26 SIR M. MONIER WILLIAMS ON THE MONISM, PANTHEISM, AND 
of Metaphysic,” Ferrier gives the only philosophical form of 
Agnosticism, which Huxley so unluckily coined. 
Mr. W. Martin Woop writes as follows :— 
I would refer to the remark at page 11, where the author 
says :— 
“The whole energy of a religious Indian Parsi is concentrated 
on the endeavour to make himself—so to speak—demon proof, 
and this can only be accomplished by absolute purity (in thought, 
word, and deed), symbolized by whiteness. He is ever on his 
guard against bodily defilement, and never goes out to his daily 
occupations without first putting on a sacred white shirt and a 
sacred white girdle. Even the most highly educated, enlightened, 
and Anglicised Parsis are rigorous observers of this custom, though 
it seems probable that their real creed has little in common with 
the old and superstitious belief in demons and evil spirits, but 
rather consists in a kind of cold monotheistic pantheism.” 
Now my query is in brief; can Sir M. Monier Williams (waiving 
the notion of so high importance being given to outward defile- 
ment), not put the ethical position of the Zoroastrian somewhat 
higher than this? I have known many of them intimately, in all 
ranks and conditions, and allowing for the earthiness which 
is one side of the dualism pervading all human nature, my 
impression is that many of them cherish a higher standard of 
moral action than he implies, and which as we know has always 
been maintained in the ethical—or even spiritual—side of their 
operative creed. Just to glance at authorities which are, of course, 
quite familiar to him, like the passage in the introduction to 
A. H. Bleeck’s “ Avesta” (Stephen Austin, 1864), which was 
revised by Professor Spiegel ; we read p. 18—“ A religion which 
is probably as ancient as Judaism, and which certainly taught the 
immortality of the soul, and a future state of rewards and punish- 
ments for centuries before these doctrines were prevalent amongst 
the Jews—a religion which, for ages prior to Christianity, 
announced that men must be pure in thought as well as in word 
and deed, and that sins must be repented of before they could be 
atoned for—a religion whose followers were forbidden to kill even 
animals, at a time when the ancestors of the French and English 
nations were accustomed to sacrifice human victims to their 
sanguinary Deities—a pure and venerable religion, &c,.” Then see 
the quotation from Burnouf, in which he speaks of the high place 
that “‘ human personality, and human morality occupy in Zoroas- 
