ER AA.
REV. DR. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun-
day Sermon.
Subject: “The Fire Worship rs.”
; Texr: “There cama wiss men from the
{East to Jerusalem," —Matthew ii., 1.
These wise men were the Parsees or the
so-called fire worshipers, and I found their
desoendants In India last Ootober, Their
heathanism ix mors tolerable than any ofthe
other fals~ relivions and has more allevia-
tions, and while in this round the world
serios I have already shown you the worst
forms of heathenism to-day Isbow you the
leant offensive,
The prophet of the Parsoss was Zoroaster,
of Persian. He was poet and philosopher and
reformer as well as religionist. His disciples
thrivad at first in Persia, but under Mobham-
medan persecution they retreated to India,
whare I met them, and in addition to what I
saw of them at their headquarters {in Bom-
bay, India, I had two weeks of association
with one of tie most learned and genial of
their neople on shipboard from Bombay to
Erindisi.
The Bible of the Parsees, or firs worship-
ers, As they are insccurately called, is the
Ziend-Avesta, n colleelion of the strangest
books that evar came intomy hands. There
were originally twantyv-ons volumes, but
Alexander the Great, in a drunken fit, set
fire to a palace which contained soma of
them, and they went into ashes and forget-
fulness, But thera ara more of their sacred
volumes left than most people would have
patience to read, There are many things in
tha religion of tha Parsee that suggest
Christianity, and soma of its dootrines are
are in record with our own religion. Zo-
roaster, who lived about 1400 vears
bafore Ohrist, was a good man, suffered
persecution for his faith and was assassine
ated while worshiping at an altar. He ane
nounced the theory, ‘“He is best who is pure
of hea :.," and that there are two great
spirits in the world, Ormusd, the good spirit,
and Ahriman, the bad spirit, and taat all
who do nght are unaer the influence of
Ormuzd, and all who do wrong are un-
der Ahbriman; that the Parses must be
born on tho ground floor of the housa
and must be buiied from the ground
floor; that the dying man must have
prayers said over bim and a sacred juice
given him to drink; that the good at their
degeass go into sternal light and the bad
into eternal darknee : that, having passed
out of this life, tas soul lingers near the
corpse three days in a paradisaio state,
enjoying more than all the nations
earth put together could enjoy or in a
pandemonise state, suffering more than all
the nations pnt togather comld possibly
suffer, but atthe end of three days departing
for its final destiny, and that there will be a
resurrection of the hody, They are more
careful than any other people about their
ablutions, and they wash and wash and
wash. They pay great attection to physical
health, and ft is 8 rare thing to see a siok
Parsee, They do not smoke tobaceo, for
they consider that a misuse of fire,
At the close of mortal life thesoul appaars
at the bridge Ci} , Where an angel pre
sides and questions the soul about the
thoughts ana words and deeds of its earthly
state, Nothing, however, ia more intensa in
the Parsee faith than the theory that the
deaady body is ir A davil is supposad
to take possession dead body. All
who touch it are unclean, and hencs the
straoga styles of obsequirs. But here I must
givathres or four questions and answers
from one of tha Parsee catechlsms :
Question is the most fortunate
in the world?
Answer-He who is the most tnnocent,
Q.—Who is the most innoc2at man in the
world?
A.—~He who walks in
shuns that of the devil,
Q.—Whioh is the path
that of the devil?
A.~—Viriue is the path of God and vice that
of the devil,
Q.—What
vieca?
A.-Good thoughts, good words and goo!
deads constitute virtue, and evil thoughts
evil words and evil deeds constitute vice,
Q.—What constitute good aghts, good
words and good dee thoagats,
evil words and evil
A.—Hone
of
* +h
the
-Wo man
tha path of God ani
and whiled
of Gol
constitutes virfuo andl what
"
+}
ta
ovii
trathininess
constitute the honesty, wan!
of charity ! iconstitute the latter
And n » you thess Par
saes | ye wo things [saw withina
ghort tim nbay, India, It was ap
afternoon of contr:
We started for
wealthy classes hav
and the Parisecs their stra
dead. As we role along tb
the sun was descending the siy, and a dis-
¢iple of Zoroaster Parsee, was in lowly
posture and h reverential gaze looking
jnto the sky. +» would have been said to
have been worshiping the sun, as all Par.
sees Are said to worship the fire, Put the
intelligent Parses does not worship the
fire, He looks upon the sun as the eme-
blem of the warmth and light of the
Creator, Lookinz ut a biaze Hght,
whether on hearth, on mountain height or
fu the sky, he can more easily bring to mind
he glory of God-—at least so the Parsess
tell me, ndead they are the pleasantest
heathen I have met, They treat their wives
as »quals, while the Hindoos and Baddhists
treat them as cattle, although ths eattle and
sheep nnd swine are better off
the women of India.’
This Parses ou the roadside on our way to
Malabar hill was the only one of that relig-
fon I had ever seen engaged in worship,
Who knows but that beyond the light of the
sun on which he gazes he may catch a
glimpse of the God who is light and “In
whom thers is no darkness at ali?”
We passed on up through gates into the
garden that surrounds the places where the
Parsees dispos« of their dead. This garden
was given by Jamshidji Jijibhat and is baau-
tiful with flowers of nil bus and foliage of
all styles of vein and noten and stature,
There is on all sides great opulenss of fern
and cypress, The gacden is 100 fest above
the level ol theses, Not far from the en-
trane« is a building whers the mourners of
the funeral procession go in to pray. A
hight is hers kept burning year in sad year
outy
We ascend the garden by some eight stone
steps. The body of a deceased aged woman
was being carried in toward the chiet ‘tower
of silence.” There are five of theas towers,
Beveral of them have not been used for a
long while. Four persons, whose business
it is to do this, carry the corpse. They are
followed by two men with long beards, The
tower of silence to which they come cost
£1:0,000 and is twenty-five foet high and 276
feet around and without a roof,
The four carriers of the dead and
the two bearded men come to the
door of the tower, entsr and leave the dead,
There are three rows of places for the dead
the outer row for the nen, the middle row
for the women, the inside row for the chil.
dren, The lifeless bodies are left exposed
as far down as the walst, As soon as the
employes retire from the tower of sllence the
vultures, now one, now 1wo, DOW many,
swoop upon the liftless form, These vals
tures fill the air with their discordant
voloes. We saw them in long rows on
the top of the whitewashed wall of the
Tower of silence. In a few minutes
they bave taken the last particle of flesh
from the bones, There had evidently born
other opportunities for them that day, and
some flew away, ns though surfelted, They
sometimes onrry away with them parts of »
body, and {x fs no unusual thing for the gen.
tistuen in their country seats to bave dropped
into their doorysrds a bone from the tower
of silence
In the centre of this tower is n well, into
which the bones are thrown after they ars
“bleached. Thue hot sun and the rainy season
and charcoal do thelr work of disintegrn-
tion and disinfection, and then thers are
sluices that carry into the sea what
*
I, on which the
their embowerad bones
se of the
olga
w
Hs
ot
of
than most of
of the daad. The wealthy people of Mala-
bar hill have made strenuous efforts to hava
these strange towers removad as a nuisance,
but they remain and will no doubt tor. ages
remain,
1 talked with a learnad Parsee about these
mortuary customs, He said : ‘I suppose
vou consider them very peculiar, but the
fact 18 we Parsees reverence tho elements of
nature and cannot consent to defile them.
We reverence the fire, and therefors will not
ask it to burn our doad. We reverence the
water and do not ask it to submerge our
dead. We reverence the earth and will not
ask it to bury our dend. Anl so we let the
vultures take thom away."
He conflrmsd me in the theory that the
Parsees act on the prinoiple that the dead
are unclean, No one must toush such a body,
The earmers of this “tomb of silence” must
not put their hands on the form of the de-
parted, They wear gloves lest somehow
they should be contaminated, When the
bones urs to be removed from the sides of
ihe tower and put in the well at the center,
they are touched careiully by tongs. Then
these people besides have very decided theo
No
among the dead.
the affluent and
ithe destitute must go through tha sama
“tower ol silence,” lie down side by side
with other occupants, have their bodies
dropped into the sams abyss and bs carried
out Rou the saree canal and float away
on the same sea. No splendor of Necropolis,
No seuipturing of maosolsum., No pomp of
dome or obelisk, Zoroaster's teaching ro.
sulted in these ‘‘towers of silence,” He
wrote, "Naked you cama into the world, and
asked you must go out.”
As I st>04 at the closa of day in this gar-
den on Malabar hill and heard the flap of
such things as caste
Philosopher and boor,
funeral custom of the Parses
seemed horrible beyond compare, aad yet
ibe dissolution o! the human body by any
mode is awiul, and the breaks of thess fowl
are probably no more repulsive than the
worms of the body devouring the sacred
human form in cemeteries, Nothing but
past, the
work of death, whether it now be put out of
sight by cutting spades or flying wing.
Starting homeward, we soon were in tha
heart of the ofty and saw a building all aflash
Hghis and resounding with merry
It was a Parsee wedding in a bulld-
Wa came to the door aud proposed
first were not permitted,
Parsees, and that
So. very polite-
doorsteps, This
temple of duptials was chisfly occupied by
their ears and necks and
hands aflame with jewels or imitation of
jewels. Ey pantomime and gesture, ns we
natives,
carious tO sam
were married,
we ware strangers and ware
what process DParsses
door. The bailding and the surround.
ings were fllumined by hundreds of
dles in glasses and ianterns, in qu
yaversation ran
and all
Then thers was a sour i of an ad-
band of musie, but the
NOSt part were strange
1 eyes, Louder and louder wera th
e wind aad stringed
processlo !
CA.
over,
to Our ears
until the a
the
steps. Then
ane, and all th
still The mother
ZToom, with a
bridegroom
the music
voloes were
of the
platter loaded
of food, eoulr
ser con and began to address him, :
she took from the platter a bottie of per-
‘ume and sprinkied his faos with the re-
iolence, All the while speaking in a droning
one, shes took from the platter a bandfal
s! rice, throwing soma of it on his head,
spilling some of it on his shoulder, pouring
8he took from the
platter a cocoanut and waved It about hia
read, She lifted a garland of fowers
threw it over his neck and a bou-
Her
the
4A
bride.
fis music, and through another
ioor the bridegroom was conducted
Tha bride was in
the room, but thers was nothing'to designate
her.
“Wherois the bride? Taald, “Whom is
the bride?" After awhile she was
evident. The bride and groom wera seated
A white cur.
tain was dropped between them so that they
Then the attend.
ryt
miaae
oe
00K
a long rope of linen Lad wound it around
neck of the bride and the groom in
that they wers to bound to-
fe, Then somes slik strings
wera wound around the couple, now around
Thea the
rice across the
and
the
togen ba
handful of
rice across the curtain on the head
Thereupon the curtain dropped,
and the bride's chair was removed and
ple. afore the priest was
platter of rice. He began to address the
young man and woman, We could not heer
a word, but we understood just as well as if
we had heard. Ever and anon be punctu.
ated his ceremony by a handful of rice,
We wanted to hear the
this was only between 7 and 8
recess after awhile in the ceremony, but it
We enjoyed what we had seen, but
elt incapacitated for six more hours of
Silently
All ot
them seemed bright and appreciative of the
ocenslon., The streets outside joyously syme-
pathized with the transactions inside,
Wa rode on toward our hotel wishing that
marriage in all India might be as mueh hone
ored as in the ceremony we had that evening
witnessed at the Parses wedding, The Hin.
doo women are not so married, They are
simply cursed into the conjugal reistion,
Many of the girls are married at seven and
ton years of age, and some of them are
grandmothers at thirty, They ean never go
forth into the sunlight with their faces un-
covered. They must stay st home, Al
styles of maltreatment aro theirs, [1
thay becomes Christians, they become
outcasts, A missionary told me in In.
dia of 8 Hindoo woman who became a Chris.
tian. She had nine ehildren. Her husband
was over seventy vears of age, And yet at
her Christian baptism he told her to go, and
she went out homeless, As long as woman
i» down India will be down. No pation was
over slevated except through the elevation
of woman, Parse marriage is an improve-
ment on Hindoo marriage, but Christian
marriage is an improvement on Parsee mar.
riage,
A fellow Araveler in India told me he had
been writing to his home in England trying
to} a law passed that no white woman
could be legally married in India until she
had been there six months, Admirable law
wonld that be! If a white woman saw
what married life with a Hindoo Is, she
would never undertake it. Of with the
thick and ugly veil from woman's face, Off
with the crushing burdens from her shoul-
der! Nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ
wil} over make life in Indias what itought
0 be, *.
But what an afternoon ot contrast in
Bombay we experienced! From the temple
of silence to the temple of hilarity, From
the vultures to the doves. From
mourning to hter. From gathering
shadows to From
. But much of ail
is made up ot } 4
in the same
from in the same
of the dead and the ceremony of espousals,
And so the tear meets the smile, and the
dove meets the vulture,
Thus I have set before the best of all ti
religions of the heathen world, and I hav)
done 80 in order that you might come 1 +
higher appreciation of the glorious religl:
which has put its benediction over us aun
over Christendom,
Compare the absurdities and mummerios
of heathen marringe with the plato ‘I wii”
ot Christian marriage, the hands joined in
pledge "till death do you part,” Compare
the doctrine that the dead may not be touched
with as sacred anditender and loving a kiss ns
aver given, the last kiss of lips that never
agnin will speak to ug, Compare the nar-
row bridge Chinvat over waich the de-
parting Parsos sou! must tremblingly
cross to the wide open gate of
heaven through which the departing Chris-
tian soul may triamphantly enter. Compare
the twenty-one books of the Zend Avssta of
the Parsee which evan the scholars of the
earth despuir of understanding with our
Bible, so much of it as is necessary ior our
salvation in language so plain that “a way-
faring man, though a fool, nued not err therve
in." Compare the **tower of silence,” with
fts vultures, at Bombay with the Gresen-
wood, ol Brookiva, with its sculptured
angels of resurrection. And bow yourselves
in thanksgiving and prayer ns you realize
that if at the battles of Marathon and Sala.
mis Persia bad triumphed over Greece jp-
stead of Greases trinmphanting over Persia,
Parsesism, which was the national religion
of Persia, might have covered the earth, and
you and I instead of sitting in the nooe-
day Mght of our glorious Christianity
might have been groping in the depressing
inierior
lite and
rein wus
supsrnn i
inspiration in
oar hope in death as Zoroaster of I's
inferior to our radiant and
Christ, to whom be honor and glory and
minion and victory an i song, world without
end. Amen,
- A —
FRANCE'S LATEST WAR VESSEL.
The Carnot, a Unique Work of Military
Naval Construction,
The Carnot, a new armored vessel fov
the French navy, has just been launch-
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the plans of M, de Saglio, director
naval construction, and the In
dent Carnot fastened the first
on
of
te Presi.
bolt. It
il 7
fess 28
Cr ad)
I
Pieroni
pork Ad
OUUO00 Lridics.
something Missing.
The other night a young couple,
fnewlio married and evidently h
Yrom the country, put up at one of the
alter being
signed to ou rom, went up stairs. A
few minutes later the young man
came down stairs, and, approaching
the clerk, said:
“That «oom i8 very nice, and all
that but there is something missiog
that should be there.”
‘What is iv?" asked the clerk, sur
prised.
“Well,” answered the young man,
leaning over the desk and whisper
ing, “to tell the truth, there is ng
comb and brusa there.”
1t was as much as tue clerk could
do to Keep a straighe face. **You
baven't travelled much?” he inqured.
No,” answered the maa; “this is
the first hotel I've ever Leen in”
“Then,” said the clerk, ‘tha comb
and brush are in the washroom on
this floor—for public use, but we do
not supply tooth-brushes.
The young man wenbaway pleased,
rest
das
Compulsory Education.
An original sentence was given
lately by a magistrate in Missourl
A man who did not know how to
read and write, convicted of a slight
offense, was sentenced to imprison-
ment until he had learned to read.
Another offender, who had a good
education, was sentenced to keep him
company until he had taught him to
read. After three weeks they wore
discharged, as they had fulfilled
their task to the full satisfaction of
the magistrate.
Every good man is a living monu.
ment (0 the fact that Christ has
mn — ——— |
NX
2
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO,
106 WALL B8T., REW-YORK,
Neither One Nor the Other,
Aun elderly Irish woman who was
io a Madison avenue car yesterday
wished to ger out at Forty-second
street. The conductor was on the
front platform, so the woman, ad-
dressing agentiemanly looking young
man opposite her, said:
‘*shtop the car.”
The man
head.
‘sshtop the car, I say,”
peated, giaring an him savagely.
Still no response,
“Didn't 1 tell ye toshtop thiscar”
she shouted, gripping er umbrella
“1 am not the conductor, "remarked
the young man with sarcasm. while
the young women in the tit.
tered,
“*Faix, an' you're not,”
Irish woman scorntully;
no gentleman, nayther. Moreover,
you're no blessin’ to your wother,
you're not. lf you were vou wouldn't
i I2v a respectable woman carried
tw wa without
either.” — New
young looked over her
she Ie.
Car
replied the
fan’ re
You
got
wks out of
an from
York Herald
Die Lor
askin her
for their
they
1
0
turn out, t
tained from the w
shi COUNLEY 5a fi
wi0:8 COUDLTY are not
Wild Fires,
5 4% v
and sulle shag v
The devastation
s flames of tho wild prairie and f
lars Reward for
be cured by
sale Drugeists, Toledo,
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Ohio
ix taken Internally, act.
upon the blood you
atarrt ite
tiy upon the Bur
{he system. is pent free.
Pruggist
Testimonia
ser bottle, Noid by all
Disorder,
yy %
tele ¥
A ele
t
bas been formally «
one line between Ber
5 « nif :
Vr, Klimet's Bwasmr-Roor euros
all Kidney and Bladder troubles
Fampblet and Consultation fres,
Laboratory Binghamton, N.Y.
Where is the man who loves his enem ics?
no and cures constipation, 25 ota. 0 cite. $i
Looking for trouble is one way to make I’,
Mra. Winslow's Soothing Syrap for children
teething, softens the gums, reduces inflamma.
tion, aliays pain, cures wind colic. 25¢. a bottle
Unreasonable egotism is disgusting.
Piso's Cure for Consum: tion isan A No. 1
Asthma medicine, W. RB. Wivoiass, Antioch,
Uls., April 11, 1804,
walter,
Take
to make life easier
Aluminum corrodes in salt
frouble Breaks Out Again.g
He |
exchange eo
“There Is no bigger
the
in the
growled
shears vindictively into an unot
newspaper
id [roy
erhb.
when it didn't pour,”
There’
ald the
# nothing strange about that,’
dry weather when all
financial editor
wie]
the
that's seen it
rejoined other,
nly one
sents {
qty of fools lke the
Wiiiin
“but I am
that a watched pot
=
other pot ’
i Aas any
know
Wrong {
than
nds interfered,
SAE RR
Finished at | ast,
After many ye:
the cathed
inished recently
ATS
wie _79/ W
TRY v
KNOWLEDGE
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its excellence is due to its presenting
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It has given satisfaction to millions and
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Syrup of Figs ia for sale by all drug
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package, also the name, Syrup of Figs,
and being well informed, you will not
Prnant sve ev totitna if fo
Measures
by taking Pearline to do your
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Nothing in the way of house.
washable is too delicate. A
washable are safe with
It saves from wear,
nscrupulous grocers will te!
or ‘‘the same as Pearline.”
ves i sends
os "JANES PYLE, New York
|
:
i
{
Roumanian Hamility,
According to a Roumanian custom.
when a servant has displeased his
master the offender takes his boots in
his hands and
bedicom door
sign of great submission
piaces them before the
¢
£)
f his master.
It is a
Suggestive Announcement
A New York und
the store on the first
house, His show window
tained, beside a
tive advertisement:
Let.”
PHYSICAL STRENGTH,
vit
rtaker occupies
3 “ tr
floor of a flat
ately
this =
con
ry Win 1 ¢
coin, UZR es
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SEEN,
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o ir on
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Le
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A HAPPY NEW YEAR EC “5S Baas or
Pansies rance of S
AN the fresh
and sunny Youth move and mi in this Py
welts) a Brent that will Sharm th Smemoty, Sam.
Dre dB ga, aond spiars to Retresemintiven.