VIII.

CHAP. fo tumultuous an affembly could not have been directed by the authority of reason, or influenced by the art of policy, the Perfian fynod was reduced, by fucceffive operations, to forty thousand, to four thoufand, to four hundred, to forty, and at laft to feven Magi, the most refpected for their learning and piety. One of thefe, Erdaviraph, a young but holy prelate, received from the hands of his brethen three cups of foporiferous wine. He drank them off, and inftantly fell into a long and profound fleep. As foon as he waked, he related to the king and to the believing multitude, his journey to Heaven, and his intimate conferences with the Deity. Every doubt was filenced by this fupernatural evidence; and the articles of the faith of Zoroafter were fixed with equal authority and precision. A fhort delineation of that celebrated fyftem will be found useful, not only to difplay the character of the Persian nation, but to illuftrate many of their most important tranfactions, both in peace and war, with the Roman empire 1°.

Perfian

theology;

The great and fundamental article of the two prin- fyftem, was the celebrated doctrine of the two principles; a bold and injudicious attempt of Eastern philofophy to reconcile the existence of

ciples.

• Hyde de Religione veterum Perf. c. 21.

10 I have principally drawn this account from the Zendavefta of M. d'Anquetil, and the Sadder, fubjoined to Dr. Hyde's treatise. It muft, however, be confeffed, that the studied obfcurity of a prophet, the figurative style of the East, and the deceitful medium of a French or Latin version, may have betrayed us into error and heresy, in this abridgment of Perfian theology.

II

moral

VIII.

moral and physical evil, with the attributes of CHA P. a beneficent Creator and Governor of the world.. The firft and original Being, in whom, or by whom, the univerfe exifts, is denominated in the writings of Zoroafter, Time without bounds; but it must be confeffed, that this infinite fubftance feems rather a metaphyfical abftraction of the mind, than a real object endowed with felf-conscioufnefs, or poffeffed of moral perfec tions. From either the blind, or the intelligent operation of this infinite Time, which bears but too near an affinity with the chaos of the Greeks, the two fecondary but active principles of the univerfe, were from all eternity produced, Ormufd and Ahriman, each of them poffeffed of the powers of creation, but each difpofed, by his invariable nature, to exercife them with different defigns. The principle of good is eternally abforbed in light; the principle of evil eternally buried in darkness. The wife benevolence of Ormufd formed man capable of virtue, and abundantly provided his fair habitation with the materials of happiness. By his vigilant providence, the motion of the planets, the order of the feafons, and the temperate mixture of the elements, are preferved. But the malice of Ahriman has long fince pierced Ormusd's egg; or, in other words, has violated the harmony of his works. Since that fatal irruption, the most minute articles of good and evil are intimately intermingled and agitated together; the rankeft poifons fpring up amidst the most falutary plants; deluges, earthquakes,

VOL. I.

VIII.

CHAP. quakes, and conflagrations, atteft the conflict of Nature, and the little world of man is perpetually fhaken by vice and misfortune. While the reft of human kind are led away captives in the chains of their infernal enemy, the faithful Perfian alone referves his religious adoration for his friend and protector Ormufd, and fights under his banner of light, in the full confidence that he shall, in the last day, share the glory of his triumph. At that decifive period, the enlightened wifdom of goodnefs will render the power of Ormufd fuperior to the furious malice of his rival. Ahriman and his followers, dif armed and fubdued, will fink into their native darkness; and virtue will maintain the eternal peace and harmony of the universe ".

Religious worship.

The theology of Zoroafter was darkly comprehended by foreigners, and even by the far greater number of his difciples; but the most careless obfervers were ftruck with the philofophic fimplicity of the Perfian worship. "That people," fays Herodotus ", " rejects the use of temples, "of altars, and of statues, and smiles at the folly "of thofe nations, who imagine that the gods

are fprung from, or bear any affinity with, the "human nature. The tops of the highest moun

"The modern Perfees (and in fome degree the Sadder) exalt Ormufd into the firft and omnipotent caufe, while they degrade Ahriman into an inferior but rebellious fpirit. Their defire of pleafing the Mahometans may have contributed to refine their theological system.

12 Herodotus, 1. i. c. 131. But Dr. Prideaux, thinks, with reafon, that the ufe of temples was afterwards permitted in the Magian religion.

86

VIII.

tains are the places chofen for facrifices. CHA P.' Hymns and prayers are the principal worship; "the Supreme God who fills the wide circle of

Heaven, is the object to whom they are ad"dreffed." Yet, at the fame time, in the true fpirit of a polytheift, he accuses them of adoring Earth, Water, Fire, the Winds, and the Sun and Moon. But the Perfians of every age have denied the charge, and explained the equivocal conduct, which might appear to give a colour to it. The elements, and more particularly Fire, Light, and the Sun, whom they called Mithra, were the objects of their religious reverence, because they confidered them as the pureft fymbols, the nobleft productions, and the most powerful agents of the Divine Power and Nature 13.

moral pre

Every mode of religion, to make a deep and Ceremolafting impreffion on the human mind, muft exercife our obedience, by enjoining practices of cepts. devotion, for which we can affign no reason; and must acquire our esteem, by inculcating moral duties analogous to the dictates of our own hearts. The religion of Zoroafter was abundantly provided with the former, and poffeffed a fufficient portion of the latter. At the age of puberty, the faithful Perfian was invefted with a myfterious girdle, the badge of the divine protection; and from that moment all the actions of his life, even the most indifferent, or the most neceffary,

13 Hyde de Relig. Perf. c. 8. Notwithstanding all their diftinctions and proteftations, which seem fincere enough, their tyrants, the Mahometans, have conftantly ftigmatised them as idolatrous worshippers of the Fire.

VIII.

€ HA P. were fanctified by their peculiar prayers, ejacu lations, or genuflexions; the omiffion of which, under any circumstances, was a grievous fin, not inferior in guilt to the violation of the moral duties. The moral duties, however, of justice, mercy, liberality, &c. were in their turn required of the difciple of Zoroafter, who wifhed to escape the perfecution of Ahriman, and to live with Or mufd in a blissful eternity, where the degree of felicity will be exactly proportioned to the degree of virtue and piety 14.

Encouragement of agriculture.

The

But there are fome remarkable inftances in which Zoroafter lays afide the prophet, affumes the legiflator, and difcovers a liberal concern for private and public happiness, feldom to be found among the groveling or vifionary schemes of fuperftition. Fafting and celibacy, the common means of purchafing the divine favour, he condemns with abhorrence, as a criminal rejection of the beft gifts of Providence. faint, in the Magian religion, is obliged to be. get children, to plant ufeful trees, to destroy noxious animals, to convey water to the dry lands of Perfia, and to work out his falvation by pursuing all the labours of agriculture. We may quote from the Zendavesta a wife and be. nevolent maxim, which compensates for many an abfurdity. "He who fows the ground with

14 See the Sadder, the smallest part of which confifts of moral precepts. The ceremonies enjoined are infinite and trifling. Fifteen genuflexions, prayers, &c. were required whenever the devout Perfian cut his nails or made water; or as often as he put on the facred girdle. Sadder, Art. 14. 50. 60.