Lectionary Readings for Monday, May 4th, 2020

God’s First Book Chapter 26, Chapter 27, Chapter 28

Chapter 26

1. I’tura, God of evil, dweller in hell, looked over the broad earth; saw the land of
Guatama, the mighty races of I’huans. And his mouth watered, like a lion’s when a lamb
standeth before him. I’tura called his legions, tens of thousands of drujas, devils from the
regions of hell: Come, he said, I have found a rich feeding place. Behold, I will make my
kingdoms wider; spread out the walls of hell and gather in this great harvest of innocent
souls.

2. Then came I’tura’s hosts of evil, ten times tens of thousands, for such is the nature of
spirits and men; call for ten thousand to do a righteous work, and only a hundred come;
call for ten thousand to do an unholy work, and behold, ten times ten thousand come.
They said to I’tura:

3. How shall we do? Where strike in? And I’tura, wise in wickedness, said: Go to the
temples, the places of shining copper and silver, to the oracles, and obsess them, every
one. And when the kings and the learned men come to consult Gitchee, my deadly enemy,
assume ye to be Him, and answer them with lies and all manner of unprofitable
speculation; turn them upside down; make them curse Gitchee; make them ask for I’tura.
And when madness cometh on them, follow ye them to their sleeping couches and
whisper in their souls that their neighbors are their deadly enemies. Incite them to war and
to all manner of deeds of death; and when they overturn each other’s kingdoms and
houses, and their dead lie like ashes over all the land, gather ye in their distracted spirits
to fill my mighty kingdom with Gitchee’s harvest!

4. Then answered the hosts of I’tura (who was known in heaven as Ahura): Most mighty
God, what are thy prizes, for the souls of men, for souls to extend thy heavenly kingdom?

5. I’tura answered, saying: According to the number of subjects any angel bringeth me,
so will I exalt him to be a captain, or a general, or a Lord, or a God, and he shall have
a sub-kingdom in my heavenly regions, with thousands of servants to do his bidding.

6. With that the evil God and his evil spirits fell to work, night and day; and lo and
behold, the fair land of Guatama was overspread with human blood. Fell war spread
along throughout all the mighty kingdoms; kingdom against kingdom; city against city;
man against man.

7. And the holy temples were pulled down or burnt; and the canals broken and wasted;
the cities on fire, and the fields laid desolate. Neither grew there any grain; the grinding
mills of the women were silent, like the dead stretched over all the fields!

8. Into the forest, afar off, fled the women with the children, hungry, weeping, starving.
And the cities went down; the nations went down; the tribes of men were broken up; only
remnants here and there remained. And where had been great and mighty peoples, lay
only heaps of ruins, past the power of man to rebuild.

9. Then looked down from the highest heaven, the Creator, the Great Spirit; saw the work
of desolation; saw I’tura at his bloody work.

10. And the Great Spirit cried out with a loud voice, so that the earth and heaven shook
with the power of His voice; sifted all things, as a woman sifteth meal. And He found one
grain of corn not ground by the God of evil, found Honga! The tribes so fast sworn to the
Great Spirit that the evil Gods’and evil spirits’words rolled off and took no hold on them.

11. The Great Spirit saw the tribes of Honga, they that stuck most to the I’hins, the sacred
little people, white and yellow, oft marrying with them, thus preserving the stock to the
Hand and Voice. And He called loud and long:

12. Honga! Honga! Honga! The Creator would not be put off with silence; called again:
Honga! Honga! But He heard only His Own Voice resounding far; knew His mighty
Power! Again He called: Honga! Honga! Honga!

13. In the first call, I’tura and his evil hosts ran away. In His second call, it was like
spring-time, after heavy winter. And in the third call, it was like budding summer. And
there came up a sprout of the seed of Honga, an I’huan; taller than any other man with a
bright shining face of copper; shining as if all the destroyed temples glistened in his broad
head.

14. And he spake, saying: Here, O Great Spirit, here am I! And the Great Spirit said: Who
art thou, My Son? And he answered: I am Son of the Creator. Then asked the Great
Spirit: Of what tribe? And he answered: My flesh is nothing; my genealogy is of the
spirit. Of the I’hin my mother; of the I’huan my father.

15. Then said the Creator: For which reason, I name thee Eawahtah, spirit and flesh even
balanced, best of men. Come thou with Me; walk along with Me; thou shalt re-instate the
tribes of men; deliver them out of darkness; make them worshipful.

16. Eawahtah said: I am Thy servant, O Great Spirit. What shall I call Thee, that the tribes
of men be no longer distrustful? Then answered the Creator: Call Me after the wind, O
Eawahtah!

17. Eawahtah said: How after the wind? The Great Spirit said: Come with Me, My Son.
Then Eawahtah walked along and came to a place where the wind blew in the leaves.

18. The Creator said: Tell Me, My Son, what saith the wind in the leaves? And answered
Eawahtah: E! Then the Creator took Eawahtah to the big sea water, and asked: What saith
the wind in the water, My Son?

19. And Eawahtah answered: Go! Then took the Creator Eawahtah to the high crags, the
rocks above the clouds, piercing, where the wind whistled; and He said: What saith the
wind, My Son? And Eawahtah answered: Quim!

20. And the Great Spirit said: Call Me Egoquim, O My Son. I am three in One; the earth,
and all that is in the earth and on the earth, and all the stars and moon and sun; they are
one of My members. And the air above the earth, the Atontea, is another member of My
Person. And higher yet; in the high place above the air, is the ether; the great penetrator;
and that is the third member of My Person. I am everywhere, far and near; all things thine
eye seeth; all things thine ear heareth are of Me and in Me.

21. Whatsoever is one with Me hath no hard labor. Behold the flowers of the field; I
color them. Behold the ant and the honeybee; I lead them; the bird I teach how to build.

22. Man alone is stubborn, setting up ways of his own. O that he could learn to be one
with Me! To move and labor with Me! Then spake Eawahtah, saying: Holy Egoquim! I
will go and teach man, give him Thy words; make him understand.

23. Egoquim said: For that labor called I thee forth, made thee tall and handsome, with
strong limbs, and broad shoulders. Come, then, My Son, I will go with thee; into all the
lands; amongst all the scattered tribes; thy voice shall be My Voice. So near thee will I
stand, when thou openest thy mouth to speak, fear not, I will give thee words; thou shalt
not err.

24. Eawahtah inquired: What shall I say; how teach the sons and daughters of men; give
me a synopsis?

25. Egoquim answered Eawahtah, saying:

Chapter 27
1. One Great Person, even Egoquim, Creator and Ruler over all in heaven and earth.

2. Him shalt thou have and no other God, nor Lord, nor idol, nor man, nor angel, to
worship, forever!

3. Him shalt thou love above all things in heaven above, or on the earth, or in the waters
of the earth!

4. And thou shalt teach him to thy children, and command them to teach Him to their
children, and so on forever!

5. And thou shalt swear against all other Gods, and Lords, and idols, to serve them not
forever! And the same to thy children, and to their children after them, forever!

6. And this is the first Egoquim law.

7. And thou shalt deal unto all men, and women and children, as justly and as kindly as to
thine own mother, out of whose breast thou wert fed when thou wert helpless and of no
strength.

8. Teaching this to thy children, and to their children after them, forever.

9. And this is the second Egoquim law.

10. And to the sick and helpless; to the stranger and the man that cometh afar; to the
widow who is destitute; to the child that hath no father; thou shalt be both father
and mother to them; and take them into thy house and feed them; and give them skins
and cloth to wear; and if they be lost, thou shalt go with them and show them the way.

11. Commanding these things unto thy children, and to their children after them, forever!

12. And this is the third Egoquim law.

13. And thou shalt not tell lies; nor speak falsely against any man, nor woman, nor child;
nor break thy word of promise, even though death come upon thee to induce thee
otherwise. Unchangeable as the setting and rising sun shall be the word of thy mouth!

14. And thou shalt command this to thy children, and to their children after them, forever!

15. And this is the fourth Egoquim law.

16. And thou shalt not take and possess that which is another’s; nor suffer thy children to
do so, nor their children after them, forever.

17. Which is the fifth Egoquim law.

18. And thou shalt respect the times of woman; and when she is bearing unto thee, thou
shalt not lie with her; nor give her heavy labor, nor angry words, nor fret her; but be
obedient to her, doing whatsoever she asketh thee to do, for it is her time, and she is thy
queen.

19. Teaching this to thy young men and to thy young women, and to theirs that come after
them, forever; for their young are begotten of Me, and I will have them shapely, and
strong, and brave!

20. Which is the sixth Egoquim law.

21. Thou shalt labor six days, but on the seventh day it is the moon’s day, and thou shalt
not labor, nor hunt, nor fish, but go to the altar of thy Creator and dance and sing before
Me; and sit in silence to hear My words, which I speak into the souls of men, and of
women and children.

22. Teaching this to thy children, and to their children that come after them, forever.

23. Which is the seventh Egoquim law.

24. Thou shalt restore the rites and ceremonies of Choe-pan and Annubia-pan on the part
I swear thee which thou shalt not restore; which is: Thou shalt not flatten the head to
make a seer, a Haonga, to drive the judgment of the brain away to the prophetic regions.

25. Teaching these things to thy children, and to their children after them, forever!

26. Which is the eighth Egoquim law.

27. Then rose up Eawahtah, Son of Egoquim, saying: I am Thy servant! Lead Thou me,
for I am going in Thy name, even to the end of the world!

28. When thus spake Eawahtah, Son of the Great Spirit, a Light came over him, dazzling,
brilliant, lighting the way, showing him the way.

29. And so great was the spirit on Eawahtah, that when he came to the river, he rose up
like an angel, sailed over and landed safely on the other side.

30. Neither knew he whither he was going; knew not the places of the scattered,
destroyed peoples.

31. And the angels of Egoquim went before him; went into the forests and valleys, calling
to the souls of the suffering, starving, dying, saying to them in their despair:

32. Egoquim, the Mighty, is coming! His Son! Behold Him! He holdeth the keys of
Yaton’te, the heavenly hunting ground. Come forth from your hiding! Come forth, O My
beloved! It is your Heavenly Father calling.

33. And the women heard! The little children, with sore, bleeding feet! The proud, brave
men gave ear! They said: Why do we fight? Why do we destroy? It was a wicked God!
He called himself the Savior,–the wicked monster, I’tura!

34. Then came Eawahtah; came first to the kingdom of Took-shein, and to his queen,
Che-guh, in the land Anagoomahaha, the flat-heads. Told them all the words of the Great
Spirit, Egoquim.

35. Then spake Took-shein, saying: To me the Great Spirit hath spoken; told me all the
words thou hast. I know all thou hast said is true. Then spake Che-guh, saying: To me
spake Gitchee, the Great Spirit. True are all thy words, O Eawahtah. By thee will all the
scattered tribes be gathered together. Many tribes will there be of the red man; Egoquim
will be the center, the Mighty Spirit!

36. Then spake Eawahtah, saying to his good host and hostess: Your place shall be the
centre; from your place I will shoot out around about, always returning, bringing in
followers.

37. Whilst they thus talked, a Light came above them. Look, said Took-shein: It is the
hand of Egoquim! Look, said Che-guh: It is the Voice of Gitchee! Then spake Eawahtah,
seeing more clearly, raised up expressly: It is a ship of fire coming down from heaven! I
hear the voices of the angel of Egoquim, the Mighty!

38. Then Eawahtah went and stood betwixt Took-shein and Che-guh, holding their hands,
so the Voice of Egoquim could speak plainly; so he could hear.

39. Then spake Egoquim, saying, speaking out of the ship of fire:

40. Yea, My beloved! I am with you! Behold, My worlds are wide and many. When My
back is turned, evil Gods come to steal My children; tell them lies to win them; tell them
they are My Sons come to save them!

41. Hard is the fate of those that worship one God only; but they are Mine. I look around
at times; I set the evil Gods flying. Be of strong heart, O My beloved! Many races will
come and go on these lands. But the red man shall possess it: inhabit it far and near. Then
shall come another evil God (Christ), to flay and destroy My sons and daughters, to cover
all the lands over with pure blood. Then will I come again and rout the evil God, raise up
My sons and daughters, full of glory.

42. From far over the water will I bring their kindred (Jews), who worship none born of
woman; a wise speaking people. A people that war not; who kill not off weaker nations. I
will come in the Mohawk (Tenonachi), and the Mohegan (Hoochiquis); My hand shall
reach around the earth in that day. I will chase away all Gods and Saviors born of woman.
Only the Great Spirit shall all men worship.

43. Go forth, My son; build wide My foundation; in this land will I found My earthly
kingdom.

44. Then upward rose the ship of heaven; and Eawahtah buckled on his traveling slippers;
bade good-by to Took-shein; filled his pockets with the bread of Che-guh; kissed her
hand good-by, and started.

45. For many years traveled Eawahtah, over all the regions of Guatama; teaching,
gathering together, swearing the people ever after to be firm to the Great Spirit: made
them swear solemn oaths that never more would they listen to any God save the Creator;
made them swear they would never be caught by another cunning Savior, like I’tura,
whose people delight in war.

46. Into villages gathered Eawahtah the frightened tribes, and taught them writing and
engraving; taught them the secret name of the Great Spirit, Egoquim; and explained to
them the moon, how to keep the seventh day for worship.

47. The Creator saw the great work of Eawahtah; saw the people gathered together in tens
of thousands of places. Then spake the Creator to Eawahtah, saying:

48. Forty mighty nations shalt thou found, O My son; and every nation shall be an
independent nation; but all the nations shall be united into a brotherhood of nations, as
ONE mighty people, and that one shall be called O-pah-E-go-quim, signifying ONE. For
when I come in kosmon, My people shall have many states, like unto thine, and their
combination shall be called UNION, signifying ONE. Build thou a model for them, O
Eawahtah. For, though when they come they shall overthrow thy people in the earth, the
angels of thy holy ones shall come and purge them of their Savior, and make them clean
in My sight.

49. Then Eawahtah made the nations; united them into one mighty people, and called
them the nations of Opahegoquim. And they planted the country over with corn-fields,
and dwelt in peace.

END OF EAWAHTAH’S HISTORY.

Plate 15. TOOK-SHEIN                        Plate 16. CHE-GUH

Chapter 28
1. God said: Be wise, O man, in the words of thy God. My records come not up out of the
ground, nor from the books of mortals.

2. I open my heavenly libraries, and find my living sons and daughters who once trod the
earth.

3. Their light I recast down again to mortals in a stream of fire, and lo, my words are
rewritten.

4. Search thou for the evidence of my footsteps on the earth; find the people who stand by
the Creator, the All One, God of All! Who can shake their faith, or feed them with thy
story of a Savior born of woman?

5. Hearken to the voice of the millions of Chine’ya and Vind’yu, and the remnants of the
Algonquins! Their bibles are a power to this day. Their people are appalled at the work of
thy bloody sword.

6. They will not fall down and worship as thou decreest; they know that Jehovih is
mightier than thou.

7. Be thou considerate of all the races of men, and their doctrines and rites and
ceremonies.

8. Behold, I raise up the nations of the earth in mine own way. According to the times and
conditions of mortals, so do I deal unto them from my heavenly kingdoms.

9. Thou hast tried on all my people, to convert them, but hast failed utterly. Behold, I
come now with a new book; and they will accept it from my hand.

10. Herein do I prophesy to thee, beforehand, that thou shalt witness in time to come, that
I, God of heaven and earth, have spoken.

11. Nor shalt thou say: Man of himself progresseth; and that such and such would come
of a natural order.

12. I say unto thee, man progresseth not, save by me, through my angel hosts in heaven.

13. In testimony of which I have left many peoples before thee, for hundreds of years.
Thy natural order is laziness and uncleanness. Wherein thou art quickened in spirit,
behold, it is the heavens upon thee that stirreth thee up.

14. Thou shalt not mistake the teaching of thy God; which was manifested the same in the
ancient days as in this day: Which is, to worship thy Creator only; to bow not down to any
other God nor Lord; to love thy neighbor, and to do good unto others with all thy wisdom
and strength, having faith in the Almighty!

END OF THE FIRST BOOK OF GOD