2 Cor. iv.
4. John says in his Epistle, that "the whole world lieth in the
power of the wicked one;" and Jesus in the gospels compares him
to "a strong man armed, keeping his goods;" and himself to one
stronger than he, who strippeth him of the arms in which he
trusted, and spoileth his goods. "For this purpose was the Son of
God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil."--1
John iii. 8. And it is said, "that he came to send forth the captive
into liberty, and to heal those who were oppressed of the Devil."
Men are also said to have been "taken captive of the Devil, to
fulfil his will."--2 Timothy ii. 26. And we find that the Christians
attributed all their sufferings to the opposition of this Being. "Put
on (says Paul) the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we struggle not against
flesh and blood only; but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked
spirits in high places."--Ephesians vi. 12. Christians are also said
to be delivered by God from the power of darkness, and to be
translated into the kingdom of his dear son. That is, as Christians
were considered as being the subjects of Jesus, and the rest of the
world as being of the kingdom of Satan, when a man became a
Christian he was translated from the kingdom of one, to the
kingdom of the other. Jesus accused the Devil as being the author
of all evil, as a liar, and the father of lies, and a murderer of men,
and of women, too, as appears in the Gospel, from the account of
that one, whose back the Devil had bowed down for eighteen
years--Luke xiii. 10--(on what account it does not appear.) In
short, the New Testament represents to him as being the source of
all evil and mischief, and the promoter of it; and the whole world
as being his subjects, and combined with him against all good.

But how does all this prove that these notions were derived from
the religion of the ancient Persians? I answer by requesting you,
my reader, to peruse, attentively, the following account of the
fundamental principles of the religion of Zoroaster, the prophet of
the Persians.

The doctrine of Zoroaster was, that there was one Supreme Being,
independent, and self-existing from all eternity; that inferior to
him, there 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