Zoroaster (called by the Persians _Zerduscht_) was not, the Parsees
say, the _founder_ of their sect, but only the reviser and perfecter
of the system as it now exists among them. Living in the reign of
Darius Hystaspes, he was the contemporary, probably an associate,
of the prophet Daniel. Before the advent of this reformer the Magi
acknowledged two great First Causes--i.e., the light and the darkness,
the former the author of all good, the latter of every evil, moral
and physical--and these they believed were at perpetual war with each
other. Zoroaster taught, as he may have learned from Daniel, that
there was One greater still, who created both the light and the
darkness, making both to subserve His own will. He also inculcated the
duty of building temples for the preservation of the sacred fire from
storm and tempest, when "by sudden extinction of the light the powers
of darkness do gain often a signal victory." The Parsees hold in
supreme veneration the name of Zoroaster as the most noted of all
their Magi for wisdom and virtue. They believe that the sacred fire
was lighted by him miraculously from the sun--that it has burned
steadily ever since, and can never go out till it has consumed all
evil from the earth and the good has become universally triumphant.
They claim also that from the reforms wrought by Zoroaster there was
never the slightest change in any of their observances until about
twelve centuries ago, when Persia was overrun and conquered by the
Mohammedan Arabs.
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