they ask of Herod and the priests the road which they should take, when,
by the hypothesis, the star was ready to guide them?[145:3]

It is said that in the oracles of Zoroaster there is to be found a
prophecy to the effect that, _in the latter days_, a virgin would
conceive and bear a son, and that, at the time of his birth, a star
would shine at noonday. Christian divines have seen in this a prophecy
of the birth of _Christ_ Jesus, but when critically examined, it does
not stand the test. The drift of the story is this:

Ormuzd, the Lord of Light, who created the universe in _six_ periods of
time, accomplished his work by making the first man and woman, and
infusing into them the breath of life. It was not long before Ahriman,
the evil one, contrived to seduce the first parents of mankind by
persuading them to eat of the forbidden fruit. Sin and death are now in
the world; the principles of _good_ and _evil_ are now in deadly strife.
Ormuzd then reveals to mankind his _law_ through his prophet Zoroaster;
the strife between the two principles continues, however, and will
continue until the end of a destined term. During the last three
thousand years of the period Ahriman is predominant. The world now
hastens to its doom; religion and virtue are nowhere to be found;
mankind are plunged in sin and misery. _Sosiosh_ is born of a virgin,
and redeems them, subdues the Devs, awakens the dead, _and holds the
last judgment_. A comet sets the world in flames; the Genii of Light
combat against the Genii of Darkness, and cast them into Duzakh, where
Ahriman and the Devs and the souls of the wicked are thoroughly cleansed
and purified by fire. Ahriman then submits to Ormuzd; evil is absorbed
into goodness; the unrighteous, thoroughly purified, are united with the
righteous, and _a new earth and a new heaven_ arise, free from all evil,
where peace and innocence will forever dwell.

Who can fail to see that this virgin-born _Sosiosh_ was to come, _not
eighteen hundred years ago_, but, in the "_latter days_," when the world
is to be set on fire by a _comet_, the _judgment_ to take place, and the
"new heaven and new earth" is to be established? Who can fail to see
also, by a perusal of the New Testament, that the idea of a _temporal
Messiah_ (a mighty king and warrior, who should liberate and rule over
his people Israel), and the idea of an _Angel-Messiah_ (who had come to
announce that the "kingdom of heaven was at hand," that the