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Greatness and knowledge of holiness, instruction in tho 
holy word.”* * * § 
The physical and mythological side of his character, which is 
also of great interest, I need not refer to in this connection ; 
but it will be observed that Mithra cannot, like the Ameshas- 
pentas, be resolved into a mere personification of a quality or 
a virtue or the like, and hence in the Zoroastrian system he is 
not included amongst them. They are but illustrations of the 
character of Ahuramazda, the Supreme ; Mithra, though ever 
working in perfect harmony with him, though so closely con- 
nected with him that M. Lenormant makes use of the remark- 
able expression “ consubstantial,” is nevertheless also a distinct 
divinity, as worthy of honour as Ahuramazda himself. Mithra 
is not only the support, friend, and protector of the l’ighteous, 
but also the constant and triumphant opposer of the Devas 
and of the wicked man. And, like the august concept of the 
Sun-god elsewhere, he is pre-eminently the judge. So in 
Egypt the Sun-god, as Ra and as Uasar (Osiris), is the judge 
of men ; whilst, as Fox Talbot has observed, “ The great 
name of the Sun in Assyrian theology was Daian-nisi or Dian- 
nisi , t the Judge of men ; the Greek Dionysos. I Neither 
Amen, “ the Hidden-one,” in Egypt, nor Anu, “ the High- 
one,” in Assyria and Akkad, nor Ahura, “ the Living-one,” 
in Iran, take upon themselves the function of judge of mortals; 
they delegate the great work to their august representative 
and manifestation the Sun-god. § It is impossible not to re- 
call in this connection various statements in our own Sacred 
Books in perfect harmony with this belief. Thus we are told 
that “the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son,”|| 
who “was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and 
dead,”^f “God having appointed a day, in which He will 
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath 
ordained.”** And this judge is “the Sun of righteousness, ”ff 
“ a sun and shield.” J | With the later Mithra, who as Mithras in 
conjunction with Serapis so triumphantly invaded the Roman 
Empire and drove the classic gods of Greece and Italy from 
* Mihr-Yasht. 
t From the Assyrian danu, judge ; Heb. dan (cf. Gen. xlix. 16 : Dan 
shall judge his people) and nisu, man. 
I Vide The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 209. 
§ For a consideration of the concept and position, physical and spiritual, 
of the Sun-god, vide The Archaic Solar-cult of Egypt. By the Writer. 
( Theological Review, October, 1878-January, 1879). 
|| St. John v. 22. IT Acts x. 42. ** Ibid. xvii. 31. 
ft Malachi iv. 2. Psalm lxxxiv. 11. 
