The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-24
THE FIRE WORSHIPPERS.
TaImage on The Least Offensive Form
Of HeathaniSm.


the Parsees That Suggest Chris
tianity-They Believe in a Good and g
Bad spirit-The Angel at the Bridge
Into Eternity.
Brooklyn. Dec. Rev. Dr.. Tai
mage. continuing his series OF Round
the-w1rld sermons" through the press.
chose to-day for his subject. The Fire
wo-shippers." he text selected being:
Matt. .. /: There came wise men from
the east 10 jerusalem
These wise men. were the Parsees. or
me so-called FIRE worshippers. and I
found their descendants in India last
October. Their heatheuism IS more toll
cradle than any of the other false re-
Igions. and has more alleviauons, and
while in this "Round-the-W orld" series
have already shown you the worst forms
of heathenism, to-day I show you the
least offensive.
The prophet OF the Parsees was Zoroas-
ter OF Persia. He was poet and philoso-
pher, and reformer. as well as reIgionist
His disciples thrivcd a. FIRST in Persia, but
under Mohammedan persecution they re-
treated 10 India. where met them, and
in addition 10 what j saw Of them al
their headquarters in Bombay, India. ]
had two weeks Of association with one
of the most learned and genial OF their
people on ship-board from Bombay TO
Brindisi.
The Bible Of the Parsees. or Trevor
shippers as they are inaccurately called.
Is the Zend-Avesta. a collection Of the
strangest books that ever came into my
hands. There were originally tHenty-one
volumes. but Alexander the Great in
drunken fit set tire 20 a palace which
contained some Of them, and they went
into ashes and forgetfuluess. But there
are more Of their sacred volumes lef.
than most people would have patience
70 read. There are many things In the
religion Of the Parsees that suggests
Christianity and some Of its doctrines
are tn accord with our own religion 10
rooster. who lived about j. 800 years before
Christ was a good man. suffered persecu-
ton for his faith, and was assassinated
while worshpping at an altar. He an
nounced the theory "He is hest who is
pure Of heart" and that there are two
great spirits DO the world. Ormudz, the
good Spirit. and Ahriman, the bad Spirit.
and that al VINO DO right are under the
influence Of Crmudz. and ali who DO
wrong are under Ahriman. that the Par
see must b. born on the ground floor Of
the house. ard must boz buried from the
ground floor. that the dyins man must
nave prayers sai5 over MN. ana o sacred
juice given him 10 drink that the good
A. their oecease 90 INTO eternal Esht,
ana the pad 20 INTO eternal daF kuessi
mat having passed out OF thls me the
Soul fingers near lhe corpse three days
~ q PaFa4laalc slate' enjoying more tLan
all the nations Of me earth put together
could enjoy or IN a Pahdemon-ac state,
suffering more than All the
nations put together could pos
slply auiIer but NJ the END OF
three days departing for MS hnal destiny;
ano th1l there VIII pt resurrection Of the
BODY. me are more careful imam any
other people about there soldtlons and
they Wasn ana WASH ana WASH and WASH
They pa great attention TO physical
heath and u is q rare tnlnR 70 see sick
Parse. They do not smoke tobacco, for
they CONSIDER that d misuse Of fire. At
the close OF moral life The soul appears at
the Bri5ge CninYat where an angel pre-
sides, ana questions the soul about the
thoughts. and words and deeds Of its
Intense 10 the Farsee faith than the theory
that the dead body Is impure. A devil is
supposed to take possession OF the dead
BODY. All VINO touch II are unclean, and
hence, the strange style of obsequies. But
here / must give three or four questions
and answers from one Of the Parsee cat
echisms
Question-Who Is the most fortunate man
in the world?
Answer-He who is the most innocent.
Question-Who IS the most innocent man
In the world
Answer-He who walks in the path of
God and shuns that Of the devil
Question-Which Is the path of God and
which that Of the devil2
Answer-Nirtue is the path of God and
vice that Of the devil.
Question-What constitutes virtue and
what vice?
Answer-Good thoughts, good words
and good deeds constitute virtue, and evil
thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds con-
stitute vice
Ouestion-What constitute good
thoughts, good words and good deeds.