The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

158 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
ness and death. The celestial spirits and the sup
porters of piety are compelled constantly to baffle their
ever renewed enterprises. The strife continues in the
heart and conscience of man, the epitome of the uni
verse, between the divine law of duty and the sugges
tions of the evil spirits. Life is a merciless war know
ing no truce. The task of the true Mazdean consisted
in constantly fighting the evil in order to bring about
the gradual triumph of Ormuzd in the world. The
believer was the assistant of the gods in their work of
purification and improvement.
The worshipers of Mithra did not lose themselves
in a contemplative mysticism like other sects. Their
morality particularly encouraged action, and during a
period of laxness, anarchy and confusion, they found
stimulation, comfort and support in its precepts. Re
sistance to the promptings of degrading instincts as
sumed the glamor and prestige of warlike exploits in
their eyes and instilled an active principle of progress
into their character. By supplying a new conception
of the world, dualism also gave a new meaning to life.
This same dualism determined the eschatological be
liefs of the Mithraists. The antagonism between
heaven and hell was extended into the life hereafter.s 2
Mithra, the "invincible" god who assisted the faithful
in their struggle against the malignity of the demons,
was not only their strong companion in their human
trials, but as an antagonist of the infernal powers he
insured the welfare of his followers in the future life
as well as on earth. When the genius of corruption
seizes the corpse after death, the spirits of darkness
and the celestial messengers struggle for the possession
of the soul that has left its corporeal prison. It stands