Transactions. 37 



3. Parsee lieligion and its Influence on Christianity. 

 By Mr Septimus P. Moore, LL.B., B.Sc, F.L.S. 



The following is a short abstract of this very interesting 

 paper : — The Parsee, Zoroastrian, or Magdasian religion was that 

 of the ancient Persians. Taking its rise in Bactria about 1500 

 B.C., nearly co-eval with the period of Moses, it was the religion 

 of the conquering Persians who delivered the Jews from Baby- 

 lonian slavery, and who were to some extent their teachers. It 

 remained so until the second Caliph of Islam, Omar, conquered 

 Persia in 642 a.d. Although the Persians were forced to accept 

 Islam, a faithful few held themselves and their religion in pre- 

 carious safety in the mountainous district of Khorassan, and a few 

 of the more adventurous emigrated to India, where they settled 

 in 716 A.D., their decendants being the Parsees. Haug considers 

 that Avesta is a term which means revelation, and Zend an 

 explanation of that revelation. Zoroaster taught that Athura 

 Magda, the all-wise creator, was the creator of the earth and 

 spiritual life, the possessor of all good things, the good mind, 

 immortality, health, the best truth, devotion, piety, with abund- 

 ance of every earthly good. These good things he gave to the 

 man who was upright in thought, word, and deed ; but he 

 punished the wicked. The paper then showed the prevailing 

 opinions as to the influence of evil, and the punishments which 

 accrued to the wicked. The process of initiation of the young 

 Parsee was described, and also the customs which were observed 

 at the death-bed, and the method pursued in disposing of the 

 bodies of the dead. The entrance of the soul into a future state 

 was also noticed, and the ideas that are held concerning its 

 transition. 



The Jews were carried into captivity by the Babylonian King, 

 ISTebuchadnezzar, but on the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, the 

 Persian, they were restored to their native land. The author of 

 the paper maintained with copious arguments that the Jews 

 derived from the Persians the definite belief in a future state, 

 and their ideas jof Satan, the spirit of evil, and his subordinate 

 demons. 



