They also hold the eternal paradise to be the Heavens; and regard the solar majesty as lord of the empyrean; and the other stars, fixed or planetary, as his ministers: thus a person who, through religious mortifications and purity of life, attains righteousness in words and deeds, is united with the sun and becomes an empyreal sovereign: but if the proportion of his good works bear a closer affinity to any other star, he becomes lord of the place assigned to that star: whilst others are joined to the firmament on high: the perfect man passes on still farther, arriving at the æthereal sphere, or the region of pure spirits; such men attain the beatific vision of the light of lights and the cherubinic hosts of the Supreme Lord. Should he be a prince during whose reign no harmless animals were slaughtered in his realms; and who, if any were guilty of these acts, inflicted punishment on the perpetrators of the crimes, so that no such characters departed this world without due retribution; he is esteemed a wise, beneficent, and virtuous king: and immediately on being separated from the elements of body, he is united with the sun: his spirit is identified with that of the majesty of the great light and he becomes an æthereal sovereign. Prince Siamak, the son of Kaiomors declares: “I beheld from first to last all the Abádíán, Jyáníán, Sháíyán, and Yassáníán monarchs: some were cherubim in the presence of the Supreme Lord; others absorbed in the contemplation of the Light of Lights: but I found none lower than the sphere of the sun, the vicegerent of God.” On my asking them concerning the means of attaining these high degrees, they said: “The great means of acquiring this dignity consist in the protection of harmless animals, and inflicting punishment on evil doers.” According to this sect, labouring under insanity, suffering distress on account of one’s children, being assailed by diseases, the visitations of providence, these calamities are the retribution of actions in a former state of existence. If a person should fall down or stumble when running, even this is regarded as the retribution of past deeds: as are also the maladies of new-born babes. But whatever happens to a just man, which is evidently unmerited, this is not to be looked on as retribution, but as proceeding from the oppression of the temporal ruler, from whom, in a future generation, the Supreme Ruler will demand an account.