Lectionary Readings for Wednesday, April 29th, 2020

Weekday Sabbath

God’s First Book Chapter 16, Chapter 17

Chapter 16

1. For eighteen years more God spake not to Brahma, but Brahma remained faithful, and
Yu-tiv was full of hope. But when the time was fulfilled in Ormazd’s own way, He came
with renewed light, which was on the twenty-first birthday of Hog.

2. Whilst Brahma and his family were seated on mats, eating breakfast at sunrise, lo, a
light, as of a sun, came within the hut, and passed over Brahma’s head, and then
disappeared. And out of the void, in the space above their heads, came these words, to
wit: From this time forth the twenty-first birthday shall be the time of maturity for man.
Be ye watchful for the voice of Ormazd; He is Ever Present!

3. And all of them saw the light and heard the words, save Hog, and Hog, having
been begotten in unbelief, neither saw the light nor heard the voice. And when they
all had exclaimed: Behold the light! Hear that voice!–Hog thus spake before them:

4. For many a year ye have prophesied this should come to pass when I should reach my
twenty-first birthday. For the love ye all bear me, I know ye would not put a joke upon
me; but I am seriously grieved that ye say: Behold the light, and hear the voice! For I say
unto you, these things are not in reason, and cannot be so. But in much hope and faith and
belief, all of which ye have cultivated for years, ye suffer your imaginings to stand for
realities.

5. Now whilst Hog thus spake, the light came again and stood over Brahma’s head whilst
one might count twenty; and the Voice said: Blessed art thou, O Brahma; blessed thou, O
Yu-tiv! These things had to be fulfilled. I preach not by reason alone, but provide living
examples! (In his old age Brahma had attained iesu!)

6. Again all of them saw and heard the manifestation of Ormazd, save Hog, and he saw
not, and heard not what came of the Spirit. Hog said: Have I not eyes good as the best?
Show me a hair that I cannot see; let fall a mite that I cannot hear. Then Whe-ish, the
first-born, answered him, saying:

7. First, my brother, I greet thee with my love, for thou art the fairest and best of all the
great born sons of this God and Goddess, our father and mother. And I appeal to thee
in thy great wisdom, how have we all imagined the same light at the same time and
place? And greater yet, how have we imagined the same spoken words? Hog replied:

8. How can my answers cope with one who hath wisdom like unto thee, O my brother?
Thou hast confounded me; but yet I understand not wherein thou, and ye, my most
loving brothers, can see and hear things that I cannot. Have we not all the same parts,
so like unto one another that our neighbors scarce distinguish us? And above all, we
are all the same fruit from a father and mother, the holiest and wisest of created beings.

9. Now spake Yu-tiv saying: I am before Thy judgment, O Ormazd! That which I have
done, I have done! Deal Thou with me for my great unbelief; I have sinned against
heaven and earth. Even whilst Thou quickenedst into life within my womb this star of
everlasting light, lo, I put out his eyes and stopped up his ears against Thee. The unbelief
of my soul penetrated the walls of my womb and shaped the fruit of my holy husband into
a man of darkness. O Ormazd, why was Thy daughter born!

10. Hog said: O thou Goddess, mother! Weep not, but rejoice for the glory of my birth.
That thou and my holy father, a very God amongst men, brought me into life, my soul is
boundless in rejoicing. I declare unto thee, O mother, I am not in darkness, nor am I blind
and deaf. If there be another world, what mattereth it to me? The glories of this one are
boundless. And if there be a Great Light and a Voice, what are they to me! Thou hast so
filled my every vein of blood with thy warm love, and with the sweet love of these, my
holy brothers, and with the wisdom of my father, God of men, that I know nothing but
to rejoice and to invent praises and thanks to you all, with all my wisdom and strength.

11. And now the Light gathered within the soul of Brahma, and he was as one with the
Father. Ormazd, the Creator, then spake through Brahma, saying:

12. I created the earth not to be despised, as do the Zarathustrians through the hearts of
monarchs and priests, but that it should be the glory of man. This was the Zarathustrian
law, but, for sake of profit, and bondage, and evil, they have perverted My doctrines and
bound up My peoples. They profess Me, even Ormazd; but they have turned My
commandments and My doctrines upside down.

13. I came through Zarathustra and delivered them that called on Me in faith; and they
became My chosen for a season; but they suffered evil to usurp their hearts; they
squandered My substance in building temples and providing a superabundance of priests
and priestesses. They raised up the sword and spear for me; by blood and death they
established kingdoms and called them by My name, Ormazd!

14. The spirit of My Voice they put aside; but the words they retained, and added earthly
meaning thereto. Whereby they proclaim darkness for light, and light for darkness. And
the poor and distressed that worship Me in truth and spirit have learned to hate the words
established. For which reason they are persecuted, and bound, and taxed, and despitefully
used.

15. Yea, they that would kill not because of their natural love to Me and My created sons
and daughters, they impress into service of war, taking them from their kindred, saying to
them: Come away from peace and kill! Be thou a slayer of men; be a soldier of death for
the glory of the king.

16. I commanded them, in the olden time, to kill not at all. My words were plain. But the
kings commanded the priests to interpret My words round about, whereby war might be
justified.

17. I commanded them against taking that which was another’s. My words were plain. But
the kings commanded the priests to interpret the meaning, so the kings could exact tribute
for their own glory. And so they levy wheresoever and whensoever they will, saying: For
the defense of the king and the country!

18. Thus have they perverted My commandments from beginning to end. But I declare
unto you, that in My sight, to kill one man, I will hold him accountable who doeth it; and
ten times accountable if he kill ten men, and a hundred times for a hundred. They shall
not hide death and murder from My sight by the word war.

19. Neither shall they excuse stealing by levying tax for the king or the country’s
protection. For by their own evil, hath it come to pass that they talk about protection.
Have I made a law that one king or one country shall protect itself against another?
Seest not any man that these doctrines come of the flesh and not of the spirit?

20. They profess to be Faithists in Me. But straight away they go and build fortifications
of earth, and stone, and wood. And they that know Me in spirit and truth, perceiving I am
wrongly interpreted for evil’s sake, being such as rebel in their souls against these
iniquities, they seize and impress for their lifetime as slaves, or, if refusing, they kill
them.

21. And they that work such wickedness say: Behold, we have the Zarathustrian law,
the I’hua’Mazdian law, the Ormazdian law; ours is the holy, the revealed word.
Let no man raise up his voice against these truths, or he shall surely be put to death!

22. But I looked down from My holy heavens and saw, and Mine ears heard; and I cried
out in My soul for the evils of the earth. I said: Behold, I will go and deliver them that
have faith in Me in spirit and truth. And I went over the lands of the earth, but I found no
man in whom My light could shine. And I called My holy masters of generations, My
angels high raised in heaven, and I said unto them: Come ye and dwell on the earth many
generations, and by inspiration raise ye up one in whom My light shall shine, for I will
surely deliver My people.

23. Now I declare unto you who are assembled, the time is at hand, and ye are all so many
parts in My work. Even through My angels named ye these sons; according to their
names, so will I establish My kingdom.

24. Suffer, therefore, Vede to write down the words I have spoken, for lo, he hath
learning and memory provided to that end. Be ye watchful, when I come again!

25. Jehovih (Ormazd) ceased, and Brahma woke as from a trance, though he had heard
all that was said. So Vede remembered the spoken words, every one, and he wrote
them down on cloth prepared for that purpose. And this was the beginning of a new name
of a people on the earth, though they were Faithists in fact, and nothing but Faithists;
but they were called by their neighbors sometimes Vedans and sometimes Brahmins.

Chapter 17
1. The next morning, at sunrise, Jehovih came again, speaking through Brahma, saying:

2. As I prepared a way for My voice, be ye wise in laboring to show this light unto all
peoples. Neither take ye sorrow to your souls for the latest born, even Hog; for he is also
in My keeping, and his wisdom shall be the glory of the earth.

3. For is not all fact interpreted by each and every man from the light of his own standing
place? Wherein error cometh into the world by the darkness of men, in not perceiving
rightly the things I have created. Behold, one man seeth the forest with reference to its
value in logs; another for splints for mats; another for shade to lie in; another for its
solitude; and they all alike see by what dwelleth in them, but they see through their own
several windows.

4. Consider, then, the injustice of man that saith: Ye shall see as I see; hear as I hear; or
who saith: This I have proven for a truth, and that for an untruth; or who saith: Behold,
we are many witnesses, and we attest.

5. Whilst Jehovih was thus speaking, His angel appeared and stood in the doorway of the
hut, and all save Hog looked and saw the angel, and witnessed the color of the angel’s hair
and eyes, and the clothes he wore. And they pointed, saying in a whisper: Behold, an
angel of heaven!

6. Then spake Jehovih, illustrating, saying: Whilst yet no one hath spoken, let one
at a time privily describe to Hog the appearance of My angel in the doorway.

7. Accordingly, they all, save Brahma, told Hog all that pertained to the angel, and
they accorded one with another. And Jehovih said: Speak thou, My Son, Hog. Hog said:

8. To whom shall I speak? For, be Thou my very father, or, of a truth, the Creator, I know
not. God said: Who sayest thou the Creator is? Hog said: Even as the wind; the great
void; without person, or shape, or sense.

9. God said unto him: For which reason I say unto thee, because of the unbelief of thy
father and thy mother, whilst thou wert in thy mother’s womb, thou art as thou art. This
have they attested unto thee thousands of times since thou wert weaned. And they have
also attested to thee as often, that during the bringing forth of thy brothers, they were in
the fullness of faith in Jehovih (Ormazd).

10. Thou wert born of the earth, and can only see with earthly eyes, and hear with
earthly ears, and can reason only with earthly reason. Hog said: Then of a truth I shall go
down to earth and there shall be no more of me; but these, my sweet brothers, and
this Goddess and this God, my very father and mother, shall inherit everlasting life?

11. God said: I would place two eggs before thee, with the birds within them nearly
hatched; now with one thou shalt open the shell a little, and the young bird seeth out, but
the other thou leavest closed. Sayest thou one bird will have much advantage over the
other when they are hatched? Or that one shall not live, because, forsooth, it saw not
through the shell? Such, then, is thy way to everlasting life. Of thy darkness will I make
light that will reach unto millions. Thy sacrifice is the sacrifice of a very God amongst
Gods.

12. Hog said: Because of Thy great wisdom, I fear to speak in thy presence. But thy
words come out of his mouth who is the sweetest and holiest of created beings. Therefore
I take courage in mine argument.

13. Now, behold, they have all described the angel in the door; alike and like have they
described it in all particulars. And the wisdom of thy words goeth to the bottom of things,
not like the words of man, but faultlessly. Thou hast made me to behold I am bound as
with iron hoops, and must go my way all my days. Against this I complain not; for I
perceive it is not within my judgment to know even myself, as to what is good for me
or not good for me. This, however, thou hast shown me. I was molded as I am; I am
as I am. If I have faults, they are not my faults. Neither are they of my father or my
mother; for the cause of their unbelief at that time lay not with themselves, but with thee.

14. God said: Thy words shall Vede also write down; the glory and the wisdom of the
earth shall come out of thy mouth. The manner of my edifice shall be shown unto the
inhabitants of the earth. Thou hast seen the king’s temple and how he buildeth it. For the
fine posts he sendeth his best hewers into the forest, and they choose the straightest and
strongest trees, and fall them and hew them, and polish and engrave them, and the posts
are set up in the front as strength and ornament. But as to the walls of the temple, the king
calleth not the best hewers, but the choppers, and they also go into the forest to fetch logs,
not the straightest and handsomest, but whatsoever their axes come upon. And their
timbers are put in the walls with mortar and withes. And the temple is completed to the
king’s will.

15. Jehovih said: Of such like is My heavenly edifice; I send not winter to please one
man, nor summer; nor the rain. I consider in what way I shall induce men to raise up
one another and to be considerate. Through Me, thy father and thy mother and thy
brethren, and all Faithists that come after these, My doctrines, learn to consider the
unbelief of mortals, and the impossibility of one man seeing through another man’s eyes.

16. For as I have raised you up a house in love, one to another, so will I show the wisdom
of disbelief, and its necessity on the earth.

17. The foremost of all lessons is that all men shall have liberty; and no man’s
judgment be binding on another’s; for all do not see alike, nor can they understand alike.

18. That ye shall be alike considerate to them that see not My light, or My Person, even as
to them who are born in su’is; for they are of the same flesh and blood, and their spirits
have they even from the same Creator.

19. For in the evidence of the past and of the present it is before you, that men endeavor
to enforce their doctrines by saying: BEHOLD THE WORD OF ORMAZD! THUS HATH HE
SPOKEN! AND I AM HIS PRIEST! BOW DOWN YOUR HEADS!

20. Whereas, man shall not bow down, but hold up his head and rejoice. They that seek to
enforce Me are My enemies.

21. Nor have I said of this man or that: Hear ye him, for he is Truth. Shall the Creator
make one greater than Himself, and thus cut Himself off? And yet the kings and the
priests of this day assume this in Ihua’s name. And the mothers and fathers of many have
become discouraged because of their great hardships; and they bring forth heirs that have
eyes but see not, ears but hear not.

22. God said: In the days of Zarathustra, I came to deliver them that had faith but were in
bondage; to-day I am come to prove three worlds unto men, and to teach them how they
shall bring forth heirs with eyes to see, and with ears to hear spiritual things, with liberty
unto all men.

23. First, of the earth and its fullness; second, the intermediate world of spirits, where all
shall sojourn for a season; and, third, the Nirvanian worlds beyond Chinvat, where lieth
unending paradise for the pure and wise.