New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-08-07
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ORIENTAL SCRIPTURES.

THE SACRED BOOKS OF TIE EAST. CLARENDON
Press Oxford; Translated by various Oriental scnol.
ars and edited by I. Max Muller. The hAxis'
Vol, The Zend Avcsta Part I1.-The fasna, VS.
parad Afrpacan Cab and miscellaneous fragments !;
translated by Rev. L. H. Mills, D. D., Hon. NJ. A.
Oxon.
The Rev. the Rector Of Lincoln College, OXFORD,
Public Orator to the University, In presenting Dr.
Mills to the con grcg CATION receive the honorary de-
gree Of Nj. A., January 81, 1885, said: " Among tho
many great works completed under the auspices OF
the Delegates of the Clarendon Press none is either
moro valuable or honorable than the series OF the
Sacred Books Of the East Although emil
rent and learned men have cooperated In bringing
this work to Its completion none In my opinion, do
serves better of University than Lawrence Hey
worth Mills whom now Introduce to you.
No one Is unaware Of the merit Of James Darmcstetar
in upravelling these subteties, does the eminent
man whom our learned Macmillan Muller thought
worthy TO complete the interrupted work OF Oar
msstctar and 10 publish the remaining parts OF the
Avesta with a commentary, deserve less praise
therefore present to you the distinguished citizen OF
the United States (virum ilusrem reipublicae Amer
canac civcm), who is also Doctor Of Divinity OF inc
University of NewYork that he may be admitted 10
the degree Of Master in the Faculty Of Arts"
The volume contains the translation OF the Gathas
the Oldest and most important part OF The Aves'a
being the original hymns of Zoroascr. Tho book e1-
presses the religion Of Cyrus, Darius and Their sue
cessors. The purity and depth OF that reisioh arc
striking In the extreme and II may well afford an cx-
PLANTATION of the favor shown by Cyrus to the Jews OF
the Captivity, resulting in their return to Jerusalem
The zend Avesta had in antiquity an immensely ex-
tended influence having predominated In the PERSIAN
Empire for at least fifteen centuries. 1t Is widely
believed to have influenced the Jewish faith by
crushing the earlier sadusaic Greed and introducing
firm belief IN the future llfe Darab Dasur Peshotan
Santana tho leading scholar among the 6OOoo 10
20 900 Zoroastrans IN Bombay thus writes (see the
BOMBAY Gazette August 81, 1857:
Students OF the earliest Iranian literature VIII
welcome the publication of the third part OF inc
Zend Aycsta The volume under notice con-
sists of TRANSACTIONS OF some of the most dlmcuit
metaphysical portions of the Avesta lore, viz, The
Gathas which . form the most difficult por-
ton Of Indo- Germanic philoogy The author, the
Rev. Dr. l. H. Mills, is an American VINO
has devoted himself during many years to patient
examination and close comparative study OF the
yedas and Gathas. He has also studied the contents
of the whole exegesis IN the Pahlaoi, Sanskrit and
Persian languages, and this involving tho labor OF
correctly decphering and understanding some OF the
old MSS relating the subject, will give en- idea OF
the bold spirit with which the author must have un
oertaken his task Tho translation Itself is master
IL performance and forms admirable Illustration
of the advanced stage of development which Zoroas-
tran studies have reached up to the present time
Application has been made by another Parsi (Zoro-
astran) scholar In Bombay TO the University Press OF
Oxford for permission TO translate the volume ipto
the Gerteatee language.