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DESCENT OF FREE-MASONRY.
445
as a sage of very remote time j which is also established by
the evidence of Hemippus and Eudoxus, preserved by Pliny.
The second Zoroaster, supposed by Toucher to have flourished
under Darius Hystaspes, is the mere figment of some later
Grecian authors of little credit. On the whole, we are compelled
to carry back Zoroaster to the period when Bactriana
was an independent monarchy, a period anterior to the very
commencement of the Median empire, as related by Hero-
dotus." Prof. Heeren.
At the conclusion of the Persian and Chaldean Mysteries, the
aspirant was sworn to preserve the secret rites of Mithras inviolate.
The sacred words were entrusted to him, of which the
ineffable TETRACTYS, or name of God, was the chief, and he was
instructed in the sacred prophecy of Zoroaster, or Zeradusht,
namely, That in future years a great prophet should appear
on earth, the Desire of all nations, born of a virgin, and whose
advent should be ushered in by a new and blazing star in the
heavens, the radiance of which the sun should not extinguish
at mid-day. The newly-instructed aspirant was strictly en-
joined, should its appearance happen in his day, to follow this
splendid guide until he discovered the new-born infant, to
whom he was to offer sacrifices and valuable gifts, and before
whom he was to fall in humble adoration, and worship the
incarnation of Mithras the Mediator, the second person in the
Trinity.*
It was this Masonic prophecy which led the wise men of the
East to the stable of Bethlehem ;
and such were the doctrines
promulgated in all the ancient Mysteries of the Gentiles, doctrines
perfectly consonant with Christianity. As the knowledge
and worship of one true God was necessary to the preservation
of speculative Masonry, so is it perfectly undeniable that this
knowledge was communicated to the aspirant in the Mysteries
* There is one fragment of the antiquity of Free-Masonry, and that among
the ancient Persians, which has been hitherto overlooked, namely, that
Hystaspes commanded his son Darius to inscribe on his tomb, MASTER OF
THE MAGI, (Amme. Marcell., 1. 28, c. 6.) another proof that, like many
of our kings, the Persian princes were Free-Masons. In fact, they were not
allowed to take possession of the government, till they had been initiated into
the Mysteries, and enrolled among the Magi.