CHAPTER VII.
1. Esfoma said: I am the signs of the times.
2. By my face the prophets foretell what is to be.
3. I am the living mathematics; the unseen progress of things speaking to the senses ofman.
4. My name is: THESIGNS OF THETIMES.
5. Why have ye, the inhabitants of the earth, and ye angels of the heavens, not beholdenme in my march?
6. I called out in the days of the pyramids: O ye kings and mighty ones! Behold the signs of the times!
7. And ye men of great learning, give ear; a voice speaketh in the wind!
8. Behold, Osiris and Isis shall go down. Anubi shall not judge the people of theAlmighty!
9. I sent a storm into colleges of learning; the wise professors held up their heads andsaid:
10. I doubt the person of Osiris! I doubt Isis! Are they merely a principle?
11. The prophets looked here and looked there. They said: Behold the signs of the times!Let us measure the increase in the growth of skepticism to these ancient Gods.
12. They said: Osiris shall go down; and so shall Isis and Anubi, and Baal, and Ashtaroth,and Thammus.
13. But kings heard not; they called their councils for stern legislation.
14. They saw, but denied my person and the power of my hand.
15. Man calleth out: Give me a key for prophecy. Show me the way to find the destiny ofGods and angels and mortals.
16. Show me the key for the rise and fall of nations and empires.
17. Then I come forth over all the land. Man beginneth to doubt, then to disbelieve, andthen to deny the popular Gods and Saviors of his forefathers.
18. They will not see which way the wind bloweth; with strong arms and bloody handsthey raise up against Jehovih.
19. Then they go down in destruction; they and their Gods are known no more.
20. Jehovih hath said: All things are like a tree; which springeth up from a little seed tobecome mighty; which beareth fruit for a season, and then falleth and is turned to dust.
21. One by one My Gods, and My false Gods, rise up and are powerful for a season, andthen are swept away in Esfoma's hands.
22. Behold My thousands of Saviors, which I have sent to raise up the inhabitants of theearth. Where are they this day?
23. I give to mortals Gods and Lords and Saviors; according to the time and place of theearth in My ethereans, so, bestow I them.
24. But when they have fulfilled their time, lo, I take away their Gods and Lords andSaviors. Not suddenly, nor without signs of the times of their going.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BATTLE WITH THE BEAST OF THE ARC OF BON.
1. Es said: The light of Jehovih touched on the earth, and the heavens about were stirredto the foundation. Things past were moved forward. His voice was from the depth ofdarkness to the summit of All Light.
2. Nations that had not known Him, now knew Him. Acceptable, and with loudrejoicings, they shouted: Jehovih! Jehovih! Almighty and Everlasting! Glory be to Theeon High! Creator, Father! all praise to Thee forever.
3. And Jehovih went far and near swiftly, quickening with a new power both the livingand the dead. And the peoples raised up, and heard His voice from every corner, calling: Come forth! Come forth! O My beloved.
4. And in the stirring up of things long past, it was as if a cloud of dust and darkness, fouland poisonous, overspread heaven and earth, was to be cleared away and make room forother Gods and Saviors.
5. High above the clouds, and deep down in all the blackness, the All Light shone asthe everlasting sun. The faith of men and angels rose up in unceasing assurance tothe Most High, that He in matchless majesty, alone, would rise triumphant over all.
6. Jehovih said: Bring forth the legions of earth and heaven! Summon up the dead! Letthe living rejoice! My kingdom is at hand.
7. And the dead came forth, clothed in the raiment of heaven; and they walked upon theearth; yea, face to face talked with the living, proclaiming the fullness of Jehovih, and hiseverlasting kingdoms.
8. Little infants that were long dead, returned to the living, full grown in heaven, singingin Jehovih's praise. Mothers returned from the unseen world with love and angel kissesfor their mortal babes and sorrow-stricken husbands.
9. Then rose the cloud of darkness, higher and higher; the poisonous smell and damnabletricks of hada belched forth in blackness terrible. The spirits of those slain in war,delirious, mad, and full of vengeance; and those whose earth-lives had bound them intorments; and those who lived on earth to glut themselves to the full in abhorrent lust,came assuming the names of Gods and Saviors.
10. And yet the voice of Jehovih called: Bring forth the legions of earth and heaven! Summon up the dead! Let the living rejoice! My chosen shall come forth.
11. Still struggled the beast, awful in the smoke and dust of his blood-stained mantle, tillthe earth around became as a solemn night before a battle of death. Rattling bones andempty skulls, with gnashing teeth, all stained with human gore, made hideous by theportentous omen, caused angels and men to stand appalled.
12. And then, as the cloud of darkness stretched up out of the earth, girdling it all around,as a venomous reptile secureth his living food, lo and behold, the monster beast stretchedforth four heads with flaming nostrils all on fire!
13. On each head were two horns, blood-stained and fresh with human victims' fleshmacerated. Their tongues darted forth in menace, and their open mouths watered forhuman souls; and with suspicion mad, and much distrusted, their blood-shot eyes piercedthe temples of kings, and laid them in ruins.
14. And the names of the beast, now falsely assumed, to beguile Jehovih's chosen, wereDyaus, Lord God, Osiris and Te-in; and their horns were named, one Righteousness andthe other Militant.
15. With their four bloody mouths, they called out of the fires of hell: Down! Jehovih! Down! I alone am Savior of mortals and angels! I will be the favorite God, or ruin all!
16. Jehovih answered to His faithful sons and daughters, the living and the dead: Bringforth the legions of earth and heaven! Summon up the dead! Let the living rejoice! Mykingdom is at hand! My chosen shall be free!
17. The beast, rattling his hideous bones, bated some his breath to see the greatawakening light of the tree of Jehovih!
18. And as the beast looked along, behold his four heads saw one another, and burst forthin a new tirade of horrid curses.
19. Each to know the others' bold presumption.
20. First spake Anuhasaj, the false Lord God, to the east: Behold thou, Ho-Joss, thoubloody Te-in, God of hada, thy heavenly kingdom shall down. Know thou that I, the LordGod, am God of all. It was I, drove the Great Spirit from earth and heaven, and made thename Lord God worshipful in the broad universe.
21. The false Te-in, mocking, said: And thou wilt bury it in the depths of hell, thou, ofwoman born.
22. Upward rose the head of the beast, the false Lord God, and with his mighty armand sword, swept off the false Te-in's head. And as the beast surged about, Dyaus,the false, sprang forward, shouting, Hold! Thou false Lord God! Never shall thyname be honored on Chine'ya soil or in her heavens. Behold me! I am Dyaus!
23. Ashtaroth, greedy Goddess, now urged her consort God, Baal, to rush in for theheavenly spoils. And the twain, in the terrible tumult, drew hence ten thousand millionangel slaves.
24. Anuhasaj said to Dyaus: Thou miscreant God! That dared steal my name, De'yus, andnow confront me with thy hellish taunts! Down! Down!
25. At that their bloody swords clashed, and Dyaus thrust his adversary through, even asthe false Lord God's sword clipt off Dyaus' traitorous head.
26. Meanwhile Osiris, the dragon-head, started up from the punctured body of the beast,shouting: Behold me! I am all! I, Osiris, Savior of men; Lord God of heaven and earth,Dyaus, De'yus, all! By my sword, I am sworn!
27. Ashtaroth, cunning Goddess, flew suddenly down to the earth, to the mortal king ofEgupt, Pharaoh, and through the oracle proclaimed:
28. There is war in heaven! Osiris, thriftiest of Gods, hath won the victory, and standethmaster of all the heavens' broad kingdoms.
29. To earth he shall come no more. Proclaim thyself the Savior's vice-gerent on earth,and king of the world!
30. Then Pharaoh, distracted by the flood of miracles and the superabundance of thespirits of the dead strolling over all of Egupt, embraced the oracle's fearful decrees.
31. And now, behold, whilst the beast struggled in the four quarters of the world,Jehovih's chosen, both on earth and in heaven, marched out of bondage, singing glory tothe Creator's name!
32. And now, Osiris, the chief remaining head of the beast, turned from the anarchyand hells in hada, to vent his hatred against Jehovih's chosen on earth; and withBaal and Ashtaroth invented new tortures for the non-flesh-eating tribes of men.
33. But Jehovih's light broke across the world. The smoke and clouds from the battlecleared away.
34. Osiris fled from the earth. Another group of false Gods had cleared away beforeJehovih's light.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Jehovih said: When the Gods have fulfilled their time in earth and heaven, behold I putthem away.
2. And in the time of their going, behold, I open the doors of heaven, and I call down theangels and send them abroad over the earth. And the earth becometh overrun withmiracles.
3. Kosmon said: Let the wise man and the prophet consider the signs of the Almighty! Two extremes forerun the change of the Gods and Saviors in heaven: These are, extremedisbelief and extreme belief. The one denieth all Gods, and even the person of theCreator; the other becometh a runner after the spirits of the dead, consulting seers andoracles.
4. Esfoma said: These signs are my signs. When these come, behold, the Almighty hath anew deliverance on hand.
5. None can stay Him, or hold up the Gods and Lords and Saviors of the past againstJehovih.
6. I speak in the wind, and man saith: Behold, something is in the wind; the Gods are atwork; a new light breaketh in upon the understanding of men.
7. Out of the tumult, Jehovih riseth Supreme in every cycle.
8. He leadeth forth a few who know Him. He foundeth them as a separate people in theworld.
9. Uz said: And in the time of Jehovih's triumph, I come and make myths out of thedeposed Gods and Saviors.
10. Then I stretch forth my hand against the libraries, and houses of ancient records, and Idestroy them.
11. And man is compelled to give up the things of old, and to look about him, and rousehimself up to the ways of the Almighty.
12. O that the prophets would apply my lessons of the past, in order to foretell the future.
13. Behold, there is no mystery in heaven and earth. They march right on; cycle followethcycle, as summer followeth winter.
14. In the overthrow of the departing Gods, behold, there is the beginning of a newspring-time in Jehovih's seasons.
15. He planteth a new tree in His garden; it is a tree of new light for the righteous.
16. His chosen go out, away from the flesh-pots of the past, and they have neither kingsnor emperors; only the Almighty!
17. Into the wilderness they go forth, persecuted and beset on all sides by the followers ofthe mythical Gods.
