CHAPTER VII.
1. Who shall tell the story of the Gods of heaven! Their mighty kingdoms, overspreadinghe whole earth! Hundreds and hundreds, and thousands! Their libraries of records ofvalorous and holy deeds! A council chamber of half a million souls! Hundreds ofdepartments; thousands! Here a board to select young students to the colleges ofmessengers. Another board to select students to the colleges of arts. Another to selectstudents to mathematics. Another for prophecy. Another for great learning. Another forfactories. Another for compounding and dissolving elements. Then come the departmentsof the cosmogony of the stars; then, of the ethereal worlds; then, the roadways of thefirmament; then, a'ji and ji'ya, and nebulae; then, se'mu; then hi'dan and dan; then, thedawn of dan; then, histories of the heavens far and near; then, genealogy of thousands ofOrian Chiefs; the creation of mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. Yea, but toenumerate the half of what cometh before a God and his council would itself fill a book.
2. Who, then, O Jehovih, shall venture to tell the labor and wisdom of Thy ethereanGods! How shall the second resurrection give up its mysteries? Shall Thy recorder followthe young student for messenger, and disclose the training put upon him? How, like acarrier dove, he is taught to go from place to place, but holding the message in his head? Then follow the student in another department, and make a record of how he is taught? And of the multitude of questions that come before the Council from far-off places. Thenthe rites and ceremonies, and the unending variety and magnificence of the music. Can aman describe a million men and women and children? A hundred millions! A thousandmillions! Five thousand millions! Who hath seen so great a man, to do this! And yet thisis but Thy lower heaven, O Jehovih!
3. A strange voice riseth up from the earth, saying: Have they anything to do in heaven? O ye Gods! And one half of the earth-born coming hither in infancy! And the countlessmillions who know little more than the beasts of the field! To be falsely taught that theseunfortunates would skip off to paradise and possess great learning in the hour of death!
4. O that their understanding could be opened up to Thy kingdoms, Thou All-ExtendingCreator! That their eyes could look upon the greatness of even Thy lower heaven! Tobehold a thousand departments reaching as wide as the earth! And then the hundreds ofthousands of branch departments, of hundreds of grades, adapted to every soul that risethup from the earth.
5. O that they could look into the dark places in atmospherea! That they could see amillion souls, plunged in chaos by terrible war! Crazed spirits, wild and battling! Notknowing they are dead! The ceaseless toil of a million nurses and physicians, laboring dayand night with them! O the darkness upon them! O the glory of Thy exalted ones! Who isthere, having seen the magnificence of Thy glories, will not bestir himself every momentto lift up his brother and point the way to Thy throne?
6. O that they could see Thy swift Gods of dawn! How they hear a hundred tongues at onetime, and frame answers for all of them, and, by a motion of the hand, dispatchmessengers to fulfill the same in words! How they select officers, to know a hundred at aglance, and know where to place them; that every one shall fit his place! Who is there, OFather, can frame into words the proceedings of heaven, so that mortals can comprehendeven a fraction of Thy great glories!
7. Shall a man light a candle and say it representeth the sun? How, then, shall they findthe affairs of mortals comparable to Thy kingdoms? O, that they knew the meaning of thedifference betwixt All Light and the darkness of man's judgment.
8. O that they knew Thee, Thou Central Sun of All Light! They have put away ThyPerson, and they go in any direction. Thy Great Gods are but myths to them, because ofthe darkness of their souls. Behold, they look for a small man with a large sword! Thepower of great wisdom they know not.
9. That they could behold the coming and going of thousands of messengers, from far-offkingdoms, before the throne of Thy God! How he hath answered their matters suddenly! And the while heeded the voices of a thousand marshals! O that man knew the glory ofOrder! The power of Harmony!
10. They have seen a clock with a hundred wheels, and the eye of its maker overseeing itsevery part in motion, and they call it wonderful! But how can they know Thy Councils, OJehovih? Thy millions? And Thy God on his throne, mantled in Thy Light, overseeing awhole heaven! What majesty of words can make mortals comprehend His wisdom, andpower, and great labors!
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Thus Osire established Vibhraj, the resplendent heaven, with a thousand and eighthundred sub-kingdoms, in atmospherea, all under the commandments of the centralkingdom. And then he established the roadways between them, and appointed sevenhundred thousand messengers. After that he ordained proper officers for intercommunion;and the several sub-kingdoms established their places of learning and placesof labor; their hospitals and nurseries, and their innumerable asaphs, the receivers ofes'yans, the newborn spirits of the dead of earth.
2. Osire said: Behold, there is order in heaven. Now will I appoint a God to holddominion two hundred years. For whilst the dawn of dan yet remaineth, I will assist him. Let the examiners search, then, amongst my hosts, from such as sprang from the earth,such one as standeth clear on the record, and chief in rank.
3. So the examiners searched; and after thirty days, they selected Konas; and when Osirewas informed, he sent a thousand of his own attendants, in an otevan, and they broughtKonas to Vibhraj, to Jehovih's throne. Osire said:
4. Greeting, in the name of the Father! Thou art chosen above all others; and, after thedawn of dan is ended, thou shalt be God of heaven and earth for two hundred years. Before the ascent of my hosts and of myself, behold, I will crown thee. Till then, thoushalt sit on my throne, and fill my place whilst I am absent.
5. I have now restored order in heaven, having given all the inhabitants a single purposein concert, whereby their resurrection is surely founded. Now will I go down to the falseLords' kingdoms, on the earth, and to the mortal kings and queens, and restore order therealso.
6. Konas said: Thy will and Jehovih's be done! I am exalted and rejoiced in what isbestowed upon me. Make me strong and wise, O Jehovih, that I may glorify Thykingdoms!
7. So, after due preparation, Osire departed privately, taking with him one hundredthousand attendants, going down to the earth and to the false Lords' kingdoms, in thecities and temples of mortals.
8. Seven days Osire spent traveling round about the earth, visiting angels and mortals, buttelling none who he was, or what was his object; and then he halted his otevan, which hadbeen built for the purpose, in the regions of the mountains of We-ont-ka-woh, in WesternJaffeth. He said:
9. We-ont-ka-woh shall be my headquarters for a season. Here, then, will I found the firstLord's kingdom for mortals; and inasmuch as mortals have made an idol of Apollo, sowill I cast down Apollo, and make them know that I, Osire, am Lord of the earth. Thenspake We'taing, saying:
10. Behold the glory of Jehovih from the first! In our journey around the earth, we havefound the I'hins not idolaters, but still worshippers of the Great Spirit, Jehovih. But as tothe half-breeds, who can understand them? They believe nothing; they believe everything. They ask the idol for rain, and for dry weather! For strength to slay the druks; for flesh toeat, and for famine to be visited on their enemies.
11. They are as living prey for druj to feast on; they invite the darkest of all evil. And todo their wills in return, the druj, the evil spirits, busy themselves inoculating the air withpoison to kill their enemies.
12. Osire said: With the I'hins we have little to do; but as to the Ghans and the I'huans,they shall be converted into disbelievers of all spirits, save two, Jehovih and satan.
13. To accomplish which end, I will give them three figures: The signs of seasons,2 whichshall represent the Creator in all the parts of the living; the sign of the sun, with motionand all life coming forth; and the hand of man.
2 Zodiac is called, sometimes, the signs of the seasons. The Osirian religion was really the directing of man's attention to the power and grandeur of corporeal worlds. In other words, the God Osire's labor was to call mortals away from idol worship and make them scientists.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Through Osire, Jehovih said:
2. I created man with a corporeal life, that he might learn corporeal things; but behold, theI'huans have lost all energy to acquire earthly knowledge, depending on their familiarspirits for information on everything. Thereby wasting their mortal lives in non-improvement. So that when they die, and enter heaven, they are easily made slaves of byevil spirits.
3. Better were it for them had they no knowledge of spirit life, that they might put toservice the talents I created within them. See to this matter, O My sons and Daughters; fortheir desire for the presence of the spirits of the dead will draw fetals upon themselves,and they will go down in darkness, like the ancients.
4. The Voice departed, and then Osire said: Hear me, O brothers, O sisters; this is mycommandment upon you, and to you to render unto your successors after such time as Ishall call you for the resurrection:
5. Possess ye the temples and oracles, where the familiar spirits speak; neither suffer yefamiliars to come more to kings, nor queens, nor governors, nor to leaders nor rulers ofmen; but take ye possession of all such, and answer ye the corporeans with corporeanknowledge only.
6. And that ye may be as a unit unto mortals, give ye all the same name, even Jehovih,through His Son, Osire. For when ye answer at the oracle, or in the altar or temple, theywill ask who the spirit is; and ye shall say: Osire, Son of Jehovih; doing this in my nameand the Father's.
7. And when ye speak by entrancement, through the seers and prophets, also assert thesame thing. And they will ask: Why has the Son of Jehovih come to us? And ye shall say:
8. Because ye are an idolatrous people, worshipping before stone and wood; whereby evilspirits take advantage of you, and rule you to your own hurt.
9. And they will reason amongst themselves, saying: How know we not, then, that thouthyself be not an evil spirit? And ye shall say: It is well that ye ask this, for I declare untoyou, ye shall not worship Osire, but only Jehovih, the Creator. This doctrine, only, issafe.
10. Again they will say: Who is satan and his attendants? Ye shall answer: Whoever professeth any name save the Great Spirit, is of satan, which pertaineth to self.
11. Now whilst ye are thus reasoning with them, certain ones in the temples will beworked by the familiar spirits, writhing and twisting, and ye shall say to the next akin: Behold, I will tell thee how to cast out the evil spirit. Thou shalt say: I charge thee, in thename of Jehovih, to depart!
12. It shall come to pass they will do this, and at the time they use the words: In the nameof Jehovih, depart! ye shall drive hence the familiars, thus proving the power of Jehovihgreater than all spirits.
13. But that this matter may spread rapidly, and be valued highly, impart the name of theGreat Spirit, in secret, not suffering them to speak it aloud. Choose ye, therefore, certainmortals, and ordain them through the king, and their labor shall be to cast out evil spirits.
14. It will come to pass in many places where ye dispossess the false Lords and theirconfederates, these evil spirits will inoculate the cattle and beasts of burden withpoison, and they will die; and the evil spirits will show themselves to the dogs, andcause them to howl; and the evil spirits will obsess the swine, which are easilyinfluenced, and the swine will appear drunk and foolish. All of which things yeshall prophesy to mortals beforehand, thereby attesting the wisdom of the Great Spirit.
15. After these things are accomplished, mortals will say further: Behold, thou Son ofJehovih, erst thou came, Apollo told us when to plant, and when to reap; when to bringthe male and female cattle together; but now that we have put him aside, what shall wedo? And ye shall answer them:
16. Come in the star-light, and I will give you the signs, that ye may know these thingsyourselves. And where ye speak in the oracle, or by entrancement, ye shall point out tothem certain stars, and give them the names thereof; and certain groups of stars, with theirnames, also; and ye shall show them the travel of the sun, north and south, and give thema tablet of onk (zodiac), divided into twelve groups, with twelve lines coming from thesun.
17. And ye shall raise up priests by inspiration, and by entrancement, and through themillustrate the position of the sun in the signs of the zodiac (onk). And the priests shallexplain these things to the unlearned, that they may comprehend of their own knowledge.
18. When these things are accomplished, ye shall inspire the I'huans to go to the I'hins andask to be circumcised unto Jehovih; and the I'hins, also being under inspiration, willconfess them and bestow them with the sign.
