The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

61
LECTURE IV.
INITIATION IN PERSIA.
THE Persian Mysteries were indebted to Zeradusht, 1
or Zoroaster, for much of the celebrity which they attained.
This great reformer is said by Hyde 2 and Prideaux
3 to be a Jew by birth, 4 and to have received his
education in the elements of the true worship amongst
1 He was called by the Persians, Zeradusht, and by the Greeks,
Zoroaster. The question of the identity of Zeradusht and Zoroaster
Such a person, under
will form no part of the present undertaking.
one of these names did actually flourish in Persia, and reform its religion
about the latter end of the Babylonish captivity, and I am
little concerned in this much agitated question. The curious reader
may profitably consult Hyde on the Religion of ancient Persia;
Richardson's Dissertation, Sec. 2; Prideaux Connection, p. 1, b.lv.;
and Faber's Pagan Idolatry, b. in., c. 3.
3
Hyde. Rel. vet. Pers., p. 314. Prid. Con., vol. i., p. 213.
4 The Persian historians have shewn much anxiety to establish the
supernatural perfection of this great prophet's birth. "A Persian
author has declared," says Sir John Malcolm, (Hist. Pers., c. vii.,)
"
that the religious, among the followers of Zoroaster, believed that
the soul of that holy person was created by God, and hung upon that
tree, from which all that is celestial has been produced. ... I have
heard, this author observes, the wise and holy Mobud, Seeroosh de-
clare, that the father of Zoroaster had a cow, which, after tasting
some withered leaves that had fallen from the tree, never ate of any
other: these leaves being her sole food, all the milk she produced
was from them. The father of Zoroaster, whose name was Poorshasp,
was entirely supported by this milk ; and to it, in consequence, they
refer the pregnancy of his mother, whose name was Daghda. Another
account says, this cow ate the soul of Zoroaster, as it hung to
the tree, and that it passed, through her milk, to the father of that
prophet. The apparent object of this statement is to prove that Zo-
roaster was born in innocence ; and that not even vegetable life was
destroyed to give him existence. When he was born, he burst into
a loud laugh, like the prince of necromancers, Merlin, and such a
light shone from his body as illuminated the whole room. This ancient
tradition respecting Zoroaster, which we meet with in Persian
books, is mentioned by Pliny." The phosphoric property here referred
to was not confined to Zoroaster, but is recorded of many other eminent
personages, Christian as well as heathen.