and blasphemy, sprang forward in a transport of fury to fall upon the Jew; and a troop of monks, in motley dresses of black and white, advanced with a standard on which were painted pincers, gridirons, lighted fagots, and the words Justice, Charity, Mercy.* “It is necessary,” said they, “to make an example of these impious wretches, and burn them for the glory of God.”  They began even to prepare the pile, when a Mussulman answered in a strain of irony: 

“This, then, is that religion of peace, that meek and beneficent system which you so much extol!  This is that evangelical charity which combats infidelity with persuasive mildness, and repays injuries with patience!  Ye hypocrites!  It is thus that you deceive mankind—­thus that you propagate your accursed errors!  When you were weak, you preached liberty, toleration, peace; when you are strong, you practise persecution and violence—­”

     * This description answers exactly to the banner of the
     Inquisition of Spanish Jacobins.

And he was going to begin the history of the wars and slaughters of Christianity, when the legislator, demanding silence, suspended this scene of discord.

The monks, affecting a tone of meekness and humility, exclaimed:  “It is not ourselves that we would avenge; it is the cause of God; it is the glory of God that we defend.”

“And what right have you, more than we,” said the Imans, “to constitute yourselves the representatives of God?  Have you privileges that we have not?  Are you not men like us?”

“To defend God,” said another group, “to pretend to avenge him, is to insult his wisdom and his power.  Does he not know, better than men, what befits his dignity?”

“Yes,” replied the monks, “but his ways are secret.”

“And it remains for you to prove,” said the Rabbins, “that you have the exclusive privilege of understanding them.”

Then, proud of finding supporters to their cause, the Jews thought that the books of Moses were going to be triumphant, when the Mobed (high priest) of the Parses obtained leave to speak.

“We have heard,” said he, “the account of the Jews and Christians of the origin of the world; and, though greatly mutilated, we find in it some facts which we admit.  But we deny that they are to be attributed to the legislator of the Hebrews.  It was not he who made known to men these sublime truths, these celestial events.  It was not to him that God revealed them, but to our holy prophet Zoroaster:  and the proof of this is in the very books that they refer to.  Examine with attention the laws, the ceremonies, the precepts established by Moses in those books; you will not find the slightest indication, either expressed or understood, of what constitutes the basis of the Jewish and Christian theology.  You nowhere find the least trace of the immortality of the soul, or of a future life, or of heaven, or of hell, or of the revolt of the principal angel, author of the evils of the human race.  These ideas were not known to Moses, and the reason is very obvious:  it was not till four centuries afterwards that Zoroaster first evangelized them in Asia.*