Hail! Gracious Ormuzd, author of all good,
Spirit of beauty, purity, and light;

Teach me like thee to hate dark deeds of night,
And battle ever with the hellish brood,

Of Ahriman, dread prince of evil mood—
Father of lies, uncleanliness, envious spite,
Thefts, murders, sensual sins that shun the light,
Unreason, ugliness, and fancies lewd-

Grant me, bright Ormuzd, in thy ranks to stand,
A valiant soldier faithful to the end;

So when I leave this life's familiar strand,
Bound for the great Unknown, shall I commend,
My soul, if soul survive, into thy hand-
Fearless of fate if thou thine aid will lend. *

-S. LAING.

As

O wise God, come to our assistance in this jeopardy; and we pray to Thee to deliver us from the impending danger. O glorious God, we beseech Thee to gladden our hearts by removing these difficulties with which we are now surrounded. On Thy goodness, O Lord, we fully depend, and hope that the storm which has overtaken us will soon be over through Thy Divine Grace. long as we have hopes of Thy aid, O God, we tremble not at this calamity. We have implicit faith in The e, as the hearer of those who cry to thee. Deliver us, therefore. O Merciful Providence, from this trouble, and lead us to the right path, that we may escape from this sea to the shores of India, and we promise, O Lord, to

From A Modern Zoroastrian.

kindle on high the flame sacred to Thee in grateful remembrance of thy kindness and protection.*

-PRAYER BY THE PARSEES.†

Every mode of religion to make a deep and lasting impression, must exercise our obedience, by enjoining practices of devotion and must acquire our esteem, by inculcating moral duties analogous to the dictates of our own hearts. The religion of Zoroaster was abundantly provided with the former, and possessed a sufficient portion of the latter. At the age of puberty, the faithful Persian was invested with a mysterious girdle, the badge of the divine protection; and from that moment, all the actions of his life, even the most indifferent, or the most necessary, were sanctified by their peculiar prayers, ejaculations, or genuflexions; the omission of which, under any circumstances, was a grievous sin, not inferior in guilt to the violation of the moral duties. The moral duties, however, of justice, mercy, liberality &c. were in their turn required of the disciple of Zoroaster, who wished to escape the persecution of Ahriman, and to live with Ormuzd in a blissful eternity where the degree of felicity will be exactly proportioned to the degree of virtue and piety.

-EDWARD GIBBON.

*From The Parsees; their history, manners, customs and religion, by Dossabhai Framji.

†The Parsees on their way from Div to Guzrat had met with a severe storm, and to rescue them from the impending danger, they are said to have offered up this prayer, which was heard, for the storm abated, and they sailed in safety.

ANS.

QUESTION. What commands has God sent us through his prophet, the exalted Zurthost? Many are those commands, but I give you the principal, which must always be remembered, and by which we must guide ourselves :

To know God as one; to know the prophet, the exalted Zurthost, as His true prophet; to believe the religion, and the Avestâ brought by him, as true beyond all manner of doubt; to believe in the goodness of God; not to disobey any of the commands of the Mazdiashnâ religion; to avoid evil deeds; to exert for good deeds; to pray five times in the day; to believe in the reckoning and justice on the fourth morning after death; to hope for heaven and to fear hell; to consider doubtless the day of general destruction and purification (of all suffering souls); to remember always that God has done what He willed and shall do what He wills; to face some luminous object while worshipping God.*

"Listen, O Ardai Viraf!" said the Angel," without trouble nothing can be attained, the poor day labourer is worthy of his hire, and thus those who perform good actions will have their reward in eternal life according to their several merits. The life of man is of short duration, and many troubles and anxieties fall to his lot; and a man after fifty years of prosperity and happiness, may be by some unforeseen accident, reduced to sickness and poverty.

"Many are tried by this criterion, and but few are found worthy. To suffer a day of pain, after fifty years of pleasure, is too much for them, and they complain, in

* From a Catechism of the Parsi Religion, quoted by Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji in his article in Religious Systems of the World.

bitterness of spirit, to the Creator of all good, of His injustice, and cruelty, without remembering the good they have so long enjoyed, or calling to mind the eternity of punishment in reserve for the wicked. Therefore, O Ardai Viraf! walk yourself in the paths of righteousness, and teach others also to do so. Recollect that your body will return to dust, but that your soul, if rich in good works, will mount to immortality, and partake of the happiness you have already witnessed.

"Take less care of your body, and more of your soul; the pains and aches of the body are easily cured, but who can minister to the diseases of the soul? When you set out on a journey in the lower world you provide yourselves, and take with you money, clothes, provisions, and are prepared against all the exigencies of the road, but what do you provide yourselves with for your last journey of the soul from the lower to the upper world; and whose friendship have you to assist you on the way? Hear, O Ardai Viraf! and I will describe to you the provisions requisite for the voyage to eternal life.

"In the first place, the friend who will assist you is God; but to attain his friendship you must walk in his ways and place in him the firmest reliance. The provisions must be faith and hope, and the remembrance of your good works. Thy body, O Ardai Viraf! may be likened unto a horse, and thy soul to its rider, and the provisions requisite for the support of both are good actions. But as with a feeble rider the horse is ill-managed, so with a feeble horse the rider is but ill-accommodated, care ought to be taken that both are kept in order; so in a spiritual sense, the soul and the body must be kept in order by a succession of good actions. Even in the world the multitude would sneer at a man who took more care of his horse than of himself; for this reason a man

ought to take more care of his soul than of his body. God, O Ardai Viraf! requires only two things of the sons of men; the first, that they should not sin; the second, that they should be grateful for the many blessings He is continually bestowing on them.

"Let the world, O Ardai Viraf! be taught not to set their hearts on the pleasures and vanities of life, as nothing can be carried away with them. You have already seen the rewards given to the good and deserving; how they have been repaid for all their trouble; the poor and the rich, the king and the peasant, here receive honours and distinction, according to their good works. The herdsman and shepherd, you have seen their condition.

"In youth and in the prime of manhood, when blessed with health and vigour, you suppose that your strength will never fail; that your riches, your lands, your houses, and your honours, will remain for ever; that your gardens will be always green, and your vineyards fruitful; but O Ardai Viraf! teach them not to think so; teach them the danger of such a way of thinking-all, all will pass away as a dream.

"The flowers fade, and give lessons unto man that he is unwilling to profit by. Yea, the world itself will pass away, and nothing will remain but God. "

The Sage asked the is it possible to seek the

-THE ANGEL'S INJUNCTIONS.*

Spirit of Wisdom thus: How preservation and prosperity of

• To Ardai Viraf (the pious Parsi priest who is said to have gone, when still living, from this world to the realm of the dead ) when he is said to have returned from his mission. From the Parsees, their history, manners, customs and religion, by Dossabhai Framji.