But we must from this point abbreviate the somewhat prolix account.  Primordial Man, after the blending of the elements, ascended on high accompanied by "one of the angels of this intermingling;" in other words, snatching away a part of the imprisoned elements of the Kingdom of Light. The next step is the creation of the present world, which Mani ascribes to the King of the World of Light, the object being to provide for the escape of the imprisoned elements of Light.  Through an angel he constructed ten heavens and eight earths, an angel being appointed to hold heavens and earths in their places.  A description of the stairways, doors, and halls of the heavens is given in the Fihrist’s narrative.  The stairways lead to the "height of heaven."  The air was used as a medium for connecting heaven and earth.  A pit was formed to be the receptacle of darkness from which the light should be liberated.  The sun and the moon were created to be the receptacles of the light that should be liberated from the darkness, the sun for light that has been mingled with "hot devils," the moon for that which had been mingled with "cold devils."  The moon is represented as collecting light during the first half-month, and during the second pouring it into the sun.  When the sun and moon have liberated all the light they are able, there will be a fire kindled on the earth which will burn for 1468 years, when there will be no light left.  The King of Darkness and his hosts will thereupon withdraw into the pit prepared for them. (3.)  Anthropology.  So much for the liberation of the imprisoned light, which, according to Mani, was the sole object of creation.  As yet we have heard nothing of the creation of living creatures.  What place do man, the lower animals, and plants sustain in the Manichæan economy?  We are to keep constantly in mind that Primordial Man was not Adam, but a divine æon, and that he ascended into the heights immediately after the blending of parts of his armor with darkness.  The creation of earthly man was an altogether different affair.  We must give the account of man’s creation in Mani’s own words, as preserved by the Fihrist:  "Hereupon one of those Arch-fiends and [one] of the Stars, and Overmastering Violence, Avarice, Lust, and Sin, copulated, and from their copulation sprang the first man, who is Adam, two Arch-fiends, a male and a female, directing the process.  A second copu- lation followed and from this sprang the beautiful woman who is Eve." Man, therefore, unlike the world, is the creature of demons, the aim of the demons being to imprison in man, through the propagation of the race, as much as possible of the light, and so to hinder the separating process by the sun and the moon.  Avarice is represented as having secretly seized some of the divine light and imprisoned it in man.  The part played by the Star in the production of man is somewhat obscure in the narrative, yet the Star could hardly have been regarded as wholly evil.  Probably the Star was thought of as a detached portion of the light that had not entered into the sun or the moon.  "When, therefore, the five Angels saw what had taken place, they besought the Messenger of Joyful Knowledge, the Mother of Life, Primordial Man and the Spirit of Life, to send some one to liberate and 21 The Manichæan System.