motives of love and hope come to the support o the sense of duty as bearing on Ἐϑιβογοῖαηςο; We are now the sons of God, greatly beloved by Him, and are designed for the highest things, even complete likeness to Christ. Both because of our present standing and the hope of what we shall be, we should strive to be pure as Christ was pure (He 12°73, 1 Jn 31:8, Again, what alternative is there to Christian perseverance which would be prefer- able? At best, there is only a return to the position of those who are under the law, #.e. who are in bondage and under a curse (Gal 3. 5). Or if one throws off all restraint and goes headlong into sin, the last state of the man is worse than the first. He has sinned against light, and is without excuse (He 6**: ete.).
The line to be followed with perseverance leads, therefore, from the law to Christ, and from obedi- ence to love. There is a common goal for all Christians, but the means to be used for the attainment of it are peculiar to the several individuals. All have to win Christ, and to grow into His perfect image (Ro 8”, 2 Co 318); all have to seek that love which is the fulfilling of the law (Ro 138: 0 ete.), and which is the greatest of the graces, without which, indeed, other attainments are as nothing (1 Co 13). But for this end each has to run the race specially prescribed for him (He 12), to fight his personal battle against the temptations which are felt to be such (Mk 9%); to be transformed by the re- newing of his mind, so as to prove what is tne good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Ro 127); to attend to his distinctive calling in the world, applying the parton gifts and grace bestowed upon him while acting with others as those who, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Ro 12**-), In Sie anes of activity the Christian perseveres to the end. He will not be weary in well-doin (Gal 6°), having comfort from fighting a go fight, and exulting with hope as he anticipates a complete victory, having the earnest of the Spirit now (2 Co 5°), and the promise of eternal salvation and a crown of life (Rev 2").
G. FERRIES. PERSIA (05, Περσίς, Persis).—Persia re er, the modern Fars, lay on the E. side of the Persian
Gulf, and was bounded on the N. by Media, on the S. by the Persian Gulf, on the W. by Elam, and on the E. by Karmania (now Kerman). Its earlier eye Pasargada was afterwards super- seded by Persepolis. After the conquests of Cyrus and the eetachmient of the rule of Darius Hystaspis, Persia came to be synonymous with the Persian empire, which extended from the Mediterranean to India. It is in this sense that the name Πέρσαι is used in such passages as Est 15, In Ezk 38° the reading seems to be corrupt, since Persia, in the time of Ezekiel, had nothing to do with the northern nations on the one hand, or with Ethiopia on the other. See, further, art. PERSIANS. A. H. SAYCE.
PERSIAN RELIGION.—See ZoROASTRIANISM. PERSIANS (mp, Πέρσαι, Perse; in old Persian
PERSIC VERSIONS
repr¢ bated by Darius Hystaspis in his inscriptions, seems chiefly to mean revolt against himself. They wore a tunic and trousers, cap, shoes, and upper robe, practised polygamy, and were ex- ceedingly intemperate in drinking. They were followers of Zoroaster (see ZOROASTRIANISM), and believed in a supreme god of good called Ahura- mazda (Ormazd), against whom there was ranged & spirit or principle of evil. By the side of Ahura- mazda were a number of inferior deities, chief among whom was the sun-god Mithra. According to Herodotus (i. 125) they were divided into 10 tribes, of which 3 were noble, 3 agricultural, and 4 nomadic. One of the nomadic was the tribe of the Dahi, supposed to be the Dehavites of Ezr 4°. The royal clan of the Achemenides belonged to the noble tribe of Pasargada.
In the time of Sennacherib the Persians were ae eee in Parsuas or Persia, and sent help to the king of Elam against the Assyrians. This Parsuas must be distinguished from another northern Parsuas or Barsuas, on the shores of Lake Urumiyeh, with which the Parthians have been connected by some scholars. The first Persian leader known to us was Hakhdmanish or Achemenes. His son Chaishpish or Teispes ee in Assyrian) conquered Anzan in Elam in the closing days of the Assyr.empire. His daughter Atossa is said to have married Pharnakes, king of Cappadocia (Diod. ap. Phot. Bibliot. p. 1158). After the death of Teispes his kingdom seems to have been divided—Aridriimna (Ariaramnes), Arshima (Arsammes), and Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) paling in Persia, while Cyrus I. (Kuras), Cambyses 1. (Kambuziya), and Cyrus 1. ruledin Anzan. Cyrus U. conquered Astyages of Ecbatana, his suzerain, ‘n B.C. 549 and the Bab. empire in 538. The rest of W. Asia fell before his arms, and when he died his empire extended from Lydia in the west to the borders of India in the east. His son Cambyses II. (B.C. 529-521) added Egypt to his dominions. Then came the usurpation of the gay eter Gaumata (Gomates), for 7 months, followed by his murder and the accession of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who slowly won back the provinces of the empire which had revolted under various pre- tenders, and who may be regarded as the real founder of the Persian empire. In B.C. 486 Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes, the Aliasuerus of the OT, who vainly tried to conquer Greece ; then came Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 466-425), Xerxes U. for 2 months, Sogdianos his half- brother for 7 months, and Darius 11. Nothos (B.c. 424-405). The last four kings were Artaxerxes Mnemon, who succeeded his father Darius IL, B.C. 405, and against whom his brother Cyrus the younger revolted in B.c. 401; Artaxerxes Ochus, called Uvasu in the cuneiform texts, B.C. 362; his son Arses, B.C. 339; and Darius 1. Codomannus, B.C. 336 (see Neh 12”), who was conquered by Alexander the Great, B.C. 333. A. H. SAYCE.