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“ Ye Devas have sprung out of the evil spirit 
Who takes possession of you by intoxication . 
You have invented spells, which are applied by the most 
wicked; 
May the number of the worshippers of the liar (evil spirit) 
diminish. 
What, 0 good ruler Mazda, are the Devas ? 
Those who attack the good existence ( i.e . good men, useful 
animals, etc.). 
By whose means the priest and prophet of the idols expose 
the earth to destruction. 
Whoever thinks the idols and all those men besides, 
Who think of mischief only to be base, 
And distinguishes such people from those who think of 
the right, 
His friend or father is Ahuramazda. 
This is the beneficent revelation of the supreme fire- 
priest.” 
Again, he says of “ the priests and prophets of idols,” that, 
“ They ought to avoid the bridge of the gatherer ; 
To remain for ever in the dwelling-place of destruction.” 
And in the Earlier Yasna we find a formal confession of 
faith : — 
“ I cease to be a Deva (worshipper). 
I profess to be a Zarathustrian Mazdayasnian (devotee of 
Ahuramazda), 
An enemy of the Devas, and a devotee of Ahura ; 
A praiser of the immortal benefactors (i.e. the Ameshas- 
pentas) . 
I forsake the Devas, and those like Devas. 
I praise the Ahuryan religion, which is the best of all that 
are, and that will be.” 
As it may be objected, in limine , that the Deva-cult, which 
is admittedly polytheistic in character, was universal in Aiyan 
regions until the age of Zarathustra, it may be replied, in 
limine, that Zarathustra no more invented the Ahuryan creed 
than St. Augustine (to take a prominent name) invented the 
Christian. And the evidence is similar in both cases; for just 
as the Bishop of Hippo speaks with approbation of the faith 
of many of his predecessors, and just as the name of Christ as 
a divine personage and as God, is to be met with centuries 
before his day ; so, we find Zarathustra alluding to “ sayings 
of old” revealed “by Ahura,* praising the ancient fire- 
* Yasna. xlvi. 6. 
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