CHAPTER XIX.
OF THE HOSTS OF OSIRIS, THE FALSE.
1. Now sallied forth the captains, generals, and well-disciplined hosts of hada, the angelsof De'yus, bent on independence to the earth and heaven from all other rulers save theLord God, and to establish him forever. Foremost of the three mighty divisions wasOsiris' army, of more than a thousand million angels, going boldly forth to cover the greatlands of the earth, Arabin'ya, Parsi'e and Heleste.
2. In the front, dashing madly on, was Baal, and next him, his assistant Goddess,Ashtaroth, followed by their first attendants and high exalted officers. Some of whomdisplayed great maps of mortal cities and cultured lands, where the peaceful worshippersof Jehovih dwelt, hundreds of thousands. And the lists of altars and temples to the GreatSpirit, where the righteous came daily and deposited their earnings and products assacrifices for benefit of the weak and helpless. And the wide fields, where toilers broughtout of the earth, religiously, wheat, and flax, and cotton, and barley, as gifts from theGreat Spirit. And the canals, filled with boats, carrying produce, and fruit, and cloth, ininterchange, one district with another. And the mounds and tree-temples of the I'hins, thesacred people, small, white and yellow; the forefathers and foremothers of the greatI'huan race, the half-breeds, betwixt the brown burrowers in the earth and the I'hins.
3. Over these maps, and charts, and lists, the generals and captains discoursed as theydescended to the rolling earth; most learnedly laying plans to overturn Jehovih's method,and build up De'yus, the God of Hored.
4.Osiris himself, to display such dignity as becometh a great God, halted in his heavenlyplace, and now head-quarters of the belligerents. And so rested on his throne, with histens of thousands of messengers ready to answer his summons and bear his will to theremotest parts of his mighty army, and to bring him back news in return of the nature ofthe proceedings. And betwixt Osiris' and De'yus' thrones another long line of messengersextended, a thousand angels, high raised and resolute, suitable to travel in the ever-changingatmospherean belts of great velocity.
5. Beside Baal, on the downward course to the earth, but a little behind him, woman-like,was Ashtaroth, with her thousand attendants, all accoutered to show their high esteem fortheir warring Goddess. By the oft-changing wave of her hand, her part of the army hadlearned to know her will, and most zealously observe her commands.
6. And now, on every side, farther than the eye could see, the thousand millions rushedon, some in boats, some in ships and otevans, and others in single groups, descending. Asone can imagine an earthly kite sufficient to carry its holder high up in the wind, so,reversed, and single-handed, hundreds of thousands flew toward the earth by ballast flags,the most daring of angels.
7. Toward the earth they came as if on a frolic, full of jokes and loud boasting, sworn andswearing to forever clear the earth of Jehovih's worshippers. Many of them, long trainedin schools and colleges and factories, in heaven, only too glad for a change of scenes andlabor, and all promised by their superiors that now they were to take their first lessons inbecoming Gods and Goddesses. Of whom thousands and thousands hoped for somedaring deed, in order to gain sudden promotion.
8. To the east and west, and north and south, Baal and Ashtaroth spread out their armies,wide as the three great lands they had sworn to subdue unto the Lord God, who, ofwoman born, was the most presuming son the earth had yet brought forth. And to alighton the earth, to flood the temples and altars with so great an abundance of spirits as woulddrive Jehovih's ashars into disastrous confusion, and vanquish them, was the theme andproject. To be foremost in so great a work was the temptation of promotion, which causedthem on every side to strive with their utmost speed and power.
9. The which Jehovih foresaw, and so spake to God in Craoshivi, warning him; whereofdue observance of the danger had been communicated by messengers to the managingangels in the altars and temples of worship. And these again, through the rab'bahs andthe oracles, had spread abroad amongst mortals the threatened dangers, cautioning them.
10. Thus Jehovih's angels fortified themselves, through the faith of mortals, and held on,bringing together their scanty numbers, knowing well that by Jehovih's law they must notresist by arms, but only through words and good example, high-toned by faith in theFather over all.
11. Down, down, down on these, on every side came the destroying hosts, the thousandmillions; with oaths and loud clamor rushing for the altars and temples; flying suddenlyto the holy arcs; in hundreds of thousands of places, shouting:
12. Avaunt this arc! Avaunt this altar! Avaunt this temple! Ye Jehovian usurpers, begone! In the name of the Lord our God! We command!
13. But alas, for them, every arc, and altar, and temple to Jehovih was invincible. Therestood His angels, so strong in faith, unmoved and majestic, that even the assailing spiritshalted, overawed. And as they stood a moment, contemplating whence came so greatmajesty, to be in such common place, the Jehovians made this reply:
14. To none we bow in adoration but Great Jehovih! Whose Very Self contributed tomake us what we are, His servants in doing good unto others with all our wisdom andstrength! In Him we stand to shield His helpless ones by virtuous peace and loveharmonious. Wherefore, then, come ye in arrogance, demanding our wards to service ofyour God, born of woman?
15. The Osirians said: Fly, O sycophants! Ye that bow down in fear and trembling to Onehollow as the wind, and Personless. Too long have earth and heaven been cajoled by far-offforeign Gods, who come hither to win subjects for their kingdoms' glory, by thatpitiful tale of an Ever Presence Over All, Whom none have seen nor known. Begone! Give us these earthly anchorages! To build in unit, earth and heaven, to rule ourselves byGods we know and reverence!
16. The Jehovians said: Is this your only power? By threats and commands? O harmlesswords, in mockery of truthful Gods! No good works nor promises, save to exalt the selfof earth and hada, and glorify your masters, born only equal with yourselves. Why notrush in and carry us off, ye that are a thousand to one, and by your deeds prove the greatsource whence ye draw your power?
17. The Osirians said: To give ye a chance of liberty, to save ye from the Savior'sjudgment, Anubi, who shall cast ye into hell, we hoped to find your willing departure inpeace. Behold ye, then, we will wall this altar around and shut off the attendant asharswith mortals, and flood the place with drujas, to obsess them to total madness. If, then, yelove your wards as ye profess, abandon all to us, for the glory of De'yus, whose son isOsiris, our commanding God.
18. The Jehovians said: Words! words! words! At first no explanation, and only yourcommand. Now, forsooth, an argument! And presently ye will withdraw, deceived inwhat your commanding Gods told you would result. We tell you we will not hence, saveby our superiors, Jehovih's, rightly raised to precedence.
19. The Osirians said: For which reason, behold our Lord God, who was honored in thetitle through Jehovih's hand; whom ye should obey according to your oaths.
20. The Jehovians said: Till such time the Lord God put aside Jehovih, we were his; butwhen for his self-glory he denied his Creator, his false position freed us from hisobligations. To obey him now, would make us false to Jehovih, and forever weaken us inreaching the Nirvanian kingdoms.
21. But now the clamoring angels, Osirians, in the background crowded forwardmenacingly, and the tide rose to the highest pitch. The morning sun was dawning in theeast, a most wonderful assistant to Jehovih's sons in time of battle; and their messengersbrought from the fields and country places many ashars who had been on watch all nightwith sleeping mortals. The Osirians saw them coming; knew the turn, one way or another,was at hand! But by the audacity of the Jehovians, one to a thousand, were kept lookingon in wonder till the sun's rays pierced their weapons and melted them in their hands.
22. First one and then another of the Osirians, then tens and hundreds and thousands,turned away or looked about, discomfited, like a host of rioters attempting to assault afew well-trained soldiers, and, becoming affrighted, turn and flee harmlessly. SoJehovih's sons and daughters won the victory in the first assault, save in rare instances,one in a hundred, where the Osirians triumphed and got possession.
CHAPTER XX.
1. And over all the lands, east and west and north and south, of Arabin'ya and Parsi'e andHeleste, stood the discomfited Osirian angels, in groups, tens of thousands, unseen bymortals, and considering how best to proceed to overthrow Jehovih and His worshippers.
2. Meantime, messengers and map-makers bore the disastrous news to Osiris, who in turnsent word on up to De'yus, the self-Lord God, who now, through Osiris, his most favoriteGod of power, sent these commands:
3. When night is on and mortals sleep, my hosts shall fall upon the ashars, the guardianangels, and drive them hence, obsessing every man, and woman and child, in these greatdivisions of the earth. What care I for the altars and temples and oracles and arcs? Possessye the mortals before the morrow's morning sun. Hear ye the command of De'yus, TheLord your God, through his high-raised son, Osiris!
4. And the well-stationed messengers plied all day long to the near and remote parts ofthe assaulting armies, giving De'yus' commands. And ere the sun went down, the wholethousand millions knew their work, and were wheeled in line, to march with the fallingdarkness, and pounce furiously upon the ashars of Jehovih.
5. But the true God, in Craoshivi, had been warned by Jehovih's Voice of the course ofevents, and he had sent his messengers with all speed down to the earth to warn them ofthe enemy's designs that night; the which they accomplished none too soon, for, already,when they had completed their most exhaustive work, the sun had dropped below thewest horizon.
6. So, at the midnight hour, the terrible approach began on all sides; and to each and everyspirit there came enemies, in tens, and hundreds, and thousands, shouting: Begone, thouJehovian fool! The Lord our God and his son, Osiris, command! Away from thy sleepingmortal ward, or by the voice of God we will cast thee, bound, at Anubi's feet, food forhell! Begone!
7. Each Jehovian answered: To Great Jehovih I am sworn! Though ye bind me and castme into hell, by the Great Spirit's hand I will free myself and come here again and teachHis sacred name. And repeat forever my peaceful mission to raise up this heir of Jehovih!
8. Again the threatening adversaries stormed, and wondered whilst they stormed, that onealone stood so boldly in face of such great odds and flew not away at once. And everyashar laid his hand on the sleeping mortal in his charge, for by this his power wasmultiplied a thousand-fold, and raising up his other hand, thus addressed the All Highest: By Thy Wisdom and Power, O Jehovih, circumscribe Thou this, Thy sleeping heir, thatwhosoever toucheth the mortal part shall cut himself from off Thy everlasting kingdoms!
9. And, with the words, a circle of light fell about the place, bewildering to the assaulters,who, having once halted, opened the way to their own cowardice to recoil within them, amost valiant warrior against unrighteous deeds. Whereupon, a war of words andarguments ensued, till again the morning sun rose upon the almost harmless assault, andleft the Osirians discomfited and ashamed.
10. Though not in all places, for in some extremes they waited not for words but rushedin and laid hands on the mortals, gaining power sufficient to hurl clubs, and stones, andboards, and stools and tables about the house, and so roused, wide awake the mortaloccupants. Who, seeing things tumble about by some unseen power, were quickly up andfrightened past composure. Some hurried off to the rab'bahs, some to the oracles andtemples, to inquire about the trouble betwixt the ruling Gods.
11. And in these few places, when once De'yus' spirit-soldiers gained possession,they fastened on in thousands, even quarreling as to who had most honor in thehellish work. And yet not one of the ashars in all the lands was seized or borne away.
12. And now, in the time of the rising sun, the messengers of the Lord God flew hastilyto Osiris' kingdom, where he sat on his throne, expecting news of an overwhelmingvictory. And when they told him of the most pitiful failure, save in so small a degree,Osiris raved and swore: By my soul, I swear an everlasting curse, but I will fill allthe hells in hada with these fool-hardy ashars! Yea, even though I go down to the earthin person, and with Baal and Ashtaroth go from house to house throughout the world!
13. Osiris again sent word to De'yus, who was of vast experience, and not so hasty; awiser God, and better acquainted with the tides in mortal energy to serve Jehovih. SoDe'yus sent back word to this effect: To rest the soldiers three days, that the surveyorsmight measure the stature of mortal faith, and so make the third attack more successful.And with these words concluded, to wit:
14. Because of the long spiritual peace amongst mortals, there must be many grown tointellectual disbelief in an All Highest. For groveling down in the earth to measurethe rocks, and to study the habits of worms and bugs, for generations, their seedhath brought forth many skeptics, believing nothing of spiritual kind, but rating hightheir own judgment. With these, for lack of faith in Jehovih, the ashars are powerlessto ward off my soldiers. Mark them out in every city and in all the country places,and again at mid-hour of the night, fall upon them, crowding away Jehovih's ashars.
15. Besides these, find ye the ignorant and superstitious amongst mortals, who arelazy and of lustful desires, for by their habits the ashars have little power intheir presence. Mark these also, and, at midnight, fall upon them and possess them.
16. And go ye amongst the rich, whose sons and daughters are raised in idleness andpleasure; whose thoughts seldom rise to the heaven; for with them the ashars are alsoweak to protect them, who are most excellent subjects to spirits fond of sportingpleasures. Mark ye them, also, and at midnight fall upon them, driving hence the ashars.
17. Abandon ye the altars and arcs and temples and oracles, and all the strongest, mostzealous Faithists, for the present. Save such few as still flatten the head and are dull injudgment, whom ye shall also possess.
18. Thus prepared Osiris and Baal and Ashtaroth for the third assault on Jehovih's angels. And their millions of groups were kept in constant drill, ready for the work. The first fireand flush of boasting was already gone from them, save of a few, and the serious aspectof a long war stared them in the face.
CHAPTER XXI.
1. Thus laid the three great countries, Arabin'ya, Parsi'e and Heleste, of which Parsi'e wasmightiest, peopled with very giants; lofty-bearing men and women, of red, coppercolored; and with an abundance of long black hair; high in the nose and cheek bones;with determined jaws, and eyes to charm and command; mostly full-blooded I'huans,half-breeds betwixt the I'huans and the burrowers in the ground, the brown people, dulland stupid. The Parsi'e'ans were a proud race, built up in great comeliness by the GodApollo, whose high-raised office was to fashion the breeds of mortals into noble forms. Foremost in all the world was Parsi'e in all great deeds, and in men of learning, and inancient wars. It was here great Zarathustra was born and raised for Jehovih's Voice andcorporeal words. Here the first great CITY OF THE SUNwas built, Oas, whose kings aspiredto rule all the world; and great riches amongst men were here first tolerated by the Gods.
2. A strip of Parsi'e'an land cut betwixt Jaffeth and Vind'yu, and extended to the sea in thefar east; but the great body laid to the west, covering the Afeutian Mountains, stillplentiful in lions and tigers and great serpents. In these mountains came the I'huan huntersto catch lions and tigers to fight in the games, where men oft, unarmed, went into thearena, and fought them with their naked hands, choking them to death before applaudingmultitudes. From these mountains the hunters supplied the private dens of kings andqueens with lions, whose duty was to devour thieves and other prisoners, according tomortal law.
Plate 92. GALL.
3. And oft these traveling hunters dwelt with the sacred little people in the wilderness, theI'hins, whom Jehovih had taught to charm even the great serpents and savage lions andtigers to be their friends and worshippers. And herefrom sprang a people called Listians,who, living mostly in the forests, went naked, to whom the I'hins taught the secret ofCHARMING AND SACRED HAND POWER, who worshipped Jehovih, owning no man nor God asmaster, for which the Great Spirit named them SHEPHERD KINGS, for they ruled over flocksof goats, which supplied them with milk, and butter, and cheese, and wool for cloth forcrotch-clothes, the only covering they wore.
4. These Shepherd Kings, the Listians, lived in peace, wandering about, making trinkets,which they oft exchanged with the inhabitants of cities and the agricultural regions. One-fourthof the people of Parsi'e were Listians, who were well guarded by Jehovih's angels. And these were such as De'yus meant to obsess for future use in terrible wars, but theother three-fourths lived in the fertile regions of Parsi'e, the lands of which were rich inyielding ample harvests. The cities were filled with mills, and factories, and colleges, andcommon schools, free for all people to come and learn; and altars, and temples ofworship, and oracle structures, made without windows, so Jehovih's angels could come insar'gis and teach His Holy Doctrines. Besides which were temples and observatories forstudying the stars, which were mapped out and named even as their names stand to thisday. And next to these were theHOUSES OF PHILOSOPHY, in all the cities; where great learned men undertook to examine the things of earth, to learn the character and property thereof. And whether of fish, or worm, or stone, or ores, or iron, or silver, or gold, or copper, theyhad learned to read its worth and nature. And of things dead, no longer living on theearth, and of strange stones, and of skins and bones of animals, their houses were wellfilled, for benefit of students and visitors. It was these that De'yus meant to have hisarmies possess, body and soul, for his own glory, knowing that by their researches in suchmatters for many generations they had strayed away from Jehovih. For such is the rulepertaining to all children begotten on the earth. If the father and mother be on thedownward road in unbelief, the child will be more so; but if on the upward way, to glorifyan All Highest, the child will be holier and wiser than its parents.
5. In olden times the Gods had inspired the Parsi'e'ans to migrate toward the west andinhabit the lands of Heleste, also a country of giants, but less given to rites and ceremonies; and they carried with them three languages: the Panic, of Jaffeth; the Vedic,of Vind'yu, and the Parsi'e'an; and because they used the same sounds, mostly, butdifferent written characters, a confused language sprang out of these, and was calledFonece, and the people thus speaking were called Foneceans, that is to say: We will usethe same sounds, but take to our judgment to use whatsoever written characters wechoose. Hence, Fonece is the first and oldest of mortal-made languages; and this wasstyled in heaven the period of the emancipation of mortals from the dictatorship of angelsin regard to written signs and characters and words. Jehovih had said: In that respect manon earth hath advanced enough to stand alone; and it was so, for, from that time to this,neither Jehovih nor his angels have given any new language or written characters tomortals. And all languages that have come from that time onward, are but combinationsand branches, and amalgamations and malformations of what existed then on the earth.
6. The Helestians were rich in agriculture, and in herds of cattle and goats, both woolgoats and hair goats; for it was in this country that the angels first taught man how tobreed the goats for hair or for wool, accordingly as he desired. And these people werealso mostly worshippers of Jehovih, and had many altars and temples; dwelling in peace,and loving righteousness.
7. Arabin'ya had four kinds of people within her regions: The I'huans, the Listians, theI'hins, and the brown burrowers in the ground, with long noses and projecting mouths,very strong, whose grip of the hand could break a horse's leg. The brown people, thoughharmless, were naked, living mostly on fish and worms and bugs and roots; and theyinhabited the regions of the great river, Tua. Over these people, to subdue them anddestroy them, Osiris allotted his great angel general, Egupt, servant of De'yus. Eguptcalled the region of his allotment after himself, Egupt, the same which is corruptly calledEgypt to this day.
8. In the time of Abraham this country was called South Arabin'ya; but when, in afteryears, the great scholars entered the records in the kings' libraries, the later names wereused, being written in the Fonecean language and not Eguptian, which was the languageof the unlearned.
9. But the chief part of all the people in Arabin'ya were I'huans, of color and size andfigure like the Parsi'e'ans, being also the offspring of the I'hins and the brown earth burrowers, the hoodas, from whom they inherited corporeal greatness, even as from theI'hins they inherited holiness of spirit. But the flat heads had mostly disappeared fromArabin'ya.
10. And here were thousands of cities, great and small, even as in Parsi'e and Heleste, andthey had colleges and houses of philosophy, even like Parsi'e, besides thousands of publiclibraries, which supplied books freely to the poor, who came here to be taught in thesciences, and in the arts of painting and engraving and sculpture, and in astronomy, andmathematics, and chemistry, and minerals, and assaying, and in the rules for inventingchemical combinations. But the Listians were the only people who dealt in charms andthe secrets of taming serpents and beasts by virtue of the hand, and by curious scents,prepared secretly. And the Listians maintained the fifth rite in the resurrection, whereby,on the fifth day after death, the soul appeared in mortal semblance to his living people,and advised them lovingly, after which he ascended in their burning incense going toJehovih!
11. Of such like, then, were the people over whom De'yus, named Lord God, had set histhousand millions, to subdue them for his own glory. And thus it came to pass, Jehovihspake in Craoshivi, saying: The time shall come when angels and mortals shall know of atruth that the Lord God is a false God and a vain-glorious usurper. For I will leave onerace of I'huans on the earth, in Guatama, even till the era of kosmon. And men and angelsshall see and understand that man of himself never inventeth a God in figure of a manborn of woman. And that only through the inspiration of My enemies, who buildkingdoms in hada for their own glory, hath any people ever fallen from My estate toworship a God in image of man.
