CHAPTER II.

MAGIANISM: THE PARSEES.

THE ZENDAVESTA.[16]

WHEN the pure morality of Christianity is adduced as a proof of its high

origin, one of the favourite devices of Modern Unbelief is to claim an equally
high standard for the morality inculcated by the primitive creeds, and to rain
praises upon the ethical systems embodied in the Soûtras of the Buddhists, the
Rig-Veda of the Brahmans, or the Zendavesta of the Parsees. In making this
claim our philosophers probably calculate on the little knowledge which the
multitude possess of any creeds but their own. They are well aware that, to the
popular mind, the teaching of Buddha or Zoroaster is necessarily a sealed book,
and that the whole extent of its purport is known only to a few scholars. Hence,
when they come to support their thesis by quotations, they are able to select
those isolated passages which shine with the lustre of genuine diamonds, and
produce an absolutely false impression of the general character of the writings in
which they occur; thin veins of precious metal shining here and there through
masses of worthless ore. No doubt the Veda contains numerous utterances of the
highest beauty, in which the soul’s devotion to a Supreme Power is expressed
with a lyrical fervour inferior only to that of the Sweet Singer of Israel. No doubt
the Zendavesta, or the books of K’ung-fu-tze, like the works of later and maturer
intellects—a Xenophon and a Plato, a Seneca and a Marcus Aurelius—are
enriched with thoughts of the loftiest description, and frequently breathe the
most exalted aspirations. But what we have to remember is, that these are wholly
exceptional; that they are the most arduous efforts of each self-absorbed thinker,
and the indications of his boldest flights. At other times the wing grows feeble;
at other times the music is faint and even discordant; the bird can do no more
than creep along the ground. In the sayings of our Lord, however, or in the
writings of His Apostles, the tone is always sustained, clear, definite. There is no
uncertainty or hesitation. Nothing mean or unworthy is woven in their texture.