fact proves that their enmity was against the temples of idolaters, not against those of the true God, nor against temples merely as temples. For the same reasons the pious Theodosius destroyed the temples at Alexandria; but he had no objection to temple-worship, or worship in buildings.
The Israelites had no temple till the time of Solomon, but they had circles of stone pillars at Gerizim and Gilgal, exactly the same as those at the Buddhist temple of Stonehenge.
10. Zoroaster retired to a cavern where he wrote his book, and which was ornamented on the roof with the constellations and the signs of the Zodiac; whence came the custom among his followers of retiring to caves which they called Mithriatic caves, to perform their devotions, in which the mysteries of their religion were performed. Many of these caves of stupendous size and magnificence exist at this day in the neighbourhood of Balck, and in different parts of upper India and Persia.
They had several orders of priests like our parochial priests and bishops, and at the head of them an Archimagus or Archpriest, the same as the Pope or the High Priest of the Jews: the word Magus, in the Persian language, only meant priest: and they did not forget that most useful Jewish rite, the taking of tithes and oblations. At stated times the priests read part of their sacred writings to the people. The priests were all of the same family or tribe, as among the Jews.
Dr. Pococke and Hyde acknowledge that many things in their sacred books are the same as those in the Pentateuch, and in other parts of the Bible. Of course they easily account for this by the assertion, that they were taken from the Jews. But the fact of the identity is not denied: which copied from the other is not now the question. All that it is necessary to shew is, that they were the same. They contain many of the Psalms, called by the Jews and Christians, absurdly enough, the Psalms of David, and nearly the same account of Adam and Eve, the deluge, &c. The creation is stated, as already mentioned, to have taken place in six periods, which together make up a year; and Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Solomon, are all spoken of in the same manner as in the Jewish Scriptures. In these books are inculcated similar observances about beasts, clean and unclean,—the same care to avoid pollution, external and internal,—the same purifyings, washings, &c., &c. Zoroaster called his book the book of Abraham, because he pretended that, by his own reformation, he had only brought back the religion to the state in which it was in the time of Abraham.[1] Can any one, after this, doubt the identity of the two religions? If they were not the same, what would make them so?
The Zendavesta which we have, and which was translated by Anquetil Du Perron, is said, by Sir W. Jones, to be spurious; but it is admitted by the best authors to agree with the ancient one, at least “in its tenets and the terms of religion.”[2] Upon the question of its genuineness it is not necessary to give an opinion. Probably Sir W. Jones would find anachronisms in it, such as have been pointed out in the Old Testament. These would be quite sufficient to prove to him the spuriousness of the Zend, though not of the Pentateuch. The fact is, they both stand exactly upon the same grounds with respect to genuineness.[3]
Much might have been spared which has been said respecting the fire worshipers of Persia. It is very probable that, in some degree, the charge of worshiping fire may be substantiated against them, in the same way as the worship of saints, images, and relics, in some parts of Christendom may certainly be proved to have existed; but it is equally as unjust to call the Persians fire
