A FEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO ACQUAINT THE CHILDREN OF THE HOLY ZARTHOSTI COMMUNITY WITH THE MAZDIASHNA RELIGION, i. e., THE WORSHIP OF GOD.

Whom do we, of the Zarthosti Community, believe in? We believe in only one God, and do not believe in any besides Him.

Who is that one God?

The God who created the heavens, the earth, the angels, the stars, the sun, the moon, the fire, the water, or all the four elements, and all things of the two worlds; that God we believe in. Him we worship, invoke and adore.

Do we not believe in any other God?

Whoever believes in another God is an infidel, and shall suffer the punishment of hell.

What is the form of our God?

Our God has neither face nor form, color nor shape, nor fixed place. There is no other like Him. He is singly such a glory that we cannot praise or describe Him; nor our mind comprehend Him.

What is our Religion?

*

*

Our Religion is, "Worship of God."

Whence did we receive our religion?

*

*

God's true prophet, the true Zurthost (Zoroaster) Asphantaman Anoshirwan, brought the religion to us from God. * * Whose descendants are we?

Of Gayomars. By his progeny was Persia populated.
Was Gayomars the first man?

According to our religion he was so; but the wise men of our community, of the Chinese, the Hindoos, and several other nations, dispute this, and say there was human population on the earth before Gayomars.

*

*

*

*

What commands has God sent us through his prophet, the exalted Zurthost?

To know God as one; to know the prophet, the exalted Zurthost, as the true prophet; to believe the religion and the Avosta, brought by him as true beyond all doubt; to believe in the goodness of God; not to disobey any commands of the Mazdiashna religion; to avoid evil deeds; to exert ourself in. good deeds; to pray five times in the day; to believe in the reckoning and justice the fourth morning after death; to hope for heaven, and to fear hell; to consider doubtless the day of general destruction and resurrection; to remember always that God has done what he willed, and shall do what he wills; to face some luminous object, while worshiping God. *

* *

Some deceivers (the Catechism says-meaning the Christian missionaries), with the view of acquiring exaltation in the world, have set themselves up as prophets, aud going among the ignorant and laboring people, have persuaded them that, "If you commit sin, I shall intercede for you, plead for you, and save you," and thus deceive them; but the wise among the people know the deceit.

If any one commit sin under the belief that he shall be saved by somebody, both the deceiver as well as the deceived shall be damned to the day of Rasta Khez.

*

*

* *

There is

no savior. In the other world you shall receive the return according to your actions. Your Savior is your deeds, and God himself. He is the pardoner and the giver. If you repent your sins and reform, and if the great Judge considers you worthy of pardon, or would be merciful to you, He alone can and will save you.

CHAPTER V.

EGYPT.*

· THE DIVINE PYMANDER, OR SHEPHERD OF MEN.

BY HERMES MERCURIUS TRISMEGISTUs.

I, O my Son, write this first book both for humanity's sake and for piety toward God.

*

*

*

*

*

For never, O Son, shall, or can, that soul, which, while it is in the body, lightens and lifts up itself to know and comprehend that which is Good and True, slide back to the contrary; for it is infinitely enamored thereof, and forgetteth all Evils; and when it hath learned and known its Father and Progenitor, it can no more depart or apostatize from that Good,

And let this, O Son, be the end of Religion and Piety; whereunto thou art once arrived, thou shalt both live well and die blessedly, whilst thy soul is not ignorant whether it must return and fly back again.

For this, O Son, is the way of Truth, which our Progenitors traveled in; and by which, making their journey, they at length attained to the Good. It is a venerable way and plain, but difficult and hard for the soul to go in that is in the body.

Of the Soul: that part which is sensible is mortal, but that

which is reasonable is immortal.

Every essence is immortal.

Every essence is unchangeable.

Every thing that is, is double.

None of the things that are stand still.

Not all things are moved by a soul, but everything that is,

is moved by a soul.

* See Appendix E for Dates, etc.

*

*

Heaven is the first element.

Providence is Divine Order.

Necessity is the minister, or servant, of Providence.
What is God? The immutable or unalterable Good.
What is man? An unchangeable Evil.

VISION-ILLUMINATION-ASPIRATION.

For the sleep of my body was the sober watchfulness of my mind; and the shutting of my eyes the true sight, and my silence great with child and full of good; and the pronouncing of my words the blossom and fruit of good things.

And thus came to pass, or happened unto me, which I received from my mind, that is, Pymander, the Lord of the Word; whereby I became inspired by God with the Truth.

For which cause, with my Soul and whole strength, I give praise and blessing unto God the Father.

Holy is God, the Father of all things.

Holy is God, whose will is performed and accomplished by his own powers.

Holy art Thou, that by Thy word hast established all things.

Holy art Thou, of whom all Nature is the image.

Holy art Thou, whom Nature hath not formed.
Holy art Thou, that art stronger than all power.

Holy art Thou, that art greater than all excellency.
Holy art Thou, that art better than all praise.

Accept these reasonable sacrifices from a pure Soul, and a heart stretched out unto Thee.

I beseech Thee, that I may never err from the knowledge of Thee; look mercifully upon me, and enable me, and enlighten with this grace those that are in ignorance, the brothers of my kind, but Thy sons.

Therefore I believe Thee. and bear witness, and go into the Life and Light.

THE BEGINNING.

The glory of all things, God, and that which is Divine, and the Divine Nature, the beginning of things that are.

God, and the Mind, and Nature, and Matter, and Operation or Working, and Necessity, and the End, and Renovation.

For there was in the Chaos an infinite darkness in the abyss, or bottomless depth, and water, and a subtle Spirit, intelligible in power; and there went out the Holy Light, and the elements were coagulated from the land, out of the moist substance.

And all the Gods distinguished the nature full of seeds.

And when all things were interminated and unmade up, the light things were divided on high, and the heavy things were founded on the moist sand, all things being terminated or divided by fire; and being sustained or hung up by the Spirit, they were so carried, and the heaven was seen in seven circles.

And the Gods were seen in their Ideas of the stars, with all their signs, and the stars were numbered with the Gods in them. And the sphere was all lined with air, carried about in a circular motion by the Spirit of God.

And every God, by his internal power, did that which was commanded him; and there were made four-footed things, and creeping things, and such as live in the water, and such as fly, and every fruitful seed, and grass, and the flowers of all greens, all which had sowed in themselves the seeds of regeneration.

As also the generations of men, to the knowledge of the divine works, and a lively or working testimony of nature, and a multitude of men, and the dominion of every thing under heaven, and the knowledge of good things, and to be increased in multitude

And every soul in flesh, by the wonderful working of the Gods in the circles, to the beholding of heaven, the Gods, divine works, and the operations of nature.