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human race.

Meschiana from whom have proceeded the whole During this time, however, Ahriman was not idle. He also created a human being, the man-Daroudj or Darvand, the incarnation of evil, as the human creation of Ormuzd was the incarnation of purity. Moreover, Ahriman, changing himself into a serpent whence he is called "the serpent with two feet,"-seduced Meschia and Meschiana to commit "for the first time, in thought, in word, and in deed, the carnal sin," thus infecting all their descendants. Nor is this the whole of the mischief ascribed to Ahriman. He continually directs his agents in attacks on the beneficent creation of Ormuzd, and employs his wiles for the seduction of the souls of those who have not finally freed themselves from material influences. The conflict between Ormuzd and Ahriman is to last for twelve thousand years, and to terminate with the complete triumph of Ormuzd only when the created world itself comes to an end. Then will be seen "l'anéantissement de la matière ou des formes plastiques, le retour de férouërs ou des idées typiques dans la pensée supreme de laquelle ils etaient émanés, et, par conséquent, l'absorption de l'univers en un Dieu sans commencement ni fin."

The true meaning of the seduction of the first human pair can be understood only by reference to the ideas symbolized in the preceding parts of this creative drama. Thus, Ormuzd and Ahriman are typical of "spiritual life" and "material darkness." The primeval bull,

1 Compare with this the Teutonic legend of the sacred ashtree which gave birth to the primeval man Askr: (Cox's " Aryan Mythology," vol. ii. p. 19.) Brasseur de Bourbourg points out a curious resemblance between this Persian legend, and that relating to the tree of fire of Mexican Mythology. (Quatres Lettres sur le Mexique, 1868, p. 46.

Gaya, symbolizes the principle of life.1 The destroying of the bull by Ahriman signifies that "the soul which unites itself to matter, the source of all passion, gives life to the body but receives death, and can recover life or liberty only by the death of the body." So, also, the birth of Meschia, the androgynous man, from the tree which sprang from the seed of the human prototype, is "the union of the soul or life with a portion of earth or dust." The death of the human pair who spring from him, is the spiritual result of their giving way to the carnal desires of the material life. This result affects all their descendants, and it can be escaped from only by regaining the spiritual purity from which Meschia and Meschiana fell. At the death of every man his thoughts, and words, and deeds, are judged by a celestial tribunal composed of Mithra and his assessors. The férouërs of the pure re-ascend to the heaven from which they originally came, to remain there until the day of the resurrection; and those of the impure are precipitated into darkness or hell, where they will endure torments proportioned to the sins or the crimes of each sinner until the same epoch.

Although little trace is to be found in what remains of the Zend-Avesta of the doctrine of metempsychosis, yet this doctrine could not have been unknown to the founder of the Persian Cult, since its ideas are based on the dogma, held by all the civilized peoples of antiquity, of the descent and ascent of souls. The developed religions of antiquity taught that transmigration was a punishment for a life of wickedness, and hence it was a means of purifying the soul, and fitting it for a return to the spiritual realm from which it had fallen, through the desire for association with matter.

Gautama, as we have seen, recognised this belief, and he sought to deliver man from "the path of generation by meditation and a passionless life of charity and selfdenial. The Mazdaic faith was, however, in advance of Buddhism in one respect. Its standard of morality was not higher, but the motive to moral conduct was of a far nobler character. Buddhism teaches the necessity of leading a certain kind of life, or of doing certain acts, for the purpose of escaping the much dreaded new birth. The attainment of Nirvâna is certainly held out as an inducement to a life of holiness and charity, but this is practically of so negative a nature that its real value consists in its ensuring escape from material existence. The follower of Ormuzd, on the other hand, while probably not recognizing the value of a life of holiness, simply for its own sake, yet saw in it a means of regaining the spiritual purity which had been lost, and which would obtain for him a life of continued felicity in the paradise of Ormuzd in company with Mithra and his angels.

In the sense, therefore, that its teachings were placed under the sanction of the gods, who would inflict future punishment for present evil-doing, Mazdaism may be said to be more religious than Buddhism. Its practical tendency was, however, moral rather than religious, since its object was to fit man for residence in the world of spirits, although, of course, the recognition of the gods, and the performance of the duties owed to them, were essential to the condition of purity required for that purpose. The ideas contained in the Avesta as to the sinfulness of man, and as to the necessity of a sacrifice to atone for the primal fault committed by Meschia and Meschiana, introduce a religious element such as is quite unknown to Buddhism. That sacrifice is of the material desires, typified by the bull, and

Zarathustra taught that it could not be made without divine assistance. Hence the sacrifice is offered through a Mediator, this title being given to Mithra, in the office bearing his name, as the slayer of the sacrificial bull. But Mithra is not merely the mediator between man and Ormuzd, he is the pattern and guide for his followers. The Zend-Avesta continually enforces this doctrine. Spiritual death is the result of material affections, and the casting off of old habits and desires, and the adoption of fresh modes of life, having for their aim the attainment of the complete freedom from material influences which marks the spiritual new-birth, and can only be effected by seeking the aid of Mithra and following in his footsteps.

The principal doctrines of early Mazdaism have been deduced by Dr Haug1 from the original speech of Zarathustra, which is preserved in the 45th Yasna. They are as follows:

1. Everywhere in the world a duality is to be perceived; such as the good and the evil, light and darkness, this life and that life, human wisdom and divine wisdom.

2. Only this life becomes a prey of death, but not that hereafter, over which the destructive spirit has no power.

3. In the universe there are from the beginning two spirits at work, the one making life, the other destroying it.

4. Both these spirits are accompanied by intellectual powers, representing the ideas of the Platonic system, on which the whole moral world rests. They cause the struggle between good and evil, and all the conflicts in the world, which end in the final victory of the good principle.

5. The principal duty of man in this life is to obey the word and commandments of God.

6. Disobedience is punished with the death of the sinner.

7. Ahura-Mazda created the idea of the good, but is not identical with it. This idea produced the good mind; the Divine Spirit, working in man and nature and devotion, the obedient heart.

8. The Divine Spirit cannot be resisted.

9. Those who obey the word of God will be free from all defects, and immortal.

1 "Lecture on an Original Speech of Zoroaster" (1865), p. 16.

10. God exercises his rule in the world through the works prompted by the Divine Spirit, who is working in man and nature.

11. Men should pray to God and worship Him. prayers of the good.

12. All men live solely through the bounty of God.

He hears the

13. The soul of the pure will hereafter enjoy everlasting life; that of the wicked will have to undergo everlasting punishment.

14. All creatures are Ahura-Mazda's.

15. He is the reality of the good mind, word, and deed.

The moral ideas of Mazdaism may be said to be fully embodied in the dogma that three degrees of purity are required as the condition of salvation for the worshippers of Ormuzd-purity of thought, purity of word, and purity of action. This is founded on the supreme holiness ascribed to Ormuzd, who is "too pure to behold iniquity," and whose followers must, therefore, be absolutely free from sin before they can be admitted to his presence. The central idea of the Avesta, even of its oldest portion, the Gathas, is the importance of purity. Several of the books commence with invocations to the "lords of purity." The address to Mithra 1 shows well the light in which that attribute was viewed.

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33. Give us the favours we pray thee for, O Hero, in accordance with the given prayers: Kingdom, strength, victoriousness, fulness, and sanctification, good fame, and purity of soul, greatness, and knowledge of holiness, victory created by Ahura, the blow which springs from above, from the best purity, instruction in the holy word.

73. Mithra who, ever, with uplifted hands, utters the words, speaking thus:

74. "Ahura-Mazda, Heavenly, Holiest, Creator of the corporeal world, Pure! If men would offer to me with named offerings, as they offer to the other Yazatas with named offerings, then would I come to the pure men at the set time and times, at the set time of my own shining heavenly life would I come."

In Vispered xii.2 the Haoma is said to be uplifted and the offerings made known :

1 "Mihr-Yasht," Spiegel's Avesta (English Translation by Bleeck). 2 Spiegel, op. cit.