Lectionary Readings for Friday, April 10th, 2020

Book of Divinity Chapter 7, Chapter 8

Chapter 7

1. In the sixth Diva, Div decreed: The Divan law shall be the higher law; and ye shall give
to mortals a law copied after it, and the mortal law shall be called the lower law.

2. One of the members of Diva said: If a mortal judge, being in judgment between certain
men, by which law shall he judge? On this matter the members spake at great length.

3. Div then decreed: He cannot discern the higher law but dimly; the lower law he can
read plainly in a book. He shall therefore judge by the lower, but by the highest
interpretation. And then Div on his own account said:

4. For the priests of the Zarathustrians, who have carried the alms-bowl and lived in all
things pure, being celibates, serving the Creator, Ormazd, only, going about doing good,
they have the higher law, the Divan law, within their hearts; they shall judge by it.
Nevertheless trouble cometh not into any of the worlds by those who strive to do aright,
but by those who evade. The time shall come when the judge shall not interpret according
to the higher law; he will strive to hide justice in a corner, using words to conceal his own
perversity. It is by such men and such angels that heaven and earth will be blighted in
coming time.

5. For, as through Zarathustra, God’s Word hath been established on the earth; and since
words themselves perish and are supplemented by new words, the time shall come when
the higher law will fall, as a house on sand. For there are no words that are everlasting,
and that are understood by all men alike; words themselves are but as husks that surround
the corn. Men in darkness quibble on the husks, but discern not the fruit within.

6. Jehovih spake to Div, saying: Man buildeth a house, and it perisheth. Succeeding
generations must also build, otherwise the art of building would perish. Better
the building perish, than the art of building. I created all men to labor and to learn.
What less requireth My Gods and angels? Because language melteth away, the
language-makers, that is, My Lords and ashars, have constant employment of delight.

7. Div said: Foolish men run after a language that is dead and moldered away; but the
wise seek language to express the spirit of things. The latter is under the Divan law; the
former is bound as a druk. And herein shall ye be circumspect; because mortal judges,
who judge by the lower law, are bound in words.

8. Copies of these Divan laws were given to mortals through the Lords and ashars, either
by inspiration or by words spoken in sar’gissa. And in Jaffeth and Shem and Arabin’ya
mortal kings decreed mortal laws and revelations, based on the Divan laws, and on the
Zarathustrian laws.

9. Div propounded: A man and woman in mortal life were as druks, being filthy, and idle,
begging from day to day, and yet they had born to them many children. And the children
were alike lazy and worthless, being beggars also. Now in course of time, the man and
woman die, and in time after, the children die also, and none of them are yet entered into
the first resurrection in heaven, being beggars still and dwelling around their old haunts.
What of them?

10. The Lords all spake on this subject, and after that Div decreed: Such spirits shall be
reported by the ashars to the Lord, and the Lord shall send a captain with sufficient army
to arrest them, and bring them away from the earth, and enter them in a colony for such
purpose. This was called Divan act, the first.

11. Act, the second: For thirty days such drujas shall be clothed and fed. If by this time
they manifest no inclination to labor, but are still lazy, they shall be removed into another
region, where food can be obtained only by exertion.

12. Act, the third: This law shall apply also to mortals; through the ashars shall they be
inspired to migrate to cold and unproductive regions. Div said: Herein hast Thou wisely
planned, O Jehovih! For all Thy places in heaven and earth shall be subdued, and made to
glorify Thee!

Chapter 8

1. The Diva met thrice every year in Mouru, and enacted many acts, after the manner
herein before related; and the number was so great that all the spirits in heaven and
mortals on earth, were fore-planned, from before birth until they became Brides and
Bridegrooms in heaven.

2. And heaven and earth became as one country, with one king, who was God; and his
word ruled over all. And the Lords’kingdoms prospered, and the kingdoms of the sub-Gods and Goddesses; the like of which glory had not been since the earth was created. And there were rites and ceremonies, and recreations, and games, and pageantry on earth
and in heaven, so great that one might write a thousand books thereon, and yet not have
told the tenth part.

3. So, after God had reigned one hundred and ninety years, he descended from his
heavenly place, and went about in all the Lords’dominions, and the sub-Gods’dominions
in the lower heavens, that he might rejoice before Jehovih in the great good works he had
done.

4. And in all the heavenly places there was great rejoicing before God; and the singers
made and sang hymns of rejoicing; and trumpeters and harpists proclaimed the glory of
Jehovih’s Presence.

5. So God had the people numbered, that the Gods of the etherean worlds might send in
dan for the great resurrection. And the number of Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih
would be sixteen thousand millions!

6. After that, God directed his fire-ship to run close to the earth, that he might survey
mortals and their kingdoms. And he visited all the great nations of earth, to the south,
and north, and east, and west. And now his soul cried out with great sorrow! The great
peoples of the earth were turning celibates!

7. And the Voice of Jehovih came to him, saying: God, My Son, Hoab, why sorrowest
thou? And God answered, saying: Behold, the earth is not peopled over; the plains and
mountains are not subdued; the wilderness is filled with beasts of prey; the Zarathustrians
are running into the same line as the I’hins; they kill nothing; they live for the soul only.
And since they have learned the bondage of the lower heavens, they will not marry and
beget offspring.

8. Again Jehovih spake to God, saying: Call not down a’ji nor ji’ay, My Son! Fear not. In
ten years, behold, I will bring the earth into dan, and thou shalt bring thy harvest into My
emancipated worlds.

9. So God sorrowed no more; and on his return to Mouru, and in the next following
meeting of the Diva, he propounded: If a husband and wife have a child born unto
them, they both being Zarathustrians: What then? When the members had spoken,–

10. Div decreed: They shall have rites and ceremonies, that the ashars of the order of
Zarathustra may be appointed unto it. What the ashars do in spirit shall the corporeans do
in corpor. And this was the first supplemental Divan law.

11. Through the commandment of the different Lords, the ashars assembled in the house
of a Zarathustrian at the time of the birth of a child, and these spirits baptized the child
with a rod, sprinkling water on its head, after the manner of selecting victims who have
been delivered out of hell. And by inspiration the angels induced the mortals to go
through the same ceremony, having a priest to perform with the rod, which had been
dipped in water.

12. Div decreed: A baptized child showeth it hath sprung from the Zarathustrians, and it
hath inherent in it high possibilities. And if it die in infancy, it shall be received not with
the children of druks in heaven, but in such place as will enable the parents, after death, to
visit it with delight. This was the second supplemental Divan law.

13. So it became common on the earth for mortals to have their children baptized in
infancy, that in case of death they should be taken to a place of delight, and not fall into
the power of drujas, the evil spirits.

14. Div propounded: If a young man, who is a Zarathustrian, and a young woman, who is
also a Zarathustrian, and both every way obedient to the Ormazdian law, and to the
I’hua’Mazdian law, what shall be the rites and ceremonies of marriage for them? On this
all the members spake, and after that,–

15. Div decreed: They shall be married by a rab’bah, with kin and friends present. The
rab’bah shall say: Ormazd hath united you forever; live ye in peace and love on earth, and
ye shall dwell together in a heavenly place of delight after death. What Ormazd hath
joined, no man can separate forever. And whilst the mortal ceremony is being performed,
the ashars and spirits akin shall have rites and ceremonies in the same house, and this
shall be called the beginning of a new heavenly kingdom. This was the third supplemental
Divan law.

16. Besides these, there were passed a hundred and eight supplemental Divan laws;
and they comprehended all things in life and death of mortals, and all things pertaining
to the resurrection after death. And so great was the power of the Zarathustrian
religion on earth that war ceased, and the tribes and nations dwelt together in peace.
The people ceased to build large cities, and ceased striving for the things of earth.

17. But they learned little, save rites and ceremonies, and prayers, and singing hymns of
praise unto Ormazd, and to his Gods and Lords, and to Zarathustra, the All Pure. Thus
ended the dominion of Hoab’s reign in heaven and earth, the like of whose greatness had
never been surpassed.

18. So Jehovih brought the regions of dan, and sent seven ships, and delivered God and
his harvest of sixteen thousand million angels into places of delight, the Nirvanian fields
of Niscrossawotcha, in etherea.