Aderbijan, in the city of Xix, say
some; in that of Ecbatana, now Tauris, say others. The chief reformation
which he made in the Magian religion was in the first principles of it: for
whereas before they had held the being of TWO FIRST CAUSES, the first
light, or the good God, who was the author of all good; and the other
darkness, or the evil god, who was the author of all evil; and that of the
mixture of these two, as they were in a continual struggle with each other,
all things were made; he introduced a principle superior to them both, ONE
SUPREME GOD, who created both light and darkness, and out of these two,
according to the alone pleasure of his own will, made all things else that
are, according to what is {59} said:[66] "I am the Lord, and there is none
else, there is no God besides me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known
me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that
there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the
light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do
all these things." These words, directed to Cyrus, king of Persia, must be
understood as spoken in reference to the Persian sect of the Magians, who
then held light and darkness, or good and evil, to be the supreme beings,
without acknowledging the great God who is superior to both. To avoid
making God the author of evil, Zoroaster's doctrine was, that God
originally and directly created only light or good, and that darkness, or
evil, followed it by consequence, as the shadow doth the person; that light
or good had only a real production from God, and the other afterward
resulted from it as the defect thereof. In sum, his doctrine as to this
particular was, that there was one Supreme Being, independent and
self-existent from all eternity. That under him were two angels, one the
angel of light, who is the author and director of all good; and the other
the angel of darkness, who is the author and director of all evil; and that
these two, out of the mixture of light and darkness, made all things that
are; that they are in a perpetual struggle with each other; and that when
the angel of light prevails, then the most {60} is good, and when the angel
of darkness prevails, then the most is evil; that this struggle shall
continue to the end of the world; that then there shall be a general
resurrection, and a day of judgment, wherein just retribution shall be
rendered to all acco