It is, as we said in the article on the ZEND-AVESTA, chiefly from the Gathas that Zarathustra's"real theology, unmutilated by later ages, can be learned. His leading idea was monotheism. Whatever may have caused the establishment of the dualism of gods, the good and the evil in the Persian religion—a dualism so clearly marked at the time of Isaiah that he found it necessary to protest emphatically against it—it was not Zoroaster who proclaimed it. His dualism is of a totally-different nature. It was merely the principle of his speculative philosophy—a supposition of two primeval causes of the real and the intellectual world. His moral philosophy, on the other hand, moved in a triad —thought, word, and deed. There is no complete system of Zoroastrian philosophy to be found in the Zend-Avesta, any more than there is a developed Platonic system laid down explicitly in the Platonic writings; but from what is to be gathered in the docu ments referred to it cannot be doubted that Zoroaster was a deep and great thinker, far above his contemporaries and even many of the most enlightened men of subsequent ages. If proof were needed for the high appreciation in which he was held in it might be found in the circumstance that even the Greeks and Romans, not partici'.
lady given to overrating foreign learning and wisdom, held him in the very highest esti mation, as may be seen by their reiterated praises of the wisdom of him whose name they scarcely knew how to pronounce.
With regard, then, to the first point, his monotheism, it suffices to mention that while the fire-priests before him, the Soshyantos, worshiped a plurality of good spirits called :Auras, as opposed to the Indian degas, he reduced this plurality to a unity. This one supreme being he called Ahura Mazdat) (that Ahura which is Ma•dao), or the creator of the universe—the Auramazda of the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achemem dian kings, the Ahurmazd of Sassanian times, and the Hormazd or Ormazd of modern Parsecs. This supreme god is by Zoroaster conceived to be " the creator of the earthly and spiritual life, the lord of the whole universe, at whose hands are all the creatures." The followiug extract from the Gallia (lstavaiti) will leave no doubt on that much contested point: " Blessed is he, blessed are all men to whom the living wise God of his own command should grant those two everlasting powers (viz., immortality and whole someness). . . . I believe thee, 0 God, to be the best thing of all, the source of light for the world. Everybody shall choose thee as the source of light, thee, thee, holiest spirit Mazda! Thou createst all good things by means of the power of thy good mind at any time, and promisest us, who believe hi thee, a long life. I believe thee to be the powerful holy god Mazda! for thou givest with thy hand. filled with helps, good to the pious man, as well as to the impious, by means of the warmth of the fire strengthening the good things. From this reason, the vigor of the good mind has fallen to my lot. . . . Who was in the be ginning the father and the creator of truth? Who showed to the sun and the stars their way ? Who causes the moon to increase and wane, if not thou ? . . . Who
is holding the earth and the skies above it? Who made the waters and the trees of the field? Who is in the winds and in the storms, that they so quickly run? Who is the creator of the good-minded beings, thou wise? Who made the lights of good effect and the darkness? Who made the sleep of good effect and the activity? Who made morning, noon, and night?" Ahuramazda is thus to Zoroaster the light and the source of light. He is wisdom and intellect; he possesses all good things, temporal and spiritual, among them the good mind, immortality, wholesomeness, the best truth, de votion, piety, and abundance of all earthly good. All these gifts he grants to the pious man who is pure in thought, word, and deed. He rewards the good and punishes the wicked, and all that is created, good or evil, fortune or misfortune, is his work alone_ We spoke of Zoroaster's philosophical dualism, and of its having often been con founded with theological dualism. which it is certainly very far from being. Nothing was further from Zoroaster's mind than to assume anything but one supreme being, one and indivisible. But that everlasting problem of all thinking minds—viz., the origin of evil, and its incompatibility with God's goodness, holiness, and justice—lie attempted to solve by assuming two primeval causes, which, though different, were united, and produced the world of the material things as well as that of the spirit. The one who produced the reality (gaya) is called Vohu Maim, the good mind; the other, through whom the non-reality (ajyaiti) originated, is the Akem Manti, the naught mind. To the first belong all good, true. and perfect things; to the second, all that is delusive, bad, wicked. These two aboriginal moving causes of the universe are called twins. They arc spread everywhere, in God as in men. When united in Ahuramazda, they are called Cpento Mainyus and Angro Mainyus—i.e., white or holy; and dark spirit. It is only in later writings that these two are supposed to be opposed to each other, not within Ahuramazda, but without—to stand, in fact, in the relation of God and devil to each other. The inscriptions of Darius know but one god, without any adversary whatso ever. But while the one side with him produced all that was bright and shining. all that is good and useful in nature, the other side produced all that is dark and apparently noxious. Both are as inseparable as day and night, and, though opposed to each other, are indispensable for the preservation of creation. The bright spirit appears in the blazing flame, the presence of the dark is marked by the wood converted into charcoal. The one has created the light of the clay, the other the darkness of night; the former awakens men to their duty, the other lulls them to sleep. Life is produced by the one, and ex tinguished by the other, who also, by releasing the soul from the fetters of the body, en ables her to go up to immortality and everlasting life.