CHAPTER VII.
1. In the sixth Diva, Div decreed: The Divan law shall be the higher law; and ye shall giveto mortals a law copied after it, and the mortal law shall be called the lower law.
2. One of the members of Diva said: If a mortal judge, being in judgment between certainmen, by which law shall he judge? On this matter the members spake at great length.
3. Div then decreed: He cannot discern the higher law but dimly; the lower law he canread plainly in a book. He shall therefore judge by the lower, but by the highestinterpretation. And then Div on his own account said:
4. For the priests of the Zarathustrians, who have carried the alms-bowl and lived in allthings pure, being celibates, serving the Creator, Ormazd, only, going about doing good,they have the higher law, the Divan law, within their hearts; they shall judge by it. Nevertheless trouble cometh not into any of the worlds by those who strive to do aright,but by those who evade. The time shall come when the judge shall not interpret accordingto the higher law; he will strive to hide justice in a corner, using words to conceal his ownperversity. It is by such men and such angels that heaven and earth will be blighted incoming time.
5. For, as through Zarathustra, God's Word hath been established on the earth; and sincewords themselves perish and are supplemented by new words, the time shall come whenthe higher law will fall, as a house on sand. For there are no words that are everlasting,and that are understood by all men alike; words themselves are but as husks that surroundthe corn. Men in darkness quibble on the husks, but discern not the fruit within.
6. Jehovih spake to Div, saying: Man buildeth a house, and it perisheth. Succeedinggenerations must also build, otherwise the art of building would perish. Betterthe building perish, than the art of building. I created all men to labor and to learn. What less requireth My Gods and angels? Because language melteth away, thelanguage-makers, that is, My Lords and ashars, have constant employment of delight.
7. Div said: Foolish men run after a language that is dead and moldered away; but thewise seek language to express the spirit of things. The latter is under the Divan law; theformer is bound as a druk. And herein shall ye be circumspect; because mortal judges,who judge by the lower law, are bound in words.
8. Copies of these Divan laws were given to mortals through the Lords and ashars, eitherby inspiration or by words spoken in sar'gissa. And in Jaffeth and Shem and Arabin'yamortal kings decreed mortal laws and revelations, based on the Divan laws, and on theZarathustrian laws.
9. Div propounded: A man and woman in mortal life were as druks, being filthy, and idle,begging from day to day, and yet they had born to them many children. And the childrenwere alike lazy and worthless, being beggars also. Now in course of time, the man andwoman die, and in time after, the children die also, and none of them are yet entered intothe first resurrection in heaven, being beggars still and dwelling around their old haunts. What of them?
10. The Lords all spake on this subject, and after that Div decreed: Such spirits shall bereported by the ashars to the Lord, and the Lord shall send a captain with sufficient armyto arrest them, and bring them away from the earth, and enter them in a colony for suchpurpose. This was called Divan act, the first.
11. Act, the second: For thirty days such drujas shall be clothed and fed. If by this timethey manifest no inclination to labor, but are still lazy, they shall be removed into anotherregion, where food can be obtained only by exertion.
12. Act, the third: This law shall apply also to mortals; through the ashars shall they beinspired to migrate to cold and unproductive regions. Div said: Herein hast Thou wiselyplanned, O Jehovih! For all Thy places in heaven and earth shall be subdued, and made toglorify Thee!
CHAPTER VIII.
1. The Diva met thrice every year in Mouru, and enacted many acts, after the mannerherein before related; and the number was so great that all the spirits in heaven andmortals on earth, were fore-planned, from before birth until they became Brides andBridegrooms in heaven.
2. And heaven and earth became as one country, with one king, who was God; and hisword ruled over all. And the Lords' kingdoms prospered, and the kingdoms of the sub-Gods and Goddesses; the like of which glory had not been since the earth was created. And there were rites and ceremonies, and recreations, and games, and pageantry on earthand in heaven, so great that one might write a thousand books thereon, and yet not havetold the tenth part.
3. So, after God had reigned one hundred and ninety years, he descended from hisheavenly place, and went about in all the Lords' dominions, and the sub-Gods' dominionsin the lower heavens, that he might rejoice before Jehovih in the great good works he haddone.
4. And in all the heavenly places there was great rejoicing before God; and the singersmade and sang hymns of rejoicing; and trumpeters and harpists proclaimed the glory ofJehovih's Presence.
5. So God had the people numbered, that the Gods of the etherean worlds might send indan for the great resurrection. And the number of Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovihwould be sixteen thousand millions!
6. After that, God directed his fire-ship to run close to the earth, that he might surveymortals and their kingdoms. And he visited all the great nations of earth, to the south,and north, and east, and west. And now his soul cried out with great sorrow! The greatpeoples of the earth were turning celibates!
7. And the Voice of Jehovih came to him, saying: God, My Son, Hoab, why sorrowestthou? And God answered, saying: Behold, the earth is not peopled over; the plains andmountains are not subdued; the wilderness is filled with beasts of prey; the Zarathustriansare running into the same line as the I'hins; they kill nothing; they live for the soul only. And since they have learned the bondage of the lower heavens, they will not marry andbeget offspring.
8. Again Jehovih spake to God, saying: Call not down a'ji nor ji'ay, My Son! Fear not. Inten years, behold, I will bring the earth into dan, and thou shalt bring thy harvest into Myemancipated worlds.
9. So God sorrowed no more; and on his return to Mouru, and in the next following meeting of the Diva, he propounded: If a husband and wife have a child born unto them, they both being Zarathustrians: What then? When the members had spoken,--
10. Div decreed: They shall have rites and ceremonies, that the ashars of the order of Zarathustra may be appointed unto it. What the ashars do in spirit shall the corporeans do in corpor. And this was the first supplemental Divan law.
11. Through the commandment of the different Lords, the ashars assembled in the houseof a Zarathustrian at the time of the birth of a child, and these spirits baptized the childwith a rod, sprinkling water on its head, after the manner of selecting victims who havebeen delivered out of hell. And by inspiration the angels induced the mortals to gothrough the same ceremony, having a priest to perform with the rod, which had beendipped in water.
12. Div decreed: A baptized child showeth it hath sprung from the Zarathustrians, and ithath inherent in it high possibilities. And if it die in infancy, it shall be received not withthe children of druks in heaven, but in such place as will enable the parents, after death, tovisit it with delight. This was the second supplemental Divan law.
13. So it became common on the earth for mortals to have their children baptized ininfancy, that in case of death they should be taken to a place of delight, and not fall intothe power of drujas, the evil spirits.
14. Div propounded: If a young man, who is a Zarathustrian, and a young woman, who is also a Zarathustrian, and both every way obedient to the Ormazdian law, and to the I'hua'Mazdian law, what shall be the rites and ceremonies of marriage for them? On this all the members spake, and after that,--
15. Div decreed: They shall be married by a rab'bah, with kin and friends present. The rab'bah shall say: Ormazd hath united you forever; live ye in peace and love on earth, and ye shall dwell together in a heavenly place of delight after death. What Ormazd hath joined, no man can separate forever. And whilst the mortal ceremony is being performed, the ashars and spirits akin shall have rites and ceremonies in the same house, and this shall be called the beginning of a new heavenly kingdom. This was the third supplemental Divan law.
16. Besides these, there were passed a hundred and eight supplemental Divan laws;and they comprehended all things in life and death of mortals, and all things pertainingto the resurrection after death. And so great was the power of the Zarathustrianreligion on earth that war ceased, and the tribes and nations dwelt together in peace. The people ceased to build large cities, and ceased striving for the things of earth.
17. But they learned little, save rites and ceremonies, and prayers, and singing hymns ofpraise unto Ormazd, and to his Gods and Lords, and to Zarathustra, the All Pure. Thusended the dominion of Hoab's reign in heaven and earth, the like of whose greatness hadnever been surpassed.
18. So Jehovih brought the regions of dan, and sent seven ships, and delivered God andhis harvest of sixteen thousand million angels into places of delight, the Nirvanian fieldsof Niscrossawotcha, in etherea.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Then God bewailed the state of the earth, because man ceased to love anything thereon. His whole mind and heart were set upon heavenly things, and the earth was becoming likea neglected farm grown up with weeds and briars. So Jehovih answered God's prayers,saying: Behold, I will bring darkness around about the earth on every side. See to it then,My Son, for not only will man desire of the earth, but the angels in thy high heavenlyplaces will forsake them, and go down to the earth.
2. So it came to pass, Jehovih brought ji'ya upon the earth, and it was in a state ofdarkness for four hundred years, and the sun shone not, but was like a red ball of fire, andmortal beings were without lights and shadows.
3. And men's minds and hearts took after the nature of the corporeal world, losing sight ofOrmazd and His heavenly promises, and they bethought them of the desires of earth, andof the pleasures of flesh-life. Now during ji'ay there fell perpetual atmosphereansubstance on the earth, and it was of the nature and kind of substance of which the earthis made, but atmospheric, and this is that which is called ji'ya.
4. And the plateau of Haraiti and Zeredho were driven down to the earth and near theearth; and the belt of meteoris was moved nearer by thousands of miles, and meteoric stones fell in many places upon the earth, like a rain shower, but burning hot, and withsuffocating smell. And the affairs of mortals were changed; they built new cities, andbecame great hunters, applying the wisdom of their forefathers to the matters of the earth.
5. And the heavenly places of delight were broken up and descended to the earth; and theangels were cast upon the earth, turning away from faith in Ormazd, seeking joy in theaffairs of earth. And God and his Lords were powerless unto righteous works, either withmortals or angels. But man and woman became prolific, and they grew large, and full ofresolution and power.
6. The Voice of Jehovih spake to God, saying: Maintain thou thy kingdom; and thy Godsand thy Lords under thee shall also maintain their kingdoms. Nor suffer thou My peopleto be discouraged with My works.
7. Because I have sent darkness upon the earth to benefit mortals in mortality, so have Ialso given My heavenly hosts lessons in My es worlds. Nor shall they call this a judgmentupon them, nor say, I do these things in anger, nor as punishment, nor for benefit of oneto the injury of others.
8. Because thou wert guided by My voice and My commandments in bestowing the Divanlaw, behold the strength and wisdom of thy pupils! For inasmuch as they learn to masterthe elements I created in atmospherea, so will they become triumphant in My ethereanworlds.
9. God perceived, and he and his Lords and sub-Gods fortified their kingdoms on allhands, and provided assistance to their colleges, factories, hospitals and places ofeducation, in order to maintain the angels who had sought resurrection.
10. Nevertheless, it came to pass, many angels believed a new order of light was comingon the earth, wherein the earth would become the all highest abode for angels and Gods. Others having lived two or three hundred years in atmospherea, and never having been inetherea, began to disbelieve in the higher heavens, and finally to disbelieve in Jehovih,also.
11. And in two hundred years later, God and his Lords lost influence and power with bothangels and mortals. And the latter took to war, and the angels who had ministered untothem became wanderers and adventurers, without organization, and cared neither for truthnor wisdom, but flattered mortals for their own glory.
12. And the kings and queens of the earth built temples for their familiar spirits, whoassumed the ancient names of Gods and Lords. Now, when the next arc of dan was nearat hand, God enumerated his upraised hosts, and there were prepared as Brides andBridegrooms for Jehovih's higher heavens twelve thousand millions.
13. And because it was less than the number of his predecessor, he cried out untoJehovih, bewailing his weakness. And Jehovih answered him, saying: Bewail not, MySon! Thou hast done a great work. Neither ask thou that thou mayst remain another dan,for the next will not be so fair a harvest. So God grieved no more, but bestowed hiskingdom on his successor; and his Lords did likewise, and so did his sub-Gods and allother persons having protégés. And God called together the Brides and Bridegrooms ofJehovih; and the latter sent down from etherea five great ships of fire, and delivered Godand his hosts into the emancipated worlds.
