The Religion of the Parsis, notwithstanding the puerilities and absurdities with which it is now associated, is substantially the same in its general principles at the present day that it was in the ages of antiquity. As that of the united hosts of Medas and Persians, who were providentially instrumental in the destruction of the mightily power of Babylon and the deliverance of the Jews, the favored depositaries of divine knowledge during the general apostasy of the world from God, who in the noon-day splendor of their reign, ruled over the larger portion of the Greater and Lesser Asia-who attempted to crush the infant liberties of Europe in the Grecian States,-who carried their victorious arms to the north of Africa, and usurped for a season the rule of the Pharaohs in the land of Egypt.
John Wilson FRS (11 December 1804 - 1 December 1875) was a Scottish Christian missionary, oriental’s and educator in the Bombay presidency, British India. In 1828 he married Margaret Bayne and together they went as Christian missionaries of the Scottish Missionary Society to Bombay, India, arriving on 13 February 1829. He is the founder of Wilson College, Mumbai and Bombay University. He was also the president of the Asiatic Society of Bombay from 1835 to 1842; and was elected Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland in 1870. Wilson was the author of many books. Early in his mission he started a periodical about religion, society, culture and European thought, called The Oriental Christian Spectator, which ran from 1830 to 1862. In 1838 he wrote A Memoir of Mrs. Margret Wilson, and in 1850 a Memoir of the Cave Temples and Monasteries and Ancient Remains in Western India. In 1858 he wrote, India Three Thousand Years Ago. As the years went on he wrote many books, including Parsi Religion (1843), Evangelization of India (1849), History of the Suppression of Female Infanticide in Western India (1855), Aboriginal Tribes of The Bombay Presidency (1876) and Indian Caste (1877).
Tax Religion of the Parsis, notwithstanding the puerilities and absurdities with which it is now associated, is substantially the same, in its general principles, at the present day that it was in the ages of antiquity. As that of the united hosts of Medes and Persians, who were providentially instrumental in the destruction of the mighty power of Babylon, and the deliverance of the Jews, the favored depositaries of divine knowledge during the general apostasy of the world from God, who, in the noon-day splendor of their reign, ruled over the larger portion of the Greater and Lesser Asia-who attempted to crush the infant liberties of Europe in the Grecian States,- - who carried their victorious arms to the north of Africa, and usurped for a season the rule of the Pharaohs in the land of Egypt, who, after having for centuries succumbed to Macedonian and Parthian rule, recovered their freedom, and first set limits to the Roman Empire in the East, who long formed a barrier to the eruption of the barbarous hordes of Scythians and Huns and Turks, by whom the civilized world was ultimately inundated, and whose signal achievements and failures, from the very dawn of profane authentic record, have so much employed the pen of the historian, it is not without high interest in the history of the speculations and errors of the human mind. It did not form an element in the greatness of its professors, for, except in the circumstance that it discarded the use of the works of men's hands, both as the emblems and special residences of the divinity, it was perhaps inferior in its elements and institutions to the forms of faith professed by at least of the surrounding nations; but on this very account it merit attention, affording, as it does, an illustration of the almost un- bounded scope which the human mind will indolently, or actively, give to the device and practice of vanity, and, I will add,-folly and impiety, in connation with its professed inter- communion with the powers of the unseen world. Its internal energy was happily too weak to resist the influence of the Christian teacher in the early ages of the Church; and it called for, and used, the sword, by the cruel hands of the descend- ants of Sasan, to oppose the progress of the truth, till such time as it was foiled, and nearly annihilated, by its own weapon, wielded by the Saracen invader. In the solitudes of Yazd and Kirman, and in the busy scenes of commerce on the Western shores of India, it has still a remnant of adherents, to be reclaimed, it is to be hoped speedily, from the vain traditions received from their fathers, by the still small voice of the Gospel; and it is worthy of attention by all who have dealings with them, and especially by those who entertain philanthropic desires on their behalf. Much has been done towards its elucidation by our learned countryman Dr. Hyde, who first made it the subject of an elaborate treatise; by Anquetil du Perron, the interpreter of its sacred books; by Mr. William Erskine, who has taken an able survey of its principles as developed both in ancient and modern times, and of the present practices of its votaries in India; by M. Burnout, whose philosophical and philological research has done so much to facilitate the knowledge of the Zand, preserved only in its own records; by Professor Bopp, a most accomplished and successful auxiliary in the same undertaking; and by several other distinguished writers on the Continent of Europe. The labors of these men, however, rather invite then repel the farther investigation which they facilitate, and encourage the attempt to present the result of their research in a practical compass. It is manifestly desirable, that the Parsi system should be exhibited in the light of Christianity; and it is with a view to aid in this attempt, that I have endeavored to improve the ad- vantages of observation and inquiry which I have enjoyed in connation with my professional duties in Bombay, and contemplated for some time the publication of a general treatise on the tenets and observances of the Zoroastrians, and that with a particular reference to their own improvement. The form which this volume has ultimately assumed, is entirely to be ascribed to the publication of certain works by the Zoroastrians themselves, in explanation and defense of their faith, and in opposition to Christianity, which the benevolence of their well-wishers in distant lands is now pressing on their attention. The circumstances in which the works to which I now refer have appeared, are detailed in our first Chapter; and it is only the mere mention of them individually which is here required.
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