Lack of good drinking water often leads to disease among the people of the East. The task of carrying the fam ily supply of this vital substance usually falls to the women each day. Biola trained missionaries are helping to bring them the Water of Life. Dr. Talbot's Report (cont.)
the air, and lastly, bow to the earth. They showed us the Tower of Silence from which they bury their dead. On top of the temple, hundreds of vul tures were waiting. When a Parsee dies they cannot bury, cremate or embalm the body for burial in any of the four elements it would pollute the element used—earth, fire, water, etc. So the carriers of the body take it to the top of the Tower and when they descend, the vultures devour the body in a few minutes — only the skeleton re mains. The Parsees do not believe in an after life. Since many of the people of wealth belong to this religion, it makes the masses hard to reach with the Gospel. They are perfectly satisfied with their life and religion, Enroute home we stopped over in
a strange sect of Persian origin. Their worship is before the four elements of air, water, fire, and earth. They are as much in the hidden deep of pagan darkness as the other religions. Mr. Fricke took me to one of their places of worship—a magnificent build ing. It was with difficulty that we per suaded the guard to let us pass the sign—“None but Parsees may enter the sacred grounds.” With further persua sion we were allowed to go through. In entering the sanctuary, the actual place of worship, we b e h e l d four things: burning lights, running water, purified air (supposedly) and then a certain portion of earth. The Parsees worship by bowing to the fire, and drinking of' the water from a silver vessel. Then standing erect they inhale
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