2. Hear me, O Gods and Lords! This is the foundation of Divan law: The decrees of God and his Lords, his Lord Gods, his Gods, and his Lords; not singly, but by all members, and ratified by the Council of Diva under Div, Son of All Light. That is to say:
3. A kingdom in heaven riseth or falleth by Divan law; a kingdom or nation on earth riseth or falleth by Divan law. The virtuous are rewarded and exalted by Divan law; the wicked are cast into trials by Divan law.
4. But this is not Divan law: Man to be created and live; to live a time on earth, then die and enter heaven: These are done by the Ever Presence, the All Light, the Creator, and not by the Diva.
5. This is Divan law, to wit: To assist man out of darkness into light; to give security to the helpless; to raise the souls of man to everlasting light; to minister unto the needy; to deliver them that are in pain; to teach man to desist laboring for himself; to teach him to labor for others.
6. But this is not Divan law: For seed to grow; for a tree to grow; for a spider to weave its web; these are done by the Ever Living Presence, the All Master, Creator!
7. This is Divan law, to wit: To regulate the affairs of angels and mortals, for their ultimate resurrection; to lay the foundation for harmony in community; to gather together the inharmonious, and put them in tune.
8. But this is not Divan law: To provide the earth with life, or to hold it in its place; to build the place of the higher or lower heavens; to provide corpor or to provide es; these things are by the Ever Personal Presence, the Creator, and shaped and molded by His hand through the Chiefs of the higher heavens.
9. This is Divan law: To bring together in marriage wisely for the child's sake, and for the joy of all.
10. But this is not Divan law: To give desire to marriage, or desire for marriage; these are from the All Person, the Master Light.
11. This is Divan law: When a man walketh along, to take him by the hand and bend him to the right or left.
12. But this is not Divan law: For the man to go forth; this he doeth by the Ever Presence, Jehovih, the Ormazd.
13. A carpenter buildeth a house, but he built not the logs nor the stone. The Diva buildeth kingdoms in heaven and kingdoms on earth, and shapeth them for usefulness and beauty; and when they are old and out of sorts, the Diva abandoneth them, and they fall to pieces. Nevertheless, Ormazd provided and provideth the wherewithal for the whole.
14. Div decreed: This also shall ye promulgate in heaven and earth, lest angels and mortals worship Div and Diva. For though the Diva appoint mortal kings, yet mortals shall not worship Div (Divinity).
2. One of the members of Diva said: If a mortal judge, being in judgment between certain men, by which law shall he judge? On this matter the members spake at great length, and ---
3. Div decreed: He cannot discern the higher law but dimly; the lower law he can read plainly in a book. He shall therefore judge by the lower, but by the highest interpretation. And then Div on his own account said:
4. For the priests of the Zarathustrians, who have carried the alms-bowl and lived in all things 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 according to the higher law; he will strive to hide justice in a corner, using words to conceal his own perversity. It is by such men and such angels that heaven and earth will be blighted in coming time.
5. For, as through Zarathustra, God's Word hath been established on the earth; and since words themselves perish and are supplemented by new words, the time shall come when the 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 surround the 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. Succeeding generations must also build, otherwise the art of building would perish. Better the 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, the language-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 the wise seek language to express the spirit of things. The latter is under the Divan law; the former 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, either by inspiration or by words spoken in sar'gissa. And in Jaffeth and Shem and Arabin'ya mortal kings decreed mortal laws and revelations, based on the Divan laws, and on the Zarathustrian 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 children were alike lazy and worthless, being beggars also. Now in course of time, the man and woman die, and in time after, the children die also, and none of them are yet entered into the 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 be reported by the ashars to the Lord, and the Lord shall send a captain with sufficient army to arrest them, and bring them away from the earth, and enter them in a colony for such purpose. This was called Divan act, the first.
11. Act, the second: For thirty days such drujas shall be clothed and fed. If by this time they manifest no inclination to labor, but are still lazy, they shall be removed into another region, where food can be obtained only by exertion.
12. Act, the third: This law shall apply also to mortals; through the ashars shall they be inspired to migrate to cold and unproductive regions. Div said: Herein hast Thou wisely planned, O Jehovih! For all Thy places in heaven and earth shall be subdued, and made to glorify Thee!
2. And heaven and earth became as one country, with one king, who was God; and his word 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 earth and in heaven, so great that one might write a thousand books thereon, and yet not have told the tenth part.
3. So, after God had reigned one hundred and ninety years, he descended from his heavenly place, and went about in all the Lords' dominions, and the sub-Gods' dominions in the lower heavens, that he might rejoice before Jehovih in the great good works he had done.
4. And in all the heavenly places there was great rejoicing before God; and the singers made and sang hymns of rejoicing; and trumpeters and harpists proclaimed the glory of Jehovih's Presence.
5. So God had the people numbered, that the Gods of the etherean worlds might send in dan for the great resurrection. And the number of Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih would be sixteen thousand millions!
6. After that, God directed his fire-ship to run close to the earth, that he might survey mortals 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 great peoples of the earth were turning celibates!
7. And the Voice of Jehovih came to him, saying: God, My Son, Hoab, why sorrowest thou? And God answered, saying: Behold, the earth is not peopled over; the plains and mountains are not subdued; the wilderness is filled with beasts of prey; the Zarathustrians are 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 and beget offspring.
8. Again Jehovih spake to God, saying: Call not down a'ji nor ji'ay, My Son! Fear not. In ten years, behold, I will bring the earth into dan, and thou shalt bring thy harvest into My emancipated 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 house of a Zarathustrian at the time of the birth of a child, and these spirits baptized the child with a rod, sprinkling water on its head, after the manner of selecting victims who have been delivered out of hell. And by inspiration the angels induced the mortals to go through the same ceremony, having a priest to perform with the rod, which had been dipped in water.
12. Div decreed: A baptized child showeth it hath sprung from the Zarathustrians, and it hath inherent in it high possibilities. And if it die in infancy, it shall be received not with the children of druks in heaven, but in such place as will enable the parents, after death, to visit 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 in infancy, that in case of death they should be taken to a place of delight, and not fall into the 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 pertaining to the resurrection after death. And so great was the power of the Zarathustrian religion 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 of praise unto Ormazd, and to his Gods and Lords, and to Zarathustra, the All Pure. Thus ended the dominion of Hoab's reign in heaven and earth, the like of whose greatness had never been surpassed.
18. So Jehovih brought the regions of dan, and sent seven ships, and delivered God and his harvest of sixteen thousand million angels into places of delight, the Nirvanian fields of Niscrossawotcha, in etherea.
2. So it came to pass, Jehovih brought ji'ya upon the earth, and it was in a state of darkness for four hundred years, and the sun shone not, but was like a red ball of fire, and mortal beings were without lights and shadows.
3. And men's minds and hearts took after the nature of the corporeal world, losing sight of Ormazd and His heavenly promises, and they bethought them of the desires of earth, and of the pleasures of flesh-life. Now during ji'ay there fell perpetual atmospherean substance on the earth, and it was of the nature and kind of substance of which the earth is 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 the earth; 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 with suffocating smell. And the affairs of mortals were changed; they built new cities, and became 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 the angels were cast upon the earth, turning away from faith in Ormazd, seeking joy in the affairs of earth. And God and his Lords were powerless unto righteous works, either with mortals or angels. But man and woman became prolific, and they grew large, and full of resolution and power.
6. The Voice of Jehovih spake to God, saying: Maintain thou thy kingdom; and thy Gods and thy Lords under thee shall also maintain their kingdoms. Nor suffer thou My people to be discouraged with My works.
7. Because I have sent darkness upon the earth to benefit mortals in mortality, so have I also given My heavenly hosts lessons in My es worlds. Nor shall they call this a judgment upon them, nor say, I do these things in anger, nor as punishment, nor for benefit of one to the injury of others.
8. Because thou wert guided by My voice and My commandments in bestowing the Divan law, behold the strength and wisdom of thy pupils! For inasmuch as they learn to master the elements I created in atmospherea, so will they become triumphant in My etherean worlds.
9. God perceived, and he and his Lords and sub-Gods fortified their kingdoms on all hands, and provided assistance to their colleges, factories, hospitals and places of education, 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 coming on 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 in etherea, 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 both angels and mortals. And the latter took to war, and the angels who had ministered unto them became wanderers and adventurers, without organization, and cared neither for truth nor wisdom, but flattered mortals for their own glory.
12. And the kings and queens of the earth built temples for their familiar spirits, who assumed the ancient names of Gods and Lords. Now, when the next arc of dan was near at hand, God enumerated his upraised hosts, and there were prepared as Brides and Bridegrooms for Jehovih's higher heavens twelve thousand millions.
13. And because it was less than the number of his predecessor, he cried out unto Jehovih, bewailing his weakness. And Jehovih answered him, saying: Bewail not, My Son! 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 his kingdom on his successor; and his Lords did likewise, and so did his sub-Gods and all other persons having protoges. And God called together the Brides and Bridegrooms of Jehovih; and the latter sent down from etherea five great ships of fire, and delivered God and his hosts into the emancipated worlds.