Lectionary Readings for Wednesday, August 21st, 2019

Weekday Sabbath

God’s Book of Eskra Chapters 31, 32, and 33

Chapter 31

BIRTH OF KA’YU, OTHERWISE CONFUCIUS.

1. Thoanactus, Chief of the million loo’is sent by God down to the earth, to Chine’ya, to
raise up an heir capable of the voice of God, sent word to God in Paradise, saying:

2. Greeting to thee, O God, in the name of Jehovih. Thy Son is born! And his name is
Ka’yu. He is son of Heih, who is sub-king of Te’sow. Behold, thy son Ka’yu is k’te’sune
(iesu) in the borders, whose mother, Ching-tsae, is not fifteen years old. And Heih was
father to twelve children previously.

3. Let us rejoice before Jehovih, who hath quickened into life this tree of universal
knowledge.

4. Also my hosts have brought about more than three thousand births, who shall become
his disciples in time to come.

5. God returned answer to Thoanactus, saying: In Jehovih’s name all praise to thee and thy
hosts. Thy words have been proclaimed in Paradise! There is great joy in heaven. Send
the grades of mortal resurrection in Chine’ya, with doctrines and rites and ceremonies and
the dominion of the spirits of the dead.

6. Thoanactus then applied to the angels who had charge of the numerating and
appraising of mortals as to their grades and spiritual intercourse; and having obtained the
reports, he made selections, and reported as followeth, to wit:

7. Thoanactus, greeting to God, Son of Jehovih: Ling, sun king of Chine’ya, with twelve
sub-kingdoms, one to represent every month of the year. Four hundred and six millions of
mortals; twenty-seven hundred million angels, not fettered by angel tyrants. Of the angel
emissaries of the Triune God, fifteen hundred millions.

8. Mortal grade, eight; maximum, eighty; minimum, nothing. Of fifties, one to seven. Of
twenty-fives, one to three; of tens, one to one; but of seventy-fives, on to forty, mostly
guardian births.

9. The rise in the eleventh year, two; in the twenty-third, five; in the hundredth, twelve.

10. Of rites and ceremonies, seventy-two; of sacrifice without compunction, thirty-five.

11. Funeral rites, ninety-eight; observances in full, forty-five.

12. Perception in su’is, one to three hundred and sixty-two; in sar’gis, one to six thousand
two hundred and eight.

13. Of spirits in sar-gis, one to thirty-three thousand; of first and second resurrections,
mostly ashars.

14. Thoanactus saith: Because Chine instituted reverence for the dead, the funeral rites
have become worshipful.

15. After the body is put away, either buried or burnt, mortals read prayers on three
succeeding days, at sunset, chanting the virtue and love of the dead; and oft the spirit
returneth to them in the house, taking on sar’gis, like a mortal, and talking to their mortal
kin.

16. Of drujas, not attained to live alone, seven hundred millions. Of these, thirty per cent
are in declension, and seventy in ascension.

17. Of mortals in druk, sixteen per cent; of mortals in idleness, including druks, twenty
per cent.

18. Of such as are addicted to secret evils and pollution, seventy per cent; of abortionists
one per cent, of one half.

19. Thoanactus saith: Owing to the veneration for, and to the rites of the dead, is speug’s
increase attributed.

20. Furthermore, thy servant herewith sendeth to thee, for the libraries of heaven, a full
record of the cities and country places of Chine’ya; and the grade an

Chapter 32

1. Ka’yu grew up to be a man, in every way adapted to the work for which the loo’is had
had him born into the world by command of God.

2. And it also came to pass, that disciples were also born, and duly prepared by the angels
of God to become co-workers with Ka’yu. Of these disciples, seventy-two were called,
chief disciples, that is, six from each of the twelve kingdoms and sub-kingdoms of
Chine’ya.

3. God had said: Suffer not Ka’yu and his chief disciples to know they are instruments in
my hands. Neither suffer them to know that my angels inspire them, nor suffer them to
know that they come from their respective kingdoms by my voice through my angels.

4. In one age, to say a matter cometh by inspiration or by the angels, is to render the
matter impotent; and yet, in another age, to not profess inspiration or angel-presence, is to
render the matter impotent.

5. The latter condition is now upon Chine’ya. Let my angels heed this.

6. When Ka’yu was ready for the work of God, there came to him from the twelve
provinces of Chine’ya seventy-two men and women of great learning, having heard of
Ka’yu’s wisdom. None of these knew, they had been inspired to come.

7. Ka’yu said unto them: Why have ye come? Some gave one reason, and some another.

8. Ka’yu said: These great happenings are the work of the Ever Present.

9. Let us conduct ourselves as Gods; the Great Spirit will then answer us.

10. Let us sit in crescent, after the manner of Gods.

Chapter 33

1. God established a line of light from his throne in heaven down to Ka’yu; by the
presence of half a thousand million angels maintained he this light of heaven with
mortals.

2. That which was inspired of God, came to the soul of Ka’yu; what God spake, that spake
Ka’yu.

3. And God so spake through Ka’yu, that man might not know it was God speaking; for
he desired to inspire men to self-culture, instead of relying on Gods and angels as
heretofore.

4. In the language of Ka’yu, the Great Spirit was called Shang Te; but the word, Te, was
God; the words, the Shang Te, were the Gods.

5. Ka’yu said: Behold, man hath blockaded the road to wisdom. In one place he hath
heaped up thousands of books of the ancients; in another place, he wasteth time in rites
and ceremonies.

6. Our labor is to remodel the whole, by choosing from all the past that which is the best.
Te will guide us in this.

7. We must, therefore, make one book acknowledging the EVER PRESENT GREAT SPIRIT,
and His one, SHANG TE. And this book must contain all the glory and beauty now
contained in the seven hundred sacred books of the empire.

8. And since there are four hundred and eighty-six books on the intermediate world,
which no man can learn, we must take from them all their soundest parts, and make one
book thereof.

9. And in the same connection, there being twelve hundred and seventy books on the
spirits of the dead, and their testimonies of the lower and the higher heavens, we must
make one book thereof.

10. And of the two thousand two hundred books on magic, and on conjuring spirits,
and on second sight and second hearing, we must make one book thereof.

11. Of books of families, there are more than four thousand, which shall also be
condensed into one book.

12. Of histories, there are more than four thousand books, which shall be condensed into
one book.

13. Of law books, there are more than twelve thousand books, and of the precedents of
judges’decrees, there are more than thirty thousand books. All of these shall be
condensed into one book.

14. Of provinces, and of the empire, and of the governors and emperors thereof, there are two thousand seven hundred books, which shall be condensed into one.

15. And of government, there are seven hundred books, which shall be condensed into one.

16. Of caste, there are four hundred and ninety books, and of proprieties, three
hundred and twenty, and all of these shall be condensed into one book.

17. Ka’yu, continuing, said: My work is to bring confusion to a termination. Of doctrines
and laws and rites and ceremonies and philosophies, of both heaven and earth, we have
had enough.

18. In a dark age, Shang Te (True God) giveth his commandments in injunctions; he
showeth the people, what is right, and what is wrong. In my day, the people know these
things, but they do not practice them.

19. Even the preachers and conductors of ceremonies in the temples, who proclaim
righteousness and charity and good works, do not practice what they preach. They live in
ease and luxury, but tell us to go give to the poor. Yea, and they threaten us with hell, if
we do it not.

20. Of these different doctrines, there are seven hundred kinds in the sacred books; and
they all condemn the followers of the others. Whereupon, to escape the damnation of hell,
a man would need to do sacrifice more than four thousand days every year! This is not
possible to any man. For there are but three hundred and sixty-five days in a year!

21. Nor is it possible for any man to learn all the books; nay, a thousand years would not
suffice.

22. God (Te) forbid that I may add more to the burden we have already. And I
know he will preserve in our abridgement all that is good in the whole of them.

23. Since we can not live according to the multitude of doctrines and philosophies, we
must abridge them within the scope of man. Neither must we cut any of them off entirely,
or we lead the followers thereof into rebellion.

24. Since we have so many law books and so many judges’decrees, all of which a man
must learn before he can become a judge of the court, the which is impossible, we must
cut them down into a few simples, but sufficient to cover the rules of discretion in
judgment. Better is it to throw the judge of the court partly on his own judgment and
responsibility, than for him to be a blank as to judgment, simply reading the decree of a
preceding judge.

25. And as to the religion of this man, or that man; behold, it hath come to pass, that each,
in his own order, performeth his rites and ceremonies and sacrifices and prayers, like a
trained horse in a showman’s circle, going round and round, and knowing not the meaning
thereof.

26. For it is come to pass that the religions have made machines of the worshippers; the
law books have made machines of the courts; the books of government have made
machines of governors and emperors.

27. I am sent into the world to make men of men, and women of women.

28. There is no religion to suit me, therefore I make one. There is no government of the
empire to suit me, therefore I devise one. There is no system in society, therefore I make
one.

29. I am not sent into the world to destroy what is, or what hath been; there are enough
evil men to do that. I am sent to cull the harvest, and to gather choice seed from what now
is, and what hath been.

30. For the seed I plant is selected, not to be planted in the ocean, nor on the moon,
nor in a far-off country; but to be planted in Chine’ya, and in Chine’ya I will plant it.