Ahura'Mazda

Chapter X

1. In the twelve hundredth year after Fragapatti, in the east colony of Haraiti, one Ctusk, a former Lord of Jehovih's host, renounced Jehovih, the Creator, and falsely proclaimed himself Ahura, the All Master; and he took with him three Lords of grade eighty-eight, and twelve sub-Gods of grade sixty-four, and one thousand six hundred students of eight hundred years' resurrection, none of whom were less than grade sixty, and were sufficient to pass as Brides and Bridegrooms. And these students took with them thirty-six thousand teachers, factors, and physicians, and nurses, all of whom were upward of grade forty.

2. And Ahura appropriated to himself one colony of one hundred and ten million angels, together with the colleges, schools, factories, and all things whatsoever belonging therein. And the three Lords took their kingdoms, and by annexation made them part and parcel with Ahura's kingdom. Now these three Lords' kingdoms comprised the largest habitable places of mortals in Vindyu and Jaffeth, and the greatest heavenly places of angels in the first resurrection.

3. And Ahura divided up the regions he thus obtained, making confederate heavenly kingdoms, sufficient in number to give place of dominion to his Lords and Gods, and to make sub-Gods out of all the one thousand six hundred students. And after that, Ahura numbered his people, and there were in his heavens more than three thousand million souls!

4. God sent messengers to Ctusk, who had assumed the name Ahura'Mazda, inquiring, admonishing and inquiring: My Lord, whom I have loved, whom by mine own hand was crowned in the name of Jehovih, why hast thou deserted the Father's kingdoms? Wherein hast thou had cause to complain against Jehovih? Wherein, against me, thy God? O my son, my Lord, say not thou hast gone so far thou canst not return! What canst thou ask of me that I will not grant unto thee? Nay, even judge thou me, and if thou desirest all the heavens and the earth in my place, I will abdicate unto thee, and become thy lowest servant, or whatsoever thou wilt put upon me.

5. Ahura returned this answer, to wit: Because I have nothing against thee, I have alienated myself and my kingdom from thee. I desire not thy kingdom, nor even mine own. Behold, I looked upon thee, and thou wert pure and holy. I looked upon the kingdoms of heaven, and the kingdoms of earth, and they were impure and unholy. Then came certain brother Lords to me, most wise Lords, and they said: A less pure God, a less holy God, would be more efficient. So, I was persuaded to my course.

6. God replied to this, saying: Behold, we have a Diva! Why spakest thou not thus before me, face to face? And thy three great Lords were also Divans; and they were silent on the matter likewise. The Div would have decreed whatever was all wise. Because I was in darkness, I saw not thy thoughts, nor thy Lords, and ye have heaped shame upon me. How shall I send my record to etherea? Shall I say, Behold, certain Lords consulted clandestinely, and then concluded to overthrow the Creator? And, forsooth, they have gone and set up a kingdom of their own, calling it the All Highest.

7. Hear me yet, and I will endeavor to speak wisely unto thee. Thy messengers notified me some days since that thou hadst repudiated Jehovih, saying: There is no All Highest Person; I can make myself high as the highest! And thereupon, thy messenger gave me a map, saying: Behold thou, here are the boundaries of the kingdom of Ahura'Mazda, the All Sufficient High God!

8. I looked over the map, and beheld its great extent; and I surmised to myself: He is a great God that can rule over all that! For I knew thee and thy education, which is as great as any Lord's in atmospherea. And thou knowest thou canst not control even a plateau! Canst thou raise thine hand and stay the a'ji, or the ji'ya, or the nebulae! Scarce canst thou change a single current of wind; nor canst thou cast a drouth on any land. And yet thou knowest there are Gods who can do these things by a motion of one finger! How darest thou, then, proclaim thyself an All Sufficient High God!

9. But I will not rebuke thee, for I desire thy love and thy help. I would win thee by any sacrifice I can make. Behold, there is great darkness in heaven and on earth. Wherein I may be short, I will rebuke myself in after ages. I pray thee, then, return thou to me, and make exactions upon me and my kingdoms. With thy loss, behold, Diva is broken up. With thy dismemberment of heavens, others will follow. Alas, I will not look upon even that which my soul seeth. I plead for thy love and for thy assistance. Nevertheless, if the All Highest Light, for the All Best Good, showeth thee that thou art right, come not to me! I know the Great Spirit will sustain me, even though my soul is well nigh crushed to pieces by the loss of so fair a love.

10. To this Ahura replied: How came the thought to me to do as I did, if it be not the wisest, best course?

11. God replied: Because of the long reign of ji'ya, thou wert inoculated with darkness; even as a mortal, on a rainy day, loseth his patience to be wise.

12. Then Ahura sent the following, to wit: I have been patient in mine answers; but now I will speak plainly. First of all, thou art All Pure, and Most Wise, above all other Gods. For more than two hundred years I have been a faithful Lord unto thee and thy kingdoms. At first the Great Light came to thee, and a voice came out of the light! Then I feared, and was awe-stricken. Because I believed thee so near the Creator, thine every word and act were to me worshipful.

13. At last I rebuked myself, saying to myself: Fool! Givest thou worship to man born of woman! Remember thy Creator only!

14. But the times changed; ji'ya fell upon heaven and earth. Our glorious kingdoms were cast down by the great darkness. Then I reasoned, saying to myself: Behold, when we were in light, Jehovih's Voice spake unto us. When the darkness came, the Voice came not. We sat in the Diva, in the altar circle, praying for light from the Father, but it came not. And I said: More we need the Voice in darkness than in light. For a hundred years we saw not the light of the Voice, nor heard the Voice speak. Thou hast said thou heardst in thy soul! Who is there in heaven or earth that cannot say as much?

15. In my soul I no longer believe there is an All Person. There are great Gods, a thousand times greater than I; but there is the end! Yea, some of those great Gods may have cast the ji'ya upon us. But that is not my matter. There is room for thee and thy people. Here is room for me and my people.

16. Jehovih spake to God, saying: Answer thou not Ahura more. Behold, I will interpret him to thee: He will even yet persuade angels and mortals that it was he who inspired Zarathustra. But he seeth it not himself. Suffer him, therefore, to go his way; neither take sorrow to thy soul. Have I not, from the lowest to the highest, given unto all men even that which they desired? Behold, I can use even bad men in the far future!

17. Jehovih said: For a long season Ahura will strive to walk upright, but because he hath cut Me off, he will also cut himself off in time to come. Behold, a mortal man striveth for riches honorably, and when he is rich, his riches cut him off from Me by the ruin he casteth upon his competitors. Nor can he extricate himself. Even so will it be with Ahura: His kingdom and his sub-kingdoms, and his multitude of officers will cause him to enslave hundreds of millions of drujas, and they will draw him into a vortex from which he cannot escape.

18. So God answered Ahura no more; but nevertheless, his heart was full of sorrow. Now, when the time of the meeting of Diva came, God foresaw that not more than one-half of them would be present, and he feared the questions that might come up.

19. But Jehovih said unto him: Fear not, My Son; for even though many more leave thee, yet shalt thou preserve the Diva to the end of this cycle. So it came to pass that Jehovih stilled the tongues of all the Gods and Lords of the Diva in reference to Ahura, even as if they had never known him. And Ahura sent quizzers to different Gods and Lords afterward, to learn what action the Diva had taken in his case. But when he was told that he had not been mentioned, he became angered, and he swore an oath that he would build the largest of all heavenly kingdoms.

20. Because of the great darkness on heaven and earth, God sent hope and promise into all the kingdoms, urging his Lords and his sub-Gods to maintain faith, not only in themselves, but within the hearts of their respective inhabitants. Now, from the time of the secession of Ahura to the next dan would be three hundred years, and God knew this, though the multitudes in heaven and earth knew it not. And God commanded great recreation and extensive labors in order to prevent further dismemberment. But in the course of a hundred years many were carried away by the extravagant stories told about Ahura's kingdoms being places of great delight, and of ease and idleness.

21. Ahura's Lords said unto him: Thou shalt adorn thy kingdom; thy throne and thy capital, Ctusk, shall be the largest and most ornamental of all places in the universe; and our sub-kingdoms shall be places of great delight. And Ahura was persuaded, and so began self-glorification, and his Lords with him.

22. And in another hundred years Ahura had withdrawn and annexed unto him in heaven the following provinces, with their sub-Gods: Etyisiv, with seventy million souls; Howwak, with one hundred million souls; Hyn, with twenty million souls; D'nayotto, with eighty million souls; Erefrovish, with one hundred and ninety million souls; the whole of the kingdom of Gir-ak-shi, six hundred million souls; the whole of the kingdom of Soo'fwa, with eight hundred million souls. And all of these confederated in the lower heavens, making the kingdom of Ctusk, with Ahura as Mazda in Chief, the central kingdom.

23. The Diva was by this reduced to seven members, but these remained faithful. And God kept up the standard of resurrection for yet one hundred more years. And then Jehovih sent a region of dan to heaven and earth, and the Most High heavenly hosts descended in fire-ships and took God and his harvest up to Jehovih. And with all the misfortune that befell God and his Lords, there were, nevertheless, six thousand million Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih raised up to the higher heavens.

24. Now, when the etherean hosts came for the resurrection, knowing the darkness upon the lower heaven and the earth, they sent otevans, with heralds and trumpeters around the earth, proclaiming the resurrection at hand, and asking all who chose, to repair to Mouru, in Haraiti. And the word was whispered throughout Ahura's kingdom: What! Then, of a truth, there must be higher heavens than this! Alas, had we been faithful till now, we had been Brides and Bridegrooms! So potent was this disaffection for Ahura, that five of his Lords broke membership, and re-affiliated with God and his kingdoms.

25. And thus matters stood when God's successor came to the throne.

Chapter XI

1. The next dan was five hundred years, and God and his heavenly kingdoms prospered before Jehovih. But as to the Lord's kingdoms on earth, and as to mortal kingdoms and empires, not much light was manifested in them.

2. Ahura, who had thus falsely taken, and was known by, the name of Ahura'Mazda, established Lords to rule over mortals. And these Lords were in direct opposition to God's Lords; for the latter taught the higher heavens and the All Person, Jehovih, or Ormazd, according to the language of mortals. But Ahura's Lords taught only one heavenly kingdom, which was Ahura's, called Ctusk, the All Holy Highest Heaven.

3. God's Lords inspired mortals to everlasting resurrection; Ahura's Lords inspired mortals to Ahura's kingdom, and there the end. And since mortals had built temples for their priests (rab'bahs), who were gifted with su'is, the spirits congregated in the temples, and oft appeared in sar'gis, teaching openly their several doctrines. And the ashars that labored for Ahura extolled the glory and the delight of Ctusk, and the wonderful majesty and power of Ahura. But the ashars of God's hosts inspired and taught of the Great Spirit, Unapproachable.

4. For five hundred years were God's hosts confronted with this opposition; and it came to pass that mortals, especially in Vindyu, were divided into two great classes of worshippers. And just before God's successor came into dominion, he propounded the matter in Diva; whereupon all the members spake at great length. Afterward, Div decreed:

5. Whatsoever is worshipped, having comprehensible form or figure, is an idol. He that worshippeth an idol, whether of stone or wood, or whether it be a man or an angel, sinneth against the Creator. This was given unto all of God's Lords, and by them to the ashars, and commanded to be taught to mortals by inspiration and otherwise.

6. When the time of dan came there were seven thousand million Brides and Bridegrooms raised up to Jehovih's emancipated worlds, and the succeeding God and Lords came into dominion under more favorable auspices, but which were not to continue long.

7. The Diva had extended to fourteen members; and God's Lords had succeeded in securing kingdoms in the principal parts of Jaffeth, Vind'yu and Arabin'ya. On the other hand, the emissaries of Ahura, the false, had been most active in extending the kingdom of their idol. Ahura was most cunning with the last Divan act: Instead of interdicting it, he altered it, so it read as followeth, to wit: Whatsoever is worshipped, having comprehensible form or figure, is an idol. He that worshippeth an idol, whether of stone or wood, or whether it be a man or an angel, sinneth against the All Highest, who is personated in Ahura'Mazda, the Holy Begotten Son of all created creations!

8. And next, Ahura, determined to found a second heaven, decreeing to his emissaries as followeth, to wit: Behold Gir-ak-shi, the heavenly region belonging above the lands of Heleste! Thither will I build a new heaven, greater than all other heavens, save Ctusk. And when Gir-ak-shi is well founded, I will people it with many millions of mighty angels, Gods and Lords. And my hosts shall descend to the corporeal earth, to the lands of Parsi'e and Arabin'ya, and they shall obsess mortals day and night, and inspire them to go to Heleste, where they shall build great cities and kingdoms unto me and my hosts.

9. And when these things are fulfilled, behold, I will send my hosts to Uropa, and build there also heavenly kingdoms and mortal kingdoms; and when these are established, behold, I will send into other countries, one after another, until my heavenly kingdoms embrace all places, and until all the earth is mine.

10. For I will be God over all, and ye that labor with me shall be my Lords and sub-Gods forever. And my kingdoms and your kingdoms shall be bestowed with glories and ornaments, the like of which never was. Neither shall the Gods of other worlds come against me or mine to carry away my people. They shall no longer flatter them, calling them Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih, a thing, none can see or comprehend.

11. And Ahura and his emissaries set to work to carry out these decrees, and in two hundred years they had inspired the Parsi'e'ans and the Arabin'yans to emigrate by tens of thousands to the land of Heleste, which was inhabited by druks and wanderers, full of wickedness. Ahura inspired his immigrants to fall upon the native druks, and destroy them. Wherein had come to pass that which Jehovih spake in Mouru, saying: They who cannot be risen by persuasion may be aroused by less scrupulous masters.

12. For whilst Ahura's hosts were slaying the druks of Heleste by tens of thousands, God's heavenly hosts were receiving their spirits and conducting them away to other atmospherean regions.

13. These, then, were the divisions of mortals on earth at this time: First, the I'hins, who were the original Faithists. And they were capable of prophecies and miracles to such an extent that all other people called them the sacred people. Neither did the great warriors of other nations and peoples molest them. The I'hins lived secluded and separate from all other people. Nevertheless, they were the seed of everlasting life on the earth, and the foundation for raising up prophets and seers unto other peoples. Even as the mother of Zarathustra was of the I'hins, so was it with all men and women born into the world with su'is and sar'gis. For being near Jehovih, they had faith in Him, and Him only. The second race, equally ancient, was the druks, the barbarian hordes, incapable of inspiration, save for their stomachs' sake. And though they were told a thousand times: Behold, ye have a spiritual body! they understood not, cared not, and forgot it a moment after. And though it were said to them: Behold, there is a Great Spirit! they heard it not, nor understood, nor heeded the words. The third race was the I'huans, born betwixt the I'hins and the druks. To this race, in its early days, a commandment was given by God not to marry with the druks, and they had maintained that law amongst themselves by the sign of circumcision. This, then, was the first beginning of persecution against Faithists in Jehovih.

14. When Ahura usurped his heavenly kingdom, and appointed guardian angels over mortals, he determined to leave nothing undone in order to overthrow the doctrine of Jehovih, the All Person. So he decreed as followeth, to wit:

15. Since, by the mark of circumcision, they have pride in being Faithists, I will not have circumcision. After the third generation (one hundred years) whosoever hath this mark upon him is my enemy. He shall be pursued, and no profit shall fall to his lot. Suffer not little children to be maimed for my sake; rather let them be circumcised in heart.

16. And Ahura put no restriction upon his mortal followers marrying, and it came to pass that those druks not slain in Heleste married with the worshippers of Ahura.

17. And about this same period of time Jehovih brought the earth into a light region for two hundred years. And when the Diva was in session, Jehovih's Voice spake to Div, saying: Let My Sons be not cast down because of the sins of Ahura; rather be ye wise and appropriate from his wickedness that which will be good in the end. For as it was not lawful for My people to marry with the druks, behold, Ahura hath made a law on his own account against circumcision, and it shall come to pass that by their sins even druks shall be raised up to learn of Me and My kingdoms.

18. And it came to pass that a fourth race rose up in the world, and it was mongrel, being dark and short and less noble. The I'huans were red, and brown, and tall, and majestic; the I'hins small, and white, and yellow. And Jehovih put these marks upon His peoples that the races might be read in thousands of years.

19. Ahura perceived this. One of his Lords said unto him: Behold, the marks of su'is are written! Then Ahura sought to disprove Jehovih in this. He said:

20. Behold, there are two senses to all men, the es and the corpor. When one is in abeyance the other acteth. This is su'is. Call together thy companions, and find a remedy; for I will prove all things in heaven and earth.

21. For fifty years Ahura and his hosts tried by other means to have born into the world a great prophet and seer, but failed. Ahura said: I know the way of the loo'is: They decoy the I'hin men to go with the I'huan damsels. But I have sworn there is no Jehovih; how, then, shall I go to the sacred people? And, after all, such a prophet might prove treacherous to my kingdom. So Ahura commanded his emissaries to weigh the matter for other fifty years, and then to solve the problem.

22. So Ahura's emissaries inspired thousands of experiments to be made, whereby a prophet or seer could be made amongst the mongrels. And Jehovih suffered them to discover that by pressing down the front brain of infants they could be made capable of su'is. And infants were strapped on boards, and another board strapped on the forehead to press the head flat; and every day the head-board was strapped on anew, tighter and tighter, until the forehead, which holdeth the corporeal judgment, was pressed flat, and the judgment of the brain driven up into light-perceiving regions at the top of the head. (See Che-guh and Took-shein, Book of Saphah.)

23. Ahura thus raised up prophets and seers, and they were willing instruments in his hands. And he sent into all the divisions of the earth tens of thousands of angels, teaching this to mortals, thus laying down the foundation for his grand scheme of reducing heaven and earth into his own kingdoms.

24. Jehovih spake in the Diva, saying: Even this permit ye. The druks will heed more what one of their own people saith as a seer, than if the same thing were said a hundred times over by an I'hin.

Chapter XII

1. The next resurrection was six thousand million souls, and God and his Lords and his sub-Gods had maintained the Diva, and maintained all the orders of heaven, and the divisions and kingdoms, save what had confederated with Ahura and his kingdoms. And God and his Lords had preserved their colleges, schools, factories, hospitals and nurseries, and their standard in the temples with mortals. And of mortals who remained Faithist, that is, the I'huan race preserved in purity, God, his Lords and ashars held command for the glory of Jehovih.

2. But of the mongrels, who were multiplying fast on the earth, Ahura, his Lords and ashars held command. But alas for the grade of Ahura's hosts in heaven! In less than one thousand years he had abolished his colleges and schools, save what pertained to acquiring a knowledge of the earth and atmospherea. He taught not his people to look higher for other worlds, and herein he began the work which was in after time to be his own downfall.

3. Jehovih had said: Whoever provideth not a philosophy for the endless acquisition of knowledge, dammeth up the running waters I have made. Suffer Ahura to teach what he will; the time will come when he will be obliged to find an outlet for My created beings. And rather than acknowledge Me in My Person, he will profess to send souls back into earth to be re-incarnated.

4. Ahura's heavenly kingdoms numbered more than six thousand million souls, and half of them were little better than drujas, being slaves to certain masters, doing whatsoever they were bidden without knowing, or desiring to know, the reason therefor.

5. As yet there were six hundred years to pass before another dawn of dan, in which God, his Lords and their people had faith that Jehovih's hosts would come from on high to help deliver heaven and earth out of darkness.

6. On the other hand, Ahura, although having been taught the cycles in his early education, spread the word abroad in heaven and earth, that there were no cycles; that, as things are, they had been, and would continue to be.

7. So, as much as God's hosts prophesied a coming light, Ahura and his hosts prophesied that nothing of the kind would come. Ahura, moreover, sent the following order to his Lords, to be taught in heaven and earth, to wit: Am I not he who inspired Zarathustra, the All Pure? Spake I not to him, face to face? Are not all created things mine own? Who, then, knoweth but I will light up the world again? Behold, I am the Personation of Ormazd, Who was Voidance, but now is Me, Ahura'Mazda. In Me only is life and death and resurrection. Whosoever calleth: Ahura'Mazda, Ahura'Mazda! is mine, and within My keeping. Suffer not thy judgment to be warped by prophets who hope for impossible things.

8. In the sixth dan and the eightieth year, Ahura's numberless heavenly kingdoms began to be disturbed by his sub-Gods' lack of advancement, and so, sixty of them congregated together and appealed to Ahura, saying;

9. In reverence to thee, O thou All Highest God! Many hundreds of years have we served thee. And we have paid thee tribute whenever thou requiredst of us. We have helped to adorn thy capital, Ctusk; with diamonds and pearls we have laid thy streets. Thy mansions have we built with precious gems. And as to thy throne, what one of us is there but hath contributed to glorify it before thee. Yea, in all things have we been most loyal and tributary to thee.

10. Nor are we unmindful of our own wisdom. We remember thy arguments of old. Thou didst say to thy God: Behold, thou hast long promised we should be raised to more exalted kingdoms, but, behold, two hundred years have elapsed, and there is no advancement. This thou didst use as an argument for seceding from thy God's kingdoms. Behold, now we have served thee and thy kingdoms more than a thousand years. We come to thee to know wherein we can now serve thee that thou mayst exalt us into kingdoms commensurate with our wisdom and power?

11. To this Ahura replied, saying: Most humble and well-meaning Lords and sub-Gods, why came ye not before me, face to face? Why have ye consorted in private? Was not my capital, and before my throne, the proper place for your argument? Had ye suggested any way whereby advancement was possible unto you, I had answered your demands.

12. But his Lords and sub-Gods came not before him, but sent this answer, to wit: As thou promisedst us advancement provided we served thee, so promised we our ashars, and our marshals and captains. Now they come to us, saying: For hundreds of years have we served; give us preferment. But we have nothing to give. Think not, O God, that we are unwise, or that we hunger and come begging; or that diadems, or gems, or costly thrones, would satisfy us. We know what thou hast to give--promises! We know every corner of thy vast kingdom, and that all places are full, and that thou canst not exalt us. Wherefore, then, shouldst we have spoken before the throne in Ctusk? Would not our voices but breed mischief amongst thy other Gods and Lords? Rather let us err in our proceeding, bringing just punishment upon ourselves, than that we should injure thee and thy kingdoms. Hear us then, O Ahura'Mazda:

13. Whence the desire for endless advancement if this heaven be all? If a little knowledge giveth power, wherein is not great knowledge desirable. We have destroyed our great colleges, saying: Higher than we, ye must not go. Remember thou, O Ahura, we were students under the Faithist's God and Lords when thou secededst; and thou said unto us: Behold the long training of your course; a curriculum of a thousand years! Come with me; I will give you kingdoms at once.

14. So we came to thee, and we were suddenly puffed up with great pride. Behold now, we look abroad and the same stars shine upon us. We have not visited them. We know not how to go so far. The countless etherean worlds lay beyond ours. We are told that they are habitable. We know not. We have no knowledge enabling us to get away from these heavens; save, indeed, back to the filthy earth.

15. To this Ahura replied, saying: It is plain to me ye are beside yourselves. This heaven is good enough. If there be higher heavens, let them come or stay. I go not to them. But, in truth, with your present convictions, I would be an unwise God not to grant you dismissal from my kingdoms.

16. This ended the matter, and the sixty sub-Gods then deliberated on their course, and finally sent to God, in Mouru, the following address, to wit:

17. In reverence to thee, God of the Faithists in Jehovih: We have had sub-kingdoms, and know our rank is beneath thine. But we are reaching outward and onward; to thee we submit our cause. First, then, there are sixty of us, of the rank of sub-Gods, and we hold seven hundred million subjects. Disaffection hath risen betwixt ourselves and Ahura'Mazda, from whom we are alienated. But whether we shall unite our hosts into a new kingdom of our own, or affiliate with some mighty God, that is our question?

18. What preferment canst thou give unto us if we turn our subjects over to thee?

19. God answered them, saying: Brothers, hear me patiently, and consider my words. First, then, I am not God of the Faithists, nor of any other people, but God of the locality which was assigned me by the Father, through His Son. Neither can ye give your subjects unto me; for by my service to Jehovih I can have nothing, and, least of all, my brothers and sisters.

20. In the next place, I can give you no preferment; I have nothing, neither to give nor to sell. Wherein the Father giveth me wisdom and power, I impart them unto others. Besides, until ye have also learned to know that ye have nothing, neither subjects nor jewels, also desiring nothing, save wisdom and strength to impart to others, how hope ye to gain admittance into my places of learning?

21. And lastly, since ye have kingdoms of your own already, raise ye them up, and thus prove unto me your just merit.

22. To this the confederated Gods replied: What meanest thou? That Gods and angels must labor for others than themselves forever, and receive nothing therefor?

23. God answered them: Even so; save and except ye shall receive an abundance of happiness, and it will endure forever! Here the matter ended for two whole years; and the sub-Gods understood not the plan of Jehovih's kingdoms. But their kingdoms were out of sorts, having no head; and hundreds of thousands of their subjects were deserting them and returning down to the corporeal earth, becoming wanderers and drujas.

24. Finally the sub-Gods again appealed to God in Mouru, inquiring as followeth, to wit: Is not a God a God, whether he be for another or for himself? Behold, we have helped to build up Ahura; he is a mighty God! If we affiliate with thee, we will labor to build thee up also. Yea, we will adorn thy throne and thy great heavenly city. But since we have been sub-Gods we desire not to enter thy service as menials and servants. What, then, shall we do, that both thee and ourselves may have honor and glory?

25. God answered them, saying: Ye cannot serve me; I have no servants. Serve ye Jehovih only. Behold, we are all brothers, being Sons of the same Great Spirit. As for building me up, sufficient is it for me that He who created me will build me up according to my just deserts. As for adorning my throne, ye can only bring substance to it from the lower kingdoms, which I desire not. Why will ye adorn the heavenly city of Mouru? Behold, it is but a resting place on the great journey to the kingdoms of endless light. In a few hundred years, at most, not only I but my hosts will rise from this place to return not to it forever.

26. And lastly, to be a self-God, as is Ahura, is to own all things possible, and hold on thereto; to be a God as I am, is to own nothing, and to retain nothing; but to be forever giving away all one receiveth. Said I not to you before: Begin with your own hosts and exalt them. Inasmuch as ye asked for subjects, behold, the Father gave unto you. Think not that He will suffer ye now to cast them aside or barter them off. Nor shall ye suffer them to become wanderers, nor to return back to the earth as drujas. As much as ye raise up the kingdoms that have been intrusted to you, so will ye also be raised up.

27. Nevertheless, if ye desire to affiliate with Jehovih's kingdoms, the way is open unto you; and your first labor would be, to gather together all your own hosts, and to labor amongst them, teaching them wisdom, strength and individuality equal with yourselves; and when the lowest of them is so risen, then can ye enter the kingdoms of the Father. As ye have had the profit of your subjects for hundreds of years, return ye now unto them service for service. Jehovih is Justice!

28. The sub-Gods made no answer to this for awhile, but Jehovih moved upon their hearts, and they perceived wisdom and justice, and they repented, bitterly bewailing the loss of the thousand years in which they had espoused kingdoms. But they had neither power nor learning sufficient to extricate themselves; so they petitioned God for more light. Whereupon, God affiliated them, and appointed Vishnu Lord unto them and their hosts.

29. And Vishnu took three hundred thousand teachers, captains, physicians, nurses and laborers, and went to them in Maitraias, a heavenly place to the west of Vindyu, and there established a Lordly division, with messengers in connection with Mouru, in Haraiti. And Vishnu sent his captains with sufficient forces, under command of the sub-Gods, to arrest such as had become wandering spirits, or had returned to the earth as drujas. And whilst these were on this duty, Vishnu organized his Lord-dom, and this was the first Lord-dom established in heaven, which is to say, as mortals on earth have military stations, so was the Lord-dom of Vishnu.

30. Jehovih's Voice had spoken to God in Diva, saying: Behold, the time is coming when the sub-kingdom of Ahura, the false, will begin to revolt. And they have thousands of millions of slaves who will strive to go back to the earth to dwell with mortals. They dwell in darkness, and thou shalt not suffer them to regain the earth, lest the races of men go down in darkness, even as before the submersion of Pan. For which reason, thou shalt establish a Lord-dom, and raise a sufficient army to shield the inhabitants of the earth. And thou shalt make Vishnu thy Lord in My behalf.

31. When it was known in Ctusk, the heavenly place of Ahura, that sixty sub-Gods, with their hosts, had affiliated with Jehovih's kingdoms, general disobedience to Ahura was manifested by the remaining sub-Gods, of whom there were yet more than eight hundred, who had within their dominions upward of two thousand million angels, all slaves, and with light of no other heavenly place than the small precinct where they had been kept in drudgery hundreds of years.

32. The Voice of Jehovih came to God, saying: My Son, take advantage of the seed of disaffection in Ahura's kingdom. Send thou an otevan of great power throughout the heavenly kingdoms. And thou shalt put trumpeters in the otevan, and they shall prophesy the dawn of dan within two hundred years.

33. God perceived, and he had his workmen build an otevan of great power; and he provided trumpeters, and sent them forth, saying to them: Ten years shall ye travel in the heavenly places around about the whole earth, prophesying: In less than two hundred years, Jehovih's etherean hosts are coming. Prepare ye for the resurrection; His kingdoms are open for the weary; His Lords and Gods will give you rest!

34. Ahura summoned his Council of false Gods, hoping they might invent a remedy to counteract so great a prophecy. And he and his Council sat forty days and forty nights in their heavenly capital; but there was no high light amongst them, merely each one giving his opinion. But at the end of forty days Ahura resolved upon the following method, to send a prophecy of his own.

35. Accordingly, he had an otevan built, and sent trumpeters forth with these words, to wit: I, Ahura'Mazda, Only Son of the All Nothing Presence, personated in My Very Self, proclaim from My All Highest Heavenly Judgment Seat! Hear My words, O ye Gods, and tremble! Hear Me, O ye angels, and fall down! Hear Me, O mortals, and bow down to My decrees. Behold, I sent My fire-ship, prophesying that in less than two hundred years I would come in a dawn of dan! But ye obeyed not; ye were defiant before Me! Then I swore an oath against all the world! Ye shall know My power! Then I came down out of My holy, high heaven; and I am already come. Now is the dawn of dan! I send My trumpeters first; after them come my lashers and enchainers, whose captain is Daevas, whose God is Anra'mainyus. I will have Mine, and I will give druks and drujas by thousands and tens of thousands over to everlasting torments.

36. Ahura's Gods had become acquainted with him, during the hundreds and hundreds of years, and they no longer trembled at his commandments. In their hearts they knew he could not do what he professed; they knew his prophecies were vain boastings. Yea, his very trumpeters believed not what they proclaimed.