forbidden under the severest penalties. To every act of devotion, purity of heart is necessary; and to purity of heart, Zoroaster supposes purity of body greatly contributes; with this view, he prescribed a multitude of minute observances; for some of them, as their frequent washings, a reason may be found in the nature of the climate or some other economical, or political, reason;—such is the injunction to destroy a number of noxious animals, said to be produced by Ahriman, as Tigers, and Scorpions; and the prohibition of Beef, as food, on account of its supposed unwholesomeness; but many of them seem arbitrary and trifling; the omission of them is declared to be a grievous sin, not inferior in guilt to the violation of the most important duties of morality, and only to be expiated by the heaviest punishment. Every thing, which related to religion or its concerns is placed under their priests; they were formed into a regular Hierarchy not

unlike the hierarchy of the Christian church; and are now, as they were formerly, divided into three orders; large tracts of land were assigned for their support, and they were entitled to a tithe of all the property of their disciples.

The most exceptionable part of the religious system of the Parsees is its religious. intolerance. From its establishment under Darius Hystaspes, to its fall under Isdegertes, the last of the Sassanian dynasty, the exercise of every mode of religious worship, except that of Zoroaster, was prohibited throughout Persia, under the severest penalties; and the Magi, appear to have been disposed rather to increase than lessen the severity of the law.

9. What has been said may be thought to present some view of the History of the Persian Creed, during its two first periods, -that which preceded, and that which bewith Zoroaster; from him, till Ardeshir

gan

or Artaxerxes, the first prince of the Sas

sanian dynasty, seven centuries elapsed, which may be assigned for its third period; -its 4th extends from that time to the overthrow of the Persian empire by the Companions of Mahomet; its fifth and last period reaches to the present time.

The doctrines of Zoroaster soon attracted the attention of the Greeks. By an intercourse with the Greeks, such of the Magi as had a turn for these speculations, would naturally be led to accommodate the doctrines of Zoroaster to the polytheism of the Greek theology. The task would not be difficult: they would easily find in Ormuzd and Ahriman the subordinate Deities of the Greeks; and in the Zerouane or Time without bounds, a Jupiter, the eternal parent and sovereign of all. Their intercourse with the Jews would also have some effect on their religious belief; the sublime descriptions of Jehovah, with which the sacred writings of the Jews abound, would naturally rectify and exalt the conceptions of

the Magian priest, and insensibly lead him to ascribe to his own Zerouane, or Time without bounds, the infinite power and infinite wisdom of the God of Abraham, and to consider Ormuzd and the other celestial beings as his ministering angels. But whatever effect these sublime or ingenious speculations might have on a few philosophers, the Persian nation at large adhered to the religion of the Magi: its natural tendency however was Planetary Worship; that insensibly gained ground on the nation; it corrupted the antient doctrines, it gave rise to a multitude of sects; all of them professed to revere the name of Zoroaster, and each claimed to be the only true observer of his doctrines. To put an end to these disputes, Artaxerxes summoned a general meeting of the Magi; they are said to have met to the number of 80,000: by successive operations they were reduced to 40,000, to 4000, to 400, and ultimately to 7: one of them drank three cups of soporiferous

wine presented him by his brethren, fell into a long sleep, awoke, related his conference with the Deity, and announced to the king and magi, the Deity's avowal of the divine mission of Zoroaster, and the authenticity of the Zend-Avesta.

From that time, till its conquest by the Mahometans, the whole kingdom of Persia was faithful to the doctrine of Zoroaster. It is a principle of the Mahometan religion to tolerate all religions which recognize the unity of God. In the eye of the Mahometans, the Parsees appeared to worship the sun and to worship fire: on this ground they destroyed the fire-temples and altars of the Parsees, and insulted the Magi; but they carried their persecution no further: by degrees, they allowed the Parsees the free enjoyment of their places of worship, on paying tribute. For several centuries the Pyræums subsisted in Media and Bactriana; and they still subsist in Kirman,