and that those accounted zvorthy of resurrection, 
 do not marry ; neither can they die any more ; they are 
 equals unto the angels." ^^ But if only those "accounted 
 worthy of resurrection" are to be resurrected, is there 
 not a very plain implication that the unworthy will re- 
 main in the gloomy underworld? The book of Wisdom 
 (ch. 2) tells us that death came into the world through 
 envy of the Devil. But whence came this great consoling 
 thought, that mankind will escape the darkness and the 
 eternal silence of the grave? The answer is ready: It 
 came from the Persians, and it was taught them by the 
 founder of their religion, Zoroaster. We leave this mat- 
 ter here for the present, to be further considered in a 
 subsequent chapter. 
 
 13 Bund., ch. 30, §§ I to 5. 
 
 14 Matt. 22, 23 ; Acts 23, 8. 
 
 1^ Luke 20, V. 2y to 36, plainly implies that only the 
 just shall be resurrected.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE KINVAD BRIDGE. 
 
 § I. The evils which Zoroaster's enemies would bring 
 upon him and his followers, he prays may be borne back 
 against them, and that no help shall keep them from 
 misery. This would seem to be the law of "an eye for 
 an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But directly the good 
 mind possesses him, and he asks how he may adore the 
 Bountiful Lord; and with what words he shall teach the 
 people. He makes bold the promise that the man or 
 woman who will teach the words of life he will lead on, 
 even to the Judge's Bridge. And that when they ap- 
 proach that Bridge, the believing ones will go forth 
 firmly with him as a guide. But the Karpans and Kavi 
 (heretics and unbelievers), whose lives are loaded with 
 evil deeds, their own souls and consciences will meet 
 them at the Bridge, and will there condemn and decry 
 them. They shall miss the path and fall; and "in the 
 Lie's abode shall their habitation be." But for the peni- 
 tent, there is hope ; "even their former foes, the tribes 
 and kith of the Turanians" ; if they will accept the faith, 
 shall not fall from the Bridge ; "but with the Lord, they 
 shall dwell in joyful peace." ^ 
 
 The Kinvad Bridge, or Judge's Bridge, being the 
 final assize of the departed soul, deserves especial notice. 
 
 1 Yasna 46, S. B. E. Vol. 31 
 
 96
 
 BRIDGE AND HELL BENEATH IT 97 
 
 The Iranians believed that the first mountain that rose 
 up out of the earth was Alborz;^ and from the top of 
 this mountain, which they supposed reached around the 
 earth, stretched the Kinvad Bridge. The span reached 
 from earth to the eternal shore. 
 
 The Iranians believed that in this life all wicked 
 thoughts, wicked words and wicked deeds, were charged 
 up by the angels against the offender, and as a balance 
 or offset against these sins he received a credit in the 
 book of accounts, for all good thoughts, good words and 
 good deeds; and if the balance was found in his favor 
 he could pass the Bridge in safety.^ Dogs were there to 
 tear the wicked. The Jewish or English Bible also has 
 dogs outside for the same purpose.'* But Matthew has a 
 gate, with a narrow way, leading up to it; and only a 
 few can find the gate. The way to destruction, however, 
 has a broad road and a great, wide gate, "and many there 
 be who go in thereat." ^ At Kinvad Bridge Angels 
 watched at the earthly end to welcome the souls of the 
 just. In the middle of this Bridge, and beneath it, was 
 the gate of Hell. Demons lurked there to snatch their 
 own.® 
 
 2 The same a Hara Berezaiti ; supposed to be the moun- 
 tain range south of the Caspian Sea. 
 
 3 The Egyptians copied this. 
 "^ Revelation 22, 14 and 15. 
 
 ^ Matt. VII, 13 and 14. The writers of the Gospels 
 and Revelation, probably copied from the Avesta, and 
 changed the Bridge into Gates, 
 
 ® It is probable that some of these sayings about this 
 Bridge were grafted into the Persian Bible after Zoro- 
 aster's day. His punishment was mental, as we shall see.
 
 98 SOUL OF THE RIGHTEOUS 
 
 When one of the faithful departed this life, his soul, 
 for three days and nights, was believed to linger near 
 the body, singing the Gathas,*^ meanwhile tasting as much 
 pleasure as the whole living world could taste. At the 
 end of the third night the soul of the just, amid plants 
 and flowers, and sweet scented zephyrs, reached, at 
 dawn, the all-happy mountain Alborz and the Bridge. 
 Here his own conscience, advancing in the form of a 
 beautiful maid, fair as the fairest of earth, met him.^ 
 She addressed him thus: "O thou Youth, of good 
 thoughts, good words and good deeds, I am thy own con- 
 science. Thou didst love the good religion. When thou 
 didst see a man deriding holy things, or engaged in idol- 
 atry, or shutting the door in the face of the poor, then 
 thou didst sing the Gathas, and didst worship Atar, the 
 son of Mazda (the Lord)^ and didst rejoice the faithful 
 from near and from far. 
 
 The Bridge for the righteous widens to the length of 
 nine javelins; that is, about forty-nine feet; and the 
 happy soul, in safety, passes to the land of the leal. Here, 
 Vohuman, the angel of good thoughts, the doorkeeper of 
 Paradise, greets him. The righteous one, the perfume 
 of whose soul makes devils to tremble, thereupon takes 
 up his abode with the angels forever more. 
 
 We need not smile at this, for our own Heaven hath 
 
 ■^ The Gathas are chanted, and are somewhat similar 
 to the Psalms of the English Bible. 
 
 8 Yast XXII, S. B. E. Vol. 23. 
 
 ^ In the Persian Bible Mazda has a son, Atar, but he 
 also has a daughter, Ashi-Vanguhi. Yast, 17, p. §.2.
 
 THE WICKED SOUL 99 
 
 doors, windows and gates.^*^ Daniel wanted to be a door- 
 keeper in the House of the Lord, and Nathan told David 
 he was a murderer, for he killed Uriah, the Hittite, in 
 order to get his wife (2d Samuel, 12), and David did 
 not, at last accounts, become a doorkeeper. 
 
 § 2. With the wicked it is the reverse of all this. 
 When he dies his soul, for three nights, lamenting, cries 
 out: "To what land shall I turn? Whither shall I go? 
 And on that night his soul tastes as much suffering as 
 the whole living world can taste. At the end of the third 
 night, when the dawn appears, it seems to the unfaithful 
 one, as if he were brought, amidst snow and stench,^' 
 and as if a wind were blowing from the north, foul 
 scented, which he sorrowfully inhales. 
 
 The Arda-Viraf has it that the soul of the wicked is 
 met by a horrid old woman, who is, in fact, his own mis- 
 shapen, perverted conscience. She is naked, decayed, 
 profligate, lean-hipped and ugly beyond measure. She 
 is hideous, noxious and filthy, and she bars his way. She 
 confronts him. "Who art thou?" the wicked one asks: 
 "than whom I never saw an uglier or more horrid look- 
 ing creature, of Ahriman (the Devil) than thy hideous 
 features present." With a hateful leer, the drab makes 
 reply : ' "I am thy bad actions ; I am hideous and vile ; 
 but I am thy evil thoughts, thy evil words, thy evil deeds. 
 Thou wast a worker of iniquity. When thou sawst 
 
 1^ Doors. Psalms 84, 10. Doors. St. John 10, i. 
 Gates. Matt. VII, 13. "The windows of heaven were 
 opened." Genesis VII, 10 and 11. 
 
 ^1 The Persian hell was in the North; but some place 
 it in the center of the earth.
 
 100 THE PERSIAN HELL 
 
 those of the good religion in the service of God, thou 
 didst practice the will of the demons. Thou wast ava- 
 ricious, and didst shut the door in the face of the poor. 
 Though I am wicked, abandoned and unholy, I have 
 been made more frightful by thee. I am sent to the 
 Northern regions of the demons, but thy evil thoughts, 
 and words, and deeds, have driven me to a farther verge." 
 
 The soul of the wicked one, now raging fiercely, pre- 
 sents itself at the Kinvad Bridge. A concourse of de- 
 mons, at the gate of hell, are on the watch. The dogs 
 snarl at him, and tear him. The drab continues to chide 
 him, and as he enters the way of the Bridge, it shrinks 
 and narrows to a razor's edge. He hesitates ; he falters ; 
 the awful chasm below terrorizes him ; hideous, frightful 
 forms leer at him. Faint with fear, he drops into the 
 awful abyss, where the demons seize him and drag him 
 to their dark abode. 
 
 This is the lowest or worst hell.^^ jh^ Dadistin (ch. 
 33), divides hell into three grades. In the first, or easiest 
 hell, the sins have not been very grievous, there having 
 been some good thoughts, and good words, and good 
 deeds; the soul is held in a dark, ill-smelling place. In 
 the second hell, the sins have been of a deeper hue, with 
 very few good thoughts to balance against them. This 
 place is not only dark and stenchy, but the demons are 
 there, and the sinner gets neither peace nor comfort. 
 The third hell is where the sins have been excessive, ter- 
 rible and awful, with no good thoughts or works what- 
 
 The Jews had, also, *'the lowest hell." This may 
 have been copied, in part, from Deuteronomy, ch. 32, 
 V. 22,
 
 HAMISTAKEN 101 
 
 ever, and he goes to the most gloomy, the deepest and 
 darkest abode of all. 
 
 § 3. But there was a place called (Hamistaken) ever 
 stationary, where the soul, whose good words and works 
 just fairly balanced the evil; such a soul was halted at 
 the Bridge, and is to remain there until the renovation 
 of the universe. 
 
 These hells seem terrible and startling; but did not 
 Jesus describe a more fearful place? He says he will 
 send forth his angels and ''gather all those who do in- 
 iquity, and cast them into a furnace of Hre, and there 
 shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The angels 
 shall sever the wicked from among the just, and shall 
 cast them into a furnace of Hre}^ The righteous shall 
 then shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their 
 father. In the Persian Bible the righteous pass to the 
 golden seat of the Lord.^^ 
 
 This hell of Jesus seems to be more of a material hell 
 than the Iranian pit; for he speaks of "the gnashing of 
 teeth"; and a soul, or spirit, as we understand it, will 
 hardly have such things as teeth. Or does he mean that 
 he casts the material body, teeth and all, into the furnace 
 of fire? Now, a furnace of fire would soon reduce the 
 body, including the teeth, to dust and ashes. It is cer- 
 tainly noteworthy that the two heavens are exactly alike, 
 the hells only being dissimilar. But of the two hells, the 
 Persian is, by far, the more humane and merciful, for a 
 
 13 Matt. XIII, 42 to 50. See Deut. 32, 22, for the low- 
 est hell. 
 
 1* Vend. 19, 32.
 
 102 THE RENOVATED WORLD 
 
 dark, stenchy place, however horrible, must be greatly 
 more tolerable than to roast in a furnace of fire. 
 
 Besides this, the later Persians believe that the world 
 will be renovated; that the metal in the hills will melt 
 and run like a river, and that all mankind, living and 
 dead, will pass into that metal for three days. To the 
 righteous, it will seem as if he were walking in warm 
 milk, but the wicked will suffer as though in seething 
 metal. By this process all evil thoughts and sins will 
 be purged from the souls, and they will become purified. 
 Even the stench and pollution of hell are wiped out. 
 There is no longer any sin ; for the sinners have become 
 righteous, deathless, and free from stain. 
 
 The Persian and the Jewish Bibles run close parallels 
 here, for Peter says our earth shall melt with fervent 
 heat; that the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, 
 and the earth and all its works shall be burned up.^^ 
 
 However this may be, the Persian dogma is much less 
 fiendish than that taught by St. John; for he says that 
 whoever is not found written in the book of life shall be 
 cast in to the lake of fire ; and he adds : *'he that is unjust, 
 let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be 
 filthy still; and if any man worships the beast (the 
 Devil) he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in 
 
 "^^ 2d Peter, ch. 3, v. 10. I write this down, not that I 
 believe that Peter and the authors of the Bundahis and 
 the Dadistin knew anything more about the renovation 
 of the world, or the melting of the metals, or that the 
 earth shall melt with fervent heat, than anybody of the 
 present day. Who told Peter and the Bundahis people 
 about those things?
 
 TWO HELLS COMPARED 103 
 
 the presence of the angels and the Lamb ; and the smoke 
 of his torment ascendeth forever and ever.^^ 
 
 The molten metal burned away the stain of sin from 
 the wicked Persian; but the Hebrew lake of fire failed, 
 and fails, to purge and cleanse the sinful Israelite. 
 
 The Persian gospel being much older than Matthew 
 and Revelation we may inquire: Did the writers of the 
 Hebrew text have before them the A vesta ; and did they 
 consider the Persian hell not sufficiently terrible; that, 
 therefore, they must add to its rigors ? Or, if we mistake 
 here, did the Bundahis and Dadistan writers have the 
 New Testament before them, and did they conclude 
 that a burning lake of fire and brimstone, and a furnace 
 of fire, forever and ever, were so fearfully horrid that 
 they ought to be mitigated, softened, and assuaged? 
 Did those Persian writers ask themselves: *Tf the Lord 
 of heaven, is filled with tender mercy, will he punish, so 
 fearfully, the sins and follies of man? Did they reason 
 with themselves that if God punishes the wicked in so 
 terrible a manner, he puts himself on a level with the de- 
 mons? For how could the fiends of hell do any worse 
 than to burn people in a furnace of fire, for all eternity? 
 If it be true that ''God's mercy is everlasting, then, why is 
 it that he hath no mercy on the hundreds of millions of 
 people who, according to the New Testament, are at this 
 moment being railroaded into hell, where they are burn- 
 ing in a lake of fire and brimstone, or roasting in a blaz- 
 ing furnace? The truth of this matter is that the ortho- 
 dox hell is so fearful and unreasonable that a generation 
 
 *® Rev., ch. 14, and Rev., ch. 22.
 
 104 LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER 
 
 hence only a few silly people will believe in it. The sensi- 
 ble ones, like Zoroaster, will insist that future punish- 
 ment, if there be any, is mental and not bodily. And 
 even this will be mitigated and softened to such a degree 
 that it will be seen that God's mercy does endure for- 
 ever ;^^ and that he will be merciful to the unrighteous, 
 and their sins and their iniquities ''He will remember no 
 more." ^^ 
 
 1"^ One hundredth Psalm. 
 ^^ 2d Hebrews, 8, I2.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE ALLEGORY OF THE KINE. THE DOCTRINE OF 
 DUALISM. 
 
 Every tribe and every people in the infancy of the race 
 seems to have been freebooters, murderers and plunder- 
 ers. It is a sad commentary, made still more gloomy be- 
 cause it is true. 
 
 The stealing of herds and flocks, rapine and cruelty, 
 were not uncommon, down to a much later period than 
 Zoroaster. The Aryans, in the Prophet's day, we have 
 seen, were tillers of the soil; but they possessed numer- 
 ous herds of cattle; and these were strong allurements 
 to the Turanian robbers and plunderers. Marauding- 
 chiefs, with their armed followers, often made desolating 
 incursions against their honest neighbors. It was so in 
 Abraham's time ; they plundered Lot ; drove off his cat- 
 tle, and carried him away as a prisoner. The same law- 
 lessness prevailed in Zoroaster's day; but with keen in- 
 sight, he seized upon the forays and robberies, not only 
 to illustrate his doctrines, but to draw the people nearer 
 to his cause. 
 
 He composed an allegory: It was, in truth, an alle- 
 gory and something more. It was an eloquent, prayerful 
 protest, against cruelty, and especially against cruelty to 
 the cow, one of the chief means of honest support of 
 home and family. The wail of the kine becomes the 
 voice of the people, and cries out, "O Lord! for whom 
 
 105
 
 106 THE CHOSEN LEADER 
 
 didst thou create me? The assaults of wrath, insolence 
 and violence encompass me about. None other can I 
 look to, but thee! Teach me the good tillage of my 
 fields" (that is, teach me the way of salvation). The 
 Creator, hereupon, asks Asha (Personified Righteous- 
 ness), "whom he had chosen to hurl back the fury of the 
 wicked ?" ^ Who is the chosen leader in this great battle 
 for righteousness, who can bring law, order, and peace? 
 Asha replies, ''that a leader who is himself without hate, 
 and who is able to smite back the fury of the evil-doers 
 cannot be obtained." And he adds, "that evil permeates 
 in some degree, all beings, but it is not permitted to be 
 known, even to the angels, why this is so." His reply is 
 tantamount to questioning why the Almighty, if all pow- 
 erful in heaven and on earth, does not at once and for- 
 ever abolish evil ? 
 
 On these matters the Prophet, somewhat yet in doubt, 
 but with hands outstretched in entreaty, prays Ahura, 
 that the righteous may not meet destruction with the 
 wicked. That is, that the robbers may first seize the 
 cattle and effects of the unbelievers; and that the right- 
 eous may have a blessing in being saved from pillage. 
 Religion, it is claimed, saves in the next world; but the 
 man who can save those Iranian flocks and herds will 
 thus assist the honest tillers of the soil. Such a man is 
 certain of leadership. Zoroaster, now, adroitly names 
 
 1 Asha is one of the Amshaspands of Archangels to do 
 and carry God's commands to the Iranians. God speaks 
 to Zoroaster on request. But he talks to Moses ( ?) with- 
 out asking.
 
 TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER 107 
 
 himself as a heaven-appointed leader, to protect the kine ; 
 that is, the people.^ 
 
 There must have been objection to the Prophet by 
 some; for directly, Ahura says: "This man is found 
 for me here who, alone, has hearkened to my words. He 
 will announce my doctrines." ^ 
 
 § 2. Zoroaster, lamenting his feebleness, prays to 
 Ahura for wisdom and strength for his task, that he may 
 acceptably carry forward the purposes of heaven. But 
 he wages no war against the old Aryan Gods ; he simply 
 passes them by without mention. His purpose is to teach 
 his people to believe in Mazda, alone. Yet he begs the 
 Bountiful Immortals * to help on his cause, in both 
 worlds, the corporeal and spiritual, that the faithful may 
 finally reach the Holy Mount, and pass Kinvad Bridge, 
 to their happy reward.^ 
 
 We see frequent and repeated mention in the Gathas 
 of the good mind, and the benevolent mind of God. In 
 fact, Yasna 23 is devoted by the Prophet to supplications 
 for grace; and that he may have wisdom to teach his 
 
 2 The record says (Yasna 29, §§ 5 and 6) the Lord ap- 
 pointed him ; but I take it that the Lord will never do 
 for man what he can do for himself. 
 
 3 Whether Ahura really did say this I do not know. 
 He probably said it in the same way and manner that 
 "The Lord said unto Moses." 
 
 ^ Bountiful Immortals — the seven Amshaspands or 
 Archangels ; Vohumano, asha-Vahista, etc., etc. 
 
 ^ This mention of the Holy Mount leads me to suspect 
 that these words in Yasna, 28; 5, are an interpolation; 
 for we shall see that Zoroaster's punishment was mental, 
 not physical.
 
 108 WHY DOES EVIL EXIST 
 
 people, not what is best for time alone, but that which 
 will help them when the final rewards are given. He 
 sees evil in the world; the righteous in distress, often 
 wanting bread ; the wicked flourishing and ruling with a 
 high hand. Well might he exclaim "Defend me from 
 those who rise up against me. For lo! they He in wait 
 for my soul." ^ But he reasoned beyond this. His mind 
 is both observing and philosophical ; and seeing the just, 
 without apparent reason or cause, often in the toils of the 
 wicked, he asks : "Why is this?" If Ahura is a being of 
 infinite and Almighty power, why does he not strike 
 down evil, and end its reign? It is probable that gifted 
 minds before his day had asked the same question. How- 
 ever that may be, the Gathas, with his name, make the 
 earliest known record of it. 
 
 The question itself reaches back to Infinity ; to the very 
 beginning of things. 
 
 § 3. Zoroaster saw this, and, impatient to know, asks 
 Ahura to teach him from his own spirit, that he may ex- 
 plain to his waiting people, by what laws the moral uni- 
 verse is governed.'^ Philosophers and thinkers, of all 
 ages and all nations, have since followed him in the vain 
 attempt to solve satisfactorily this mysterious problem. 
 Just how much time he gave to meditation upon this mat- 
 ter, and whether he debated it with his friends, or whether 
 it had been mooted before his day, we shall never know. 
 But the conclusion he reached has since been accepted and 
 followed by nearly all religions. Sometimes the copy is 
 
 « Ps. LIX. 
 ^ Yasna 28, 12.
 
 TWO PRIMEVAL SPIRITS 109 
 
 not exact, but the family resemblance is there in all of 
 them. 
 
 He announced that there were, and are, a pair of inde- 
 pendent primeval spirits: Ahura-Mazda, the good, and 
 Aharman, the bad. And he exclaims: "Hear me with 
 your ears ; it is a decision as to religions ; man for man, 
 each individually for himself. Between these two, let the 
 wisely-acting choose aright. Awake ye to the great 
 emergency. I pray that ye do not choose the evil." ^ He 
 now explains that when two spirits (not bodies) came 
 together "to make life and its absence," ^ and to deter- 
 mine the finality of things, the wicked were assigned or 
 given the worst life ; the holy, the best mental condition. 
 It is noteworthy that the wicked are not assigned to hell, 
 but to 'the worst life." Hell is not mentioned; furnaces 
 of fire, and lakes of fire, are later arrivals. No retribu- 
 tion or punishment for the wicked is here set forth, save 
 only the worst life. But when those spirits had finished, 
 each his part in creation, each chose his favorite realm. 
 Aharman, the evil-minded, chose the worst life; Ahura, 
 the more bounteous spirit, preferred righteousness. 
 
 Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, centuries later, fol- 
 lowed Zoroaster in this, although he named those forces 
 or spirits differently. He held that there are four pri- 
 mary divinities, or ultimate things: earth, air, fire and 
 water. That from these four divinities, or elements, all 
 organic and inorganic structures are produced. These 
 
 8 Yasna 30, §§2 and 3. 
 
 ® This is a peculiar phrase : "to make life and its ab- 
 sence; it does not say death. Through envy of the devil, 
 death came. Wis. Solomon, ch. 2, v. 24.
 
 no LOVE AND HATRED 
 
 four elements, he says, are eternally brought together, 
 and eternally separated, by two divine beings or powers. 
 Instead of naming them Ormazd and Aharman, he calls 
 them love and hatred, or good and bad. Love is the 
 attractive force ; hatred is repellent ; and these two forces 
 pervade the whole universe. 
 
 The different proportions, in which these four elements 
 are combined, determines the character of man and ani- 
 mals. The rocks in the mountains and the verdure of the 
 valleys are fixed by the same unvarying, eternal rule. 
 Who makes up this combination? That is the question. 
 If fixed by those powers, Love and Hatred, when and 
 where is the combination decided upon? Who rules, and 
 who overrules, in this matter? There is some love and 
 some hate in all men ; but in some men the elements of 
 love greatly predominate ; in others, hate seems to hold 
 full sway. 
 
 In Zoroaster, in Buddha, and in Jesus, love ruled them 
 and controlled them. It made their lives a fragrance. 
 In Arjasp, in Herod, in Nero, hate held them in her awful 
 grip to the last. Who mixed the ingredients that pro- 
 duced these widely differing characters? Did the God of 
 Love preside, or rule, when the first three were being 
 formed ; and did the God of Hate control, in the other 
 cases? Or are these divinities both present in all cases, 
 and mix their ingredients as best they can? 
 
 § 4. The later writings of the Parsis have fixed up 
 another theory about this matter. They say that in the 
 beginning Mazda and Ahriman were both created by 
 Zerana Akerana, an all-wise, eternal, omniscient, absolute 
 being. That when created, Mazda and Ahriman were 
 both wise, sinless, and divine. That Mazda, by remaining
 
 THE GREAT STRUGGLE 111 
 
 true to Zerana Akerana, became the God of the just ; but 
 Aharman, having proved false and treacherous, found 
 himself in endless darkness.^ ^ Instantly the great strug- 
 gle between these two master spirits began. The world 
 became one vast contending field of strife. The battle 
 still rages ; and the prize fought for is the soul of man. 
 The combat will not slacken until Mazda or Ahriman is 
 absolute victor. Milton's battle, in Paradise Lost, where 
 the angels and demons plucked the seated hills, with all 
 their loads, rocks, waters and woods, and hurled them at 
 each other, is but a sharply drawn picture of this world- 
 struggle between good and evil for the mastery .2 
 
 ^ Fargard, 19, Vend., § 46, the Fravashi of Mazda is 
 worshipped. This would seem to sustain, slightly, the 
 theory of the text. See, also, Yast. 13, § 80, which holds 
 the same.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DUALISM FURTHER CONSIDERED. 
 
 § I. If there really do exist two beings, or spirits, in 
 the world, called Ormazd and Ahriman (God and the 
 Devil), they are either created or uncreated beings. Now, 
 if they are uncreated spirits (that is, if they have existed 
 from all eternity), what right has the good spirit to slay 
 or kill the bad one, any more than a good man has to 
 slay or kill a bad man ? And the same rule applies if they 
 are created beings or spirits. Again, if they are, or were, 
 created by Zerana-Akerana, or some other superior being, 
 he must have created them for a purpose. Did he create 
 Ahriman on purpose to make a fuss, and, for a time, to 
 turn things upside down in the world, to be finally thrust 
 into a pit, or fiery lake? Or did He create him not 
 knowing that he would go astray? If so, He was not all- 
 wise. Or if He knew he would go astray, then He created 
 him for a bad purpose. Was it known to the "Great I 
 Am," in the beginning, that Ahriman would seduce many 
 from their allegiance to Ormazd? Who can answer?^ 
 Perhaps he came from an infinitesimal nucleated cell, 
 and evolution carried him forward to his present *'bad 
 eminence." Perhaps, like Topsy, he "just growed." But, 
 that want and misery, and wickedness and sin are here, 
 cloven-footed, none will deny. Theologians, for hundreds 
 
 1 See §3, chap. 15. 
 
 112
 
 TWO CREATORS 113 
 
 of years, have strenuously tugged with this question; 
 but they have not gone a single step beyond the Persian 
 prophet. He tells us in a sentence, that ''two spirits came 
 together to make life and life's absence." 2 Farvardin 
 Yast says that ''two spirits, the good one and the evil one, 
 created the world," ^ and that Ahriman ''broke into the 
 creation of the good." Even Genesis shadows forth two 
 or more personages at creation; for God said, "Let us 
 make man in our image; after our likeness." (Genesis i, 
 XXVI.) Moreover, after Adam had eaten of the for- 
 bidden fruit, God said, "Behold the man is become as one 
 of us; to know good and evil." (Genesis 3, 22.) Do 
 those words indicate a plurality of Gods, at the Creation ; 
 or was God soliloquizing? Was the Persian devil there, 
 gifted with the power of speech, talking to Eve, in the 
 form of a serpent; but not yet crawling on his belly, for 
 he had not yet been cursed by the Lord ?* In the Persian 
 mythology he is the creator of evil; in our mythology, 
 he is the polluter, or destroyer of the good. 
 
 "My garments," said Aharman, "are dark, evil 
 thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds, are my food, and / 
 love those whose thoughts, words and deeds are evil."'^ 
 How, then, let us ask, if the Evil One is gifted with, or 
 possesses the faculty of love, can he punish those he 
 wins or loves? Will any being, good or bad, injure or 
 
 2Yas. 30, §4,Vol. 31, S. B. E. 
 
 3 Yas. 13, § 76, Vol. 23, S. B. E., p. 198. 
 
 ^ The serpent while talking with Eve must have stood 
 on his tail for he did not have to "go on his belly" until 
 after the Lord cursed him. (Genesis 3, 14.) 
 
 5 Dink B. 9, ch. 30, § 6.
 
 114 WAR BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL 
 
 punish those he loves? The logic of the churches is, that 
 God punishes the wicked, because ''He is angry with them 
 every day." ^ But, if he sends them to Hell, will not 
 Satan make it easy on them, because he loves them?''' 
 
 In reply to these words of Ahriman, Ozmazd says, "The 
 sky is my garment ; good thoughts, words, and deeds, are 
 my food; I love those whose thoughts, words and deeds 
 make for righteousness." 
 
 Whether true or false, this is dualism ; plain and simple ; 
 and this shifting, or carrying back Ormazd and Aharman, 
 to their Creator, does not dispose of it. If they possess 
 full rein, without hindrance, what matters it to man, 
 whether Zerana-Akerana exists or not? However, the 
 Great Iranian does not stop to argue about zerana- 
 Akerama. He finds the demons of wrath, contending with 
 Ormazd, for the love and allegiance of man ; and Ormazd 
 leads in the battle for the good. 
 
 § 2. This matter of dualism, however, cannot be dis- 
 posed of by a simple waiver of the hand. If you say that 
 evil (Aharman) is only a principle, and not a personality, 
 then it may be replied, that this principle possesses most 
 extraordinary vitality. If Aharman is simply a principle, 
 that principle is so active, combative and real that it 
 exhibits all the traits, characteristics and qualities, though 
 of an opposite character, to those possessed by Ormazd. 
 If it be said that Ahura is an actual, living, spiritual 
 existence, how can it be claimed that he is waging a 
 
 ^Psalms 7, ii. But he does not stay angry only a 
 moment. Psalms 30, 5. 
 
 ■^ If Satan should do this, would not the Lord be frus- 
 trated, or outflanked?
 
 THE DEVIL AS A LINGUIST 115 
 
 ceaseless conflict against Ahriman, a non-existent or noth- 
 ing? Is he waging battle against empty space? 
 
 Was it a principle only that met Ormazd to "make life 
 and its absence?" Was it a principle that approached 
 those Iranians, and asked them to choose himf ^ 
 
 Battle presupposes a conflict between opposing and con- 
 tending forces. Living, existent spirits do not wage war, 
 as we believe, against non-existent things. A syllogism 
 would run thus : He who wages a conflict must have an 
 opponent to contend against. Ormazd is waging battle. 
 Therefore he has an opponent, which he is contending 
 against. 
 
 The Iranian Bible makes frequent and repeated men- 
 tion of this evil spirit. Zoroaster names him as a demon 
 God; as the Worst Mind; as the Demon of Wrath; as 
 the Demon of Falsehood ; as the Harmful Lie ; as the Lie 
 Demon, and as the Evil Spirit. 
 
 The Jewish Bible is full, from Genesis to Revelations, 
 about the serpent, and satan, and the Devil ; the Tempter, 
 Beelzebub, the Dragon, etc. Those devils of Iran and of 
 Israel seem to be expert linguists. They understand the 
 languages of the peoples. For the Jew Devil talks 
 Aaramaic to Jesus ; ^ and Satan, when he wants to afflict 
 Job, speaks Hebrew to the Lord.^*^ 
 
 Was it simply a principle or an actuality that took Jesus 
 "up into the Holy City ?" Was it a principle that offered 
 to bribe him, when the Devil took him up ''into an 
 
 * Yasma 30, § 6. 
 
 9 Matthew, ch. 4. 
 
 10 Job, ch. I.
 
 116 NUMEROUS DEVILS 
 
 exceedingly high mountain?" ^^ How is this? At one 
 of Zoroaster's gatherings, while the people were debating 
 whether they would accept his religion, or hold to their 
 old Gods, the Worst Mind came, that ''he might be 
 chosen"; and he won; for, ''thereupon, they rushed to- 
 gether unto the Demon of Fury." ^ 2 g^^- those Iranians, 
 while not approved for rushing over to the Demon of 
 Fury, were hardly as wicked as the Jews, who "sacrificed 
 unto Devils and not to God." ^^ They went beyond that; 
 they sacrificed 'their sons and their daughters unto Dev- 
 ils." ^^ Even the Lord himself (if the record be not false) 
 made use of a lying spirit to get Ahab slain.^^ The Lord 
 found Satan standing by Zachariah and an angel, and 
 the Lord rebuked Satan. We might ask how the millions 
 of other worlds all around our own were progressing 
 while the Lord was there talking to Satan? A similar 
 observation might be made when the Lord gave Zoroaster 
 an audience. 
 
 § 3. This idea of a personal devil has been long in the 
 world. It has traveled far. It has crossed mountains and 
 seas. It has invaded nation after nation, until every land 
 in the whole earth has its devil. The New Testament 
 caught the infection from the Persians and the Old Testa- 
 ment, and pictures this monster with cloven hoofs, with 
 horns, and with hideous features. Children see pictures 
 of his Satanic Majesty to this day. Holy writ tells us that 
 
 11 Matthew 4. 
 i2Yasma 30, §6. 
 13 Deuteronomy 32, 17. 
 1^ Psalms 106, V. 37. 
 1^ 1st Kings 22, V. 22.
 
 IF THERE WERE NO DEVIL f 117 
 
 when this devil is caught, and locked in the bottomless pit, 
 he can only be kept there one thousand years, and then he 
 must be turned loose.^^ How are the nations to rid them- 
 selves of this engorged fiend, when pulpit and press main- 
 tain that "the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seek- 
 ing whom he may devour" ?^^ Suppose Satan should die, 
 would the churches wither? Suppose this hateful myth, 
 or being, should beat a retreat, with all his battalions, and 
 withdrew from the earth, and make a tour of some of 
 the other of the millions of worlds around us, would 
 Christianity collapse? No, it would not collapse. It 
 would sing a song of victory. What else would follow? 
 Our literature would have to be reformed. Our ideas of 
 business would have to be reformed. Many of our laws 
 would be useless. In fact, we should scarcely need any 
 laws. Justice and mercy, sympathy and love, would so 
 prevail "that the world would be restored." ^^ Eden would 
 be regained, the Millennial Year would be at our very 
 doors. Is this a wild dream? 
 
 Now, who is to blame that this Elysium of Bliss is kept 
 from us ? Who must be charged with getting a personal 
 devil into our Bibles, into our thoughts, into our literature, 
 into our very lives ? The answer is not far to be sought. 
 For if there be not, truly, a personal devil, active in the 
 affairs of the world, if all our ideas about this evil one 
 are merely creatures of the imagination, then our old ac- 
 quaintance, Zoroaster, must be charged with all the mis- 
 chief. But, if there truly exists an active wicked spirit in 
 
 1^ Rev., ch. 20, V. 3. 
 
 i*^ 1st Peter, ch. 5, v. 8. 
 
 18 Yast 19, § 90, S. B. E., Vol. 23.
 
 118 THE UNDER WORLD 
 
 the world, polluting the lives of men, then this great Ira- 
 nian teacher and preacher is entitled to the patent of dis- 
 covery. He taught it to the Persians, and he taught it 
 persistently and effectively. He hammered it into their 
 very lives. He told them that there were two master 
 spirits, or Gods, in the world, Ahura-Mazda, and Ahar- 
 man.^^ That Mazda was the God of righteousness, that 
 his thoughts were good ; that he ought to be worshipped 
 for his goodness ; that he was beneficent, and that he loved 
 man. That Ahura was the good mind that spoke within 
 the soul; that he would give weal and immortality to all 
 such as followed his commands ; that his home was in the 
 endless light, and that all his followers would find that 
 blissful seat. In truth he promised a never-ending life of 
 heavenly bliss to the just. All of Aharman's thoughts, 
 words and deeds, he said, were evil ; his worshippers were 
 seeds from the evil Mind ; that sin binds a heavy penance 
 upon them ; that there is a long wounding for the wicked, 
 and the blow of destruction would surely fall upon them.^^ 
 Their home, he said, would be in silent darkness. In short, 
 he pictured a hell for them ; but there was no fire or brim- 
 stone in his hell. It was a place of darkness, a gloomy 
 abode in the under world. 
 
 § 4. These two spirits or Gods were creative each in 
 his own realm. Anaxagoras and Plato, many centuries 
 later, followed Zoroaster in this, except that they said 
 there were in nature two principles — one active and one 
 passive. How was Zoroaster led into this line of reason- 
 
 ^^ This compound word, Ahura-Mazda, was afterwards 
 abridged to Ormazd. I write it either way. 
 20 Yasma 30 and 31, Vol. 31, S. B. E.
 
 JEWS FOUND THEIR DEVIL IN BABYLON 119 
 
 ing? Unquestionably it was because he saw so much in- 
 justice, sin, suffering and evil all about him, and he could 
 account for these things only as the work of an evil deity. 
 He had not read Isaiah, chapter 45, where God says : "I 
 create evil."^^ He reasoned that Ahura was merciful, 
 sympathetic and loving, and that he would, if he had the 
 power, abolish this sorrow and suffering at one swoop 
 and forever. This line of reasoning, he supposed, relieved 
 Ahura, a just God, from all responsibility in the matter. 
 
 Whether this doctrine be true or false, Iran believed in 
 it, adopted it, fought it, and spread it from the Oxus to 
 Media, where it was likewise approved and became the 
 national belief. From Media it traveled west to Babylon. 
 Here this duality-doctrine about the year 597 B. C. met 
 Nebuchadnezzar, a conquering King returning from the 
 overthrow of Jerusalem. The fallen King, and Ezekiel, 
 and Ezra, and Jedediah, and Daniel, and thousands of the 
 principal citizens of the captive city were prisoners in the 
 King's train. They were kept in bondage for a long gen- 
 eration — nearly seventy years. Their priests and scribes 
 meanwhile studied Zoroaster's doctrine of a good and 
 evil God. They embraced it. Perhaps they could ac- 
 count for their captivity in no other way than that an evil 
 God had delivered them into the hands of their enemies. 
 
 When Cyrus 22 finally sent them back to their native 
 land they carried Zoroaster's theology with them. Angels 
 and devils at once appear in the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 21 *T form the light and create darkness ; I make peace 
 and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things." Isaiah, 
 ch. 45 ; 7. 
 
 22 If Cyrus was the anointed of the Lord, the Lord
 
 120 EZEKIEL'S VISION 
 
 Daniel, on the banks of Ulai,^^ has a vision of the angel 
 Gabriel, similar to Zoroaster's on the banks of the Daitu, 
 where he meets Vohu-mano, except that Daniel was 
 frightened at the apparition, and fell down flat on his face, 
 but Zoroaster did not flinch, although Vohu-mano seemed 
 to be forty-nine feet tall. Daniel, also, seems to have been 
 impressed with Zoroaster's doctrine of the resurrection, 
 for in chapter 12 he makes explicit mention of it. In the 
 second verse of that chapter we read, ''that many of them 
 that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
 everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 
 tempt." At that time Michael, Jewish angel, will stand 
 up, and there will be a time of trouble, but every one shall 
 be "delivered who is found written in the Book." 
 
 § 5. Ezekiel, another of the exiles, while yet in Baby- 
 lon, has a vision of a valley full of dry bones. They are 
 the bones of exiles who have perished there. He hears 
 a noise, and a shaking of the bones, and they come togeth- 
 er, bone to bone, and flesh comes upon them, and skin 
 covers them, and breath comes to them, and they live and 
 stand upon their feet. And the Lord said to Ezekiel: 
 *Trophesy and say : 'the Lord will open your graves and 
 bring you into the land of Israel, and will put his spirit 
 into you, and will place you in your own land.' " ^4 
 
 uses some miserable wretches to accomplish his ends. 
 For Cyrus was cruel and barbarous. He murdered his 
 prisoners; some of them by burning. 
 
 23 See Vol. 47, S. B. E., ch. 3, of Book 7, p. 48; Daniel, 
 ch. 8, V. 16. 
 
 24 Ezekiel, ch. 37, v. i to 14. This was soothing to 
 those poor exiles, but none of them ever came up out of 
 their graves.
 
 EZEKIEUS RESURRECTION 121 
 
 We observe that Ezekiel is specific about the manner of 
 the resurrection. He goes into details about it, whereas 
 Zoroaster tells us that the souls of the righteous shall 
 have safe passage across Kinvad Bridge.^^ 
 
 The great Iranian does not teach the resurrection of the 
 body. He is entirely silent about it. What is said in sec- 
 tion three, chapter nine, is a later doctrine from the Ven- 
 didad.26 Zoroaster says: "I am delivering up my mind 
 and soul to reach the heavenly Mount,-^ whither all the 
 redeemed must pass." He sees that if the soul passes 
 the Bridge in safety, it has reached the home of the Good 
 Mind. It is in heaven. It would, therefore, need no res- 
 urrection. Nowhere in Zoroaster's teachings does he an- 
 nounce that the soul goes into the grave. Job said: 
 'When I go to the land of darkness, and the shadow of 
 death, I shall not return." ^s Qf course no sensible person 
 believes that after his body goes into the grave it will ever 
 come forth again. Why should it come forth? It goes 
 down into the grave, blasted by age, or eaten by disease, 
 or torn in battle, or wrecked by -some of the thousand 
 calamities that befall the race. If the body be resurrected 
 it must be the same that went into the grave. Was not 
 the vision of Ezekiel simply a happy consolation, offered 
 by the poet to those suffering exiles, that although their 
 bodies might be buried in Babylon yet the God of their 
 
 2^ See ch. lO, § i, ante as to Kinvad Bridge. 
 
 26 Westengard's fragments, in the Vend., p 247 : The 
 Bundahis followed Ezekiel as to the resurrection of the 
 bodies. 
 
 27 Mount Alborz, at the heavenly end of the Bridge. 
 Seech. 28, §5,Vol. 31, S. B. E. 
 
 28 Job X, 21.
 
 122 NO JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH 
 
 Fathers would bring them up out of their graves and 
 take them back to "their own, their native land"? 
 
 The Persian did not teach justification by faith, but 
 that every man was his own Saviour. That good 
 thoughts, good words and good deeds would land every 
 soul safely in the home of the Good Mind.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE IRANIAN BELIEF: IT LEADS TO A DIVISION OF SENTI- 
 MENT, THREATENING WAR. ZOROASTEr's PRAYERS. 
 
 § I. In the Persian belief there was no remission of 
 sins. Every man made his own atonement for his own 
 offenses. His sins were, as we have seen, charged up 
 against him, but it was in his power to overbalance them 
 by good thoughts, words and deeds. He knew nothing 
 about salvation by faith. God would give him blessings 
 in His Holy Realm *'in reward for good deeds." ^ No 
 Saviour up to Zoroaster's time had ever died for the Per- 
 sians. Thus each one by himself, and for himself, with- 
 out any intercessor, fixed his own destiny. He worked 
 out "his own salvation" himself, and thus made expiation 
 for his own misdeeds. 
 
 Zoroaster did not teach his people, as did Moses the 
 Jews,2 to catch two goats and cast lots upon them, one 
 for the Lord and one for the Scape-Goat, and upon the 
 goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, sacrifice him for 
 their sins. The other goat, with the sins of all the people 
 on its poor head, was thrust forth into the wilderness. 
 It is possible, nay, it is highly probable, that if those 
 Iranians had heard of Aaron and his goats they would 
 have occasionally roasted one and thus have made the 
 
 1 Yas. 43, § i6. Vol. 31, S B. E. 
 
 2 Leviticus, ch. 16, v. 5 to 10. 
 
 123
 
 124 SIN'S PENALTY 
 
 passage across Kinvad Bridge not only easy but an abso- 
 lute certainty. 
 
 A vastly different doctrine was, however, taught them. 
 They were told that ''the smallest sin brings its penalty." ^ 
 that this doctrine, unheard of before, would deliver the 
 people from the Lie-Demon. 
 
 It was an indubitable truth, but it was a question which 
 concerned the soul. *'0, ye listening men," exclaimed the 
 Prophet. ''Let not a man of you lend a hearing to the 
 evil-doers. And ye vile, long life shall be your lot in 
 darkness." "* But Ahura will give both weal and immor- 
 tality to the Righteous order. "To the wise," he added, 
 "these things are clear." 
 
 The promulgation of these doctrines provoked so great 
 a strife, and it raged so fiercely, that Zoroaster found 
 himself like Paul, not only wrestling against flesh and 
 blood but against principalities and powers. The chief 
 men in high places became implacable foes. 
 
 He who would not reclaim his life, he who would de- 
 spoil the honest tiller of his herds and flocks, he who 
 would give ear to the Lie-Demon, against such he urged 
 his followers "to fly to arms and hew them all with the 
 halberd." It was not only a spiritual warfare but an 
 actual hand-to-hand conflict that confronted the seer and 
 his followers. His enemies were offering devotions to a 
 false religion, and if they secured power would deliver 
 home, village and province to ruin and death. All such 
 
 3 Yasna 31, § i and § 13. 
 
 4 Yasna 31, §§ 20, 21 and 22. Darkness is not as ter- 
 rible as to burn.
 
 GOOD AND EVIL CLASH EVERYWHERE 125 
 
 were seeds of the Evil Mind, and their deceits are found, 
 he said, in all the seven zones of the earth. 
 
 § 2. With what words the opponents of Zoroaster an- 
 swered this severe arraignment we are not told. We can, 
 however, infer that these charges were met by counter- 
 charges which were fast leading up to blood. One Yima 
 Vivanghusha is pointed out as an evil teacher, a wretched 
 being, full of crime, who was perverting the minds of the 
 people. This man, Zoroaster declares, is filled with deceit 
 and is scheming to establish the Kavis (idolaters) in 
 power. Thus he would destroy the religion of the faith- 
 ful. 
 
 Although a warrior of note, "wielding a glittering 
 blade of iron," ^ he yet was of that pestiferous class found 
 in all ages who will stoop to open bribery to gain advan- 
 tages where force cannot prevail. But this did not abate 
 the great reformer's zeal, for he threatens to yet drive 
 hence the Kavis or Karpans and their followers. 
 
 Long after this, in a distant land, a similar scene was 
 enacted between Elijah, the prophet, and Ahab, the wick- 
 ed King of Israel. In both cases the prophets and their 
 adherents prevail. Ahab is slain, and the Karpans, after 
 a long struggle, as we shall see, were also overcome. But 
 not until the idolaters, in both Iran and in Israel, were 
 put down did the troubles of the faithful cease. This 
 threat to drive the Karpans hence exhibits a plain phase 
 of Zoroaster's character. He is not only religious, but he 
 is stubbornly religious. He is willing to fight for his 
 religion rather than yield it. Hence, to visit vengeance 
 
 6 Yas. 32, § 7.
 
 126 FEARLESS FOR THE RIGHT 
 
 upon evil-doers was not thought to be inconsistent with 
 his duty or his religion. 
 
 He saw that the Karpans were even then planning open 
 hostilities against him and his followers, and, not possess- 
 ing the gentle, non-combative spirit of the Man of Galilee, 
 he would oppose them with force. Less cruel than Moses 
 and Joshua, for they were murderers and plunderers ; ® 
 his religion allowed him the easy latitude of all subse- 
 quent religions. He abjured evil, but the Lord had ''not 
 given him the spirit of fear." "^ In the same breath in 
 which he besought Ahura for blessings on the Kine (the 
 people) he denounced his enemies with unsparing tongue. 
 While this is true^ it must be said of him that he was the 
 very buttress of the whole religious arch, and with his 
 absence or death his great reform would have dwindled, 
 withered and fallen. He knew this, and he knew also that 
 his arch-enemy, Yima Vivanghusha, was able at any mo- 
 ment to hurl his mace at him ^ and forever end his career. 
 Paul suffered in prison for years because of the religion 
 he taught ; Zoroaster, centuries before Paul's day, became 
 not only a *'gazing-stock" for the wicked, ^ but finally 
 gave his life in the cause of his people. Both of these 
 
 ^ Moses caused all the Midianites to be murdered, ex- 
 cept the little girls, who were kept for a shameful pur- 
 pose. Ch. 31, Numbers. Moses also murdered the Egyp- 
 tian; Exodus, ch. 2, V. II and 12. Joshua plundered 
 Jericho and murdered all the people, both young and old, 
 except a harlot. Joshua, ch. 6, and he did the same with 
 the city of Ai, Joshua, ch. 8. 
 
 ■^ 2d Timothy, ch. i, v. 7. 
 
 s Yas. 32, § 10. 
 
 9 Hebrews, ch. 10, v. 33.
 
 RELIGIOUS WARS 127 
 
 men were great moral heroes who sought the betterment 
 of the race. 
 
 § 3. A religious war in Iran was impending, and like 
 all religious wars since the dawn of history, it was to be 
 cruel and desolating. It was preceded by persecutions and 
 lawlessness, and perhaps murders, of which we know but 
 little. If Zoroaster had named one of his devils the De- 
 mon of Intolerance ; that fiend would have been aptly des- 
 ignated, for Intolerance, if it be not a demon; this may 
 be alleged against it. It has reddened many a field; its 
 victims fill millions of graves. In fact, in some quarters 
 of the globe, even at the present day, it rears its monster 
 head. It was numberless ages before any herald appeared 
 proclaiming 'Teace on earth, and good will to man." And 
 if the angels really did bring those sweet words from the 
 skies, mankind has not very diligently pondered them. 
 
 Zoroaster was not heralded by any such heaven-born 
 sentiment. He lived back nearer to the birth of the race, 
 and, therefore, in a more cruel period. The spread of his 
 gospel, like all new faiths or beliefs, wherever it reached, 
 called forth discussion, opposition and controversy. It 
 went beyond this and culminated in open war. The gos- 
 pel of Galilee, a thousand years and more after its great 
 founder perished, brought upon the land of its birth in- 
 vasions and wars as cruel as any that ever devastated the 
 earth. No mortal struggle ever surpassed in fierceness 
 and hate, the religious wars of the Crusaders. In truth, 
 a religious war, seems filled to the brim with malice and 
 all the dregs of evil. It was the same in this war waged 
 against the religion taught by the great Persian. And in
 
 128 ZOROASTER'S PRAYER 
 
 order to be successful in the impending strife each party 
 invoked the higher Powers, for help.^^ 
 
 § 4. Zoroaster's Prayer : "This I ask of Thee, O, 
 Ahura ! that thou wilt send mighty destruction among our 
 enemies. Wilt Thou deliver the Lie-Demon and his fol- 
 lowers into the hands of the Righteous Order? O, Lord! 
 when the two hosts shall meet, to which of the two wilt 
 Thou give the day ? Lord, we smite for the protection of 
 Thy doctrines. Draw near with Thy good mind and sup- 
 port those who strive for weal and immortality. Tell us, 
 O Lord ! how we may proceed to that consummation. And 
 to our deluded foes, the daeva-worshippers, have they 
 ever reigned worthily? The Karpans (heretics) are given 
 to rapine and slaughter. They are of the Lie-Demon, and 
 have never brought waters to the fields of the Righteous 
 Order. They have never given tribal wealth or blessings 
 to the Kine. They are recreant to Thy Law. O, Lord ! 
 knowing well their doom at last, let Thy conquering ho^ts, 
 with gifts of Grace, triumph in the coming strife. Who 
 but Thee hath sustained the earth from beneath}'^ and the 
 clouds above, that they do not fall ? Who but Thee holds 
 
 ^^ It was the same in our civil war, when I was in the 
 army forty-three years ago. Our chaplains were wont to 
 pray fervently for the defeat and destruction of our ene- 
 mies. And the confederate divines (as I have since heard 
 and read) put up equally fervent petitions to the Almighty 
 for our defeat. Suppose they could have mustered a few 
 more battalions, would the Lord have heard them? We 
 know that ''time and chance happeneth to all." Eccle. 
 
 9, II- 
 
 1* He had not yet learned that the earth is round, and 
 that there is no ''heneath" to it.
 
 VISTASPA'S SACRIFICES 129 
 
 the sun and the stars in their course ? Who but Thee, O, 
 Great Creator ! yokes the storm-clouds to the winds ? O, 
 Ahura, Lord ! use us, Thy people, as instruments to keep 
 those deceitful and those harsh oppressors from reaching 
 their aims. Let, O, Lord, that holy faith and piety, which 
 are of all things best, go hand in hand. And in the final 
 striving, for the sake of Thy Righteous Order, may Thy 
 Grace prevail." ^^ 
 
 If we were to follow the later Avesta we would see 
 Vistaspa offering sacrifices of one hundred horses, one 
 thousand oxen, and ten thousand lambs, with libations 
 that he might overcome, in battle, Tatherevant, of the 
 bad law ; that he might put to flight AstaAurvant, of the 
 brazen helmet ; and that he might slay the Hyonian mur- 
 derer, Arjasp; that he might slay the Hyonians by the 
 hundreds, by the thousands, and by the myriads.^ ^ Hus- 
 ravh, he who united the Aryan clans into a kingdom, and 
 others of the faith offered similar sacrifices, and begged 
 the boon that he might kill the Iranian murderers.** 
 Perhaps they had heard of Exodus, where none must 
 appear before the Lord empty handed. 
 
 § 5. But this praying and sacrificing was not *^ all 
 done by the Aryans, for the same record sets forth that 
 
 12 I have here given the substance of the Prophet's peti- 
 tion, which runs through Yasma 44, Vol. 31, S. B. E. 
 
 13 Gos Yast, § 29 and § 30; also Aban Yast, § 108 and 
 § 109, Vol. 2:^, S. B. E. but these Yasts are of a later 
 period than Zoroaster. They, however, have crept into 
 his history. 
 
 14 Exodus, ch. 23, V. 15. None must appear before the 
 Lord empty handed. 
 
 1^ This later Avesta was written after the days of Zoro-
 
 130 HERETICS OFFER SACRIFICES 
 
 the Turanians, Arjasp and his brother, Vandariman, of- 
 fered up sacrifices of one hundred horses, a thousand 
 oxen, and ten thousand lambs to Arda Sura Ananita (the 
 goddess of waters) and besought the boon that they 
 might conquer Vistaspa and his army, and that they might 
 smite the Aryan people by hundreds, by the thousands, 
 and by the myriads.^^ 
 
 It is possible that these sacrifices were offered, but 
 Zoroaster does not mention them, nor does it appear in 
 the Gathas that he offered any. The Gathas are mostly 
 made up of exhortations and prayers, including some 
 sharp denunciations of the wicked.^ ^ 
 
 The Prophet, instead of killing oxen and lambs to gain 
 the favor of the Almighty, falls on his knees : "Tell me, 
 O Lord ! the end, for Thou dost know. Tell me, O Thou 
 Good Mind ! and thus increase my strength and courage 
 before the encounter comes. Tell me, Lord ! the future of 
 
 aster, yet these sacrifices may have been offered, for the 
 whole world was then likewise engaged. Solomon, we 
 know (2 Chron., ch. 7), offered up 22,000 oxen and 120,- 
 000 sheep at the dedication of his temple, a building in no 
 wise extraordinarily large or beautiful. 
 
 ^^ These Turanians were a barbarous, warlike people, 
 who lived near the southern extremity of the Caspian. 
 Their place in history is somewhat indistinct. Some schol- 
 ars believe their home was not far from the Jihun (Oxus). 
 Others identify them with the Hyonians or Chionites, and 
 locate them west of the Caspian. 
 
 ^"^ Balak, king of the Moabites, also sacrificed that he 
 might conquer Israel. Did Balak learn this from Arjasp, 
 or had Arjasp heard of Balak, and did he follow him? 
 The sacrifices are verv similar.
 
 ZOROASTER PRAYS AGAIN 131 
 
 the struggle. I will hope and pray, though I know not 
 the issue. But, O Lord, let not the evil gain the day, but 
 in accordance with Thy will, let the righteous prosper and 
 rule. They will grant us pleasing homes while we live.^^ 
 Do Thou, O Lord, let the demon of rapine be cast down. 
 We hold fast to our sacred refuge in Thee. Thy strug- 
 gling servant, with changing lot, who toils for Thy King- 
 dom, how shall he beseech Thee for victory? What is 
 the potent prayer to bring on the Holy reign ? How shall 
 I seek to spread Thy Righteous Order while I live? 
 May Piety ever be present, and may she, through the 
 indwelling of the Good Mind (Holy Spirit), give us bless- 
 ings in reward for our struggles in Thy cause." ^^ 
 
 Is not this idea uppermost in all our prayers and in all 
 our religions? We want a quid-pro-quo, an equivalent, 
 for all we say and do for the Lord. We do not thank 
 Heaven for life. We came without our asking. We shall go 
 hence without our requesting. We come; we go; we 
 ebb ; we flow ; and that great mysterious Ocean, called 
 Time, swallows us up and we are not. 
 
 Did that something, which we call soul or mind (for 
 they are inseparable), live beyond the struggle which 
 shortly laid the Prophet's body in the grave? That is 
 the question. Who can answer ? No one hath come back 
 to tell us. 
 
 1^ The reader will notice all along that the Turanians 
 seem to be free-booters and plunderers. The righteous, 
 as Zoroaster calls them, were law-abiding. 
 
 19 Yasna 43, §§ 14 to 16, and Yasna 48, Vol. 31, 
 S. B. E.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE BATTLE. DEFEAT OF IRAN. THE ARMIES. BENDVA 
 AND THE PROPHET. THE KARPANS. THEIR MISDEEDS. 
 
 It is probable that before any contest arose with the 
 surrounding tribes or nations about the new reHgion there 
 were many sharp controversies among and between the 
 people of Iran. Blood flowed at Jerusalem and there- 
 abouts before the Gospel reached any foreign land. Even 
 one of Jesus* friends smote the ear from off a disbeliever.^ 
 There were envyings and strifes, and divisions rag- 
 ing among the elect.^ No doubt Zoroaster saw the same 
 divisions and strifes in his own ranks. The unbelievers 
 were denounced as heretics, as enemies, and as the seed 
 of the Evil Mind. But those very disputes, in Bactria, or 
 wherever they occurred, served only to publish far and 
 wide the faith and creed of the Prophet. 
 
 It did not, therefore, fall still-born ; they talked about 
 it; there was much wagging of tongues; much shaking 
 of heads. There were believers and disbelievers. Even 
 Jesus' brothers did not believe in him.^ And he was 
 obliged to remain for a season in Galilee, lest the Jews 
 might kill him. 
 
 In the more desperate and savage times of the Persian 
 he, without question, ran many such chances. He stood, 
 
 1 Matt., ch. 26, V. 51. • 
 
 2 1st Corinthians, ch. 3, v. 3. 
 
 3 St. John, ch. 7, V. 5. 
 
 132
 
 THE WAR OF THE RELIGIONS 133 
 
 as it were, upon the outer battlement, conspicuous, defy- 
 ing all the Goliaths of the Turanians. And he stood thus 
 for more than fifty years.* 
 
 The storm, long gathering, was about to break. Arjasp, 
 the Turanian leader, was marching an army to invade 
 Iran. 
 
 It has been said that the cause of this war was the 
 failure of Vistaspa to continue to pay Arjasp the tribute 
 agreed upon as the result of a former war. Possibly this 
 may have been mixed up in the controversy, yet the great 
 moving cause of the struggle was the differing religions. 
 In fact, this war was called 'The War of the Religions." ^ 
 
 The battle resulted in a sore defeat to the Iranians, 
 and if the improbable story of the Bundahis be true, they 
 were only saved from destruction by a part of a mountain 
 breaking loose and sliding down into the plain, thereby 
 sheltering them from their victorious enemies. The Ira- 
 nians call this mountain Mount Madofryad, which means 
 "come to help". Zachariah says that the Mount of Olives 
 shall cleave in the midst thereof, and half of the moun- 
 tain shall remove toward the South, and half toward the 
 North. Did he copy, or did the Iranians ? ^ 
 
 The exact location of this battle cannot be stated. It 
 may have been far down on the borders of Afghanistan, 
 or it may have been nearer Bactria. But it is certain that 
 the Iranians were routed,"^ for Zoroaster, to encourage his 
 
 4 Ch. 23, § 8, Vol. 47, S. B. E. 
 
 s Bund., ch. 12, § 33 ; see also ch. 4, § yy, Vol. 47, 
 S. B. E. 
 ^ Zachariah, ch. 14, v. 4. 
 ' Bund., ch. 12, speaks of "come to help", as the place
 
 134 EXTRAVAGANT NUMBERS IN BATTLE 
 
 followers, tells them that though the battle is lost all is 
 not yet lost.^ Mazda, he said, would yet save and protect 
 them against their unbelieving foes. 
 
 § 2. If the Shah-Nama, founded upon extravagant 
 and careless tradition, has given the numbers of the con- 
 tending forces correctly, then there were potent causes 
 for Iran's defeat, for her 144,000 were met by Arjasp with 
 300,000.^ But these numbers seem wild and improbable, 
 for if this battle, with such numbers, was fought even as 
 late as six hundred years B. C. there would be some men- 
 tion of it in history outside of the Avesta and works 
 copied from it. 
 
 On the other hand, if Zoroaster's period is back fifteen, 
 or even ten centuries before Jesus' day, no such Turanian 
 force could be assembled, nor could the Iranians put their 
 alleged one hundred and forty-four thousand into the 
 field. Arjasp was simply a border-chief, and his army 
 did not, probably, reach one-tenth of the numbers above 
 mentioned. 
 
 Now, an army of twenty thousand ^^ men and four 
 thousand horses for a campaign of four months would 
 require about six thousand tons of food and forage. Those 
 Turanians were invading an hostile country, and not a very 
 
 where Vistaspa routed Arjasp, but the same text says 
 there was confusion among the "Iranians" and they 
 were saved as above stated. If the mountains had to save 
 them, kow could they be victorious? 
 
 8 Yasna 49, §§ 3, 4 and 5. 
 
 ^ The Shah Nama mentions that Vistasp was in Bactra 
 when he received envoys from Arjasp about the tribute. 
 
 1^ My experience in our civil war leads me to flatly 
 controvert the wild statement of the Zartust-Nama.
 
 THE WAVERING DESERT HIM 135 
 
 fertile one at that. It is simply impossible that they could 
 transport supplies for three hundred thousand men. 
 
 § 3. Benda, another border chief, who had ever op- 
 posed the Prophet and his religion, about this time gained 
 such an advantage that there was much wavering among 
 Zoroaster's followers. The Prophet himself says : "Band- 
 va is most powerful and v/ould crush my strength while 
 I seek to mn back the disaffected." ^^ In truth, he even 
 caused Zoroaster to hesitate, and ponder, whether his 
 course of reform was the wisest that could be adopted. 
 Whether Bendva assisted Arjasp in gaining, the victory 
 above mentioned is not certain, but it is not improbable 
 that the two forces acted together, for both of those lead- 
 ers were seeking the same end, namely, the overthrow of 
 Zoroaster and his doctrines. 
 
 Religion, whenever necessary to gain its ends, has 
 never scrupled to use the torch and the sword. Moses 
 and Joshua, in the name of the Lord, burned cities and 
 slew the people thereof with a fiendishness and savagery 
 never yet surpassed.^^ Even while I write these lines 
 the armies of the world are in China making war on the 
 people there. Religion and plunder are at the bottom of 
 the whole thing. 
 
 In religion, a thesis or creed is announced, and woe be 
 to the man who controverts it. Bendva, no doubt, be- 
 
 11 Yasma 49, §1. 
 
 1 2 Moses sent his armed men against the Midianites 
 and destroyed them. Numbers 31. He also drove out 
 the Amorites and took Bashan. Numbers, ch. 21 ; 32 and 
 33. See Joshua, ch. 6 and 8, where the people of Ai and 
 Jericho perished.
 
 136 KARPANS WERE PLUNDERERS 
 
 longed to that class who held to the old faith. Perhaps 
 one of his main objections to the new creed was that there 
 were not two primeval creative spirits or beings.^ ^ He 
 may have antagonized the Prophet on the ground that 
 there was no such crossing or place as the Kinvad Bridge. 
 He may have ridiculed the idea that there was an evil 
 God. He may have held to the doctrine of the Sadducees 
 that there is no resurrection of the dead. Whatever that 
 old belief was, he was willing to fight a battle to maintain 
 it. Evidently it was a full-fledged creed with numerous 
 followers. But if the inquiry be made, what was that 
 old faith? No exact, explicit answer can be given. We 
 search in vain for a single direct statement of what it 
 was, and can only gather an idea of it, here and there, by 
 what the Prophet alleges against it. 
 
 § 4. We know that good thoughts, words and deeds 
 are the foundations of the Zoroaster structure, and we 
 reason that Bendva, Arjasp and the Turanians must have 
 held to the contrary. 
 
 Repeatedly the Prophet charges that the Karpans are 
 destroyers ; that they neither bring harvests to the fields, 
 nor food to the Kine. That their teachings and deeds 
 lead to the House of the Lie, bringing only woe and deso- 
 lation.14 
 
 Of this we may be reasonably certain, the Karpans were 
 not friendly to the tillers of the soil ; for the Prophet cries 
 out : "O, Great Creator ! I ask of Thee two blessings for 
 Thy followers. Grant Thy protection over our gathered 
 wealth, and give us those spiritual blessings promotive of 
 
 13 See Dualism, ch XI, § 3. 
 
 14 Yas. 51, §§ 12 to 15.
 
 ZOROASTER'S DUALISM 137 
 
 our worship of Thee. I speak for all who are guided by 
 Thy Law. Yea, I cry aloud to Thee, for all these assem- 
 bled here. And they ask : Where is the Lord ? Will He 
 show us mercy, and save us from these dreaded dangers ? 
 It is the tiller of the earth who asks this of Thee, O, 
 Ahura". 
 
 The Prophet himself says he asks all this that he may 
 discover how he can gain to himself the Sacred Kine; 
 that is, the love and help of the people. Now, if the Kar- 
 pans did not, or would not, cultivate the fields, but de- 
 stroyed the fruitage thereof, and plundered the herds, then 
 here is a plain dividing line between "the two striving 
 sides" ; Zoroaster being a strong tower of defense against 
 these misdeeds. We have here the manifest reason why 
 the miscreants sought to destroy his life.^^ 
 
 There is nowhere an explanation or denial of these 
 serious charges against the Karpans, and the inquiry 
 arises : Whence came the instigation for these misdeeds ? 
 Was old Aharman (the devil) right there urging them 
 on, or is man prone to evil ? I know that Isaiah, in chap- 
 ter 45, says : "The Lord created evil" ; and Job, in chap- 
 ter 2d, hints the same way. But I question whether the 
 Lord really did create evil. Is it not rather inherent in the 
 very nature of things? Or is Zoroaster's dualism, or 
 theory of a good God, and an evil one correct ? The reader 
 can make his choice. 
 
 ^5 Yas. 51, §§ 2 to 12. Yas. 31, § 3, has it, "two bat- 
 tling sides."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SECOND BATTLE. VISTASPA's VICTORY. THE SPREAD OF THE 
 FAITH. SECTION 3. IS THERE A DUALISM ? 
 
 The defeat of Zoroaster's followers, as mentioned in 
 the preceding chapter, did not break their courage. For 
 Vistaspa rallied his scattered forces and gave battle again, 
 and this time he achieved a great success. But his own 
 household suffered sorely, twenty-two of his sons being 
 slain. This number seems extravagant, but is in keeping 
 with the foolish statement that Zarir, the brother of Vis- 
 taspa, repeatedly hewed down ten Khyons at one blow. 
 Zarir himself finally falls, pierced to the heart by a spear, 
 but not until Arjasp's army is defeated with terrible 
 slaughter.! 
 
 How much time elapsed between these two battles 
 cannot be stated. The Shah-Nama says two weeks, but if 
 in the first engagement there was such confusion among 
 the Iranians that they were only saved by part of a moun- 
 tain sliding down into the plain, and thus sheltering them 
 from their enemies that time is too short.^ 
 
 ! The Shah-Nama says Arjasp lost 100,000 slain in the 
 two battles. That work greatly tries my patience by its 
 foolish exaggerations. It mentions that in both wars 
 Vistaspa lost thirty-eight sons. If so, he must have been 
 a very industrious man, as well as wise sovereign. 
 
 2 I was with a great defeated army under McClellan, 
 
 138
 
 A COMPLETE VICTORY 139 
 
 The victory, however, is complete, for Arjasp is driven 
 back to his own countr}^, so humbled, that Zoroaster makes 
 progress with his religion for several years before his old 
 enemy appears again to break the peace. 
 
 By this victory Vistaspa becomes at once the arm and 
 support of Zoroaster's cause. The later Avesta sets forth, 
 exultingly, that he found religion standing bound, and 
 took her from the hands of the Kyans, and established 
 her high, ruling, holy and blessed with plenty of cattle 
 and pasture.^ The same authority states that he drove all 
 his enemies before him, conquered them, and thus made 
 wide room for the holy religion. Some of these enemies 
 are mentioned, and among them Arjasp, as being particu- 
 larly fiendish and wicked.^ 
 
 Peace now reigned for a season, and Vistaspa, to em- 
 phasize and extol his victory, sends his son, Isfander, to 
 surrounding tribes and nations to proclaim the tidings 
 thereof. There is a tradition that Vistaspa also founded a 
 fire-temple and placed Jamasp, as high priest, in charge 
 of it. But this is surely an error, for neither the Iranians 
 nor the Persians, their children, worshipped in temples. 
 They had their mountain of Holy Questions ; their Sinai, 
 where Zoroaster talked with Ormazd ( ?) ; and they be- 
 
 in 1862, when he was driven from the front of Richmond 
 and fled to the shelter of the gunboats on James River, 
 and I there learned that two weeks is much too short a 
 time for a routed army to recuperate and recruit its ex- 
 hausted strength. 
 
 3 Zamyad Yast, § 86, S. B. E., Vol. 23. 
 
 ^ Arjasp is often called Argat-Aspa, but I prefer the 
 shorter cognomen.
 
 140 VICTORY HELPS THE FAITH 
 
 lieved that the tops of hills and mountains were nearer 
 to Heaven, and they worshipped there. 
 
 § 2. This last battle and victory gave a very great im- 
 petus to Zoroaster's creed. "From near and from afar" ^ 
 people came seeking knowledge of the new religion. Evil 
 beliefs, he said, are the overthrow of the wicked. And he 
 repeats to them that when the world's two first spirits 
 came together the More Bountiful thus spake to the Evil 
 One: "I do not think what thou thinkest, for I think 
 what is good, and thou thinkest what is evil. Neither our 
 beliefs, nor our deeds, nor our consciences, nor our souls 
 are in harmony." 
 
 The sage then declares that all who will not obey the 
 righteous Mazda their life shall end in woe. But they 
 who follow the Good Mind, striving within their souls, 
 shall reap weal and immortality. Blessings to the right- 
 eous, but woe to the wicked, these things hath Mazda 
 established throughout his realm. The demon Gods must 
 be opposed, thwarted, defeated. But the bounteous Lord 
 of Saving Power, who gives weal and immortality, jnust 
 be adored, honored, obeyed. **He is our brother ; yea, he 
 is more than brother. He is father to us ; Mazda, Lord. 
 And he will bestow rewards beyond this earth." ^ 
 
 § 3. It will be noticed that here, again, is mentioned 
 "the world's two first spirits." Did Homer, who lived 
 nine or ten centuries before Jesus, catch the thought from 
 the Iranian Seer, and by changing the original slightly, 
 paint this picture? 
 
 ^Yas. 45, § I- 
 
 6 Yasma 45 ; also Yas. 30, § 4. and Yas. 46, § 19. See 
 also ch. 12, § I.
 
 HOMER AND ZOROASTER 141 
 
 *' Two Urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, 
 
 The source of evil, one ; the other good. 
 
 From thence, the cup of mortal man he fills. 
 
 Blessings to these, to those, distributes ills. 
 
 To most, he mingles both." Book 24. Iliad. 
 
 It must be conceded that Zoroaster, so far as known, 
 brought into the world this idea of two contending spirits ; 
 the one good, the other evil. The poet makes one God 
 (Jove) the author of all our ills, sin and misery. Which 
 of these great souls is right? Here are two systems or 
 theories, and men have taken opposing sides since the 
 Iranian Seer first announced his duality. Possibly some 
 other great thinker, even before his day, had stumbled 
 against this unanswerable enigma. We leave this matter 
 here with this question: If there exists a duality, and 
 behind these a unity, or creative power, which controls 
 them; then, against Zerana-Akerana, or whatever that 
 unity may be named, must be charged the responsibility 
 for all the evil and sin in the world. For with such lim- 
 itless power, He can make and unmake worlds and myr- 
 iads of worlds. Hence how easy for Him at one stroke 
 to smite and destroy sin with all its ugly brood."^ Or is 
 this theory true? Does the Great I Am rule this planet 
 by His vicegerents ? Possibly angels are delegated to act. 
 
 In the Desatir this question is answered in this wise: 
 God is the immediate Maker of the Angels. He used the 
 medium of no instrument in bestowing existence on them, 
 but in regard to all other existences he used Media or 
 instruments.^ 
 
 ■^ See § I, ch. 12. 
 
 8 Desatir, published at Bombay, 1818, Vol. 2, p. 125.
 
 142 PREACHERS CLAIM THEY ARE CALLED 
 
 We know that every orthodox minister, and some who 
 are not orthodox, claims that God has called him to act 
 as a helper. Is it true that the Divine Being, we call God, 
 is simply the vicegerent of some higher and more mighty 
 power? Thomas Dick, the devout astronomer, in his 
 great work, says, there are nine thousand millions of visi- 
 ble worlds about us. Our world is only as a grain of 
 sand on the seashore. Yet it took millions of years to 
 build it ; and if it required Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and 
 multitudes of other, to labor in the moral vineyard, why 
 not some colossus to superintend the whole? This prob- 
 lem did not escape Zoroaster. Its germ is in the Avesta,^ 
 but the Seer did not elaborate it. Dualism served his 
 purpose. Moreover Dualism was easier for his people to 
 understand. But who shall say there is no Zerana Aker- 
 ana? 
 
 9 Farvardin Yast, § 80, Vol. 23, S. B. E. Also Far- 
 gard 19, Vendidad, § 46, Vol. S. B. E.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MIRACLES. THE ROOF OF A TEMPLE PARTS FOR ZOROASTER. 
 TWO SCOFFERS SENT UP IN THE AIR. ELISHA AND THE 
 SHE-BEARS. ZOROASTER HEALS THE BLIND. MOSES 
 BRINGS DOWN MURRAIN AND HAIL. VISIONS OF THE 
 PROPHETS. JOSHUA AND THE SUN. IN ZOROASTEr'S 
 VISION HE SEES HEAVEN AND HELL. 
 
 Around every great historic name myths and legends 
 gather, and the greater the name the more the myths 
 and legends seem to multiply about it. The marvelous, 
 with some, is more pleasing than the real. With those 
 the Arabian Knights and the Travels of Gulliver are en- 
 chanting. That class will here find mental pabulum to 
 their liking. 
 
 In one of Zoroaster's crusades against unbelievers a 
 great multitude was gathered to hear him. Royalty, 
 gorgeously appareled, princes and peers were there. A 
 mighty temple was packed to overflowing. The audience, 
 on tiptoe with expectation, was waiting and watching his 
 coming. Suddenly, to its amazement, and almost terror, 
 there was a great snapping and cracking over their heads, 
 as if the building were about to collapse and fall. But, 
 instead, a rift appeared in the roof. It parted asunder, 
 hither and thither, by some invisible agency, and the 
 prophet, holding a great blazing ball of fire in his hand, 
 came down through the rifted roof. The fire did not 
 burn him, and the roof swung back into its place without 
 mortal help and without so much as a splinter falling. 
 
 143
 
 144 INDIA AND PERSIA IN DEBATE 
 
 This startling exhibition of supernatural power was, to 
 the waiting throng, a certain proof that his person was 
 sacred, his mission divine. 
 
 At another time he chanted his revelation in the home 
 of Vistaspa with such pleasing power that not only the 
 people who heard him were filled with righteousness but 
 even the cattle of the fields, and the beasts of burden 
 danced with joy. Meanwhile the fame of the Seer had 
 penetrated India, where his creed ran counter to the Rig- 
 veda. There lived at that time one Cangranghacah, a 
 learned Brahman, a great philosopher, scholar and teach- 
 er, who proposed to come to Balkh (Bactria) and over- 
 throw Zoroaster and his creed. He set out with a large 
 retinue of distinguished persons, scholars versed in the 
 lore of Veda, together with disciples anxious to listen to 
 the great debate. Ormazd gives the Prophet full pre- 
 monition of all the questions Cangranghacah will ask, 
 and the answers he shall make to them. 
 
 To each interrogatory of the Hindu the Seer reads a 
 chapter from the Avesta in full answer and refutation. 
 The audience is astonished, and the Brahman confounded. 
 He is not only confounded, but he is then and there con- 
 verted to the Iranian creed, and returns home with the 
 Avesta, prepared to teach its doctrines to the dwellers on 
 the Indus and the Ganges. 
 
 § 2. Another legend even more marvelous is that while 
 the Prophet was making one of his many pilgrimages 
 through the country, teaching wherever he could get a 
 hearing, he met two unbelieving princes, whom he be- 
 sought to embrace the faith. They sneered at his en- 
 treaty, and scoflfed at his religion. Thereupon he prayed 
 to Ormazd, and directly a great wind began to roar
 
 TWO SCOFFERS PUNISHED US 
 
 around them, which snatched the scoffers up into the air 
 and held them there until the birds picked out their eyes 
 and tore the flesh from their bones. When the bones had 
 fallen to the earth the Seer admonished the wondering 
 and terrified people that such was the fate of all who 
 scoffed at the good religion of Mazda. Probably the 
 writer of Second Kings, chapter second, had heard of the 
 two scoffing princes and their fate when he wrote the 
 story about the forty-two children down there near Bethel 
 who scoffed at Elisha and said: *'Go up thou Bald- 
 Head." Elisha "turned back and cursed them in the name 
 of the Lord'' ; and "there came forth two she bears, out 
 of the wood, and tore forty and two children of them." 
 This difference must, however, be noticed : The children, 
 the text says, were "little'\ Like all other "little" children, 
 they were no doubt thoughtless, and merely to say to him, 
 "Go up thou bald-head" was no sufficient provocation for 
 Elisha to curse them, and get the she bears to "tear 
 them." This story, if true, makes Elisha a wretch, and 
 if Zoroaster prayed Ormazd for the whirlwind to suspend 
 the two princes in the air while the birds devoured them 
 he must be placed in the same category.* 
 
 * I have tried to find some reason for the children's con- 
 duct, and can only give this : Elijah had just "gone up", 
 and probably the children had heard of "the chariot of 
 fire" and the "horses of fire", and they wanted to see 
 another pyrotechnic display. They told Elisha to "go up." 
 They simply wanted to see the strange performance, and 
 got killed for their curiosity. The story of the two scof- 
 fing princes is a legend. I do not set it down as a fact. 
 But this Elisha matter is in our Bible, and it is set down 
 as a solemn truth. But there are some improbable things
 
 146 HEALING THE BLIND 
 
 A story is told of the Iranian healing a blind man. But 
 he did not merely say, ''Receive thy sight". ^ He told his 
 friends to squeeze the juice of a certain plant (which he 
 named) into the man's eyes and his vision would come 
 back to him. This they did, and behold the man was soon 
 rejoicing in a restored sight. 
 
 Tacitus relates that the Emperor Vespasian, while in 
 Judah healed a blind man^ but he first ordered his physi- 
 cians to examine whether the eye-balls were totally de- 
 stroyed. Finding them dreadfully diseased, but not en- 
 tirely ruined, he ordered remedies, which fortunately 
 proved successful.^ 
 
 § 3. If we follow the Dinkard ^ we make the Iranian 
 Seer not only the founder of a new religion, but in addi- 
 tion, we elevate him to the highest eminence in medical 
 attainments. The Dinkard writers are, however, much 
 like those of the Old and New Testament ; they are given 
 to great exaggerations, and delight in the marvelous. 
 
 The Prophets in both books ^ were gifted with power to 
 
 about it. How did the writer know they were she bears ? 
 Who told him ? They were evidently wild bears, for they 
 came out of the wood. Let, now, the best man in the 
 world get forty-two little children torn by bears, or any 
 other animal, he would swing for it. Prophet, or no 
 prophet, Elisha ought to have been punished. 
 
 2 Jesus said to a blind man : "Receive thy sight, thy 
 faith hath saved thee." Luke, ch. 18, v. 42. 
 
 3 Vespasian was born nine or ten years after Jesus, and 
 his cure was about thirty years after the occurrence men- 
 tioned in Luke, ch. 18. Royalty, and noted persons, at 
 that period were believed to possess preternatural gifts. 
 
 4 Dk. 7, Vol. 47, ch. 5, § 8, S. B. E. 
 
 5 The Bible and Dinkard.
 
 THE ORIGINAL DIVES AND LAZAR US STOR Y 147 
 
 vanquish demons, and sorcerers, and witches ; to cure dis- 
 eases, and call down rain, or declare a drouth.^ Moses 
 could stretch forth his hand, and lo! the locusts would 
 swarm upon Egypt ; and the Dinkard says Zoroaster pos- 
 sessed the same preternatural power. Moses could bring 
 upon Egypt murrain, and flies, and hail, and snakes -J and 
 Zoroaster could banish pestilence and drive away wolves, 
 and spiders, and noxious creatures. He could shake the 
 rain from reluctant clouds to moisten the earth. Similar 
 parallels between Zoroaster and many others of the Jew- 
 ish prophets might also be made. Isaiah had a vision in 
 which he saw his people, a sinful nation, bringing vain 
 oblations, Jerusalem ruined, and Judah fallen, hell en- 
 larged, and the multitude gone astray. 
 
 Jeremiah beheld in a vision his people swallowed up in 
 trouble, ''and his lamentations" are full of tears. Ezekiel 
 also wailed for his people, and Solomon found the "grass- 
 hopper to be a burden." ^ Zoroaster likewise had a vision 
 in which he saw the fearful ebb-tide of his religion. Not 
 only that, but (after the manner of Dives and Lazarus) 
 he caught a glimpse of the other world. There he saw 
 a celebrity, whose life had been infamous, his soul was 
 jaundiced and in hell ; in Mazda's blessed realm a beggar's 
 soul was thriving in Paradise. He beheld evil overshad- 
 owing his land ; myriads of demons, with disheveled hair, 
 rushing into his country to burn and destroy. Regard for 
 
 ^ Elijah, the Tishbite, gave Ahab a terrible drouth. He 
 controlled the rain clouds for three years, ist Kings, ch. 
 I, V. 17. 
 
 ■^ Exodus, ch. 9 and 10. 
 
 ^ Eccle. 12, 7.
 
 148 ZOROASTER'S SEVEN-DAY VISION 
 
 the soul had died out ; the sun was spotted, and the earth 
 barren. Vegetation, trees and shrubs were shriveled. 
 Well might he exclaim, "O, Iran ! return unto Mazda, thy 
 God ; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." ^ But "the 
 wolf period," with covetousness, want, hatred, wrath, lust, 
 envy, and wickedness,^^ passes away, and the glory of 
 the religion of Mazda comes again with the Millennium 
 of Hushedar. For seven days and nights this panoramic 
 view, in which Zoroaster saw all the regions of the earth, 
 floated past the astonished vision of the Seer. "I have 
 seen all this, in a pleasant dream," he said, and ''I am not 
 surfeited." ^^ We are told in Genesis, chapter 28, that 
 Jacob also had a dream, and he saw a ladder reaching 
 up to heaven, and the angels of God were climbing up 
 and down it, and the Lord himself was standing above it. 
 Genesis 28; 12. 
 
 § 4. It should be mentioned, in addition to the above, 
 that in chapter seven, of the Gospel of the Infancy of 
 Jesus, it is there stated that Zoroaster had a vision of 
 the wise men, coming from the East to Jerusalem, with 
 offerings of gold, etc., to the Saviour, and that he prophe- 
 sied the coming of Jesus.^^ 
 
 Prophets, both in the Jewish and in the Iranian religion, 
 are said to have held frequent conferences with the Al- 
 mighty. In fact, those two religions are the only ones 
 where the Lord takes supreme command, and directs the 
 
 ^ Hosea, ch. 14, v. i. 
 
 10 Bahman Yast, ch. 3, § 40. 
 
 11 Bam Yt., § 9. 
 
 ^2 I ought, after all these sayings about visions and 
 prophets, to state that I have very serious doubts whether 
 any man, at any period of the world, could forecast the
 
 ZOROASTER AND MOSES 149 
 
 battle against Satan. In nearly every chapter of the 
 Pentateuch it is, 'The Lord said unto Moses/' or Abra- 
 ham, or somebody; and in the older Avesta, 'The Boun- 
 tiful One (the Lord) told me (Zoroaster) the best word 
 for mortals," etc.^^ And in the later Avesta and the 
 Vendidad, Mazda (the Lord), on request, talks to Zoro- 
 aster and directs him from day to day. Still the Lord is 
 rather partial to Moses, for he directs him without any 
 request whatever. 
 
 Moses could stretch forth his arm toward heaven and 
 call down ''thick darkness in all the land," so dark that 
 people could not see one another for three days.^^ The 
 Lord further honored Moses, for he not only attended his 
 obsequies, but absolutely acted as his undertaker.^^ But 
 he did not put up a tombstone, for "no man knoweth 
 his sepulchre unto this day." As an offset to this, the 
 Lord sent his angel, Vohu-Mano, and piloted Zoroaster 
 up to heaven, for a special conference, where the bril- 
 liancy was so great that he could not see his own 
 shadow.^ ^ 
 
 § 5. As marvelous as these things appear, more won- 
 
 future for any great length of time, and then not in a 
 vision. A clear-headed man might, on a given state of 
 facts, say as to a battle, or a storm, or a drouth, judge 
 something of the immediate future ; possibly, matters con- 
 cerning a nation, he might predict that in a few years, 
 matters would be so-and-so. Possibly he might guess 
 correctly on ten or twenty years. 
 
 13 Yas. 45, §§ 3 to 8, Vol. 31, S. B. E. 
 
 1^ Exodus 10; 22 and 23. 
 
 1^ Deuteronomy, ch. 34. 
 
 16 Zad Spar., ch. 21, § 14, Vol. 47, S. B. E.
 
 150 THE JOSHUA FABLE 
 
 drous things are told of Joshua.^'^ He was battling the 
 Amorites, down there at Gibeon, and had chased them up 
 beyond Beth-horon, with great slaughter, and the day 
 was waning. So he said : "Sun, stand thou still, and thou 
 moon, in the valley of Ajalon." And the sun stood still, 
 and the moon stayed until the Jews had avenged them- 
 selves upon their enemies. So the sun stood still in the 
 midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole 
 day." All this, so that Joshua, and those idol-worship- 
 ping Hebrews, could "avenge themselves upon their ene- 
 mies." 
 
 Now, the sun has eight primary planets, which circle 
 round him. Some of them are one thousand times larger 
 than our little earth. There are eighty-five asteroids, be- 
 sides numerous comets and moons. We know that the 
 sun is rushing through space at the rate of about one mil- 
 lion miles per day, in the direction of the Northern con- 
 stellation, and was going in that direction when Joshua 
 was down there slaying the Amorites. And the sun was, 
 then, as now, carrying Mercury and Venus, Earth and 
 Mars, the asteroids and Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Nep- 
 tune along with him. The sun is six hundred times 
 greater than all of his satellites combined, and he is mov- 
 ing around a center so vast that it takes him about eight- 
 een millions of years to complete his circuit. Yet Joshua, 
 so the record says, halted this whole vast, wonderful con- 
 stellation ; so that he might murder some Amorites. He 
 
 i'^ Joshua, ch. lO, v. 12 to 14. The writer of Joshua 
 believed the Earth to be stationary, and that the sun was 
 the Earth's satellite. He would not have made that mis- 
 take in 1902. He would have been differently inspired.
 
 HUSHEDAR TO SURPASS JOSHUA 151 
 
 not only compelled our sun to stand still (if the record 
 be true), but the puny word of that robber chief, either 
 halted all the millions of worlds about us, at the same 
 time, or threw them out of balance and into confusion. 
 Which was it ? What a fortunate thing for the corn, the 
 barley, and the oats, that he compelled the sun to stand 
 still, only one day. 
 
 We have mentioned, elsewhere, about the three unborn 
 sons of Zoroaster ^^ who are to be born of virgins, at dif- 
 ferent periods of the world, and thus finally to bring 
 about its renovation and the millennium. The first of 
 these sons, Hushedar, when be becomes thirty years of 
 age, is to have a conference with the Lord, and when he 
 comes away from that meeting he will be endowed with 
 such infinite power that he will cry to the sun, ''Stand 
 still!" and the sun will stand still ten days and nights. 
 This miracle is to prove his divine mission, so that the 
 people will fully believe in the good religion of Mazda. 
 Night settles down upon the earth, and Mithra, the Lord 
 of Wide Pastures, cries out: ''O, Hushedar! restorer of 
 the Good Religion! cry to the sun thus: 'Move on,' 
 for the world in all its zones, is dark." ^^ Hushedar orders 
 the sun to "move on", and the sun obeys, and all man- 
 kind believe in the good religion. 
 
 Observe that the sun is not made to stand still, and 
 thus prolong the time for slaughtering mankind, as with 
 Joshua. The Persian fiction was written to give consola- 
 tion to those people in the dark days of their faith. But 
 
 ^^ See note at end of Third Chapter. 
 19 Bahman Yt., ch. 3, §§ 46 and 48.
 
 162 A PROPHESY NOT FULFILLED 
 
 the prophecy hath never yet been fulfilled ; for Hushedar, 
 in his coming, is many centuries behind time. Possibly 
 the Virgin who is to give birth to him hath not yet her- 
 self been born. Evidently there is a miscarriage some- 
 where here, for I must assume that the Persian was fully 
 as much inspired as the writer of the Joshua fiction. 
 These things are mentioned here only to emphasize the 
 extent to which ignorant credulity will go. For the 
 Jews still believe in Joshua, and the remnant of Zoroas- 
 ter's followers are still waiting for Hushedar to come.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SACRIFICES. THE HOLY FIRES. THE TEST AT THE BRIDGE. 
 HELL OF THE JEWS AND IRANIANS. THE MARVELOUS 
 IN ALL RELIGIONS. 
 
 § I. Mankind, as far back as our records go (and we 
 now have printed books ^ at least nine thousand years 
 old) has been a worshipper of God, and "of strange 
 Gods." He has worshipped the sun, the moon, the stars, 
 the clouds. These Gods he could see, and they were the 
 best Gods that he knew. Different nations have wor- 
 shipped different Gods. Egypt was given to animal wor- 
 ship, and particularly to Apis, the sacred bull. The wor- 
 ship of this animal was carried to such a pitch that when 
 the bull died he was laid away with great solemnity in a 
 costly sarcophagus, hewn into solid granite. The He- 
 brews worshipped a Golden Calf, and the struggle of 
 Moses and the prophets was to teach them to serve the 
 true God. 
 
 When destroying winds and furious storms burst upon 
 early man he supposed the Gods were angry, and he 
 poured libations and offered sacrifices to appease them. 
 
 ^ Nippur, a city much older than Babylon, has discov- 
 ered to the world printed records three thousand years 
 beyond Genesis. And Babylon had stamped brick, and 
 a library nine or ten thousand years ago. Let us not 
 falter, even if we find that the worm and the lizard are 
 our distant relatives. 
 
 153
 
 154 VISTASPA SACRIFICES ANIMALS 
 
 Lambs and goats were slain and laid upon bloody altars 
 to appease them. But the Egyptians forbade the use of 
 swine as an offering. The Hebrews, during their long 
 bondage there, copied this and carried it with them, 
 hence their hatred of swine to this day. 
 
 Sometimes these bloody sacrifices reached so far that 
 children were burned to honor an offended Deity. The 
 Jews carried this matter to such an extent "that they sac- 
 rificed unto devils." 2 God was supposed to be more 
 highly pleased with the "firstlings of the flock" than with 
 the fruits of the field.^ And the priests wrote it down 
 that none must appear before the Lord empty handed.^ 
 This matter of blood sacrifice went to great extremes. 
 Solomon, at the dedication of his temple, as we have 
 m^entioned, sacrificed vast numbers of sheep and oxen.^ 
 
 The later Avesta tells us that Vistaspa offered up one 
 hundred horses, one thousand oxen, and ten thousand 
 lambs to propitiate the Goddess of Waters, and obtain 
 victories over the worshippers of Daevas. But nowhere 
 in the older Avesta is there any mention that Zoroaster 
 offered any sacrifice whatever. He tells his people that 
 his doctrines are new% and "till now unheard." 
 
 They are doctrinal vows which will deliver the people 
 from the harmful Lie, and save them to righteousness.^ 
 
 2 Deut. 32 ; 17. 
 
 3 Gen. 4 ; 4 and 5. 
 
 4 Exodus 23; 15. 
 
 ^ Was second Chronicles written after Aban Yast? If 
 so, it explains why Solomon sacrificed so many more 
 animals than Vistaspa. 2d Chronicles, 7. 
 
 ^ Yas. 31, I.
 
 ZOROASTRIANS NOT FIRE-WORSHIPPERS 155 
 
 § 2. There have been those who claim that one of the 
 deities which Zoroaster and his followers worshipped 
 was Fire. And the Persians have, in many books, been 
 called "Fire-Worshippers." So great a Zoroastrian 
 scholar as Max Miiller says: "In many parts of the 
 A vesta fire is spoken of with great reverence, but those 
 who speak of the Zoroastrians as fire worshippers should 
 know that the true followers of Zoroaster abhor that 
 very name." "^ 
 
 Zoroaster himself says : "Fire is an offering of praise." ^ 
 Again, he says : "Thy fire's flame is strong to the Holy 
 Order". The truth about this matter is that fire was'^ 
 used as a personified Symbol of Divine Power. Bread 
 and wine in the Eucharist, are symbols of the body and 
 blood of Jesus ; but his followers do not worship the 
 symbols, neither did the Parsis worship the symbol. Did 
 Moses, when he stood before the flaming Altar, worship 
 the flame? Nay, verily. Nor did the Parsis worship the 
 fires as Holy Beings. 
 
 Now, the "Lord's fire is in Zion," ^ but the devout soul 
 will neither worship the Hre nor Zion, but the Lord only. 
 
 The strongest utterance on this matter is found in the 
 Avesta**^ in the words of Zoroaster himself: "We pray 
 for Thy Fire, O, Ahura! strong through righteousness; 
 swift and powerful, in many wonderful ways, to the 
 house, with joy, receiving it". 
 
 '^ Max Miiller, in his preface to the Upanishads, Vol. i. 
 Part I, P. XXn. 
 8 Yas. 43, § 9. 
 ® Isaiah 31 ; 9. 
 1^ Avesta, ch. 34, § 4.
 
 156 THE COURT EMBRACES THE NEW FAITH 
 
 Now, while it is true that they had their sacred fires, 
 and an angel of fire (Burzim-Mitro), they neither wor- 
 shipped the fires nor the angel. Vistaspa, after his con- 
 version, established a sacred fire on Mount Revand;^^ 
 but there is no record anywhere that he worshipped it. 
 To charge the Parsis with worshipping fire is to charge 
 them with bowing to idols made by their own hands. 
 
 § 3. The Zoroastrian creed was, meanwhile, gaining 
 ground. Just how fast it is impossible to tell. But after 
 Vistaspa's conversion, he (Vistaspa) began to use force, 
 and it is said he killed some of his subjects because they 
 would not accept the creed. Gamaspa, the prime minis- 
 ter, and FrashoStra, his brother, and Zarir, the king's 
 brother, and Hutaosa, the king's wife, and, in fact, the 
 whole court, having accepted the new religion, the people 
 began to fall in line with considerable alacrity. It is 
 always so, the morals or religion of a court is like a dis- 
 ease, infectious. The people in those ignorant times 
 thought they could not be far wrong if they followed the 
 king and his court. Even some of the Turanians became 
 converted ; and Yasna, forty-six, mentions Fryana, a pow- 
 erful border tribe, who accepted the new faith. These, 
 and all others who will cause the settlements to thrive in 
 goodness and piety, the Seer declares, shall, when they ap- 
 proach the Judge's Bridge ^^ not miss their path and fall, 
 but shall dwell with Ahura through joyful deliverance. 
 
 ^1 This mountain is supposed to be in Khorassan, about 
 Lat. 37, Lon. 57, and about 250 miles east of southern 
 extremity of the Caspian. 
 
 12 Kinvad Bridge. See ch. 10, § i.
 
 IS HEAVEN AND HELL MENTAL STATES 157 
 
 And again is repeated the warning, that the conscience of 
 the wicked, smitten with remorse, shall then confront him 
 and cause him to fall into the abyss. 
 
 This frequently bringing to our notice the crucial test 
 at the Bridge is a matter for thoughtful consideration: 
 The righteous, meeting an approving conscience, which 
 gives him gracious welcome and an assurance of safe 
 passage to the land of the leal. The wicked, confronted 
 and convicted, by his burned and seared conscience, sees 
 the awful chasm yawning to swallow him up. Is not 
 this doctrine of meeting one's conscience at the Bridge 
 simply the doctrine that the mind is not only its own 
 accuser, but that it administers its own chastisement? 
 How can there be any other than a mental heaven and a 
 mental hell? If there be, somewhere, in this mighty 
 Universe two such places as heaven and hell, is it not the 
 mind that rejoices in one and suffers in the other? The 
 body does not go to the Bridge, it rots in the grave. The 
 worms eat it, or the flames, or waves destroy it. And, if 
 it be true, as stated in second Peter, chapter 3, that the 
 elements will melt with fervent heat, and the earth and 
 the works therein, be burned up, then all bodies will be 
 so thoroughly incinerated that hell itself can burn them 
 no more. 
 
 But I am told the dead will be resurrected. Will they 
 be resurrected before the earth and its works therein are 
 burned? For if resurrected before the earth is burned, 
 then it will be rather a warm time for the righteous as 
 well as the wicked. If resurrected after the earth is 
 burned up, those poor resurrected bodies will be worse 
 off than Noah's dove; for there will not only be no rest 
 for the soles of the feet, but no ark to go into. Poor
 
 158 NO BODILY RESURRECTION 
 
 things ! Ah ! says some one, ''the Lord will take care of 
 the righteous." Yes, but He burned up their earth, and 
 everything on it; and their resurrected bodies must be 
 fed. How about this ? Well, he is going to make a new 
 heaven and a new earth. Ah ! just so. But it took Him 
 millions of years to make the earth which He destroyed. 
 \^'hat did he burn it up for? You mistake. He made it 
 in six days. Did He? Only six days? Well, the poor 
 resurrected bodies will get pretty hungry even in six 
 days. And, besides, you have not answered why he 
 burned up the six-day world. You mistake again. They 
 are spiritual bodies. If that be so then He did not resur- 
 rect the body that went down into the grave — the flesh 
 and blood body. Oh ! yes. He did. They were all resur- 
 rected, but were changed in a twinkling. Changed! 
 Then what became of the flesh, and blood, bodies ? O ! 
 after the resurrection the mortal bodies are not needed. 
 We have spiritual bodies. But, again, what becomes of 
 the flesh and blood bodies? Are they floating around in 
 space? Please answer. God, we are told, will see to 
 that. The resurrected will not need them. Then, why 
 were those bodies resurrected at all? 
 
 But St. Paul says : 'Tf there be no resurrection of the 
 dead, then is Christ not risen." ^^ The answer is: If 
 Christ was merely a man, then his body did not rise; if 
 He was a God, it proves nothing. It is a flagrant non 
 sequiter. 
 
 § 4. The New Testament tells us that "the wicked 
 shall be severed from the just." Now, what is to happen 
 
 ^3 1st Corinthians, ch. 15, v. 13.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN HELL 159 
 
 to their bodies pi* Are they to be resurrected; and, if so, 
 for what purpose ? The John Calvin stripe of Christians 
 will reply that they were resurrected to meet their fate — 
 their doom. What is their doom? Jesus says (?) that 
 at the end of the world, all those who offend, and them 
 which do iniquity, shall be cast into a furnace of fire, and 
 *'there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." ^^ Even 
 angels are cast down to hell and put in chains and dark- 
 ness.^ ^ But the eyes of the wicked are not burned out; 
 for the rich man, in hell, lifted up his eyes and saw Laz- 
 arus, afar off, in Abraham's bosom. It is possible that 
 the rich man may have just dropped in and the ''flame 
 which tormented him" had not yet burned his eyes out. 
 Perhaps this whole thing is only a figure of speech. 
 
 There is, however, communication between heaven and 
 hell ; for Abraham and the rich man held an extended 
 conversation, wherein Abraham informed the sinner that 
 there was ''a great gulf fixed between the two places" 
 which nobody could cross.^*^ But ''the fire is everlasting^^ ', 
 and that there should be no misunderstanding about this 
 matter it is twice repeated in the same chapter.^ ^ 
 
 1^ Matt, ch. 13; 49. 
 
 15 Matt. 13, V. 40 to 50. 
 
 1^ There is a little discrepancy here between the hell 
 into which the angels were thrust (2d Peter, ch. 4), and 
 the rich man's hell. He was in "the flame", and flames 
 mean light, brightness. The angels were chained in dark- 
 ness. Darkness is the Persian hell. 
 
 '^'^ Luke, ch. 16, v. 19 to 31. The reader will notice that 
 the Persian Bridge fable appears in this "Gulf fable, also 
 of Abraham. 
 
 18 Matt., ch. 25, v. 41 to 46.
 
 160 IN THE PERSIAN HELL HAVE FOUL FOOD 
 
 Now, as we have elsewhere stated, Zoroaster's hell did 
 not burn. He says: ''for the wicked the worst life; for 
 the Holy, the best mental state." ^^ Again he speaks of 
 the long wounding of the wicked, and of the two bat- 
 tling sides ; 20 the truthful and the liar ; and for the liar, 
 long life shall be his lot in darkness, foul shall be his 
 food. ''Such a Ufe, O! ye vile, your own evil deeds will 
 bring upon you." 21 It must not be overlooked that in the 
 Persian hell they keep them on foul food, but the Chris- 
 tian hell is so severe that they will not give them even a 
 "drop of water." 
 
 The fact is, the Christian hell is full of contradictions. 
 How long can a man live in the flames and without water ? 
 Not everlastingly. But, I am told that all these hell mat- 
 ters, in Matthew and Luke, etc., are merely parables or 
 figures of speech. It must be said in reply that they are 
 set forth by the same authority, and with the same 
 earnestness, that heaven is promised to the just. Possi- 
 bly, therefore, all that is said about heaven is simply a 
 figure of speech. Perhaps Zoroaster's foul food for the 
 wicked, and weal and immortality for the righteous, are 
 parables, or figures of speech. The Persian says the 
 wicked are a seed from the evil mind; they are children 
 of perversion, astray from the living Lord, and His 
 righteousness, and that the evil spirit enters and governs 
 them.22 Paul copies him almost exactly when he calls 
 
 19 Yas. 30, § 4- 
 20Yas. 31, § 3. 
 21 Yas. 31. §§ 20 and 21. 
 22Yasna 32, §§ 3 to 5.
 
 ALL RELIGIONS DEAL IN THE MARVELOUS 161 
 
 Elymas, the sorcerer, "a child of the devil, full of all 
 subtlety and mischief, perverting the ways of the 
 Lord." 23 Jesus, himself, follows Zoroaster, when he 
 says, 'The works of the world (the unrighteous) are 
 evil." 24 
 
 § 5. All religions, as we have said, deal in the mar- 
 velous, but the dogmas of the Jewish and Christian relig- 
 ions surpass all others in the extravagance of their claims 
 and in the arrogance with which they are put forth. I 
 shall only notice one or two of the ridiculous and absurd 
 claims of the old Jewish religion. Does any sane man 
 really believe that the Almighty spake unto Moses, "face 
 to face, as a man speaketh unto a friend ?" ^^ Is it prob- 
 able that the Lord, on Mount Sinai, gave unto Moses 
 "two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the 
 finger of GodJ'^^ The Lord never does for man what man 
 can do for himself. Moses was skilled in all the learning 
 of Egypt, and he, himself, no doubt, wrote those com- 
 mandments. Is it true, as Moses states, that ''the tables 
 were the work of God, and the writing was the writing 
 of God, graven upon the tables?" 27 Moses, we know, 
 got mad and broke the tables which the Lord had written 
 with his finger; and then the Lord directed him to write 
 them after the tenor of the first ones; and it took him 
 forty days, and he did not have anything to eat or drink 
 in all that time.28 
 
 23 Acts 13, V. 6 to 10. 
 2"* John 7 ; 7. 
 
 25 Exodus 33; II. 
 
 26 Exodus 31 ; 18. 
 
 27 Exodus 33; II. 
 
 28 Exodus 34; 28,
 
 162 RELIGION IS A MATTER OF EDUCATION 
 
 We are educated from childhood to believe these 
 things (at least, I was), and after mature years, it seems 
 almost desecration to push these idols from their pedes- 
 tals. There are just as improbable things in the Persian 
 Bible, told of Zoroaster, and yet we give them no credit 
 whatever, simply because we have not been taught to be- 
 lieve them. Now, while many men have been valiant 
 for falsehood, they merely mistook her form for that 
 glorious Goddess of Truth. They simply erred, not wil- 
 fully, but through false education, or false reasoning. 
 Shall we condemn them? Shall we roast them in a fur- 
 nace of fire? Or shall we have charity "which is not 
 puffed up, and which thinketh no evil ?"
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 EGYPT AND IRAN. CHRISTIAN RELIGION BASED ON 
 ZOROASTRIANISM. 
 
 § I. Whence came the idea into the world of punish- 
 ment at Kinvad Bridge ? Who brought it here ? Was it 
 some poet, who Hved before Zoroaster, or some early 
 Milton, whose fertile brain pictured Gods and Devils at 
 war? Of this we are certain: the Gathas precede any 
 other mention of it from any source, Egypt and India 
 possibly excepted. If Zoroaster originated it, he cer- 
 tainly drew an awful picture of the unpenitent falling into 
 that frightful abyss. Perhaps the picture itself is only the 
 climax of his theory of two contending spirits, and two 
 striving classes, which he saw about him ; the honest till- 
 ers of the soil, and the robber bandits who slaughtered 
 the herds and laid waste the fields. Was his mind poeti- 
 cal as well as philosophical ; and did he paint the Bridge, 
 and the terrifying chasm beneath it, to frighten the rob- 
 bers? 
 
 He clearly taught the immortality of the soul, which 
 Moses did not do. Did the Iranian learn this from the 
 Egyptians and did he transplant it into his own country? 
 If the Chronology of our Bible be correct ( ?), Noah and 
 his Ark were afloat about four thousand two hundred 
 years ago. At that time the priests of Egypt were teach- 
 ing the immortality of the soul.^ They were not inter- 
 
 ^ The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was in 
 
 163
 
 164 EGYPT GAVE THE SOUL A TRIAL 
 
 rupted by the flood, because it did not reach as far as 
 Egypt. 
 
 Osiris, the good God, had his angels or helpers; and 
 Set, the Evil Deity, was there with his devils. But the 
 flood was not. Had the religion of the Nile, before Zoro- 
 aster's day, penetrated to the Oxus, and did he merely 
 change the name of Osiris to Ahura-Mazda, and Set to 
 Angra-Mainyu ? We have said, in a former chapter, that 
 the separation of the Aryan tribes took place fully forty 
 three hundred years ago. How far beyond that time, it 
 is impossible at present to state. But if Zoroaster was on 
 earth four thousand years ago, he may have heard of 
 Osiris and Set ; of immortality ; and of the Judge of the 
 Dead ; and of sacrifices ; ^ and oblations. All those mat- 
 ters were familiar to the people of Egypt at least forty- 
 three centuries ago. But if Zoroaster borrowed from 
 them he reversed some things of vital importance. 
 
 The Egyptians were religious but not excessively 
 truthful. They did not confess and repent of their sins, 
 as in other religions, but met all charges with a flat 
 denial. The soul, after death, was supposed to present 
 itself before Osiris for trial. Set, the demon God, was 
 there to prefer charges, and seize the wicked. Here, in- 
 stead of admitting faults, and asking clemency, the soul 
 of the dead, however bad his life may have been, replied : 
 "I have not lied ; I have not caused suffering ; I have not 
 
 the world about 2,380 years B. C. That is about 4,282 
 years ago. It cannot at present be traced much beyond 
 that. 
 
 2 The Jews learned of sacrifices, and copied from the 
 Egyptians.
 
 THE ORIGIN OF EGYPT'S RELIGION 165 
 
 murdered nor committed fraud; I have not cheated by 
 false weights, nor committed adultery, nor stolen ; I have 
 loved God, clothed the naked, fed the poor, given water 
 to the thirsty/' Every one answered all questions favor- 
 ably, or he was snatched and carried off to the under- 
 world. Did Zoroaster change this trial of the soul before 
 Osiris to the trial at the Bridge ? If he did he compelled 
 the guilty soul to speak its own condemnation. In nearly 
 every Gatha he assails the Lie-Demon: "Abjure the Evil 
 Mind, and that lying sin, which is, alas! a familiar fault 
 indulged in by the people. Banish falsehood from among 
 you. I abjure it and call earnestly on all to follow the 
 straight paths of truth, thereby gaining life in the Blessed 
 Realm." ^ 
 
 § 2. Now, it is possible, but somewhat questionable, 
 that the Iranian Seer lived two thousand four hundred 
 years B. C. But on the other hand, ethnologists find, in 
 the language of Egypt, so very many Sanscrit words that 
 they look to India as the cradle of Egypt's language. 
 Moreover, the skulls of the oldest mummies are exactly 
 like the skulls of the Caucasian race. The pendulum thus 
 swings back to the far East. The reasoning is nearly the 
 same, as if some great cataclysm should overtake the 
 earth and destroy the evidences of civilization so far as to 
 make it doubtful whether the English language was 
 formed in England or America ; and the proof should be 
 found, that in the sixteenth century it was the language 
 of England. And the further proof found, that Ply- 
 mouth Rock and Jamestown were not settled until 1620 
 
 ^Yas. 33, §§ 4to8.
 
 166 ZOROASTER AND EGYPT 
 
 by people from England. The evidence, therefore, would 
 be irresistible that England was the birthplace of that 
 language. 
 
 The proof in favor of India being the cradle of the 
 Egyptian tongue may not be as certain as that England 
 is the original home of the English language, but it may 
 be added that no Egyptian words are found in the Hindu 
 tongue, but Hindu words are plentiful in Egypt. How 
 did they get there ? While language is perpetually chang- 
 ing, the roots of all languages remain permanent. San- 
 scrit, itself, is certainly the daughter of a language so 
 old that we know neither its age nor its origin. So that 
 while it is possible that Zoroaster may have copied from 
 Egypt, it is also possible that Egypt borrowed from him 
 forty-three centuries ago. But Egypt has a vast record, 
 and if her chronology be correct the probabilities are 
 against the Iranian. For her first Dynasty, that of 
 Menes, according to M. Mariette, began five thousand 
 and four years B. C, or nearly one thousand years before 
 the world was created, according to Genesis. Beyond 
 Menes, the centuries stretch out indefinitely, and some 
 venturesome chronologists have fixed her date more than 
 nine thousand years before Jesus came. It may be that 
 neither borrowed from the other ; that each originated its 
 own. 
 
 The wild Indians of the West, and the wilder men in. 
 the Islands of the Ocean, who never heard of Egypt or 
 Iran, have their deities and their religions. Did they 
 borrow; and, if so, from whom did they borrow? The 
 untutored Indian of to-day ''sees God in the clouds, and 
 hears him in the wind," as did the Aryans and Egyptians
 
 RELIGION SLOWLY CHANGING 167 
 
 eight or ten thousand years ago. Only a century or so 
 back, if a man had made the assertion that much of the 
 Christian religion was borrowed from the Persians he 
 would have been most fortunate to have escaped personal 
 injury, and he might have lost his head. Religious intol- 
 erance, in past centuries, has hunted to death victims by 
 the scores, by the hundreds, by the thousands, and by the 
 tens of thousands. Within a century mobs have howled 
 after what they termed heretics and fanatics, like wolves 
 on the scent of blood.^ 
 
 Religions, as we have said, are not born; they grow; 
 they change with the changing centuries. What a revo- 
 lution did Jesus make in the old Mosaic religion. But 
 does any one believe that if Jesus had not been born that 
 we would still be slaughtering goats and rams to appease 
 an angry God? The religion of to-day is less blood- 
 thirsty than the Calvinism of four hundred years ago. 
 And as bad as Calvin was, he was surely an improvement 
 on many of the Popes who lived before him. 
 
 Our religion is slowly changing, and in the centuries 
 to come we shall have, if we keep on, a religion without 
 furnaces of fire, and lakes of fire and brimstone, and Kin- 
 vad Bridges for the wicked. 
 
 § 3. But man, with all his infirmities of mind and 
 heart, has climbed out of the depths so far that nearly all 
 
 ^ It is probable that if Paul had not written the eighth 
 chapter of Romans, all that Isaiah and Matthew had said 
 about "election" would have dropped to the ground. How 
 did Paul know that God ''elected" certain ones and passed 
 others by?
 
 168 MAN'S GOD OF 1900 YEARS AGO IS ON TRIAL 
 
 transgressions are punished only with a view to reforma- 
 tion. Zoroaster lived in too early a day to see this. Shall 
 man be more gentle, loving and forgiving than his Crea- 
 tor? But even when man inflicts the death penalty it is 
 roses and sunshine by the side of roasting everlastingly 
 in a furnace of fire. The truth about this matter is, that 
 man of the twentieth century is going to put the God of 
 the first century and the God of the nineteen hundred 
 years ago on trial. Every new religion, and every refor- 
 mation of an old religion, puts the God of the old re- 
 ligion on trial, and from century to century this trial will 
 go on. It will go on as long as the question is asked: 
 Is there, after the death of the body of the wicked, a 
 burning in a furnace of fire? That question is, and 
 must ever be, of such surpassing importance to mankind 
 that he will not rest with the supposed prophecies, and 
 promises, and threatenings of ancient days. 
 
 The Iranian may ask: How did Zoroaster find out 
 about the abyss, and the Bridge, and the demons under 
 it? Every thinking man will inquire: How did Jesus 
 know about the furnace of fire, and about Lazarus in 
 Abraham's bosom, and the rich man in hell? Who told 
 him about those things? Is it any wonder that some of 
 us doubt, when his personal friends,^ his very disciples, 
 doubted ? 
 
 When we are told "that his body was carried up into 
 
 5 Matt. 28; 17. 
 
 ^ Jesus says, after his crucifixion, when he ate the fish 
 and the honey-comb, that he is not a spirit ; Luke 24 ; 39 
 to 51, and "he was carried up into heaven".
 
 CREATION'S FINAL CHANGE 169 
 
 heaven," why should we not doubt? How did Zoroas- 
 ter know that ''Mazda established evil for evil, and happy 
 blessings for the good?" And that in Creation's final 
 change, Mazda, ''with bounteous spirit, and Sovereign 
 power, will adjudge evil to the evil, and blessings to the 
 righteous" ? ^ Here is the earliest mention of the Lord's 
 coming, at creation's final dissolution, to be found in any 
 writing. Even those who claim that the Iranian Seer 
 lived only about six hundred years before the Christian 
 era must admit that Zoroaster makes the first and earliest 
 direct and unqualified prediction or guess that the earth 
 shall pass away. Jesus copies the Seer, when he says 
 that the tares are children of the wicked one, and that at 
 the end of the world the angels will gather the good into 
 the kingdom, where they will shine forth as the sun, but 
 the wicked shall be cast into a furnace of fire. Zoroaster 
 does not particularize so much as Jesus, but the thoughts 
 are the same ; and those thoughts and words had been in 
 the world, and had been considered and believed by many 
 millions of people for centuries before the man of Galilee 
 came. 
 
 The Zoroastrian faith was the religion of Cyrus, the 
 Persian King, who released the Jews from their Baby- 
 lonian captivity. Among the captives were the prophets 
 
 "' This is a remarkable passage (Gathas Yas. 43, §§ 5 
 and 6) in that here is the first direct mention that there 
 shall be a final change in the creation. Christ and the 
 apostles, from this hint, preached that the world should 
 be destroyed. Jesus, in Matthew 13, 37 to 55, uses Zoro- 
 aster's idea.
 
 170 EZRA AND EZEKIEL IN BABYLON 
 
 and scribes, Ezra and Ezekiel, and many of the learned 
 of Jerusalem were there. Their captivity lasted for a 
 long generation. Those captives, we know, on their re- 
 turn, were filled with Persian ideas about religion, and 
 those ideas afterwards cropped out plainly in many ways. 
 The Persian Bible, the Avesta, was in Babylon and in 
 Persepolis written in gold letters on twelve thousand ox- 
 hides. Persian idjeas of God's dealings with the just and 
 the unjust had floated along down the stream ; were con- 
 sidered and believed; and, finally, were written down by 
 Matthew in chapter thirteen. 
 
 § 4. Persia, from Cyrus onward to the battle of Mara- 
 thon, was the greatest and most civilized and powerful 
 nation on earth. Rome was yet in her infancy. Modern 
 Europe was not yet born. Greece was not a unit, her 
 people were divided, and only the terror of Persian arms, 
 for a brief period, held them together. Persia gave law 
 and religion at that time to the world, and that religion 
 was the gospel of Zoroaster. Jesus afterwards, whether 
 God or man, followed it; preached it; emphasized it in 
 every possible way; and was finally nailed to the cross 
 for it. 
 
 With all due honor to him who could die for opinion's 
 sake, how was it, or how could it be possible for Jesus 
 to announce a better or purer doctrine than that so often 
 repeated by Zoroaster, his predecessor? viz.: "Good 
 thoughts, good words and good deeds". Do not those 
 three things embrace all there is, or can be, in any re- 
 ligion ? Can the most devout saint add anything to them ? 
 "Yes, he can," says some one ; "he can love Jesus." But 
 if he has good thoughts he will love not only Jesus, but
 
 yESUS' HELL IS BARBAROUS 171 
 
 all the world besides, and God supremely. If he has good 
 thoughts he is pure in heart. Now, good thoughts are the 
 very foundations upon which are builded good words and 
 deeds, always and everywhere. 
 
 Love God and thy neighbor, are the two great 
 commandments.* But how can a man do either unless he 
 be first filled with good thoughts? Paul preached the 
 same doctrine; and all true religions in the world are 
 builded upon Zoroaster's three all-embracing words. 
 
 The trouble with Jesus' religion (and there is a trouble 
 with it) is that it makes God out a very demon in punish- 
 ment. The infliction, by roasting a poor wretch for a 
 hundred millions of years, and when that time shall have 
 elapsed, that he will then only be, as it were, at the door- 
 steps of his fate, is too awful to believe. Could the very 
 old Devil do worse ; could any monster be more cruel ? 
 Could a mother be happy in glory, knowing that her son 
 or daughter was screaming in the flames? Zoroaster's 
 hell, as we have said, is terrible ; but it is far less barbarous 
 than Jesus' hell. 
 
 Let us close this chapter by adding, that it must be that 
 God is a God of mercy, and that remembering our infirmi- 
 ties, He will deal with us as a father dealeth with an err- 
 ing son. Here we see "through a glass darkly". There, 
 if there be a there, we will prune our faults, and try to 
 fill our minds with good thoughts which will bring a 
 plentiful harvest of good words and deeds. 
 
 ^ Matt. 22 ; 36 to 40.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DEATH OF ZOROASTER. EXITS OF PROPHETS. 
 
 AGE. DOWNFALL OF ZOROASTRIAN FAITH. 
 
 The final victory for Vistaspa's forces mentioned in 
 chapter fourteen gave peace to Iran for fifteen or twenty 
 years, possibly longer. But another bloody contest is at 
 hand. Arjasp, during this period of peace, has been busy 
 gathering a great army for a second invasion. He knows 
 that the brave Isfander, by reason of calumnies, false and 
 malicious, is languishing in a dungeon. Vistaspa is en- 
 joying an indolent peace in Seistan. Balkh has but a 
 small garrison, and the opportunity is inviting. Forth- 
 with Arjasp launches his thunderbolts of war. Balkh 
 is stormed and taken, and Lorhasp, the father of Vis- 
 taspa, is slain. Eighty priests, at the altar are cut down, 
 and with them perishes Zoroaster, the father and immor- 
 tal founder of the Iranian religion, his blood extinguish- 
 ing the sacred flame, and his dying lips, we may well be- 
 lieve, invoking Ahura-Mazda to shelter the new-born 
 faith. 
 
 In this emergency, Isfander is called from his prison 
 and placed in command of Iran's forces. He is a born 
 warrior, and his inspiring presence so nerves the defeated 
 troops that they turn upon Arjasp and overwhelm him 
 with disastrous defeat. But Isfander falls at the moment 
 of victory. Arjasp is, however, so signally beaten that 
 
 172
 
 ZOROASTER SLAIN 173 
 
 with the remnant of his army he flees back to Turan, 
 never again to make war on the Iranians or their faith. 
 
 If we credit the Dabistan^ a Turk, named Turbaratur, 
 rushed upon the Prophet, sword in hand, but the Seer 
 could fight as well as pray. For a time he defended him- 
 self with his rosary, but at last fell pierced to the heart 
 by his adversary's sword.^ 
 
 The Avesta was not as kind to Zoroaster as Deuteron- 
 omy was to Moses; for although he fought the Lord's 
 battles manfully to the end, and accomplished a great 
 work for the Iranians, still the Lord did not, as with 
 Moses, even go to his funeral.^ 
 
 After Zoroaster's death many marvelous versions of 
 his exit crept into history. This at once stamps him as a 
 most extraordinary character. For when he went down 
 it was not merely a ripple on the surface of the stream, 
 and then eternal silence, but there was tumult, noise, and 
 confusion. Distant nations heard the sound of his name, 
 and its echoes and reverberations are yet sounding along 
 the shores of time. One writer makes the Seer so extrav- 
 agantly great that in his life time he, with magic art, 
 ruled the stars, conjured with them until they became so 
 restive under his power that one of them, in a fit of jeal- 
 
 1 The Dabistan is a Persian work published about three 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 2 Dadistin, ch. y2, § 8, has it that Tur I Bradrash, the 
 enemy of Zoroaster's childhood, finally killed him. But 
 I doubt it. It would make Tur very old to be in an army. 
 
 3 Deut., ch. 34. I never could understand, if the Lord 
 acted as undertaker, why he did not put up a tombstone 
 for Moses.
 
 174 MANY MIRACULOUS EXITS 
 
 ousy, shot forth a stream of fire which consumed his 
 body, but charioted away his soul to heaven.* 
 
 § 2. There have been many miraculous exits since 
 Zoroaster's distant day. Elijah, the Tishbite, about nine 
 hundred years B. C, mounted in a chariot of fire.'^ But 
 he had fiery steeds, and they, no doubt, hauled him up in 
 safety. He probably was not afraid to trust himself to a 
 chariot of fire, for he had likely heard of the angel who 
 came to see Mrs. Manoah about Samson, who, when the 
 interview was over, ascended in a flame. But Mr. Man- 
 oah, thinking- the angel would get burned to death in the 
 flame, was terribly frightened and fell down on his face, 
 and said to his wife : 'Sve shall surely die." ^ But they 
 did not die, for the scriptures tell us that "the woman 
 later on bore a son, and called his name Samson." 
 
 Tacitus mentions an affair equally strange. A preter- 
 natural being, above the size of man, he says, appeared 
 unto Ptolemy in a vision, commanding him to bring the 
 Statue of the God, Serapis, then in Pontus, into Egypt. 
 That by this compliance prosperity would come to the 
 Kingdom, and greatness to the nation. The vision was 
 then seen instantly mounting to heaven in a column of 
 fire.7 
 
 Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, who lived in the 
 fifth century B. C., was also called away in a blaze of 
 
 * Clementine Recog., written about the time of our 
 canonical Gospels. It was not unusual, in those days, 
 for Seers to go up in chariots of fire. 
 
 ^ 2d Kings, ch. 2, v. ii. 
 
 ^Judges, ch. 13; 26. 
 
 ^ Tacitus history. Book 4, § 83.
 
 ZOROASTER 77 WHEN HE DIED 175 
 
 glory. But those who doubted had their doubts con- 
 firmed by finding a peculiar pair of sandals, such as he 
 wore, thrown up by an eruption of Etna. Thence, they 
 said, "he has thrown himself into the crater of the vol- 
 cano, hoping that people will believe him translated." ^ 
 
 Tacitus was born about twenty years after Jesus was 
 crucified, and wrote contemporary history, yet the ordi- 
 nary Bible reader will stoutly discredit his story of the 
 supernatural, and at the same time will eagerly gulp 
 down the fables of Elijah and Manoah. If asked the 
 reason for this, the only answer we can give is that it is 
 all a matter of education. 
 
 § 3. Zoroaster died at about the age of seventy-seven 
 years ; that is, fifty-seven years after his acceptance of the 
 religion.^ Having labored during that long period in 
 instructing his people to cultivate good thoughts to all 
 mankind. This would, in his philosophy, check wars and 
 tumults and finally banish sin and suffering from the 
 earth. 
 
 The great victory, mentioned above, whereby Arjasp 
 and his army were defeated and driven back to Turan in 
 utter ruin, compensated somewhat for the death of the 
 Prophet. For, we may well believe, that if the Iranian 
 army had been overthrown, dispersed and destroyed, and 
 
 ^ Empedocles lived about two thousand four hundred 
 years ago, yet his law of identity is only lately becoming 
 emphasized. He insisted that all life, including plants 
 and animals, are but links in an extended chain. That 
 man himself is but a link in that chain, which connects 
 him with higher orders of life, angels, etc. 
 
 » Dinkard, ch. 7, § 12.
 
 176 IF PERSIA HAD BEEN DEFEATED 
 
 the Prophet slain, there would have been a sudden ter- 
 mination of the Zoroastrian faith and creed. The world's 
 welfare was, no doubt, promoted by the success of the 
 Iranians. Waterloo gave peace to Europe, but the vic- 
 tory over the Turans was worth to the world innumer- 
 able Waterloos. 
 
 With the Iranians defeated neither the Persian re- 
 ligion nor the Avesta would scarcely have been heard of. 
 The map of the world, and the religion of the world, 
 would have been changed. Bandits and plundering would 
 have been the order of the day for centuries. There 
 would have been no Cyrus to send the Jews home from 
 exile. In fact, there would have been no Persian nation 
 to subdue them and carry them off into exile. Ezra and 
 Esdras, Nehemiah and Tobit, would have sung in differ- 
 ent strains. Ezekiel would not have had his vision of the 
 valley of dry-bones, and the resurrection of the body.^^ 
 And, not carrying these matters too far, would Jesus have 
 known anything about the resurrection if the Avesta had 
 never been written ? 
 
 Had not Iran won on that bloody field, the Christian 
 religion would to-day, probably, be following, with some 
 modifications, the old Mosaic creed; for Zoroaster's doc- 
 trines, intensified as to punishment, and heaven shown in 
 somewhat plainer colors, would not have come down to 
 us. But with Arjasp defeated the banner of Zoroastrian- 
 ism was lifted on high. It is certain that his religion was 
 a better one than that which it displaced. Great multi- 
 tudes came to believe in it, and for more than twelve 
 
 ^^ Ezekiel, ch. 37.
 
 THE ARABS 177 
 
 hundred years it continued to be the faith, hope and solace 
 of millions of mankind. 
 
 § 4. But evil times at length befell the worshippers of 
 Mazda. The Arabs, in the great battle of Nehavend, 
 which took place about twelve hundred and sixty years 
 ago, near the road from Babylon to Ecbatana, defeated 
 the Persians so utterly that, thereafter, province after 
 province yielded to the conqueror, until finally the Per- 
 sian nation and Zoroaster's religion went into a decline.^ ^ 
 
 Within one hundred years after this defeat the Arabs, 
 by fire and by sword, by bribery of the nobles, by perse- 
 cutions and slaughter of the people, succeeded in fasten- 
 ing their religion upon most of Mazda's worshippers. 
 Thenceforward their numbers gradually declined until 
 now there is but a mere remnant of less than twenty 
 thousand, of whom most of them reside in or near Bom- 
 bay. This much may be said of them : They are a sober, 
 industrious, moral people. They are generous and truth- 
 ful to the utmost. They are good citizens, leading quiet, 
 blameless lives. With them good thoughts, words and 
 deeds are the keys which will unlock the doors of the 
 Kingdom. In truth, they are the lessening remnants of 
 a once great and attractive faith, which, at one period, 
 came near overmastering the world. 
 
 Had the Persians defeated Miltiades at Marathon, who 
 can deny but that Zoroaster's religion would have 
 marched triumphantly across Europe? Had James H 
 defeated William, Prince of Orange, in July, 1690, at the 
 battle of the Boyne, the Catholic religion, instead of the 
 
 1^ The battle of Nehavend was fought A. D. 642.
 
 178 THE ARABS 
 
 Protestant, might have become the ruling faith of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Thus, it is seen, that the destinies of religions, as well 
 as of empires, are sometimes suspended in the balance, 
 to be decided by the strongest battalions. A few shovels 
 full of earth, at the Great South Pass, in the Rocky 
 Mountains, turns one stream towards the Pacific and 
 another towards the Gulf. The destiny of men and na- 
 tions, and their religions, at times, is changed just as 
 easily. 
 
 Is it fate that bears nations, as well as individuals, ir- 
 resistibly on, and determines their lot? Or does blind 
 chance mix in our affairs, and control us in spite of our 
 buffetings? This much we may conclude, that had the 
 Persians won in the battle with the Arabs, the world 
 would have been better for the victory.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE RELIGION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA, AND THE OLD AND 
 NEW TESTAMENTS BRIEFLY COMPARED. 
 
 § I. Have our ideas, hopes and beliefs about that 
 mysterious ''undiscovered country," beyond the final val- 
 ley and shadow, taken shape and form, and become a 
 fixed part of our civilization, because that great and al- 
 most mythical Iranian imagined or pictured the beauties 
 of the eternal shore ? Did he teach the world a fairy tale, 
 to soothe the sorrows, and add to the joys, of those whom 
 he saw about him? Was it the imagination of the poet, 
 "which, from airy nothingness gave to Heaven a local 
 habitation and a name?" 
 
 Of two things we are certain: The Zamyad-Yast and 
 the Bundahis teach plainly the doctrine of the resurrec- 
 tion.^ The Gathas again and again teach that the right- 
 eous shall live in the happy abode of Ahura, and that 
 destruction shall fall upon the wicked.^ But the Gathas, 
 while not directly specifying that the body shall be raised, 
 leave it somewhat in doubt whether the body, or only 
 the soul, shall enjoy immortal life with Ahura. The 
 later Avesta, and the Bundahis, mention the body as be- 
 
 1 Bundahis, ch. 30, and Vol. 23, S. B. E., pp. 291 and 
 292. 
 
 2 Yas. 30, Yas. 28, Yas. 31, Yas. 32, Yas. 33. It is 
 not necessary to recite page after page. They all teach it. 
 
 179
 
 V 
 
 180 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 
 
 ing resurrected. They saw that the mind acted, or acts, 
 only through the body. If there be no body, they thought 
 there could be no mind. Later writers would say there 
 are spiritual bodies. But even if there be such things as 
 spiritual bodies, they can manifest themselves only 
 through the mediumship in this life of flesh and blood 
 bodies. Luke tells us that "a spirit hath not flesh and 
 bones." ^ We may reply that if the living bodies of men 
 contain spirits, then we see every day spirits inhabiting 
 bodies of flesh and blood. 
 
 Did Zoroaster teach, or mean to teach, that we can get 
 along in Ahura's realm without flesh and bones? He is 
 not specific. But he is specific in teaching immortality. 
 He did not get that idea from Moses, for there is not a 
 single trace of the doctrine of a future life in the Penta- 
 teuch. Not only that, but the doctrine of the immortality 
 of the soul was taught in Egypt two thousand three hun- 
 dred and eighty years before Jesus came. It must, there- 
 fore, have been taught in Egypt nearly one thousand 
 years before Moses was born. He was educated there, in 
 the King's Palace, and must have heard of the Ritual 
 of the Dead. He must have known of the Hall of Two 
 Truths, and Osiris sitting in judgment. He was learned 
 in all the lore of Egypt, and therefore knew that the 
 Egyptians held to the doctrine that the soul completed a 
 circuit once in three thousand years. That during that 
 circuit, it must pass through all animals, insects, fishes, 
 birds, etc.,^ before it again enters the body of man. But 
 
 3 Luke 24; 39. 
 
 * Herodotus 2; 123.
 
 RETRIBUTION 181 
 
 as long as the body was preserved the soul did not have 
 to commence its circuit. Embalming, therefore, saved it 
 many years of degradation in those lower forms of life. 
 
 Moses knew that the Egyptians did not believe or teach 
 the doctrine of retribution for the sins of the body. As 
 Moses did not teach the immortality of the soul, it was 
 probably because he disbelieved in it. But we are certain 
 that he did not believe in animal worship, for he ordered 
 three thousand Israelites slain for worshipping Aaron's 
 golden calf. (Exodus 32.) 
 
 There is one thing, however, which he copied from 
 r the Egyptians. The name of God, in their tongue, is 
 - Nuk-pu-Nuk. In Exodus, chapter three, it is "I am that 
 J I am'\ which in Egyptian is Nuk-pu-Nuk. 
 
 § 2. Moses had neither devil nor hell in his religiqn. 
 There was no need or use for them, as a sinner could ex- 
 piate, or atone, for all his sins by sacrificing a goat, or 
 bull, or a ram. **Moses said unto Aaron, go unto the 
 altar and offer thy sin-offering, and thy burnt offering, 
 and make atonement for thyself, and for thy people, as 
 the Lord commanded." ^ 
 
 Zoroaster's religion was more difficult He had devils, 
 big and little, without number; and, as we have seen, 
 Kinvad Bridge, and Hell beneath it. With Moses, the 
 only punishment the wicked received was in this life, in 
 controversies with the righteous. The judges, in such 
 cases, were ordered to justify the righteous, and condemn 
 the wicked, and they might order him beaten with forty 
 stripes.^ Neither did Moses have any sympathy with the 
 
 ^ Leviticus, 9 '.y. 
 «Deut. XX, -5:1.
 
 182 WHAT PAUL AND ZOROASTER TAUGHT 
 
 poor, for he ordered that the poor man should not be 
 countenanced in his caused Zoroaster's battle was against 
 the wicked, and he longed to be to them a "strong tor- 
 mentor and avenger." * Paul copied him, for he says that 
 Jesus will come "in flaming fire, and take vengeance on 
 them that know not the Lord." ^ When the first book of 
 Samuel was written, the author thereof copied the Iranian 
 idea of Hell, for he says "the wicked shall be silent in 
 darkness." But as we approach New Testament times^'' 
 Zoroaster's ideas became more and more plainly incorpo- 
 rated into Jewish thought. In second Esdras, the right- 
 eous are promised an inheritance of good things, but the 
 ungodly shall perish.^^ Zoroaster, centuries before, said 
 "the blow of destruction shall fall upon the wicked, but 
 the righteous will gather in the happy abode of Ahura."^^ 
 
 When Jesus came he was more particular about describ- 
 ing Hell than Heaven. He tells the wicked they shall 
 roast in fire;^^ and as to Heaven, he says: "In my 
 Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I 
 would have told you."^^ How He found out about 
 these things, and how Zoroaster learned about the future 
 of the wicked, and the righteous, we are at a loss to state. 
 
 § 3. One thing is noticeable about Jesus' Hell. All 
 
 ^ Exodus 23 13. 
 
 8Yas. 43:8. 
 
 9 2d Thess. i :8. 
 
 ^^ 1st Samuel, ch. 2, v. 9. 
 
 11 2d Esdras, ch. 7, v. 17. 
 
 12 Yas. 30, § 10. 
 
 13 Matt. 13; 50. 
 
 *^ St. John, 14 ; 2.
 
 
 IN yESUS' HELL THE WICKED BURN 183 
 
 the wicked, of whatever degree, are cast into a furnace of 
 fire. He does not state that for the small sinner the flame 
 shall be any less fierce. All are punished, as we may 
 well conclude, in the same furnace. The murderer of a 
 thousand roasts in the same furnace with him who steals 
 a loaf of bread. Human judgment has improved since 
 that day. Sins are graded, and those of deeper guilt suf- 
 fer the greater penalty. The Persians were more logical 
 and sensible ; they had degrees in Hell. And, as we have 
 seen, they had a place called Hamistaken, a sort of middle 
 ground, where a man's good deeds just fairly balanced 
 his bad ones ; he neither got into Heaven nor did he roast 
 in Hell, He was not worthy of the mansion, and he was 
 not bad enough for the furnace. He just browsed around 
 outside, as it were. 
 
 The Catholics seized upon Hamistaken and therefrom 
 constructed their Purgatory. Had Dante lived and writ- 
 ten his '^Divine Comedy" before either Zoroaster or Jesus 
 came, they possibly might have drawn upon him and en- 
 larged somewhat Hell's borders. With nice precision 
 Dante maps out his Inferno into numerous circles or 
 spheres, and divides his culprits according to their of- 
 fenses. He descends into particulars, and even the un- 
 baptized, though otherwise blameless, he shuts out of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Next come the carnal sinners, and these he dashes 
 about with relentless fury in blinding storms. Jesus 
 burns this class in roaring furnaces. But even Dante 
 borrows from the Persian, and though he transforms the 
 dogs, that tear the sinners at the Bridge, into the demon 
 Cerberus, yet that monster is only a ferocious dog in na-
 
 ) 
 
 184 MATTHEW COPIES FROM ZOROASTER 
 
 ture, which claws and tears the gluttonous in one of 
 Hell's circles. 
 
 The poet is more imaginative than the man of Galilee. 
 He is likewise more just, for it cannot be that he who 
 steals a dollar shall suffer as Nero, who murdered by 
 scores. If there be punishment for an offense, it should 
 be meted out to the offender according to the magnitude 
 of the crime. 
 
 It is noteworthy that while Matthew copies a part of 
 the Lord's prayer from Zoroaster,^^ in which he says, 
 "Our Father, thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, 
 and thine is the glory," etc., he yet prays the Lord to 
 "lead us not into temptation." As if the Lord would 
 do such a thing. But what is still more noticeable is that 
 neither Zoroaster, nor Jesus, nor Paul, seem to have a 
 clear conception of Heaven. The Persian wants to dwell 
 in the happy abode of Ahura; the Galileean says, his 
 "Father's house has many mansions ;"i^ Paul says, "he 
 has a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens." (2d Corinthians, 5) And Paul 
 adds that the "faithful will be caught up in the clouds to 
 meet the Lord in the air."^'' 
 
 § 4. If there be such a place as Heaven, it is of such 
 infinite importance to mankind that it would seem as 
 
 15 Yasna 53. 
 
 i^The proper translation of that sentence is: "TKere 
 are many rooms in my Father's house." Does any sane 
 man believe that God lives in a house ? Is it a brick, stone 
 or marble house that He lives in? As if God lives in a 
 house ! 
 
 1'^ Thess., ch. 4, v. 17.
 
 HEAVEN HAS DOORS AND ROOMS 185 
 
 though we ought to have been given more particulars 
 about it. But we are told we shall be with God, there- 
 fore blessed and happy. Are we not with Him now on 
 this old earth ? We see Him here in all of His wonderful 
 works. Does any sane man expect to see Him face to 
 face? The face of the Infinite! That face! Is it a 
 thousand miles long, and ten thousand times that vast 
 reach? God is visible in the stars above, and in the 
 plants at our feet. Besides, is not this world good enough 
 for that wretched fault-finding animal, called man? 
 
 We have the most complete picture of Heaven found 
 in any inspired record, in Revelation, wherein John saw 
 a door opened in Heaven ^^ and beheld a throne, and God 
 sitting on the throne, and four and twenty elders, clothed 
 in white, and four beasts, with eyes in front and behind, 
 and those beasts, without rest, saying, *'Holy, Holy, Lord 
 God ;" and when the beasts said this, the four and twenty 
 elders fall down before the throne and worship Him who 
 sits thereon. But this is not quite all they do. Those 
 elders "cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 
 'Thou art worthy, O Lord! to receive glory, honor, and 
 power; for Thou hast created all things.' " ^^ This is 
 simply a cheap copy of an earthly monarch, and his court, 
 exaggerated considerably by the poet's heated imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 The Jew who wrote Revelation had probably read of 
 Zoroaster's audience or conference with Ormazd, and 
 
 IS They have doors in Heaven, Rev., ch. 4, and win- 
 dows. Gen., ch. 8, v. 6. 
 J 9 Rev., ch. 4.
 
 186 ST. yOHN'S HEAVEN 
 
 simply surpassed the Dinkard in the extravagance of his 
 statements. 
 
 Is it possible to believe that the Great I Am, who has 
 millions of worlds to look after, can employ himself, or 
 be entertained by having four beasts, day and night (even 
 if they have power of speech), cry ''Holy, Holy, Lord, 
 God" ? Truly, such a God is not worthy of worship. Its 
 monotony would soon cause the whole performance to 
 grow tedious. A fifth-rate European King cuts a better 
 figure. Why belittle the Almighty with such stuflF and 
 nonsense? If Revelation be an allegory, intending to 
 teach virtue and show the doom of vice, the answer is 
 that the ridicule of the Almighty, and His throne, is so 
 great that it defeats its object. 
 
 The writer of Revelation says he saw ten thousand 
 times ten thousand (which would be about one hundred 
 million), and all these were saying, with a loud voice: 
 "Worthy the Lamb, riches 20 and wisdom, and honor and 
 glory" ; and ''every creature in Heaven and on earth, and 
 under the earth", said the same. The four beasts there- 
 upon said : "Amen." 21 But this tediousness was broken 
 after awhile; for war always makes exciting times; and 
 they had war in Heaven. That Irish Archangel, Michael, 
 and his angels fought the dragon, and his angels; and 
 "that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which de- 
 ceiveth the whole world, was cast out into the earth, and 
 his angels with him." 22 Here, again, we have Zoroas- 
 
 2^ Of course a Jew mentions "riches" first. But what 
 does Jesus want riches in Heaven for? 
 
 21 Rev., ch. 4. 
 
 22 Rev., ch. 12, V. 7 to 9.
 
 DUALISM 187 
 
 ter's dualism; and if Revelation be true, that dualism 
 reaches from earth to heaven. It not only invades every 
 part of our world, but it dashes up against the very 
 throne itself. It looks as if sin is in the universe to stay, 
 for the devil himself was only bound for one thousand 
 years, and then turned loose for a season. ^^ 
 
 If this be all they do in Heaven, will it not be somewhat 
 tedious to the great thinkers of our race ? Imagine Soc- 
 rates, and Aristotle, Newton and Kepler, Darwin and 
 Huxley, Franklin and Emerson, and multitudes of others 
 standing idly by and watching the daily and hourly per- 
 formance of the four and twenty elders, and the beasts, 
 before the throne. True, an eternity like that would be 
 much less painful than roasting in a furnace, but to quick 
 minds, only less in degree. Of course John really knew 
 nothing more about Heaven than any other wild dreamer. 
 How could we know about it ? 
 
 We do not believe that Zoroaster held a conference 
 with the Almighty, nor do we believe that John saw the 
 throne. Neither Jesus nor Paul gave us a glimpse of 
 Heaven. How could they? For they had never been 
 there. If, then, there be such a place as Heaven, what 
 then? 
 
 Reader, we make to you the following suggestion : Fol- 
 low the Golden Rule of Zoroaster, and Jesus, and pa- 
 tiently await thy summons across the river. 
 
 23 Rev., ch. 20.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The story of Zoroaster and his religion is ended. He 
 brought a new doctrine into the world, or at least so in- 
 tensified an old one as to link his name inseparably to it 
 forever. 
 
 No history of religions can ever be written without 
 giving him many pages. That he labored sedulously for 
 the material and spiritual welfare of his people no one 
 who will read his words can gainsay. There was, it 
 would seem, a sharp necessity for his appearing as a 
 teacher and guide to the Iranians, and he came in the 
 fullness of time. 
 
 The morals of his people were made the better for his 
 coming. He did not make war on the old Aryan Gods,^ 
 but simply passed them by. He taught that there was one 
 God, Ahura-Mazda, the maker of Heaven and Earth, 
 who would reward man for good deeds, and punish him 
 for bad ones. Where he got this idea, I cannot tell. It 
 may have been announced before him, but if so, that 
 feebler voice is drowned in the great ocean of Zoroaster's 
 fame and name. 
 
 ^ The old Aryan Gods were the sun, moon, earth, the 
 winds and the waters. The Jews burned incense to the 
 sun, the moon, and the planets. 2d Kings, ch. 23, v. 5. 
 
 188
 
 m YEARS AGO 189 
 
 Truth was to him a jewel beyond price or measure. 
 And he so insisted and urged upon his people that they 
 should always, and everywhere, refrain from falsehood 
 and cling to the truth ; that for more than two thousand 
 years after his death it was considered an infinite disgrace 
 for a Persian to tell a lie. Four hundred and fifty years 
 before Jesus' day the historian, Herodotus, mentions this 
 as a pleasing trait of the Persian character. 
 
 One hundred years ago, there were a few scholars, 
 who claimed that Zoroaster was only a myth; that no 
 such person ever lived; but that class has been over- 
 whelmed by proofs to the contrary. In truth, there is as 
 much certainty of his identity as that Moses, or Joshua, 
 or Plato lived. But this knowledge came to us at a late 
 day. Three hundred years ago Europe slumbered in 
 profound ignorance of a great mine of knowledge await- 
 ing the antiquary. 
 
 True, Aristotle, and after him Plutarch, and others, 
 had written of Persia, and her religion, but during the 
 middle ages all interest therein died out. 
 
 We now know that the founders of the Christian re- 
 ligion studied Zoroaster, and drew silently, but largely, 
 from him, in forming their own.^ I have shown this in 
 the preceding pages, and if I live to write the life of 
 Buddha and Jesus, will exemplify that matter still further. 
 
 Belief does not change facts, as the following will 
 illustrate: Captain Cook, when circumnavigating the 
 globe, gave some iron nails to the natives of Tahiti. The 
 large nails they believed to be the mothers of the little 
 
 2 Intro- Vendidad, p. 15
 
 190 JESUS AND ZOROASTER— MEN 
 
 ones, and they placed the little ones in the ground, believ- 
 ing that they would grow. By the side of them they 
 planted some of the mothers, in the belief that a new 
 generation of small nails would be born. But their belief 
 did not change the facts. The nails, big and little, to their 
 infinite disgust and chagrin, all rusted. 
 
 I close by saying that this book is not intended as an 
 attack upon any form of faith. Every man has his own 
 views and ideas about matters beyond the grave. I have 
 mine ; and while I treat Jesus and Zoroaster as men, yet 
 I hold that the creed of Zoroaster is, in all essentials, the 
 Golden Rule. For if good thoughts, good words, and 
 good deeds will not unlock the shining Gates, then noth- 
 ing else will, or can. 
 
 As age creeps on, let us not doubt that beyond the 
 myths and delusions of man, and all his follies, there is a 
 power and an Intelligence somewhere, and that if it be 
 for man's weal, that he shall be crowned with immortal 
 Hfe, where happiness shall ever bloom, then blessed be 
 that power, and that Intelligence. But if that Great In- 
 telligence, which we call God, for reasons and purposes 
 known only to Himself, shall deem it best that this life 
 shall "be the Be all and the end all," then without ques- 
 tioning, let us say : "Thy ways, O Lord ! are higher and 
 better than man's ways; and thy judgments are alto- 
 gether just and right." 
 
 THE END.
 
 PART SECOND 
 
 How the Hebrews Copied from the 
 Hindu Bible
 
 HOW THE HEBREWS COPIED 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE HINDU BIBLE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FOUR GREAT RELIGIONS! BRAHMANISM, BUDDHISM, CHRIS- 
 TIANITY, MOHAMMEDISM. WHEN INVENTED 
 
 TWO NEW DEITIES. 
 
 § I, The highways of human progress are lined with 
 the skulls of the slain, for opinion's sake. But in Amer- 
 ica, and some other favored spots, the worst that can 
 befall a plain talker, is to impale him on a few caustic 
 sentences. But the days of stakes, faggots, and 
 thumb-screws, for him who is not with the majority, 
 are, it is hoped, happily past forever. Nevertheless, that 
 despicable thing called intolerance, still lifts its slimy 
 head, active in all religions. Narrow-minded bigots 
 are found everywhere; and the best way to treat them 
 is to hit them hard, as you would any other reptile, then 
 watch them squirm. 
 
 At present, four great religions are seeking to domi- 
 nate the world. In truth, they almost hold our globe 
 in their grasp. Strange as it may appear, not one of 
 these religions, except Brahmanism, was in existence 
 twenty-five-hundred years ago. Brahmanism is, however, 
 
 191
 
 192 BRAHMANISM OLDER THAN THE FLOOD 
 
 old. It is older than the Flood. Poets were composing 
 it, centuries before Moses was found, by his mother, in 
 the bulrushes.^ 
 
 The next in point of age, of these four religions, and 
 the greatest in numbers, is Buddhism. Its founder, 
 Buddha, was a Hindu prince, born about 500 years be- 
 fore Jesus.2 More than thrice the number of all the 
 people now living on our earth, have held to the doc- 
 trines, and died in the faith of Buddha. And more 
 than three hundred millions of people, now living in 
 Thibet, Nepaul, China, Japan, Assam and Ceylon, yet 
 cling to the Buddhistic faith. But the land of its birth, 
 after nearly fourteen hundred years of struggle, thrust it 
 forth, and installed Brahmanism in its place. 
 
 The next religion is that of Christianity. Jesus, its 
 founder, was born about 1900 years ago. But his re- 
 ligion, like that of Buddha, has been driven from the 
 land of its birth, and the flag of the conqueror waves 
 victoriously over Jerusalem and Galilee. His followers 
 are divided into two great unfriendly, and almost warring 
 camps, protestants and papists; the former numbering 
 about seventy or seventy-five millions, the latter about 
 eighty-five millions. The protestants, in matters of doc- 
 trine or creeds, are again subdivided into numerous 
 jarring sects ; each one insisting that the other is wrong 
 in its interpretation of what is called **Holy Writ." In 
 
 1 Some writers think that Moses was the bastard child 
 of Pharaoh's daughter. 
 
 2 Some people maintain that Buddha was born about 
 543 years B. C. His followers now number three hun- 
 dred to three hundred and fifty millions.
 
 CREED MAKERS 193 
 
 fact, creed-makers have been busy with the New Testa- 
 ment for the last 1800 years, and are not done yet. 
 
 Both wings of this procession, papists and protestants, 
 number, therefore, about one-tenth of the population of 
 the globe. They both believe the old traditions of Moses, 
 and the Hebrews, and later the Jews; and those tradi- 
 tions form a very large part of the christian Bible. 
 
 TWO NEW DIETIES. 
 
 Moreover, what challenges our attention is that the 
 christians brought forth, for the world to consider, two 
 new deities, until then unknown. Jesus, and the Holy 
 Ghost, had never been seen, known, or heard of until 
 some 1900 years ago. In fact, no one to this day has 
 given, nor can give a reasonable definition of what the 
 Holy Ghost is. If we say it is the Holy Spirit, or the 
 Sanctifier of Souls, is not that definition applicable to 
 God? Is not God a Spirit? If so, then is not the Holy 
 Ghost and God one and the same? If not, what then 
 is the Holy Ghost? Where did it live, before the book 
 of Matthew was written? Where was the Holy Ghost 
 when Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 
 seventy elders, saw the God of Israel up there on the 
 mountain? ^ There are some other questions to ask: If 
 the Holy Ghost is an actual existence, and was here "in 
 the beginning," why did it not save Eve from the serpent 
 there in the Garden?^ It is said Jesus was in heaven 
 when the foundations of the earth were laid. If so, why 
 
 3 Exodus XXIV, 9th and loth. 
 
 ^ There are those who maintain that the Holy Ghost is 
 of the female gender.
 
 194 JEWS HAD BUT ONE GOD 
 
 did He not interpose in that Eden difficulty, and thus 
 save us a world of trouble? What is the use of these 
 new Deities ? Can not man approach his maker directly ? 
 Must we do business in the ante-room with the office 
 boy? Did the Almighty, after running the world about 
 four thousand years, according to the record, find him- 
 self incompetent; and was it necessary to call in these 
 new Gods, as helpers? 
 
 § 2. At Jesus' appearance on earth, we know thai the 
 Jews had but one God, and they have only one God yet. 
 Since Jesus' advent we have a Trinity. But the Brahmans 
 had a Trinity more than a thousand years before ours. 
 Did we copy from them? In fact, the Brahmans, in 
 ignorant times, had numerous Gods. As far back as 
 four thousand or forty-five hundred years B. C. they 
 had thirty-three Gods; and divided the universe into 
 three regions, and assigned eleven Gods to each division. 
 They then added Prajapati, the thirty-fourth God, as the 
 Lord of all creatures. They then fell back upon a Trin- 
 ity; and at last dispensed with all except Brahma as the 
 Creator; but gave him a generous staflf of dignitaries. 
 
 MOHAM MEDANISM. 
 
 The latest religion invented is that of Mohammedanism, 
 which is now about thirteen hundred years old. Before 
 Mohammed's day, the Gods in Arabia were numerous, 
 but Allah was the chief. 
 
 Mohammed tells us that the Angel Gabriel came to 
 him one night, and, holding a silken scroll before him, 
 bade him read what thereon was written. On the scroll 
 he read, **Man walketh in delusion here, but that the 
 Lord, the Most High, will call him hence some day to
 
 MOHAMMED'S FOLLOWERS 195 
 
 give an account of himself." Frightened at this, and 
 thinking the incantation, a portent of evil, he related the 
 mysterious occurrence to his wife, who consoled him 
 with the hope that the messenger was of Heaven, and 
 that God had a mission for him. Such was the feeble 
 beginning of a religion that to-day numbers from no 
 to 140 millions of followers; and they hold Jerusalem 
 and Galilee firmly against all comers. Mohammedanism 
 has just one God, Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. 
 § 3. Moses spent all his mature years in battling 
 against a plurality of Gods. Is it not, therefore, startling, 
 that Christians, who claim to be the legatees, and benefi- 
 ciaries of his statutes and commandments, and wiser than 
 all others, should invent two new Deities? And this in 
 opposition to the very first commandment, leveled against 
 polytheism, "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have 
 no other Gods before me"? (Ex. 20.) Yet Jesus, we 
 are told, is one with God, and that man can only approach 
 the Almighty through him as our intercessor. 
 
 THE TRINITY. 
 
 All Christians are baptized in the name of three Gods : 
 the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We are told that these 
 three form the Trinity, the Triune God, the Godhead. 
 The Hindus, as we have seen, invented the first Trinity; 
 and the Hindoos preached it, believed in it; and if the 
 frosts of age have any claim to our reverence, let us first 
 bow to the three-faced God of the Ganges. The Hindoo 
 trinity long preceded this invention of 1900 years ago; 
 and it is a real pity that they could not have obtained a 
 patent on their trimurti, for it would have saved our 
 divines from many a grotesque position, many a foolish
 
 196 CHRISNA, THE HINDU SAVIOR 
 
 speech. But even the Hindoos might have had trouble 
 at the Patent Office, for the Egyptians seem to have, 
 previously, invented a trimurti — Osiris, Typhon and 
 Horus. We, however, copy more from India than from 
 Egypt. Brahma is the Hindu Creator; Vishnu or 
 Chrisna is their Christ, their Preserver, or Saviour. Siva 
 is their God of destruction.^ 
 
 The Hindoo Chrisna suffered many Avatars (incarna- 
 tions) for the benefit of the Hindoos; Jesus only suf- 
 fered once for all the world. There are yet, in India, 
 many pictures of their trinity or trimurti, showing a 
 three- faced God; one looking east, one west, and one 
 south. 
 
 The Christians have never yet gone to the extent of 
 fixing up a three-faced God ; but they might as well, for 
 they preach and teach three Gods, and circulate innumer- 
 able pictures of one of them. Yet if the Holy Record 
 be true, two of our Deities have been seen; for Moses 
 affirms, in chapter 33, Exodus, that he talked with the 
 Almighty ''face to face, as a man speaketh to a friend." ^ 
 If the above were found in the Hindoo Bible, people 
 would sneer at it. Is it not preposterous that about 3400 
 years ago, the Creator and Ruler of millions of worlds, 
 
 ^ Sir Wm. Jones, the greatest oriental scholar that 
 England ever produced, was a judge ten years at Cal- 
 cutta; and in one of his lectures he says, that on page 
 375 of a great Sanskrit dictionary, compiled twenty-one 
 hundred years ago, ''Chrisna" is called the "Divine Spirit 
 in human fonn." 
 
 ^ I cannot help thinking that if it had not been for 
 Exodus XX, Moses might have taken a "snap-shot" at 
 his "friend," and thus saved us a world of imaginings.
 
 NOT AN ATHEIST 197 
 
 was found or seen, out there in the bushes, talking "face 
 to face" with that old blood-stained Hebrew? We shall 
 see, further along, that Buddha did not believe this. He 
 ridiculed such a preposterous thing. 
 
 Now, lest I be branded as an Atheist, I will at once, 
 and without reservation, write down my creed: I firmly 
 believe in one omnipotent, omniscient Maker and Ruler 
 of the universe. I believe that Jesus was a man ; begot- 
 ten and born after the manner of other men. I have no 
 doubt but that he was nailed to the cross, for the Jews 
 in his time murdered people in that way. I do not be- 
 lieve in three Gods, or two Gods. The Trinity, there- 
 fore, is eliminated. Let us pass on. 
 
 THE UPANISHADS. 
 
 § 4. It is just one hundred years since a Latin trans- 
 lation of the Upanishads'^ was published by Anquetil 
 Duperron,^ a Frenchman, who had previously trans- 
 lated into French the Zend Avesta — the Persian Bible. 
 Duperron's translation would, probably, have fallen 
 quite still-born had it not been for that wonderful lin- 
 
 ^ It is difficult to render an exact and unquestioned 
 definition of the word Upanishad. Some Orientalists 
 maintain that Upa-ni-shad comes from the root "Sad," 
 preceded by the preposition -ni (down) and upa- (near), 
 expressing the idea of a school where the pupils sit down 
 near the teacher for instruction. Others claim that 
 Upanishad means theological, or philosophical doctrine. 
 Again it is claimed that it means destruction of passion, 
 and ignorance. The Upanishads undertook to set forth 
 the theory or, in other words, to account for the creation 
 of the world. 
 
 ^ Duperron made his translation about the year 1775,
 
 1«8 RECORDS 4,000 YEARS B. C. 
 
 guist and classical scholar, Sir William Jones. That 
 great Englishman was master of some thirty languages, 
 including, among others, Greek, Arabic, Persian, San- 
 skrit, Runic, Hindoo, Pali, Chinese, Syric and Tibetan, 
 and he could write French with all the vigor and fluency 
 of Duperron himself. 
 
 In 1783, Sir William was appointed judge of the Su- 
 preme Court of Bengal; and directly after arriving in 
 Calcutta, founded the Asiatic Society, thereby enlisting 
 many oriental scholars in Europe to engage in a critical 
 study of the laws, the customs, the language and the re- 
 ligion of India. To their amazement, they found a sacred 
 literature, vast and exhaustless, from every point of 
 view. Thenceforward the study and search of Hindu 
 literature began ; and the end is not yet. 
 
 To their further amazement, they found from these 
 old records, running back 3000 to 4000 years B. C, that 
 India was peopled by a race with strong religious in- 
 stincts, and with mental endowments as keen as their 
 numerous progeny, who left their early homes in India 
 and settled in Europe. 
 
 THE ARYANS. 
 
 Diligent research, within the last one hundred years, 
 has reasonably well established the fact, that, more than 
 5000 years ago, the Aryans, then undivided, were occupy- 
 
 but translations had previously been made by Dara Shuka 
 and others as early as 1657. Europe, however, turned a 
 deaf ear upon all of these, and it was not until Sir Wil- 
 liam Jones was sent as a judge to Bengal, that a warm 
 interest was awakened in the religion and history of the 
 East.
 
 HINDUS OUR ANCESTORS 199 
 
 ing that large territory stretching east from Bactra, and 
 reaching beyond the Indus. 
 
 When that populous hive swarmed, there went forth 
 the Persians, the Kelts, the Greeks, the Teutons, the 
 Latins and the Slavi. Those people, whom we now call 
 Hindoos, our ancestors, many generations back, remained 
 at the old homestead. They were then blue of eye, with 
 straight hair and fair of skin; but many generations 
 passed under the hot sun of the Ganges, has left them 
 almost as brown and dark as our American Indians.^ 
 
 But those Hindoos of whom we have been speaking 
 were not the first or original inhabitants of India. When 
 the Aryans entered Punjab, they found a dark-skinned 
 race already in possession of the soil. And they made 
 war upon those men of color, and pressed them back. 
 The American people, for now nearly three hundred 
 years, have done the same with the aboriginal tribes 
 found on this continent. The Jews some 3400 years ago, 
 slaughtered right and left, without mercy, to obtain 
 possession of the Holy Land. As if a land can or could 
 be holy, where people are murdered for its possession. 
 
 In India the victorious Aryans reduced those dark- 
 visaged people (Varna or colored) to serfdom. They 
 called them Dasas or Dasyus; and, later on, when the 
 Brahmans divided society into four great casts, or divi- 
 sions, these Varna (colored) men, were called Sudras, 
 and were placed at the very lowest round of the ladder. 
 
 ® When Columbus first saw the natives of Cat Island, 
 he supposed he had touched the shores of India, and 
 hence called the natives Indians.
 
 200 THE SUDRAS 
 
 THE SUDRAS. 
 
 § 4. But the Sudras themselves had been trespassers 
 and pillagers. For back of them, and beneath them in 
 vigor and intelligence, there once lived in India, in the 
 long ago, a race whom those Sudras, or at least their 
 ancestors, had dispossessed. Just when the predecessors 
 of the Sudras were conquered and driven to the hills, or 
 slaughtered, it is now impossible to tell. It may have 
 been ten thousand years ago; and possibly even beyond 
 that period ; and again it may have been much less. One 
 thing is certain, it was centuries before the Hebrews 
 leveled the walls of Jericho by the tooting of rams* 
 horns. That Jericho affair, if the chronology of the 
 Hebrew Bible be correct, was only about 1450 years B. C. 
 And at that time India and Egypt were the two focuses 
 of intelligence and civilization. The hymns of the Rig- 
 veda had been sung for centuries in India, and Osiris, 
 the God of the Egyptians, was holding his court for the 
 trial of souls, as far back, at least, as 2300 years B. C. 
 Whence came those Sudras, whom the Hindoos con- 
 quered? But a more difficult and puzzling question lies 
 back beyond that: Whence came those Aborigines, 
 whom those Sudras dispossessed? The traces of those 
 primitive people, who left their stone axes and their flint 
 arrow-heads, are unmistakable evidences that a primitive 
 race of men were once in possession of India, as the 
 flint arrow-heads and stone axes are proof (even had we 
 no better evidence) that a savage race once held sway in 
 Britain. 
 
 A WORLD STRIFE. 
 
 The Hindoos held India fast in their grip for more
 
 PHYSICAL FORCE RULES 201 
 
 than four thousand years ; but England now has her grip 
 on them, and it will be only because of the vast multi- 
 tudes of Hindu people that they will be saved from the 
 fate of the Sudras. But even their vast numbers may not 
 save them. Physical force has ever ruled the world, 
 from the lowest to the highest forms of life. It is always 
 the survival of the strongest. For the disappearance of 
 the weaker race is still going on, in every part of the 
 earth. 
 
 "The lizard feeds on the ant, and the snake feeds on 
 the Hzard; the rapacious kite on both. The fish-hawk 
 robs the fish-tiger of that which it had seized. The 
 shrike chases the bubul, which did chase the jeweled 
 butterflies; till everywhere each slays, a slayer, and, in 
 turn, is slain. Life living upon death. Thus this fair 
 show veils one vast, savage, grim conspiracy, of sicken- 
 ing murder, from, the worm to man, who himself kills 
 his brother." i<^ 
 
 But notwithstanding the ferocity in man's nature, and 
 his disposition to be a marauder and a plunderer, he 
 has always, as far back as we can trace him, been a wor- 
 shipper of gods and goddesses, big and little, high and 
 lofty, as well as low and groveling. 
 
 Nations are only aggregations of individuals, and they 
 plunder and rob, on gigantic scales. Look at Russia 
 plundering China ; see the butcheries of England in South 
 Africa. Why is America slaughtering the people in the 
 Philippine Islands? Why did France murder the Sulus; 
 and why is Germany, with shotted cannon, seeking pos- 
 
 ^0 Arnold's Light of Asia — book first.
 
 202 INDIA HAD NO GREAT WARS 
 
 sessions in every place where she finds a people too weak 
 to withstand her ? These lists might be greatly extended. 
 When nations murder, it is called war. Diplomacy is 
 only another name for swindling on a huge scale. All 
 these nations just mentioned are called Christian nations, 
 and claim to follow the precepts of the Man of GaHlee. 
 
 INDIAN HISTORY IS MEAGER. 
 
 § 5. India, which is as large as all of Europe, Russia 
 alone excluded, never heard of Jesus, or, at least, never 
 claimed to follow his religion; yet India, for the last 
 four-thousand years, has made no wars of conquest ; and 
 Brahmanism and Buddhism have been her religions dur- 
 ing all those centuries. It is true that Alexander the 
 Great, about three hundred and twenty-five years B. C, 
 invaded India, and those people defended themselves the 
 best they could; but that was not a war of their own 
 seeking. 
 
 India has no history of great wars and great conquests. 
 Her chronology is provokingly, and lamentably deficient. 
 But we catch glimpses of her people, here and there, from 
 the Brahmanas, the Mantras, and the Upanishads. For 
 forty centuries past, they have been an intensely religious 
 race; worshiping those great visible objects of nature, 
 that call forth the glowing admiration of every devout 
 soul. Like all other peoples, their primitive worship was 
 rude and uncouth, and consisted largely in offering sac- 
 rifices to the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the 
 waters and the winds. But they did not sacrifice unto 
 devils, as did the Jews, mentioned in chapter 32 of Deu- 
 teronomy. 
 
 There are to-day more than two hundred and forty
 
 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY 2(^ 
 
 millions of people in India, and for more than three thou- 
 sand five hundred years that country has been a populous 
 hive. Why is it that, in all this lapse of centuries, it 
 has cut so small a figure in the world's changing history ? 
 Her people were and are intellectual; they are moral,^^ 
 they are industrious. 
 
 What then is the reason that they have never taken a 
 position in the world commensurate to their abilities and 
 their population? The answer is not far to be sought, 
 and is easily given : Religion and philosophy have fully 
 occupied the Indian mind. Moreover, they lack, and 
 have ever lacked, that organ called combativeness : They 
 are not, and never have been, a quarrelsome and fighting 
 race. True, there are traces, in the Veda, of internal dis- 
 sensions ; but they were never covetous of the lands and 
 wealth of neighboring nations. The great mystery of 
 creation and man's existence on earth was of more im- 
 portance to them than armies and empires. Their relig- 
 ion, for generations, has taught them that it is sinful 
 to take life; even the life of a worm. The Brahmans 
 taught this long before Buddha was born ; and Buddha's 
 religion was even more tolerant and peaceful. 
 
 11 I know it is claimed that they worship Juggernaut, 
 and do many other lawful things — but let the reader wait 
 a bit and see further along about that.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BRAHMANISM AND THE MOSAIC RELIGION FURTHER COM- 
 PARED. 
 
 § I. Brahmanism precedes Buddhism by so many cen- 
 turies that it is well to glance back at it, for it is vener- 
 able with age. Its dogmas are numerous and are writ- 
 ten in many books. In fact, the sacred literature of India 
 is eight times greater in extent that the Hebrew Bible. 
 
 Who founded this vast religious system, no one can tell. 
 It is evident that it grew by accretions, from age to age, 
 for no one person in a long life could build an edifice 
 so imposing. But that its foundations were laid in the 
 dim and misty past is beyond all controversy. If we 
 wish to fix a date for it, we are surely safe in saying that 
 when Abraham was sitting in his tent door, on the plains 
 of Mamre, about thirty-eight hundred years ago,^ the 
 hymns of the Rig- Veda had been sung for centuries on 
 the banks of the Indus, and probably in the groves along 
 the Ganges. How long the Hindu Bible had then been 
 in process of composition will probably never be known. 
 It is a book of books ; and like our own Bible, was com- 
 posed by different persons living centuries apart. Like 
 the Hebrew inspired ( ?) seers, the Hindu inspired ( ?) 
 
 I Genesis, Chapter i8. 
 
 204
 
 CONFLICTING CREEDS 205 
 
 seers sometimes involved themselves in contradictions. 
 Yet the Jews in composing their Bible had somewhat 
 the advantage, for they were fewer in numbers, and 
 occupied only a small skirt of territory along the eastern 
 end of the Mediterranean. But India is vast, and her 
 people for forty or fifty centuries have been numerous. 
 We may, therefore, conclude that more hands held the 
 tiller of the Hindu craft than the Jewish bark; hence 
 more liability to confusions and discrepancies and con- 
 tradictions. Moreover, we must not be too critical in this 
 matter. Are we sure that our own house is not made 
 of glass? For in my own America those who follow 
 the Man of Galilee as the founder of their faith must 
 not forget that there are here conflicting creeds and be- 
 liefs in very sharp antagonism. 
 
 OUR CHURCHES QUARREL. 
 
 To illustrate : The Presbyterians have quarreled among 
 themselves, and with every other sect for four hundred 
 years over the question of infant damnation, and still do 
 not agree. As if the Almighty had nothing else to do but 
 roast babies in furnaces of fire because He had not elected 
 them to go to Glory. If this infernal doctrine were 
 found in the Hindu Bible, we would lift up our hands 
 in holy horror. But as it is a supposed Christian doc- 
 trine, we endure it ; and some mental deformities profess, 
 in their sterner moods, to even believe it. 
 
 The Roman Catholic church is as inimical to the so- 
 called orthodox churches to-day as Brahmanism was to 
 Buddhism, when the latter was driven forth after cen- 
 turies of struggle. And the orthodox churches ^ would, 
 
 The so-called orthodox churches are the Methodists,
 
 206 HARSH THINGS SAID OF INDIA 
 
 if they could, at once and forever wipe out and abolish 
 Catholicism. 
 
 Many harsh things have been most unjustly charged 
 against the people of India. It has been said that "no- 
 where in the world are luxury and licentiousness carried 
 so far." 3 That is too sweeping. It is no more true than 
 it would be to make the same charge against the people 
 of France, or England, or against the people of my own 
 country. In India there are, especially in great cities, 
 black spots where lust, lewdness and debauchery prevail. 
 The same may be said of London, Paris, New York and 
 Chicago. As to luxury, the rich, and especially the ex- 
 travagantly rich, everywhere loll supinely and roll along 
 voluptuously. It is the same old story here and in India 
 as well. The rich man "is clothed in purple and fine 
 linen, and fares sumptuously every day." ^ 
 
 § 2. While it is true that there is a class of ultra 
 ascetics in India who hold that the body is the great 
 enemy to spiritual progress, and therefore macerate 
 and mutilate it and cause it to suffer in many ways ; yet 
 the masses of the people there are struggling to extract 
 enough from the soil to feed and nourish the bodies of all. 
 
 INDIAN ASCETICISM. 
 
 There are more than two hundred and fifty millions of 
 
 Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, etc. But I 
 do not allege that the Roman Catholics are not good 
 people. 
 
 3 I allude to J. F. Clark's Ten Great Religions : title, 
 Brahmanism. § 2. 
 
 * Luke, 1 6th chapter, verse 19.
 
 ASCETICISM IN INDIA 207 
 
 people in India,^ and of this vast number forty millions 
 or more are engaged in agriculture alone. In all great 
 populations there will be found some who are mentally 
 deformed. They are possessed with hallucinations and 
 delusions. The fakirs of India were of this class ; their 
 asceticism being so extreme and nonsensical that some 
 of them ate their food naked ; some wore their hair mat- 
 ted; some shaved their heads and faces; others slashed 
 their bodies with knives ; while some bored holes in their 
 tongues, or plucked out an eye. Possibly his eye had 
 offended him, and if so, Jesus copied him; for he said, 
 ''If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from 
 thee." ^ Some wandered through mountains and slept, 
 like beasts, in gloomy caverns. Others scattered ashes on 
 their heads, or fasted until their bodies became withered 
 and wasted. 
 
 Moses, it is said, fasted forty days without even water 
 to drink. (Exodus 34.) Jesus also fasted forty days 
 (Matt. 4 and Luke 4), and John the Baptist was some- 
 thing of an asectic himself, for he lived "in the wilder- 
 ness upon locusts and wild honey." '^ 
 
 Those Brahman ascetics lived in the woods and caves 
 that they might escape the miseries of metempsychosis 
 (transmigration) and finally reach the joys of Nirvana 
 (heaven.) Moses, John the Baptist and Jesus were 
 simply copying them. Why did John the Baptist preach 
 and teach in the wilderness, subsisting meanwhile on 
 
 ^ Of the two hundred and fifty millions, there are forty 
 millions of Mohammedans. 
 «Matt. V, 29. 
 ^ The best attested case of fasting is that of Dr. Tan-
 
 208 THE HINDU BIBLE 
 
 locusts and wild honey, unless to make sure that he might 
 reach the eternal camping-ground in safety? 
 
 THE RIG- VEDA. 
 
 § 3. The Rig- Veda, the divine revelation to the Hin- 
 dus stands to Brahmanism about the same as the Pen- 
 tateuch does to the subsequent parts of our Hebrew Bible. 
 One difference being that the Pentateuch says that God 
 talked to Moses,^ while the divine revelation to the Hin- 
 dus is expressed by the word Sruti, "heard" or hearing. 
 Another difference between these two old Bibles is as to 
 their respective ages. The transactions in Exodus, if its 
 chronology be correct, took place about 1491 years B. C. 
 The oldest hymns of the Rig- Veda date back 2400 years 
 B. C.^ And prose always precedes poetry in the history 
 of our race. 
 
 We know that the separation of the Aryan Persians 
 from the Hindu Aryans took place more than 4300 years 
 ago. They were down there in the Punjab, or on the 
 
 ner of Chicago. He insisted that it was possible that 
 Jesus fasted forty days. Tanner tried it. He had 
 watchers and guards, and the doctors took his weight, 
 temperature and pulse every day. At the end of 
 forty days he was very weak and ready to collapse. The 
 angels did not come and minister to him as they did to 
 Jesus (Mat. 4, 11.) But a man gave Tanner a piece of 
 watermelon the moment the forty days had expired, 
 which revived him at once. 
 
 8 Exodus, chapter 33, where this amazing statement is 
 made, — but the Lord would only let Moses see His *'back 
 parts." Read the whole chapter to the last verse. 
 
 9 In this matter I follow Dr. Martin Haug. He thinks 
 the oldest of the Vedic hymns were composed 2400
 
 RIG-VEDA 4,300 YEARS OLD 209 
 
 Jumna, at about the time Noah was In his ark, some 
 forty-three hundred years ago. They were then compos- 
 ing their Bible — the Rig- Veda. The flood did not reach 
 them. 
 
 While there is much wonderfully beautiful prose in 
 Genesis, there is not a single line of poetry. And it was 
 not until that marvelous ( ?) passage of the Red Sea that 
 Miriam and the women went out with timbrels and songs 
 to celebrate that extraordinary event (Exodus, 15) that 
 we discover any poetry. 
 
 Vedic poetry was surely sung as far east as the Ganges 
 at least five hundred years before Miriam's day, and in 
 the Punjab much earlier. The Hindu Bible and the He- 
 brew Bible both claim to have come to man by inspiration 
 from God ; and both Bibles teach that the favor of heaven 
 may be obtained by giving the Gods a meal of victuals. 
 But Leviticus tells us that no man who had a flat nose, 
 or was hunch-backed, or a dwarf, could oflfer God his 
 dinner.i^. 
 
 Both Bibles speak of "the God of Gods, and the Lord 
 of Lords." (Psalms, 136.) 
 
 years B. C. If this be true, it may help to answer some 
 puzzling questions as to the when-and-where of the hu- 
 man race. Respecting these dates, I am fully aware that 
 Max Miiller fixed the chanda period at about twelve hun- 
 dred years B. C. But he was careful to say that most 
 Sanskrit scholars would think his limit too short. Fur- 
 ther careful investigation has found his limit is in fact 
 too narrow. He limited the Sutra period to six hundred 
 years B. C. ; and the proof now is far back beyond that. 
 (See Goldstiicker's Manava-Kalfra Sutra, p. 78.) 
 
 1^ Leviticus, chapter 21, v. 8, 17 and 21, speaks of offer- 
 ing bread to God. Laws of Manu., 3, §§ 70 to 90.
 
 210 SACRIFICES TO THE GODS 
 
 SACRIFICES TO THE GODS. 
 
 The Hindus offered to their deities milk, butter, boiled 
 rice, barley, rice cakes, etc., but they did not partake of 
 the "food before the Gods had eaten." ^^ The Hebrews 
 did not treat their God with the same consideration; for 
 as late as three hundred years after the exodus, when 
 offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant, "with a three- 
 pronged flesh-hook came, while the flesh was seething, 
 and thrust the hook into the pot, and all he could fish 
 up, the priest took for himself." ^^ fhe priests had be- 
 come even more ravenous than in the time of Moses, 
 for Aaron and his sons only got "the remnant of the 
 meat-offering." 13 
 
 There is another parallel between the Hindoos and 
 the Hebrews; for the Hebrew Bible mentions ten patri- 
 archs, who each lived to a very great age before the 
 flood; and the Hindoos have ten great sages who lived 
 in the early dawn of history .^^ 
 
 FOUR GREAT CLASSES OR CASTS. 
 
 § 4. With both the Hindoos and Hebrews, the priest- 
 hood greatly enlarged their borders. In this matter the 
 Hindu priests went to the most extravagant lengths. 
 They divided the people into four great casts or classes : 
 
 11 Satapatha-Brahmana, I Kanda, Vol. 12, S. B. E., p. 
 2. But see section 5, of this chapter, where bloody sacri- 
 fices were abolished. 
 
 1^1 Samuel, chapter 2. The word "Sacrifice" means, 
 in such connection, a meal offered to the Deity. 
 
 13 Leviticus, chapter 2, v. 3. 
 
 1^ Laws of Manu, chapter i. Creation. I might men- 
 tion that the Chinese also have a similar legend.
 
 THE LORDLY BRAHMAN 211 
 
 the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas, and the 
 dark-skinned Sudras. At the head of these four casts 
 stood the privileged, lordly Brahman. For generations 
 and for centuries he struggled to reach this alluring, daz- 
 zling summit. His leadership was gained, no doubt, in 
 the first instance, by his intellectual superiority. He was 
 keen, he was alert, he was devout; he placed himself in 
 the van of the moving column, and the masses blindly 
 followed him. 
 
 The Purohitas (family priests) devoted themselves 
 with such assiduity that they were soon bold enough to 
 say to the King: "Verily, the Gods do not eat the foods 
 offered by the King, who is without a Purohita ; where- 
 fore let the King, who wishes to sacrifice, place a Brah- 
 mana at the head. The kingdom of such a ruler is un- 
 disturbed. He attains to the full measure of life. A 
 wise Purohita is the guardian of his realm." (Aitareya- 
 Brahman, 8.) In short, the Brahman priests, from the 
 very first glimpses we get of them, were extremely perti- 
 nacious in their own behalf. They said : "The very birth 
 of a Brahmana is an eternal incarnation of the sacred 
 law, for he is born to fulfill that law and become one with 
 Brahman. 
 
 "A Brahmana," they said, "is born the highest on earth ; 
 the lord of all created beings for the protection of the 
 treasury of the law. Whatever exists in the world is 
 the property of the Brahmana. On account of the ex- 
 cellence of his origin, the Brahmana is, indeed, entitled to 
 it all. The Brahmana eats but his own food ; wears but 
 his own apparel ; bestows but his own in alms ; other mor- 
 tals subsist through the benevolence of the Brahmana." 
 It was incumbent on a Brahmana to study the sacred
 
 212 NEVER PROVOKE A BRAHMAN 
 
 laws and duly instruct his pupils in them.^^ ''He who did 
 this was never tainted by sins arising from thoughts, 
 words or deeds." ^^ Even the King was warned not to 
 provoke a Brahmana to anger; for when angered they 
 told him they could instantly destroy him and his whole 
 army. 
 
 The next caste, in rank and importance to the Brah- 
 manas, was the military order, the Kshatriya. There are 
 indications that there was resistance by the Kshatriyas to 
 the lofty and self-asserted supremacy of the Brahmans. 
 But how long it continued, and when and whence it com- 
 menced, the records, so far as known, are silent. But 
 that there w^as a clashing, at least in sentiment, it is not 
 hard to believe. For how could a self-respecting man 
 admit without a controversy, that "a Brahman boy of ten 
 years and a Kshatriya of one hundred years stand to each 
 other in the relation of father and son" ; that between the 
 two, the Brahman was the father.^''' 
 
 The laws of Manu declare it to be the duty of the 
 Kshatriya to protect the people, offer sacrifies, study the 
 Veda, and to abstain from sensual pleasures. But a 
 Kshatriya, who came to the house of a Brahmana, was 
 neither called a guest nor personal friend ; yet the Brah- 
 mana might feed him after the Brahmana himself had 
 
 ^^ We shall see presently that none but a *'twice-born 
 man" was allowed to study the sacred law. The Sudras 
 were forever excluded. 
 
 ^6 Laws of Manu, chapter i. The last three words in 
 the above sentence sound supiciously, as if borrowed from 
 Zoroaster. 
 
 1" Chapter 2, Sloka, 135, Manu.
 
 AN IMPASSABLE GULF 213 
 
 eaten. In fact there was a deep, wide, impassable gulf 
 between the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas — as impassa- 
 ble as that in slavery times between the master and the 
 slave in my own country. 
 
 The next step in the descending scale was the Vaisya, 
 whose duty it was to tend the cattle, trade, loan money 
 and cultivate the land. He could also ofifer sacrifices and 
 study the Veda. But the stricken Sudra found all doors 
 shut and barred against him. He had, as we have 
 already seen, driven a weaker race from the soil; and 
 his own punishment was now at hand. The all-conquer- 
 ing Aryan had overcome him and reduced him to abject 
 slavery. "Such measure as ye shall meet, it shall be 
 measured to you again." 
 
 SLAVES IN INDIA. 
 
 The Brahmans, having mastered the Kshatriyas and 
 the Vaisyas, found it easy to put into their laws that 
 Svayambhu (The Self-Existent) had created the Sudra 
 to be a slave. That even if his humane master released 
 the Sudra from servitude, he was still a slave to a Brah- 
 mana, for that was innate in him.^^ And it was made 
 the King's duty to compel the Vaisyas and the Sudras to 
 perform the work prescribed for them, lest the whole 
 world should fall into confusion. It is said that Svayam- 
 bhu (The Divine Self-Existent), for the sake of the 
 prosperity of the worlds, caused Brahmana to proceed 
 from his mouth, the Kshatriya from his arms, the Vai- 
 sya from his thighs, the Sudra from his feet.^^ 
 
 ^^ Laws of Manu, chapter 8, §§ 413, 414 and 415, a 
 slave could own no property. 
 
 ^^ Manu, §§6 and 31. Those parts of the body above
 
 214 iTHE SECOND OR SPIRITUAL BIRTH 
 
 THE SECOND OR SPIRITUAL BIRTH. 
 
 § 5. Every Brahman must, between his eighth and 
 sixteenth years, perform the sacrament of ^o Savitri (Ini- 
 tiation). FaiHng in this, he became an outcast, and was 
 so despised by the Brahmanas that they would not coun- 
 tenance him, even in distress. The ceremony of initiation 
 was a solemn, important religious event in the life of 
 every Aryan. It so sanctified him that thereafter he 
 was called a "twice-born man." He was admonished 
 that the Veda was the source of the sacred, revealed law. 
 That Sruti (revelation) and Smriti (tradition) must 
 not he called in question in any matter; since on those 
 two the sacred law was founded. That every twice-born 
 man, who treats with contempt those two sources of the 
 law, must be cast out as an atheist and a scorner of the 
 Veda. But they never burned atheists, as did the Chris- 
 tians formerly. 
 
 The novice was instructed that in seeking knowledge 
 of the divine law, the supreme authority was in revela- 
 tion (Sruti.) After tonsure, he was invested with the 
 sacred cord, which was generally worn over the left 
 shoulder and under the right arm. He was then given 
 a soft, smooth girdle of munga grass, and a staff, smooth 
 and handsome; and further instructed that by the study 
 
 the navel the Hindus said were pure ; those below, impure. 
 Manu, chapter 5, § 132. 
 
 20 This period was extended for the Kshatriya to 22 
 years; to the Vaisya, to 24 years. Beyond that period 
 any young man of the first three casts, who failed to per- 
 form the Savitri, became Vratya, — an outcast.
 
 BURNT OBLATIONS 215 
 
 of the Veda, by vows, by purity, by burnt 21 oblations, by 
 recitations of the sacred texts, by offerings to the Gods, 
 to the Rishis and to the Manes, his body would become 
 fit for Brahman. 22 
 
 Jesus prescribed a different formula for sanctification. 
 For he said to Nicodemus, "except a man be born of 
 water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of 
 God." (John 3, 5th.) 
 
 One of the things imposed upon the pious Brahman 
 was to offer oblations, morning and evening; and the 
 Jews, so Ezra tells us in chapter 3, ''offered burnt offer- 
 ings to the Lord morning and evening." The Jews were 
 simply copying the sacrifices of the Hindoos. The priests 
 
 21 This matter of oblations at the period of the Veda, 
 to win the favor of Heaven, was in vogue nearly all over 
 the earth. It had traveled from the East. The Egyp- 
 tians brought it with them when they migrated, and 
 Moses learned it from them. Is it possible that the offer- 
 ing of sacrifices by Moses, in the wilderness, did, in fact, 
 drive the swarms of flies from Egypt? (Exodus, chapter 
 8, 25 to 32.) 
 
 22 This is a singular passage: If we say the body, by 
 these austerities, becomes fit for union with Brahman, 
 does it not look as if Jesus, who taught the resurrec- 
 tion of the body, found some support here for his doc- 
 trine ? More than this : take section 27, chapter 2, Manu, 
 where it says, "By honest oblations, and the tying on of 
 the sacred girdle, the taint derived from both parents 
 is removed from twice-born men." Is the taint there 
 mentioned the same as 
 
 "In Adam's fall, 
 We sinned all." 
 If not, what is it?
 
 216 NEW MOON SACRIFICES 
 
 of India offered burnt sacrifices to the New Moon, and 
 the Jews copied them in this also.^^ 
 
 But no Sudra was allowed to offer a sacrifice. Nor 
 was he even permitted to hear the sacred texts repeated. 
 The Brahmana, on account of the superiority of his ori- 
 gin and his sanctification, legislated for all the people. 
 The Jewish priests, likewise, gave law to all their people. 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 Far back in the misty past, the Hindus offered human 
 sacrifices. Then they fell back from that and took a 
 horse; then dropped lower and took an ox; and then 
 a sheep ; then a goat ; and when the goat was offered up, 
 the sacrificial essence went out of it and entered the earth. 
 They dug for it and found rice and barley; and from 
 these "they gained as much efficacy as in all the five-fold 
 animal sacrifices." ^-i 
 
 The Jews, a thousand years later, were still shedding 
 blood to appease an angry God; and we are told that 
 Solomon, at the dedication of the Temple, offered twenty- 
 two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand sheep, as a sacrifice unto the Lord.^^ 
 
 I shall close this chapter by simply adding that the 
 twice-born Hindoo was directed to always bless his food, 
 and to rejoice with a pleasant face when he saw it, and 
 to pray that he might ever obtain it.^^ Now if he was 
 copied and followed, when Jesus broke bread and blessed 
 
 23 Bible, Book of Ezra, chapter 3, v. 5. 
 
 24 Satapatha-Brahmana, p. 50, Vol. 12, S. B. E. 
 
 25 I Kings, chapter 8, v 63. 
 
 "6 Manu, chapter 2, section 54. Mark 12, v. 34.
 
 TABLE BLESSINGS 217 
 
 it, and is still copied by him who sits at his table and 
 asks God to bless the food he is about to take, then let 
 no man carp or sneer at either Jesus or the Hindoo. 
 For the man who can devoutly thank Heaven for his 
 daily bread must be of that class who are "the salt of 
 the earth."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOME FURTHER PARALLELS : HINDOO AND HEBREW SCRIP- 
 TURES. 
 
 § I. There is, perhaps, no Bible of any faith, which 
 is to-day the same as when it was first put forth. The 
 Bible of the Hindoos is surely not the same that it was 
 originally, for it has suffered recensions, eliminations 
 and additions. The same may be said of the Jewish 
 Bible ; for it, likewise, has encountered recensions, elimi- 
 nations and supplements. Bibles are not written in a 
 day. It takes generations and centuries to construct 
 one. It took nearly seventeen hundred years to com- 
 plete the Jewish canon. The most ancient hymns of the 
 Veda are probably forty-three hundred and possibly five 
 thousand years old. The Hindu canon closed six or 
 seven hundred years B. C.^ It was, therefore, a long 
 period in building. 
 
 In nearly the last words of Manu, he challenges and 
 condemns all subsequent theologies, as follows: "All 
 those doctrines differing from the Veda, which spring 
 up, are worthless and false, because they are of modern 
 date." (V Manu, 12, § 96.) John closed the Jewish 
 
 ^ It is possible that the Hindu canon closed eight or 
 nine hundred years B. C. See Manu 12, § 96. 
 
 218
 
 THEOLOGIES ARE INVENTIONS 219 
 
 Bible in the year A. D. 96 (to 125) with these menacing 
 words: "If any man shall add unto these things, God 
 shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this 
 Book; and if any man shall take away from the words 
 of this Book, God shall take away his part out of the 
 Book of Life." 2 
 
 Theologies are the inventions of man ; and the inven- 
 tors of theologies are always dogmatic. It was so with 
 Moses and Manu. Moses was a man of blood and merci- 
 lessly slaughtered unbelievers. In one day he put three 
 thousand Hebrews to the sword for worshipping Aaron's 
 golden calf.^ Manu was much less bloodthirsty. If a 
 twice-born Hindu forsook the law, he became a despised 
 outcast, and all intercourse v^^ith him was strictly for- 
 bidden. But he was not slain. By repentance and con- 
 fession, by bathing and fasting, by austerities, and by 
 penances, he became freed from his guilt. 
 
 Time has dealt severely with both of these old faiths. 
 In Jerusalem to-day (1905) there are only about twenty 
 thousand Jews ; and these, mostly, pass the Mosaic rec- 
 ords by to study the Talmud. The Jews seem to have 
 deserved their hard fate. They are the scattered, unhon- 
 ored ^ remnants of an unlovely but famous people. Yet 
 
 2 I think the record is wrong here. There was no 
 New Testament canon until about A. D. 125 or later, and 
 it is hard to tell just when the poor, ignorant Ebionites 
 first approved it. It is possible that it was written as 
 early as A. D. 100. St. John must have heard of Manu. 
 
 2 Of course there are some few exceptions ; but as a 
 class, they are a despised race. 
 
 ^ Exodus, 32 : y. 2y and 28.
 
 220 JEWISH INFLUENCE SMALL 
 
 their old records, curiously enough, are studied and held 
 sacred by millions in Europe and America. 
 
 THE OLD MOSAIC RELIGION IS FADING. 
 
 But the old Mosaic religion is fading away. Of the 
 fifteen or sixteen hundred millions of people on the globe, 
 barely six million hold to that ancient Jewish supersti- 
 tion, and even these are so broken up in little isolated 
 groups and patches, that their influence, on passing 
 events, is scarcely a cipher. One foolish, senseless old 
 custom, that of circumcision, which they probably learned 
 from the Egyptians, they still follow with all the scru- 
 pulous care of Neophytes. Jeremiah told them ^ they 
 were uncircumcised in heart, and the day should come 
 when they would be punished by nations uncircumcised. 
 It would seem as if Jeremiah's prophecy had been and is 
 still being fulfilled. Very few Jews live in the country. 
 They mostly cluster in Ghettos, in the filthiest parts of 
 cities ; and their children, with unkempt heads and dirty 
 faces, throng the streets. Such are the descendants of 
 "God's chosen people." 
 
 § 2. Neither the Hindu Scriptures nor the faith of 
 India have fared so badly as the Hebrews. But the 
 Rig- Veda has not escaped the gnawing tooth of time.*^ 
 
 6 Jeremiah, chapter 9, v. 25 and 26. 
 
 ■^ The word "Veda" means knowledge ; "Sruti," reve- 
 lation. Originally the Hindu Scriptures were divided 
 into three Samhitas or collections, viz. : Rig- Veda, Yagur- 
 Veda and Sama-Veda. Later the priests added another — 
 the Atharvan or Ather-Veda. These were the compo- 
 sitions of Seers, Rishis or poets, and were committed to 
 memory and recited to the people.
 
 MILTON'S PARADISE LOST 221 
 
 It is not in vogue as much as formerly, but has been 
 largely supplanted by two great epics, the Ramayana and 
 Mahbharata. 
 
 John Milton's Paradise Lost, if it had been written 
 thirty-five hundred or four thousand years ago, is such 
 a story of Gods that it might have gone into the Hindu 
 Bible as a Sruti (revelation) from heaven; or into the 
 Hebrew Bible as a "Thus saith the Lord." The Jews 
 would have welcomed it gladly, because their valley of 
 Hinnon is surpassed by it in heat and sufifering. The 
 Hindus, because it pictures heaven in vivid colors and 
 gives it a better defined locality than the Rig- Veda. Be- 
 sides it would have supplanted metempsychosis effec- 
 tively.^ 
 
 ALL EARLY RELIGIONS WERE BLOODY. 
 
 We have seen that the principal mode of worship by 
 the Hindus and Hebrews was by bloody oblations offered 
 to their Gods to appease their anger and to obtain their 
 favor. Those people lived about three thousand miles 
 distant from each other. And if it be true that the exo- 
 dus took place only 1491 years B. C., it follows that the 
 Hindus were sacrificing to their deities a thousand years 
 and more before the time of Moses. When and where did 
 they learn those heathenish rites ? Did the priestly class, 
 through long periods, invent and add to them, until now 
 
 8 It is not too much to affirm that Milton's great poem 
 has sounded the key note to many a modern sermon, yet 
 in the last fifty years hell has abated its rigors some- 
 what ; and if Revelation had not been reinforced by Para- 
 dise Lost, religion would, no doubt, ere this have ceased 
 wearing sables.
 
 222 NO SWINE FLESH FOR EGYPTIANS 
 
 we find them elaborate enough to fill large volumes? 
 Did the Egyptians, before they migrated from the far 
 east, learn them there and carry them to the banks of the 
 Nile, where Moses copied them? 
 
 The Egyptians were particular in forbidding the use 
 of swine-flesh for food; and Moses copied them in this, 
 exactly.^ They also used fish which had fins and scales, 
 and Moses told the Hebrews they might do the same. 
 But he did not teach the doctrine of the immortality of 
 the soul. Yet the Egyptians taught it, and had taught 
 it nearly nine hundred years before the exodus. Nor did 
 Moses teach the transmigration of the soul, which the 
 Egyptians and the Hindoos both taught.^^ 
 
 § 3. Moreover, w^here two nations or peoples teach 
 identical doctrines of religion, in part or in full, it is 
 not unreasonable to suppose that the younger nation 
 borrowed from or imitated the elder one. But such a 
 copy is never exactly true in all its details. It was so in 
 this case. India, as we shall see, taught retribution in her 
 transmigration. 
 
 Egypt taught that the transmigrating soul traveled a 
 circuit, which it made every 2842^1 years; but that as 
 long as the body was preserved from decay, the circuit 
 
 ^ Leviticus XI. as to swine and fish. 
 
 ^^ After much study of this matter, I am satisfied that 
 the Egyptians were of Asiatic origin, and probably 
 learned, either directly or otherwise, the doctrine of 
 metempsychosis from the Hindoos. Many Egyptian 
 words are Sanskrit words, the ancient tongue of India. 
 But even Sanskrit had a predecessor.
 
 MOSES' DOCTRINE NO FUTURE LIFE 223 
 
 did not begin. Thus many of the lower forms of Hfe 
 were escaped. Hence embalming and the mummies. 
 
 Moses, *'if learned in all the wisdom of Egypt," knew 
 of these things, and he must have known that Egypt 
 emphasized the doctrine of a future life ; yet he main- 
 tains a studied silence about it. But there was, and is, 
 one thing, be it said, to his immortal honor. He taught, 
 if the record be true, that there is only one Almighty 
 Being for man to worship. True, he offered sacrifices 
 with much mummery and foolishness, but he sacrificed 
 to only one God, the Father of us all. Whether this 
 belief in one God was the heir-loom of his race, or 
 whether he had thought out the problem by himself, or 
 whether Ezra^^ ^nd Nehemiah doctored up those old 
 Jewish legends and records, after the exile, and thus 
 made him a monumental hero; or whether an echo of 
 the Rig- Veda, or Hindoo philosophy, had reached his 
 ear, cannot, absolutely, be answered by any one. But we 
 shall not go far astray if we write down Ezra as an ex- 
 tremist; and Moses being already a prominent figure 
 in Jewish legends, was magnified by the facile pen of 
 the scribe into the colossal figure which we find in the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 ^^ A Sothaic period was 1421 years, and in two such 
 periods the soul was supposed to make its circuit. 
 
 ^ 2 Ezra, one of the exiles to Babylon, was a fierce, un- 
 compromising Jew who, on his return, compelled all 
 those who had married Canaanite and Hittite wives to 
 give them up, and sent the wives away with their chil- 
 dren. Such a man is hardly trustworthy to transcribe 
 a great and important record. He called himself a ready 
 scribe. (Ezra, chapter 7, v. 6.)
 
 224 AGE OF RIG-VEDA 
 
 AGE OF RIG-VEDA. 
 
 If the Rig- Veda was in process of composition twenty- 
 four hundred years B. C, then it reaches back to within 
 a few years of the flood. If so, the idea of one God, the 
 Creator of the heavens and the earth, was in the world, 
 and had been here nearly nine hundred years before 
 Moses appeared. But if twenty-four hundred be too 
 ancient a date for the commencement of the Hindoo 
 scriptures, and we lop off five hundred years, even then 
 the idea of one God was in India five hundred years be- 
 fore the exodus. 
 
 The following Vedic hymn,^^ which I am about to 
 quote, was composed and chanted in India probably one 
 thousand years before the Jewish exile. 
 
 1. "In the beginning, the only born Lord of all that 
 is, established the earth and the sky. Who is this God to 
 whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 
 
 2. He who gives life and strength, whose shadow is 
 immortality, whose shadow is death. Who is this God 
 to whom we shall offer sacrifice? 
 
 3. He is the only King of the breathing world. He 
 governs all, man and beast. He is the God to whom we 
 offer sacrifice. 
 
 4. He whose power these snowy mountains, the seas 
 and the distant rivers proclaim. He is the God to whom 
 we offer sacrifice. 
 
 5. He through whom the heavens were established, 
 nay, the highest heaven. He measures out the light. He 
 is the God to whom we offer sacrifice. 
 
 13 Rig-Veda X: 121
 
 HINDU HYMN 225 
 
 6. He to whom the heavens and the earth, standing 
 firm, by his will, tremblingly look up. He is the God to 
 whom we offer sacrifice. 
 
 7. He who looked over the water-clouds which gave 
 strength ; He who is above all Gods; may He not destroy 
 us, the Creator of the earth, the Righteous, who created 
 heaven and the mighty waters ? He is the God to whom 
 we offer sacrifices." 
 
 § 4. But neither the Hindoos nor the Hebrews were 
 satisfied with one God; and they were continually wan- 
 dering off after strange ones.^^ The Hindoos invented 
 Indra and Agni, and Varuna and others, to whom they 
 addressed their supplications. Varuna, being the Lord 
 of Punishment, bound the sinner with ropes.^^ They 
 begged mercy of him, as follows: 
 
 "Let me not yet, O ! Varilna, enter into the house of clay. 
 
 Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy! 
 
 I go along trembling like a cloud driven by the wind. 
 
 Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy! 
 
 Through want of strength, Thou strong, bright God, 
 
 have I gone to the wrong shore. 
 Have mercy. Almighty, have mercy! 
 Thirst came upon me when I stood in the midst of the 
 
 waters. 
 Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy! 
 Whenever we, O Lord, commit an offence before Thy 
 
 heavenly throne ; 
 
 "14 Zachariah, 587 B. C., strove to cut even the names 
 of the idols out of the land (Zacli. XHI, 2), and Malachi 
 threatened the wicked with fire. (Mai. IV, 2.) And Mi- 
 cah said, 'The Jews lie in wait for blood; even the 
 judp-es want rewards." (Micah 7.) 
 i^Manu IX, 308.
 
 226 MOSES A UNITARIAN 
 
 Whenever we violate Thy holy law, carelessly. 
 Have mercy, Lord, have mercy! 
 
 Such was the prayer of a Hindoo three thousand 
 years ago. It sounds like a Psalm of David. 
 
 "O, Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger; neither chas- 
 ten me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O 
 Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones 
 are vexed." ^^ 
 
 Now, notwithstanding the fact that Moses labored so 
 long and diligently to establish the faith of his people 
 in one God only, yet the Christians, fifteen hundred years 
 later, as we have seen, brought forth two new Gods, one 
 of whom was, and is, a myth ; the other a gentle, kindly- 
 natured man. The Jews therefore when they nailed 
 him on the cross were simply following the teachings of 
 Moses, because they disbelieved in more than one God. 
 
 Moses said, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is 
 one Lord''; ^"^ and Mark tells us that when a Scribe asked 
 Jesus which was the first commandment of all, he re- 
 plied, "The first of all commandments is, 'Hear, O 
 Israel ! The Lord our God is one Lord.' " ^^ 
 
 It would seem, therefore, that Moses and Jesus were 
 Unitarians ; and with such sponsors for a creed, it ought 
 to win the world to its side. 
 
 16 Psalm 6. 
 
 17 Deut, VI, 4. 
 
 18 Mark XII, 29.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GENESIS OF THE HINDU AND HEBREW BIBLES. 
 
 § I. Old, mystical legends, about the origin of the 
 world, which in process of time have become embodied 
 in old records, have always held man, in every part of 
 our globe, as if in a vice, and demanded that he shall, 
 without question, believe whatever is written. 
 
 The Hindus were as peremptory, dogmatic and super- 
 cilious as the Hebrews. But they ventured beyond the 
 Jews, for, being more given to theorizing and philoso- 
 phizing, they invented a scheme, or system of creation, 
 as foolish, mystifying and improbable as the dogmatism 
 of Genesis. , " 
 
 The laws of Manu set forth that the universe existed 
 in the shape of darkness ; that the Divine Self-Existent 
 appeared, dispelling the gloom ; and with a thought, cre- 
 ated the waters and placed his seed therein. That the 
 seed became a golden egg, equal in brilliancy to the sun ; ^ 
 and in that egg Brahma himself was born ; the progenitor 
 of the world. He resided in that egg one whole year; 
 and then, by thought, divided it into two halves ; 2 from 
 
 ^ That is, equal in purity to the sun. 
 2 What an inconsistency is here ! It is so utterly non- 
 sensical and foolish, that it is on a parallel with a fairy 
 
 227
 
 228 WILL MANAS SURVIVE? 
 
 which he formed the heavens and the earth. He then 
 "drew forth from himself" manas (the mind), which, it 
 is said, is both real and unreal. From the mind he "drew 
 forth egoism," which is self-consciousness; then the 
 Great One (the soul), and the five organs of sensation. 
 Manu tells us that Brahma can only be perceived by the 
 "internal organ." This "internal organ must be the 
 mind or soul ; for with no one, nor all, of the five senses 
 combined, can man perceive Brahma (God). A horse 
 has the same number of organs of sensation as man; 
 but has it that "internal organ?" On the other hand, 
 can it be proven that it has not manas also? 
 
 THE FIVE SENSES — WILL THEY SURVIVE? 
 
 I look out of my window and see the roses. I smell 
 their sweet fragrance. I hear the mocking-birds sing- 
 ing in the trees. I feel the balmy air. I take up a rose 
 and chew its leaves ; and yet all of these five senses will 
 be nailed in my coffin. Will manas, or egoism, survive ? 
 Hindoo philosophy answers that it will. J 
 
 Moses, on this all-important question, uttered no word. 
 Genesis also is silent. The "it" in Manu is the "internal 
 
 tale. If Atman or Brahma was already an existent be- 
 ing, why did he crawl into an tgg to be born ? Think of 
 the Creator of this world hived in an eggl The only 
 reason I can give is that Hindoo philosophers, after- 
 wards, when trying to explain the origin of things, 
 reached the conclusion that of all living things, there are 
 three origins only: That which springs from an tgg; 
 that which comes from a living being, and that from a 
 germ. Manu, chapter i ; also Upanishads, Vol. i, part 
 I, S. B. E., p. 94. 

 
 WHAT IS EGOISM f 229 
 
 organ." Is ''it" Egoism? And, if so, is Egoism some- 
 thing surpassing even the mind in excellency? Manu 
 says that Egoism is something Lordly ; ^ and if it be 
 drawn from the mind, what else can it be than the sub- 
 limated essence thereof? I shall not follow the subtili- 
 ties of Hindoo philosophy further, but merely add that 
 if the mind is in fact drawn forth from Brahma (God), 
 we may here find the reason that, being finally released 
 from metempsychosis, it becomes merged in, or goes 
 back to Brahma. 
 
 If this be wrong, and Egoism be greater than manas, 
 it may be that it is Egoism that is merged. Is not this 
 Hindoo doctrine the same as that taught in chapter 
 twelve, Ecclesiastes, where we are told that the Spirit 
 returns to God, who gave it? If Egoism or Manas be 
 the same as Spirit, then Solomon and Manu here travel 
 the same road. 
 
 By joining minute particles of himself with the five 
 organs of sensation, and the mind, Brahma, we are told, 
 created all beings ; and "in the beginning" assigned their 
 several names and conditions. Whatever quality, or 
 course of action, the Lord first gave to man, plant, or 
 brute; whether virtue or vice, truth or deceit, ferocity 
 or falsehood, each clung to its kind, plant or animal, 
 just as each season, of its own accord, assumes its dis- 
 tinctive marks.^ 
 
 2 Manu I, 14. Some Hindoo philosophers maintain 
 that the soul was drawn forth from Brahma before the 
 mind, and that Egoism is simply the Ego or I. 
 
 ^ If Ezra edited the Pentateuch, then Manu precedes
 
 230 THE CREATION— TIME? 
 
 THE CREATION — TIME? 
 
 § 2. The Hebrew Bible says, "In the beginning, God 
 created the heavens and the earth." 
 
 In the beginning of what? If it means in the begin- 
 ning of the world He created it, then it is tantamount to 
 saying that He created it — when He created it. Of 
 course this would spoil the beautiful rhythm of the sen- 
 tence. But if it means that he created the world only 
 six thousand years ago, it is very evident that the writer 
 had never studied geology or astronomy. For the ''tes- 
 timony of the rocks" makes the earth millions upon mil- 
 lions of years old. Its age is, in fact, so great that a 
 puny six thousand years is as a mole-hill to a mountain, 
 v^;^ . If the Almighty Father is from everlasting to ever- 
 ^•^ lasting, then a thousand millions of years, and ten thou- 
 > sand times that, is only as a single grain of sand upon 
 
 the shores of myriads and myriads of oceans. Time 
 I never had a he ginning, and God did not create time. 
 
 4 It was, and is, coeval with Him. It was, and is, without 
 
 =- a beginning. Time was in this mighty universe of num- 
 
 berless worlds and suns when God was. It had no be- 
 ginning; it will have no ending. The angel may stand 
 ^ with one foot upon the earth and the other upon the 
 
 J, sea, and "cry with a loud voice, that time shall be no 
 ^ more," but time will not heed the angel. (Rev. X). In- 
 numerable suns will continue to shine, and worlds with- 
 "^ out number will continue to revolve in spite of the angel. 
 
 Ezra; but Manu, as we now have it, is a reduction of 
 an older work. Its present form is from 900 to 13CXD 
 years B. C. See Manu, chapter i, sections i to 30.
 
 ASTRONOMY IS AGAINST GENESIS 231 
 
 Astronomy is also against Genesis, with its six thou- 
 sand years for the earth's creation. The eccentricity of 
 the earth's orbit has been calculated back to one million 
 years before Jesus' day, and while it is true that the shape 
 of its orbit has varied somewhat, yet its mean distance 
 from the sun is so unvarying and constant, that it has 
 not changed eight seconds in six thousand years.*^ 
 
 Is it not about as absurd to insist that our earth is a 
 youngster, because Moses or Ezra, or some old Jewish 
 writer, of whom we know nothing, so wrote it down in 
 ignorance of the facts, as for some India writer to say 
 that Brahma housed himself a whole year in an egg? 
 
 Both of these old Bibles are full of absurdities, inac- 
 curacies and savagery. Both of them upheld slavery. 
 Moses told the Hebrews to buy their bond-men of the 
 heathen round about them, and the Indians, as we have 
 observed, reduced the Sudras to slavery. In fact, India 
 had several classes of slaves.^ Those Bibles were both 
 written in an age of idolatry and ignorance, when people 
 believed the earth to be flat. They were written when 
 polygamy was dominant, and both Bibles upheld it. In 
 this matter Solomon stands pre-eminent with his seven 
 hundred wives and three hundred concubines.'^ 
 
 Moses said, "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
 
 ^ Dr. James Croll's great work on climate and time. 
 R. A. Proctor's article, Astronomy — Br. Ency., Vol. 2, 
 
 P- 795- 
 
 6 Leviticus XXV: 44. Manu 8: 413 to 417. The 
 bond-man bought of the heathen could never regain his 
 freedom. Neither could the Sudra. 
 
 ■^ I Kings, XI, 3. I do not wonder that so many wives 
 "turned away his heart."
 
 232 A SUDRA'S PUNISHMENT 
 
 hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning", stripe 
 for stripe." ^ 
 
 Manu said, "Whatever Hmb of a Sudra does hurt to a 
 man of three higher casts, even that limb shall be cut 
 off."^ And if a Sudra struck a Brahma, he was to re- 
 main in hell one thousand years, but a twice-born man 
 might expiate his offense by supplications, fasting and 
 penances. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND THE SERPENT. 
 
 In chapter 2, Genesis, man is forbidden, under an 
 awful penalty, to eat of the tree of knowledge. But 
 without knowledge he would be as the beast of the field. 
 Without knowledge he would probably build a house 
 no better than the beaver. Now if the eating of the 
 forbidden fruit of that tree in Eden has given us the 
 mastery of viature, as we have it to-day, through the 
 gate of knowledge, thereby opened to us, then, instead 
 of vituperation and abuse, let the serpent which beguiled 
 Eve have a monument, and a lofty one. 
 
 As to this serpent dialogue with Eve (chapter 3), it 
 has heretofore been painted in colors immensely to the 
 disadvantage of the beguiler. Yet that serpent told the 
 truth, which God Himself immediately confirmed. For 
 the serpent said, "God doth know that in the day ye 
 shall eat of the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened, 
 and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil" (V. 5, 
 chapter 3). Soon thereafter, the Lord was walking '^^ 
 
 ^ Exodus XXI : 22 to 2y. 
 
 ^ Manu 8 : 279 and 280, and Manu XI : 207. 
 
 ^^ He must therefore have legs, or He could not walk.
 
 THE LORD AND THE SERPENT 233 
 
 in the Garden, ''in the cool of the day." (The sun hav- 
 ing just been created, it blazed up probably too hot in 
 the middle of the day) and He questioned Adam about 
 this matter. Adam told the truth, like a man, and said, 
 'The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave 
 me of the tree, and I did eat." The Lord thereupon 
 faced the woman : ''What hast thou done ?" The woman 
 (bless her) did not flinch. "The serpent beguiled me,'* 
 she said, "and I did eat." (Chapter 3, v. 13). There- 
 upon the Lord turned upon the serpent with these bitter 
 words: "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed 
 above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon 
 thy belly thou shalt go ; dust shalt thou eat all the days 
 of thy life." The serpent kept his temper and made no 
 reply; and if that serpent was in fact a snake, he still 
 crawls on his belly. But was he not on his belly before 
 he met Eve? Did he have legs before God cursed him? 
 How is this? Who created that serpent? If this whole 
 thing be not a finely drawn allegory, we may well ask, 
 as God created every creeping thing, did He not also 
 create that serpent? If God did not create it, who did? 
 The serpent surely did not create itself. 
 
 Zoroaster, the great Iranian, taught that there were 
 two great creative beings: Ormazd and Aharman (God 
 and the Devil), who created and counter-created good 
 spirits and bad. And that this world is one great battle- 
 field, where the conflict will rage until Aharman, the 
 God of sin, is overthrown and destroyed forever. 
 
 THAT SERPENT COULD TALK. 
 
 Here in this Eden story the Lord uses language that 
 is entirely personal. The serpent could talk also, for he
 
 234 DIALOGUE WITH THE SERPENT 
 
 held a conversation with Eve. Was this serpent Zoro- 
 aster's Aharman ; or are these chapters the inventions of 
 a romancer? However that may be, the Lord and the 
 serpent agree as to the effect of eating the forbidden 
 fruit. The serpent said their eyes would be opened, and 
 they would be as Gods, knowing good and evil ; and 
 after they ate the fruit the Lord said, "Behold the man is 
 become as one of us, to know good and evil." "Now, 
 lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life 
 and eat, and live forever, I will send him forth from Eden 
 to till the ground from whence he was taken." ^^ 
 
 The imagination of the poet is not always logical. 
 Adam is trusted with the tree of Life, and that tree is 
 in Eden (ch. 2, v. 9), and it was not forbidden to Adam, 
 for the Lord expressly said : "Of every tree of the Gar- 
 den thou mayest freely eat" (ch. 3, v. 16), except the 
 tree of knowledge. Suppose Adam had eaten first of the 
 tree of Life, would man's body have lived forever? Or 
 would it have worn out and withered and died as it does 
 now? It would look as if the solid facts are against the 
 romancer. 
 
 § 5. Another little lapse of the poet in chapter 4 is 
 deserving of notice. When Cain for his crime was driven 
 forth to wander as a fugitive and a vagabond over the 
 earth, the Lord set a mark upon him lest any one finding 
 him might slay him. "And Cain went out from the 
 presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, on 
 the east of Eden.^^ 
 
 ^^ Gen., chapter 3, verses 22 and 23. 
 ^2 Chapter 4, v. 16.
 
 THE NODITES 235 
 
 THE NODITES. 
 
 Now, at that time there were of the human family, 
 according to the record, only Adam, Eve and Cain in 
 existence. Yet Cain settles in the land of Nod; finds 
 that land peopled; falls in love with one of the young 
 women, marries her, raises a family of children, and 
 builds a city, which he names after his son Enoch. How 
 did those Nodites get on this earth ? There was no Gar- 
 den of Eden for them; no tree of life or tree of knowl- 
 edge for them. How did they get here? No dominion 
 over all the earth is vouchsafed to the Nodites. Yet they 
 did a good thing for the world, for they were not under 
 the general curse meted out to Adam. 
 
 There is no record against the Nodites for disloyalty 
 or disobedience; and it is probable that Seth, Adam's 
 other son, married a Nodite girl. He certainly would 
 do that in preference to marrying his sister. Besides, as 
 Cain had so prospered with the Nodites as to get a wife 
 and build a city, would it not be an inducement to Seth 
 to try his fortune there also?
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TWO FLOODS AND THE TRUE ARK STORY. 
 
 § I. No one can write a book and hope to escape 
 criticism. The book of Genesis, and in fact the whole 
 Pentateuch, has been assailed by many persons and for 
 different reasons. But Pentateuch will stand, and it 
 ought to stand, not because it is historically correct in 
 all its details, but because it gives us the best conception 
 the Hebrew mind had of our Creator and of the creation 
 of the world.^ If that work were to be written to-day, 
 he would be a rash and careless historian who would 
 assert that the heavens and the earth and all animate 
 and inanimate things were created in six days. He would 
 study evolution 2 somewhat, and see what that tells him. 
 He would investigate the solar system, including the 
 nebular hypothesis, and instead of making this little 
 earth of ours the great central wonder of the skies, with 
 
 ^ The Book as we now have it, is only about 2,485 
 years old. Some of the material which Ezra wrought 
 into his redaction, reaches centuries beyond that period ; 
 how many redactions it had suffered before it reached 
 him it is impossible to tell. 
 
 2 While I cannot believe that God hustled to get 
 through creating "in just six days," I maintain that he 
 is as much the creator when he sets the revolution ma- 
 
 236
 
 BRAHMA'S DAY 12 MILLIONS OF YEARS 237 
 
 the sun a small affair whose sole purpose it is to give 
 us light, his mental vision would become enlarged 
 enough to detail the facts as we now know them to be. 
 He would tell us that the earth gets only a two-millionth 
 part of the light given off by the sun. And it is not 
 probable that Manu would write into the Hindu Bible 
 that Brahma, their God, whose day is twelve millions of 
 years and his nights of the same length, slumbers a day 
 and a night, and at the end of that period awakes and 
 begins the work of creating.^ 
 
 These Bibles agree that darkness was here before light. 
 Genesis says: *The earth was without form and void, 
 and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Manu tells 
 us that it "existed in the shape of darkness, unknowable, 
 immersed, as it were, in deep sleep, and that the Self- 
 Existent One appeared, dispelling the darkness." ^ That 
 He thereupon created ten great Lords of created beings, 
 and "these created seven other classes of Gods, of meas- 
 ureless power." 
 
 A FISH THAT TALKS. 
 
 § 2. Both the Hindoos and the Hebrews in their Holy 
 Books, make mention of a great destroying flood. One 
 
 chinery to going, which brought forth this world and its 
 inhabitants as if he had created it as set forth in Genesis. 
 
 ^ If Ezra had consulted Manu as to his days of crea- 
 tion and lengthened them into Kalpas, of millions of 
 years, his poetry might not have been as entrancing, but 
 he would have been much nearer the truth. 
 
 ^ Manu I, 5 and 6. Some scholars maintain that the 
 word "darkness" here is equivalent to Avidya (igno- 
 rance) .
 
 238 A FISH SAVED MANU 
 
 morning when Manu ^ was washing himself a fish came 
 into his hands, and like Balaam's ass, and the serpent in 
 Eden, it possessed the power of speech. It said to Manu : 
 "A flood will come and carry all the people away. Rear 
 me and I will save thee from that." "How shall I rear 
 thee?" asked Manu. The fish replied: ''I am a small 
 fish ; the large ones devour the small ones. Keep me in a 
 tub and when I outgrow that put me in a pond; when 
 too large for the pond take me down to the sea. That 
 year the flood will come. Prepare a ship and I will save 
 thee from the flood." The fish soon became a large one 
 and was put into the sea. Meanwhile Manu built a 
 ship and the flood came and floated him and his craft. 
 The fish swam up to the boat, whereupon Manu ''threw 
 a rope over its horn." Then it swam to a lofty moun- 
 tain and told Manu to fasten to a tree there, until the 
 waters subsided, and that he could then descend gradu- 
 ally and be safe.^ All the other people were washed 
 away. And there is yet a legend of the tying of Manu's 
 ship on the summit of the Himalayas. 
 
 THE HINDU EVE. 
 
 Manu was now alone in the world and he desired off- 
 
 ^ Satapatha, Brahmana, Vol. 12, S. B. E., p. 216. This 
 Manu is not the Creator, but the Father of mankind. 
 
 I am aware that it is claimed that Manu's fish story is 
 copied from the Noah affair. Now, if that be true, then 
 the Hebrews here pay back a small portion of their debt 
 to the Hindus. 
 
 ^ This silly legend, first told, perhaps, as a camp story 
 4,000 or 5,000 years ago, may be the antecedent or 
 progenitor of Noah's deluge. His craft rested on a 
 mountain and so did Manu's.
 
 THE FIRST HINDU WOMAN 239 
 
 spring. We are told that he offered sacrifices of clarified 
 butter, some milk and curds, and in a year a woman rose 
 from the sacrifices ''' and came to him. "Who art thou ?" 
 said he. "I am thy blessing, thy benediction. Whatever 
 thou shalt invoke through me all shall be granted to 
 thee." This woman became his bride and the mother 
 of the Seers of the Veda. 
 
 Noah's flood differs somewhat from that of Manu, for 
 instead of a fish the Lord himself warns Noah to build a 
 boat and gives him the dimensions to build it. The Lord 
 is sorry he made man, for "the earth was filled with vio- 
 lence ;" 8 and He proposes to drown all flesh. According 
 to the record, Noah was the only man upon the earth 
 who "found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Ch. 6, v. 8. 
 
 It would seem to be a tremendous undertaking, even in 
 these days of rapid transit, to gather a variety of all the 
 beasts and birds upon the whole earth and house them in 
 a boat like the Ark. But the Lord was gracious unto 
 Noah, for he said to him that, "of fowls after their kind, 
 and of cattle of their kind, and of every creeping thing 
 of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come 
 unto thee to keep them alive." ^ 
 
 Directly after this the Lord changed his mind and 
 
 ^ A cautious writer might ask where his milk and but- 
 ter came from, for in such a flood the cattle must have 
 perished. 
 
 ^ Gen. ch. v, 7 and 8. As I gave ample reasons in my 
 introductory chapter on Zoroaster and the Persian re- 
 ligion, and compared it with the Persian flood, I refer 
 the reader to section 5 of that chapter. 
 
 ^ Genesis 6. Read the whole chapter.
 
 240 NOAH'S ORDERS 
 
 gave Noah a different bill of lading. For he told him 
 to take of every clean beast by sevens, male and female, 
 and of beasts not clean ^^ by two, male and female. The 
 lowls of the air he should take by sevens. 
 
 THE ARK. 
 
 Let us first notice the Ark. It is a large, clumsy-look- 
 ing thing, about four hundred and fifty feet long, by 
 seventy-five feet wide, three stories, and one door for 
 each story, with only one window above, or on the top, 
 extending up one cubit.^^ It has rooms, but the number 
 is not known, neither can any one tell us what Gopher 
 wood is, the material of the Ark. Nor can we tell whether 
 it was nailed or spiked, or how it was fastened together. 
 
 We are told that Jubal-Cain was an artificer in brass 
 and iron, and perhaps the art had not been lost.^^ pos- 
 sibly there may have been a hardware store close by, 
 and if Noah had the cash or good credit, that point was 
 easily passed. Noah, at that time, was a veteran in years, 
 for if chapter 5, Genesis, be true, he was five hundred 
 years old. But in chapter 6 it is there declared that 
 man's days "shall be an hundred and twenty years," yet 
 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters 
 was upon the earth (Gen. 7, v. 6). And he lived after 
 the flood ? three hundred and fifty years.^^ 
 
 1^ All beasts that parted the hoof and were cloven- 
 footed and chewed the cud, except the camel, were clean. 
 Lev. xi. 
 
 1^ Gen. 6:16. There is no mention of glass for that 
 window, although in Egypt glass was in use 2,400 years 
 B. C. 
 
 ^2 Gen. ch. 4, v. 22. 
 
 13 Gen. 9, V. 29. It would seem that the Lord had 
 changed his opinion about the length of man's days.
 
 NO FIRE IN THE ARK 241 
 
 § 3. How long this curious craft was in building, the 
 record is silent, and any opinion is mere conjecture. Some 
 say one hundred years and some even longer. If either 
 of those guesses be correct, Noah was certainly a man 
 of faith, courage and perseverance. Neither can any 
 human being tell the spot where this world-famous Ark 
 was constructed. It seems apparent, however, that if it 
 took Noah one hundred years to build it, the frame, un- 
 protected from the weather, would have become some- 
 what rotten and worm-eaten before the flood came. Nor 
 can we conjecture where he got grain and forage for 
 this immense carivansary that was to be housed in that 
 craft. We are also at a loss to know how Noah himself 
 fared during this long imprisonment. Did he eat cold 
 victuals all these weary months? There was no chimney 
 in the Ark. It was a dark stinking place filled with birds, 
 reptiles and beasts. He had no fire and no light. How 
 did he live? 
 
 Those who believe the record which we are investigat- 
 ing to be holy and God-given, will tell us that the Lord 
 provided all that. But the record does not say that it is 
 Holy, neither does it tell us that the Lord furnished 
 the food. 
 
 The carnivora required fresh meat every day, and the 
 waters prevailed one hundred and fifty days, and did 
 not commence to recede until the high hills and the lofty 
 mountains were covered with more than twenty feet of 
 water and all flesh had perished. Then it required one 
 hundred and fifty days more before the waters were 
 abated, and they ''decreased continually until the tenth
 
 242 ONLY ONE WINDOW 
 
 month, when the tops of the mountains were seen."^* 
 The flesh-eaters (and there was an army of them), would 
 instinctively refuse salted food. How then were they 
 sustained for nearly a year? There were not enough of 
 the clean beasts in the ark to feed them, if we leave any 
 to procreate the species. Just how this difficulty was 
 bridged over I cannot tell, possibly the Lord closed the 
 mouths of the lions and other ravenous ones, as he closed 
 the lions' mouths when Daniel, later on, was flung into 
 a den of them. 
 
 THE PROCESSION INTO THE ARK. 
 
 Let us take our place by the gang-plank of the Ark 
 and witness this wonderful procession as it arrives. 
 There never before was one like it in all this broad earth, 
 and there never will be another such a gathering, in 
 variety, magnitude and importance, world without end. 
 The heavens are black, portentious, threatening. Not a 
 leaf is rustling in all the forests. There is a dead calm 
 and such an awful stillness that one can hear his own 
 heart beat. The very clouds seem so freighted that 
 they hang upon the tops of the trees as if waiting a 
 signal. Noah and his sons and their wives have just 
 gone into the Ark. Listen! Do you hear that muffled 
 sound? It is not the roar of the coming tempest. There 
 is a rustling of wings, there is a hissing and a trampling 
 as of myriads of feet. We hear now the lowing of cat- 
 tle, the bleating of sheep, and we are startled by the 
 terrific roar of a lion. This commingling of sounds, such 
 as no mortal ear ever heard before and will never hear 
 
 "Gen. 8:3 and 5.
 
 GOD'S ELECT OF ANIMALS 243 
 
 again grows momentarily more distinct. It is the breath- 
 ing, trampling, crawling, flying, hopping and hissing of 
 God's elect of all animal life on earth. A most momentous 
 thing is about to happen. All life, not in this moving 
 column, is shortly to perish, and to perish because of the 
 wickedness of man. The head of the column is in sight. 
 No human voice or arm is guiding it; yet it moves with 
 the precision and steadiness of an army under a field- 
 marshal. Noah whispers to his sons : "Here they come ! 
 they come! God has not forgotten me. My neighbors 
 scoffed and jeered me and their ridicule cut me to the 
 heart. But I remembered the promise of the Most High, 
 and obeyed Him. My sons, God will never desert you 
 if you put your trust in Him. Obey Him and fear not." 
 § 4. The head of the column is now at the gang-plank. 
 Here come the ponderous hippopotamus and his mate, 
 laboring heavily, followed by some ugly-looking croco- 
 diles.^^ Behind them crawl two monstrous boa-constrict- 
 ors, and near them prance the horses, and they snort 
 furiously, for they had just seen the boa swallow an ox. 
 But the horses are safe, for the boa is drowsy and wants 
 to sleep. Noah himself looks somewhat nervous, for 
 he is but little familiar with the fauna of tropical 
 America. Here are the elephants, the lamas from Peru, 
 the camels, the zebras, the elks, the buffaloes, the cattle, 
 the gnu and the tall giraffe from Africa. All these pon- 
 
 1^ It has been claimed tliat the hippopotamus and the 
 crocodile and boa constrictor families, together with the 
 frogs, etc., did not go into the Ark. But amphibious 
 animals could not live 300 days in water alone. Noah 
 probably had a tank for them-
 
 244 THEY CROWD IN 
 
 derous ones instinctively seek the lower floor of the Ark. 
 These and thousands of others crowd in. The lion 
 heads another division. The tiger, the wolf, the jaguar, 
 the hyena, the leopard, the cat, the dog, the rat, the 
 weasel, the opossum and skunk, the squirrel, the gopher 
 and mouse, and tens of thousands of other animals from 
 the frozen North and the tropical South all come crowd- 
 ing in. 
 
 THE APES. 
 
 But here is another division, headed by some curious 
 objects so like unto men that Noah is about to drive them 
 back. The leader bears a strong family resemblance to 
 Noah^s sons Shem, Ham and Japhet. Noah mentions 
 this to them and Shem replies: "Yes, father, that is 
 true, but his resemblance to you is even more striking 
 than to us." Noah speaks to the leader and it chatters 
 back to him. It has hands like a human and a face not 
 unlike many. The legs of the chimpanzee, its arms and 
 its hands were indeed so like Noah's that no wonder he 
 was puzzled. 
 
 No man, except Noah and his sons, must enter that 
 Ark; that is God's order; and here is the first case on 
 record where evolution was decided and defied. Noah 
 admitted the monkey, thus holding that it was not his 
 ancestor. It was fortunate for the ape that Noah so de- 
 cided, else he would have been turned back to perish 
 with all others in the destroying flood. 
 
 The closing act of this panorama has arrived, for the 
 flutter of wings announces the coming of the birds. The 
 gaudy peacock is directing the flight, with the eagle close 
 by. Here come the geese and the swans, the ducks and 
 flamingos, the swallows and martins, the lap-wings and
 
 THE BIRDS 245 
 
 the quails, the turkeys and turtle-doves, the sparrows and 
 pigeons, the black-birds and wrens, with the crows 
 and birds of paradise. Here also are the orioles and robins, 
 and the bee-eaters and bitterns, followed by the great 
 auk, from Labrador, with its small wings tired and worn, 
 while the king-fisher skims along with ease. The owl 
 opens his eyes drowsily and Polly says she wants a 
 cracker. The raven and the dove were there, for Noah 
 himself speaks of them. The nightingale, in her long 
 flight across the Atlantic, is so worn and prosy that she 
 sings no more sweetly than the unmusical blue-jay. 
 
 The line of the feathered tribe so lengthened out that 
 it filled, completely, Noah's third story, except a small 
 space in one corner for a cow which had been left, upon 
 the urgency of Shem's wife, who wanted some milk for 
 the baby. 
 
 The great gathering is over and the three doors of the 
 Ark are closed. All animals and every creeping thing 
 on earth, according to Genesis, are represented in that 
 Ark. The windows of heaven are now opened "and all 
 the fountains of the great deep are broken up." ^^ 
 
 THE ARK TOO SMALL. 
 
 Such a world-renowned and wonderful story as that of 
 the flood is naturally called in question. Here are a few 
 of the objections which I find against it. The Ark is 
 too small to hold a tenth part of the animals and their 
 food for eight or ten months. It is, or must have been, 
 a dark stenchy place. No windows, except a scuttle-hole 
 
 i** They have windows in heaven; but they had only 
 one window in the Ark. — Gen. VH, ii.
 
 246 PITCHY DARKNESS IN THE ARK 
 
 in the roof. The animals were, therefore, enveloped in 
 pitchy darkness. The filth of their stalls would be death- 
 breeding. The poor animals could not be properly fed 
 and cared for by three men, Shem, Ham and Japhet. 
 
 A man of Noah's age (six hundred years) could do 
 but little. It would keep more than a thousand men busy, 
 day and night, with plenty of light and air, to look after 
 things. 
 
 The nights in that Ark were no darker than the days ; 
 for they had no lights; at least there is no mention of 
 them. As to food, each animal would require the grasses 
 and herbage of its locality. The flesh-eaters alone, in 
 three-hundred days, would devour all the animals in the 
 Ark. It will not do to say that God would feed them. 
 He did not agree to do so. The animals came unto Noah, 
 "for him to keep them alive." ^"^ 
 
 Nor will it do to say that, Noah probably made more 
 than one door for each story, and one window for the 
 roof. The Almighty told him just how to build that Ark ; 
 and if he failed to follow the plans, then he disobeyed. 
 But, suppose the carnivora did not destroy all the cows, 
 and goats, and sheep, while in the Ark. They are all 
 turned loose, when the folks go ashore. What happens? 
 The lions, hyenas, wolves, etc., feed upon the cattle and 
 sheep and goats; and thus all this coming to Noah to 
 save their lives, is frustrated. Moreover, the long months 
 of water has killed all the grass and herbage; and the 
 cattle, on leaving the Ark, found the earth a great, barren, 
 leafless desert. There is not a seed for the birds, nor a 
 
 '^'^ Genesis VIj 20.
 
 BABYLON DELUGE STORY 247 
 
 bit of pasture for the flocks. But some pious soul, with 
 more faith than reason, will say, '*God could take care of 
 all that." I can as well reply, that God could have de- 
 stroyed all the world, except Noah and his family, and 
 the elect animals, without all this trouble with the Ark. 
 
 noah's deluge is a copy. 
 
 § 5. But is not this whole thing a copy, somewhat 
 extended and changed, from that old untrustworthy Baby- 
 lonian mythical deluge story? Genesis is a Jewish nar- 
 rative, and the Jews were notorious copyists and imita- 
 tors ; but they were also rhetoricians, and writers of high 
 degree. 
 
 Athenian eloquence, in the space of three hundred 
 years, was carried to such heights, that it has never yet 
 been surpassed. Thus, also, Jewish writers from the 
 time of Ezra, to the close of the four Gospels, a period 
 of about six hundred and fifty years, completed a volume 
 that, perhaps, for felicity of expression, and lofty 
 imagery, will never be excelled. But often the Pegassus 
 of the poet mounted beyond the cold facts. 
 
 The Babylonian deluge story was current in Babylon 
 centuries before Ezra was carried there as a prisoner of 
 war. That story had been copied by the Babylonians 
 from the Accadians, so that we do not get it even second 
 hand. The ancient world was, in fact, full of deluge 
 stories. The Persians, however, changed the destroying 
 deluge into the cold and killing frosts of winter. With 
 the Persians, it was not because the "earth was filled 
 with violence," that mankind was to be destroyed; but
 
 248 THE PERSIAN VARA 
 
 because it was filled to "overflowing" with men and 
 animals.^ ^ 
 
 The Persian romancer, instead of an Ark, is directed 
 by Ahura Mazda (God) to build a great underground 
 vara, an abode two miles square, with streets, and foun- 
 tains of water ; and is told that there will be a light, self- 
 shining, within, to make that abode as light as an eternal 
 day.i^ The frosts came, as did the flood, and killed all 
 the people and animals not in the vara. 
 
 If the Genesis flood-story be true, it is a bad thing for 
 those who trace their genealogy to Noah ; for his conduct, 
 later on, stamps him as a Bacchanalian. If the whole 
 earth is, in truth, descended from the Ark people; then 
 drunkenness is a strain and a stain in our blood. But 
 why that old man, slobbering in his cups, had the power 
 to curse Ham, and have that curse follow him and his 
 posterity all these years, I confess myself unable to un- 
 derstand. Is it not more charitable to think it a mistake 
 of the printer ? 
 
 THE RAINBOW. 
 
 But is not the whole flood-story rendered extremely 
 equivocal and uncertain by what is said about the rain- 
 bow? 
 
 Did the sun never shine while rain-drops were falling, 
 before the flood-time? If it did, then, just so surely a 
 rainbow was formed. Why then the statement, "I do 
 
 ^® One thousand years or less; probably five hundred 
 years will again fill the world to overflowing. What 
 then ? Is it a flood or a vara ? 
 
 1^ See my introductory chapter on Zoroaster and his 
 teachings, where this is fully set forth.
 
 RAINBOW OLDER THAN THE FLOOD 249 
 
 set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a 
 covenant" that all flesh shall not again be destroyed by a 
 flood (Genesis IX, 9 to 17). The bow had been ''sef 
 long before the flood ; and Noah must have often admired 
 its beauty. When the first rain-drops fell through the 
 first sunshine, then the bow was "set." It was, and is, 
 the result of an established law, and that law will con- 
 tinue unchanged, just so long as raindrops fall through 
 the atmosphere while the sun is shining. 
 
 Is it too much to assert, that if Manu's fish story had 
 been written into Genesis, instead of that of Noah and 
 his Ark, many devout and unquestioning souls would 
 gulp it down as solid fact. 
 
 And there is not a bit of doubt that, if the Noah legend 
 had been transcribed into the Sacred code of Manu, the 
 foolish Hindoos would insist that it was an Sruti (revela- 
 tion) from their God, Brahma.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD. THE PUNISHMENT OF 
 THE WICKED. 
 
 § I. The Brahman and the Jewish Bibles both set 
 forth that this world will be ultimately destroyed. And 
 that a matter of such supreme importance may not be 
 overlooked and forgotten, that statement is repeated 
 again and again. Just where those writers obtained their 
 information they do not state; but if they guessed at it, 
 they are confirmed, some say, by modern science. 
 
 The Hindu Bible states that at the end of great periods 
 of time, called Kalpas, the Lord will dissolve this mate- 
 rial world. He does not burn it up ; He simply dissolves 
 it; or, as it were. He pulverizes it. Peter, after declar- 
 ing that the world shall be burned up, falls back upon this 
 old Hindu word and says, "all things shall be dissolved." 
 (H Peter, ch. 3.) 
 
 All souls meanwhile, according to the Hindu Bible, 
 He in deep sleep until, at the Lord's convenience. He pre- 
 pares another world. 
 
 If the soul be loaded with demerit, it is not flung into 
 a furnace of fire to broil and burn for countless Kalpas, 
 but is given another body and has another chance. It 
 may see its error ; it may reform, and be born into higher 
 and higher grades, until perfect knowledge is reached, 
 
 250
 
 THE HOPE OF THE BRAHMAN 251 
 
 and final release is found in Brahma (God). The pure 
 in heart find peace at once. 
 
 The Brahmans believe that this process of creation, 
 and destruction of the world, will go on in the future, 
 as it has in the past; through endless Kalpas. That is, 
 the body of man being dust, will be resolved back to dust. 
 That the soul is an emanation from Brahma ; ^ that it was 
 pure before it went forth from him ; and that it must be 
 pure before it can return to him. 
 
 The hope and the struggle of the pious Hindu was to 
 escape metempsychosis and become absorbed in Brahma. 
 For unrepentant sinners, twenty-one hells were provided, 
 by Yama, the Lord of Justice, where they were tossed 
 about, in terrors and torments, "like to that of being 
 bound and mangled." ^ But this did not happen until 
 "another strong body" was given the evil doer, when, 
 having suffered for his faults, the soul, purged of its 
 stains, approached the Great One and Kshetragna (the 
 Knower of the Field). These two, as judges, examine 
 each soul that appears before them, and send it on a pil- 
 grimage of transmigration, according to its merit or 
 demerit. 
 
 Brahma, it is said, completely pervades all existences, 
 with three controlling qualities: goodness, activity and 
 
 1 Is not this nearly tantamount to saying that wicked 
 souls having forgotten that they emanated or came from 
 God ; and that they are a part of the integer or whole, will 
 have to transmigrate from body to body until they re- 
 cover their memory. 
 
 2 Manu, ch. 4, § 87; Manu XII, § 75; Manu XII, §16 
 to 33. Lord of Justice, Manu, ch. 7, § 7.
 
 252 75 THERE PREDESTINATION? 
 
 darkness. That when a man feels a deep calm in his soul, 
 he may know that the quality of goodness predominates. 
 But if greed of gain and sensual objects lure him, he is 
 marked with activity, and finds it difficult to tread the 
 narrow path. Darkness has the form of ignorance ; leads 
 an evil life, and is ever covetous, unholy, and cruel. 
 
 Now if it be true that whatever the Lord first appointed 
 to each soul, whether gentleness or ferocity, virtue or 
 sin, truth or falsehood, and those qualities cling to it, 
 spontaneously, then is it not also true that the Lord pre- 
 destined some souls to tribulation and woe ? ^ Wicked, 
 marble-hearted old John Calvin would smack his lips 
 with pleasure if he could know of this hateful Hindu 
 creed. Yet, if we look about us, and confine our vision to 
 man's life on earth (for that is all we know of it), we 
 shall find representatives of Goodness, Activity and Dark- 
 ness on every hand ; each clinging tenaciously to its birth- 
 mark. Those endowed with supreme goodness have no 
 struggle to become pure in heart; and with ease they 
 reach ''the state of the Gods." 
 
 Moreover, each of the three-fold classes of transmi- 
 gration were further divided into three lesser grades. 
 The doom of the worst soul in darkness was that it should 
 inhabit the body of a fish, a rat, or snake, or insect. In 
 the next grade above this, in darkness, the soul was sent 
 into a barbarian, a lion or tiger; and the very highest 
 grade that it could obtain, in that division, was as a hypo- 
 crite, a panderer, a snake deity, a liar, or a demon. The 
 lowest of the order of Activity were drunkards, gamblers. 
 
 3 Chapter 32, Deut.
 
 THE AVARICIOUS 253 
 
 knaves, despicable wretches; and just above them in the 
 same order were the disputations and those meddlesome 
 tattlers, including unworthy priests and forked-tongued 
 women. 
 
 Those panting for gain, avaricious souls, greedy, 
 grasping, watching their treasures; those hell-born gob- 
 lins; even those made up the highest ranks of Activity. 
 
 Goodness also had its degree, reaching up to the 
 very throne. At the lowest round stood the hermits, 
 ascetics, Brahmanas, and a class of deities who traveled 
 in mid-air, called Vaimanikas. Next above these were 
 the sages, the vedic deities, and the Manes.^ Beyond 
 these and above these, on the very pinnacle of goodness, 
 without a stain, reposed Brahma, the Great One, the cre- 
 ator of the universe, beyond whom, nothing. 
 
 § 2. It is certain that in this alleged final destruction 
 of the world, the Hebrews were imitators and copyists. 
 For that idea, when the book of Deuteronomy was found, 
 had been prevalent in India from four hundred to six 
 hundred years. Long enough surely for an idea, even 
 though slow-footed, to travel from Punjab to Jerusalem. 
 When then was this book of Deuteronomy found? For 
 in that book (chapter 33) these remarkable words are 
 written : "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn 
 into the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her 
 increase, and set on fire the foundations of the moun- 
 tains." This is the first distinct enunciation found in the 
 Bible that the earth shall be destroyed. And the word 
 
 ^ These Manes were primeval deities, free from anger, 
 loving purity, chaste, averse to strife, and endowed with 
 great virtues. Manu 3:192.
 
 254 A REMARKABLE FIND 
 
 ^'hell" is here first used in the Hebrew Bible. That 
 awful catastrophy to the whole world is to take place, 
 and all mankind are to perish because some wicked He- 
 brews had provoked the Almighty to anger by sacrificing 
 unto devils and not to Him; and by their vanities and 
 abominations.^ This threat to consume the earth crept 
 into the record in the following mysterious way : About 
 six hundred and twenty-four years B. C, Hilkiah, the 
 High Priest in Jerusalem, send word to Josiah, the King, 
 that he had ''found the book of the law (Deuteronomy) 
 in the house of the Lord." It was surely the most re- 
 markable ''find" in all history.^ 
 
 Moses had been in his grave about eight hundred and 
 twenty-seven years; yet, during all that period, eventful 
 to the Jews, there was no whisper that such a book as 
 Deuteronomy was in existence. The reigns of David and 
 Solomon preceded this "find" by more than three hun- 
 dred years. Where was this wonderful book during all 
 those centuries? We have only the bare, unsupported 
 word of Hilkiah, the High Priest, about this matter ; and 
 all the circumstances are against him. A book hidden 
 away eight hundred and twenty-seven years! the ink 
 would fade, and the leaves would rot. In the dryest cli- 
 
 5 Chapter 32, Deut. 
 
 ^ Shakespeare agrees with the Hindus and thinks the 
 earth will be dissolved. 
 
 "The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all which it inherits, shall dissolve, 
 And like this unsubstantial pageant faded. 
 Leave not a wreck behind."
 
 AFTER 800 YEARS 255 
 
 mates and with the best of care four hundred or five hun- 
 dred years is the Hmit of the life of a book. This book 
 was hidden ; for he found it. If hidden it must have been 
 put in some secret place, wrapped up; secreted; yet no 
 other High Priest mentions it for eight hundred and 
 twenty-seven years. There had been journeyings, and 
 wanderings, and wars, and rebellions, and battles, and 
 retreats, in those centuries. Deuteronomy during all this 
 time was not found by any one. The Ark of the Cove- 
 nant had been often moved ; likewise the Mercy Seat, and 
 tabernacles; yet, in all these frequent changes, Deuter- 
 onomy lay undiscovered. Moses had died, and the Lord 
 had buried him in Moab ; yet neither the Lord, nor Moses, 
 said a word about this hidden record. Furthermore, 
 after it is found, a strange thing happens. The King 
 (Josiah) directs Hilkiah and others to enquire of the 
 Lord about this newly- found wonder; and they visit 
 Huldah, a prophetess and fortune-teller, living in Jeru- 
 salem, and she reports favorably, of course, and Deu- 
 teronomy becomes a ''thus saith the Lord."^ Another 
 proof that Moses did not write this chapter in Deuter- 
 onomy, where the earth is threatened with destruction, is 
 that it is poetry (blank verse), and Moses was not a poet. 
 He was a stern law-giver. Yet, some of these verses have 
 the rhythm of a Longfellow or an Emerson. 
 
 In that distant period, it is true that ideas traveled very 
 slowly. But if Ezra was the last editor of the Old Testa- 
 
 ^ From a careful investigation of this matter, I think 
 Hilkiah wrote the book, and lied about finding it. Ezra, 
 probably, after the captivity, modified it somewhat. The 
 copyright, however, belongs to Hilkiah.
 
 256 PETER COPIES THE HINDU 
 
 ment, there was plenty of time for this notion about the 
 destruction of the earth to be carried from Persia, and 
 from India, to Babylon, to Jerusalem, and even west of 
 the Adriatic. It was an idea of such magnitude, and 
 terrible importance, that it was calculated to excite won- 
 der and discussion among all classes. This much, we 
 are certain, may be safely affirmed ; that centuries before 
 Hilkiah found Deuteronomy in the House of the Lord, 
 the Hindoos had been teaching that the earth would be 
 destroyed, and again reconstructed, and that this process 
 would revolve continuously, like a wheel in perpetual 
 motion. 
 
 § 3. We hear nothing further in the Jewish Bible 
 (and the New Testament was written by Jews) about 
 the destruction of the world, until nearly seven hundred 
 years after Hilkiah, when Peter declares that ''the heavens 
 shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
 melt w^th a fervent heat, and the earth shall be burned 
 up." 
 
 Peter also, in imitation of the Hindoos, declares that 
 there shall be a day of judgment, and perdition, for the 
 ungodly.^ Paul chimes in with this, and says that Jesus 
 will come in flaming fire, and ''take vengeance on them 
 that obey Him not ; and will punish them with everlasting 
 destruction."^ Paul, copying from the Persian, or the 
 Hindu Bible, or both, is specific about the happenings at 
 
 ^ II Peter, ch. 3, v. 7 to 14. But Peter is a little cloudy 
 about where the heavens and earth will pass to, when 
 they pass away. Peter evidently did not know that matter 
 is eternal, and cannot be annihilated. 
 
 ^11 Thessalonians, ch. i. Paul does an injustice to
 
 HINDU SPECULATION 257 
 
 the final day. Manu says, each soul is examined as to its 
 merit and guilt, and "obtains bliss or misery." That if 
 ''virtue and vice are found in a small degree, it obtains 
 bliss in heaven, clothed with those very elements. But if 
 it chiefly cleaves to vice, and in a small degree to virtue, 
 it suffers the torments inflicted by Yama." ^^ 
 
 Paul, with the imagination of the poet, is inclined to 
 exaggeration. He therefore proclaims that the Lord him- 
 self shall descend from heaven, with a shout and with the 
 trump of God. That the "righteous shall be caught up in 
 the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and be ever with 
 him." 11 
 
 Paul being a scholar, had no doubt learned of this 
 Pagan doctrine; but, being also a Jew, his nature is 
 naturally more fierce, and unrelenting, than the milder 
 Hindu ; and he threatens the wicked with vengeance, and 
 everlasting destruction. "The Hindu punished the wicked 
 with great severity, but his punishment was not everlast- 
 ing. For when his term had expired, his soul was sent 
 into some animal, and might, as we have seen, work its 
 way upward towards supreme bliss." Even a mortal sin 
 of the Hindu did not consign him to eternal flames.^^ 
 Both of these punishments seem fearful to contemplate ; 
 
 Jesus, about taking vengeance on the wicked; for Jesus 
 was not a vengeful man. The genuineness of this epistle 
 is questioned, but it is published as Gospel; therefore I 
 quote it. 
 
 10 Manu Xn, i8 to 23 : But Yama's torments were not 
 eternal. 
 
 11 I Thess. IV, v. 16 and 17, and H Thess., ch. i, v. 8 
 and 9. 
 
 12 Manu xn, 54.
 
 258 BEYOND BELIEF 
 
 but of the two, the Hindu is much less terrible than the 
 Jewish, the penalties in both being much too severe for 
 the offense. In short, they are so fiendish, that they are 
 beyond belief, for they picture God as a demon, gloating 
 over misery; and not as a "Lord very pitiful, and of 
 tender mercy." (James V.) 
 
 Neither of these Bibles take into consideration the orig- 
 inal difference in the construction of the human brain — 
 the seat of the mind. But every one, no matter what his 
 original gifts or curses may have been, must measure up 
 to the same high standard, or suffer beyond expression. 
 
 Now, it is plain that some children are born with high 
 moral faculties, and with none of that grasping greedi- 
 ness which wickedly covets the wealth of others. With 
 destructiveness small, with benevolence large, such a 
 child, grown to maturity, is filled with good works, and 
 is as certain not to sink into a thief or robber, or mur- 
 derer, as a June sunbeam is certain to bring forth the 
 roses. Another child is born, perhaps the same hour, 
 with his moral faculties sadly depressed ; with destructive- 
 ness large ; with covetousness abnormally developed. He 
 is a horn thief and robber; but he inherited those dan- 
 gerous tendencies. They were bom in him, and forever 
 must be as a weight about his neck, pulling him down to 
 dark and devious ways. They act as a perpetual load- 
 stone drawing him continually towards the cess-pools of 
 vice and crime. There was, and is, a gulf as deep and 
 wide and impassable between these two persons, as be- 
 tween Dives and Lazarus. Yet, at the last assize-judg- 
 ment day, if there be such a day, this child of sin must 
 appear in spotless robes, or he is doomed, according to
 
 GOD IS NOT A DEMON 259 
 
 Paul, to endless woe and suffering. Even the milder and 
 more humane Hindu punishes such an one with great 
 severity. Is there even-handed justice in this? Must this 
 inherited wickedness "suffer" in that fire which shall 
 never be quenched; where the worm dieth not, and the 
 fire is not quenched,!^ simply because certain parts of his 
 brain were, without his making, small, where they ought 
 to have been large, and excessive where they ought to 
 have been small ? 
 
 Is it not true that "just as the twig is bent, the tree in- 
 clines" ? The one who bent the twig is to blame for the 
 crooked tree. The tree is not to blame. The one who 
 caused the crooked brains to thus grow; is he not to 
 blame for the crooked acts which follow? It will not 
 do to say that God will adjust all these matters on that 
 final day. The record, if true, does not so state. Let us 
 keep to the record or throw it aside. If God inspired 
 Mark to write those awful words, then God puts Himself 
 on a level with the demons ; for demons can do no worse 
 than to roast a man in unquenchable, everlasting flames. 
 
 Reader, the writers of the Hindu and the Hebrew 
 Bibles, lived in times of ignorance, superstition and 
 idolatry. Both Bibles make their Gods cruel, barbarous 
 and ungodly. Let us believe the good things that are said 
 about the Creator, but let us not believe with Mark and 
 Manu, that God is a demon. 
 
 13 Mark IX, 45 and 46.
 
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