“I believe Thee to be the best Being of all, the source of light for all the world. Every one shall choose Thee as the source of light, Thee, O Mazda, most beneficent spirit! Thou createst all good true things by means of the power of Thy good mind at any time, and promised us, who believe in Thee, a long life. “Standing at Thy fire, amongst Thy worshipers who pray to Thee, I will be mindful of righteousness as long as I shall be able.” The Visparad is a collection of prayers in twenty-three chapters. They are used much in the same way as the Yasnas. They resemble many of the Vedic prayers of the Hindu religion. The Yashts contain directions for the sacrifices and hymns of prayer and praise. The Vendidad is the code of the religious, civil and criminal laws of the Parsees. It consists of twenty-two chapters. PARSEE WORSHIP. The Parsee religion enters into the home-life of all its adherents. The holy fire is kept always burning in the high-priest’s house, and the people go there to re-light their household altar-fires. A Parsee merchant, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, has described the daily life of the fire-worshiper. Some of their practices are decidedly disgusting. A pious Parsee must say his prayers at least sixteen times every day--on getting out of bed, in washing with _nirang_ (a vile fluid, supposed to be sacred), in taking his bath, cleansing his teeth. Every time that he washes his hands he repeats his prayers, and every meal begins and ends with prayers. The priests of to-day do not even understand the old Zend language, in which these prayers are said. Mr. Naoroji says: “All prayers, on every occasion, are said, or rather recited, in the old original Zend language; neither the reciter nor the people around intend to be edified, no one understanding a word of it. There is no pulpit among the Parsees. On some special occasions there are assemblages in the temples, and prayers are repeated. Ordinarily, every one goes to the fire-temple whenever he likes, or, if it is convenient to him, recites his prayers himself, and as long as he likes, and gives, if so inclined, something to the priests to pray for him.” The Parsees have only one wife. They never eat food cooked by a person of another religion than their own; they object to eating beef, pork or ham. The priesthood is a family office; none but the son of a priest can become a priest. Fire is used in connection with all their worship as the symbol and (so some say) the representative of God. Often one may see in Bombay, India, as the sun lowers in the west, a group of Parsees with heads reverently bowed, and hands clasped, repeating their prayers. Light and fire of any sort are regarded with great reverence, and the Parsee always turns his face to a light-giving object when praying. The greatest respect is shown to the source of light and heat, the sun, and to the sacred fire in the temple or the high-priest’s house.