31.  THE TWO PARTIES.  Many there are who hiss at this teaching of mine, and will have none of it, but the people of Ahura give heed thereto.  O supreme spirit of good, grant me by the sacred fire and the holy ritual some sign that will convince and convert men, so that all may be brought to thee and be made to abandon their Daevas.  O ye bountiful immortals, will ye give me prophetic knowledge that I may lead men aside from the error of their ways; what punishment shall be his who strives to set up in our midst a king belonging to the Daeva party?

GATHA 2. 43-46.

[This part of the Avesta gives a fuller and correcter view of the work and teaching of Zarathustra than any other.]

43.  The Theophany of Ahura-Mazda to Zarathustra.  I saw Ahura-Mazda on high and he made known to me his truth, that I may tell it to men.

44.  A PRAYER FOR KNOWLEDGE.  Speak thou truly to me, O Ahura-Mazda, and not falsely as the Daevas do to their worshippers.  How came this present world to be, and to be supported, if not through thee?  Who made the sun and moon and stars, and the waters and the winds and the trees, who, if not thou?  Reveal thou to me, O great one, the inner truth of things.

O ye crowds of men, when will ye call evil, evil, and good, good, instead of the contrary?  Have the Daevas ever supplied good rulers?

II.—­VISPEREDS

[The word Vispered means “all the lords,” and this section is so called because it contains invocations to all the lords or gods.  It consists almost entirely of extracts from other parts of the Avesta, especially from the Yasnas.  What is not found elsewhere has no special value and need not be summarised.]

III.—­VENDIDADS (LIT.  “LAWS AGAINST DEMONS”)

[This is not strictly a liturgical work, but a priestly code describing the various purifications, penalties and expiations by which faults of various kinds are atoned for, or their consequences annulled.  The existing Vendidads agree almost exactly with Nask (19) of the original Avesta, the only part of the Avesta in which one of the Nasks has been completely preserved.  The Vendidads are divided into twenty-two Fargads, or sections.]

FARGAD 3.  THE SANCTITY OF AGRICULTURE.  The earth should be cultivated, 1. that it may bring forth food for man and beast, 2. because it promotes human piety.  “How is it, O great creator,” asks Zarathustra, “that religion is to be spread?” “By cultivating barley,” was the answer, “for he who cultivates barley, cultivates purity.  When barley is threshed or ground, and when flour is produced, devils whistle, whine, and waste away, knowing full well that man’s idleness is their only opportunity.” (Cf. compare Dr. Watts’ line “Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do.”)