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received these sacred songs through angelic agency, and 
hence that he was the human author of them and communi- 
cated them to the world. The triad of thought, word, and 
deed, often appears in the Avesta ; and is used in a somewhat 
technical sense, as meaning the thoughts, words, and deeds 
enjoined by the Zoroastrian faith. Thus in a fragment of the 
Hddohht Nash, which gives an account of the progress after 
death, we find four steps mentioned in the advance of the 
soul. The first step of the righteous he places upon good 
thought, the second upon good word, the third upon good 
deed, and the fourth and last upon the eternal lights. The 
account of the contrary progress of the unrighteous soul is 
lost, except the last clause, “ The soul of the wicked man 
fourthly advanced with a step he placed on the eternal 
glooms/'’ a calmly awful saying, which vies in solemnity with 
those of our own Sacred Books. The First Gdtha forms 
chapters xxviii. — xxxiv. of the Yasna, and is to some extent 
a compilation of independent verses ; in one place Zara- 
thustra is spoken of in the third person, but as a rule he 
is the speaker throughout. In this Gdtha are chiefly 
noticeable : — 
I. The theory of Agriculture as a sacred duty. 
II. The theory of the Twin Spirits. 
III. The protest against the Devas and their worship. 
In the Second Gdtha we have, in addition to various 
references to the foregoing subjects, 
IV. The view of Ahuramazda as the Creator. 
The last three Gdtlias which, on the whole, are not so 
important, also contain similar references, and a very material 
passage which explains Zarathustra’s view of the theory of 
the Twin Spirits. These different subjects I shall notice in 
order. 
8. Agriculture as a Sacred Duty. 
It is remarked of the state of things prior to the creation of 
human beings, and in a manner indicative of a certain incom- 
pleteness, that “ there was not a man to till the ground ” 
and the subduing of the earth is expressly assigned • to the 
human race, not in the first instance as a toil to be accom- 
panied by “ sweat of the face,” but as a high and sacred duty. 
So in the Greek religious-mythology, Demeter, “ the Earth- 
mother,” the eai’th considered in a state of orderly rule and 
cultivation, kosmic not chaotic, is the great patroness of Tri- 
ptolemos and the other noble and nurturing heroes of civiliza- 
tion, who wander over the world, making all men'acquainted 
