8 CEOONIAN LECTUKES 



sun, mooD, and five planets. The animated 

 material heaven and the earth were father and 

 mother of all things. To them the emperor 

 might sacrifice; whilst the mandarins might 

 only worship the lower deities wind, rain, 

 lightning. Confucius, who may have lived in the 

 sixth century before Christ, directs that the blue 

 firmament should be worshipped, especially at 

 the equinox, as the central point of influence 

 whence the cause of all things acts. 



The old Egyptians " lived in adoration of the 

 world above, beneath, and around them." The 

 sun seems to have been the chief God and the 

 source of all the other Gods. They were divided 

 into pairs, masculine and feminine, and they 

 represented cosmic principles. 



In Persia, the nature-worship was similar to 

 that of the Hindus. The sun, moon, fire, water, 

 earth, and winds, etc., were divided into good 

 and bad spirits. Zoroaster, the reformer, and 

 supposed writer of the Zendavesta, taught the 

 adoration of the sun and sacred fire as the best 

 representative of the good eternal spirit, Ormazd 

 or Ahuramazda. A corresponding evil spirit, 

 Ahriman, furnished the second element of his 

 dualistic creed. 



