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Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Religion

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Name: Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.
Author: Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Idols and images -- Worship; Mythology; Religions

His teachings can be learned only from the older Parsee books, the
Gathas. His principal tenet was that there is one God and not many
gods. In his speculations he taught that there were two forces opposed
to each other, a good being and an evil being; his followers afterwards
declared these to be a good god and an evil god--Ormazd and Ahriman. In
his moral teachings he declared that three things were to be kept pure;
namely, thoughts, words and deeds.


                    ZOROASTER’S WORSHIP OF ONE GOD.

In one of the Gathas (a division of the Zend-Avesta or sacred Parsee
books), Zoroaster is represented as standing before the sacred fire,
in a speech seeking to induce his countrymen to forsake the worship of
the devas or gods, and to bow only to Ormazd. In his speech he declares
that from the worship of one God flow all prosperities, while from
the worship of many gods comes ruin to the race. The following is a
translation of his speech, made by Haug the famous Parsee scholar:

“1. I will now tell you who are assembled here the wise sayings of
Mazda (_i.e._, Ormazd) the hymns of the good spirit, the sublime
truth which I see arising out of these sacred flames.”

“2. You shall, therefore, hearken to the soul of nature, (_i.e._,
to plow and cultivate the soil); contemplate the beams of fire with a
most pious mind! Every one, both men and women, ought to-day to choose
his creed (between deva-worship and the Ormazd religion). Ye offspring
of renowned ancestors, awake to agree with us.”

Again and again Zoroaster reverts to this theme. It does seem as if his
ideas of Ormazd greatly resembled those of Moses of Elohim or Jehovah.
Though the ancient Zoroastrians believed in an evil spirit of almost
equal power with Ormazd, yet Zoroaster himself taught nothing of this.
With all the ardor of Mohammed he waged war against the worship of
many gods and idols, but with none of Mohammed’s iconoclastic zeal.
Zoroaster pursued his course peacefully, seeking to win his countrymen
by his words; Mohammed sought to carry his faith at the point of the
sword. Both sought the same end, to establish the worship of one God.


                          ORMAZD AND AHRIMAN.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Idols and images -- Worship; Mythology; Religions

His teachings can be learned only from the older Parsee books, the
Gathas. His principal tenet was that there is one God and not many
gods. In his speculations he taught that there were two forces opposed
to each other, a good being and an evil being; his followers afterwards
declared these to be a good god and an evil god--Ormazd and Ahriman. In
his moral teachings he declared that three things were to be kept pure;
namely, thoughts, words and deeds.


                    ZOROASTER’S WORSHIP OF ONE GOD.

In one of the Gathas (a division of the Zend-Avesta or sacred Parsee
books), Zoroaster is represented as standing before the sacred fire,
in a speech seeking to induce his countrymen to forsake the worship of
the devas or gods, and to bow only to Ormazd. In his speech he declares
that from the worship of one God flow all prosperities, while from
the worship of many gods comes ruin to the race. The following is a
translation of his speech, made by Haug the famous Parsee scholar:

“1. I will now tell you who are assembled here the wise sayings of
Mazda (_i.e._, Ormazd) the hymns of the good spirit, the sublime
truth which I see arising out of these sacred flames.”

“2. You shall, therefore, hearken to the soul of nature, (_i.e._,
to plow and cultivate the soil); contemplate the beams of fire with a
most pious mind! Every one, both men and women, ought to-day to choose
his creed (between deva-worship and the Ormazd religion). Ye offspring
of renowned ancestors, awake to agree with us.”

Again and again Zoroaster reverts to this theme. It does seem as if his
ideas of Ormazd greatly resembled those of Moses of Elohim or Jehovah.
Though the ancient Zoroastrians believed in an evil spirit of almost
equal power with Ormazd, yet Zoroaster himself taught nothing of this.
With all the ardor of Mohammed he waged war against the worship of
many gods and idols, but with none of Mohammed’s iconoclastic zeal.
Zoroaster pursued his course peacefully, seeking to win his countrymen
by his words; Mohammed sought to carry his faith at the point of the
sword. Both sought the same end, to establish the worship of one God.


                          ORMAZD AND AHRIMAN.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

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