Lectionary Readings for Sunday, May 26th, 2019

3rd Quarter Moon, Holy Memorial Day

Book of Wars Against Jehovih Chapters 44 and 45

Chapter XLIV

1. At this time Osiris’heavenly kingdom numbered thirteen thousand million angels, good
and bad. And it was the largest heavenly kingdom ever established on the earth.

2. It was built after the manner of Sudga’s; that is to say, modeled after Sanc-tu, in Hored,
but more magnificent than Sudga’s kingdom, and far larger. The arena-way was five
thousand lengths of a man across; so that approaching visitors to the throne must crawl
two thousand lengths in order to approach the throne. And they also had to repeat an
anthem of praise, or a prayer, for every length crawled, going and coming. And they were,
like at Sudga’s, permitted to approach only to within a long distance from Osiris; whilst
the array of lights around him were so dazzling that scarcely any could look upon him.
And they that thus approached were so reverential that their minds magnified Osiris’
glorious appearance so much, they verily believed they had looked into the Creator’s face,
and saw, of a truth, man was of his image and likeness. And thousands, and even
millions, that thus crawled to look upon him, afterward went about in heaven preaching
Osiris as the veritable All Highest Creator of heaven and earth.

3. Osiris made his Godhead to consist of three persons: first, himself, as THE FOUNTAIN OF
THE UNIVERSE, whose name was UNSPEAKABLE; second, BAAL, HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, into
whose keeping he had assigned the earth and all mortals thereon; and, third, ASHTAROTH,
HIS VIRGIN DAUGHTER, into whose keeping he had assigned life and death, or rather the
power of begetting and the power to cause death with mortals.

4. Osiris was the most cunning of all the self-Gods; for thus he appropriated the triangle
of the Faithists; thus appropriated the names and powers of the Lord God, the false (now
in hell), for only through Baal and Ashtaroth could any mortal or spirit ever attain to
approach the arena of the throne in Agho’aden. And here again, they had to pass the high
sentinel, Egupt, before they were entitled to the right to crawl on their bellies over the
sacred pavement, the way to the heavenly palace.

5. Only the vice-Gods of Osiris and his chief marshal could walk upright to the capital
palace, and they with heads bowed low. And when Osiris was informed of Ahura’s
coming he sent word that he should come upright, with head erect, but veiled from head
to foot. To this Ahura gladly consented; and, being thus veiled by Egupt and handed over
to the vice-Gods and the chief marshal, he walked upright till he came to the high arch of
the palace; here they halted, and Ahura saluted on the sign OLD TIME LOVE, and Osiris
answered in the sign JOY IN HEAVEN. Whereupon Ahura left the vice-Gods and walked
near the throne, and Osiris came down, and they embraced in each other’s arms, not
having seen each other for more than a thousand years.

6. Osiris signaled the vice-Gods and chief marshal to fall back, and they did so, and they
ascended the throne and sat thereon, privately.

7. Osiris said: This is a great joy! To meet one’s loves, is not this greater, after all, than
all the pomp and glory of the Gods? Ahura said: True; but who is wise enough to live
to enjoy so cheap a glory? We run afar off; we build up mighty kingdoms, and our
places are replete with great magnificence; in search after what? Whilst that which
doth cost nothing, love, the greatest good of all in heaven and earth, we leave out in
the cold. More delight have I to again look upon thy buoyant face, and hear the music
of thy voice, than I ever had in my heavenly kingdom of seven thousand million angels.

8. Osiris said: Is it not so with all Gods, and with mortal kings and queens? They boast of
the extent and power of their countless millions; and yet they have not more to love them
than would match in numbers their fingers’ends, whom they can take into their arms
in the fullness of reciprocity. What, then, are pomp and glory? Are not kings and queens
of earth but watch-dogs, to guard the stinking flesh and bones of other mortals? And
are not the Gods equally base in their dirty trade of ruling over foul-smelling drujas?

9. Ahura said: It is so. But whence is this great desire to rule over others; to lead them; to
be applauded; and to revel in the toil of millions? Would it not be wise for the Gods who
understand this, to resign their mighty kingdoms and go along with their loves to feast in
the great expanse of the universe.

10. Osiris said: True, O Ahura. But who hath power to do this? Certainly not the Gods.
And is it not so with mortals? For thousands of years, have they not been told: Except ye
give up your earthly kingdoms, and give up your riches, ye cannot rise in heaven. But,
behold, the rich man cannot give up his riches; the king cannot give up his kingdom.
They are weak indeed! As well expect an unhatched bird to fly, as for such souls to be but
slaves in our dominions. This do I perceive also, of mine own kingdom, I cannot give it
up; because, forsooth, I cannot get the desire to give it up, although my judgment saith it
would be the highest, best thing for me.

11. Ahura said: Are not great possessions like unto dissipation? I have seen mortals
who admit THE HIGHEST, BEST THING TO DO IS TO LIVE THE HIGHEST, BEST ONE KNOWETH, and straightway go off and pollute the body by eating flesh and drinking wine. They also
know the right way, but to attain to the desire to put in practice what one knoweth to be
the highest, they have not reached.

12. Osiris said: Yea, all this is dissipation. And if a man give away what he hath, is not
that also dissipation? Can it be true, O Ahura, that even as we manipulate mortals, to
drive them to war or to make them play peace, to make them destroy their kingdoms and
build up others by our angel armies, which they know not of, that we ourselves are ruled
over by the Gods in the etherean heavens?

13. Ahura said: It seemeth to me thus, Osiris, that is to say: That the etherean Gods above
us rule us, but not in the same way, but by their absence from us when we do unjustly,
and by their presence when we do righteously. We rule over mortals by direct action
upon them, shaping their destinies by our heavenly wills, and they are often cognizant
of our angel servants being with them. But when we cannot appropriate a mortal to
do our wills, we withdraw our angels and suffer him to fall into the hands of drujas.

14. Ahura continued: Not that the Gods above us, O Osiris, send evils upon us; but that
we foster evils within our own kingdoms which take root, like thorns and nettles in a
neglected field, and they grow and environ us. Even this I have seen in thy heavens in the
far future. It will come upon thee, O Osiris, and with all thy wisdom and strength thou
wilt meet the same fate as De’yus, and be cast into hell.

15. Osiris said: Were I to judge by all the self-Gods who have been before me, I should
assent unto thy wise judgment. But hear thou me, O Ahura, for mine is not like any other
heavenly kingdom, nor formed for mine own glory only. This, then, is that that I will
accomplish:

16. I will cast out sin from amongst mortals, and all manner of wickedness; and I
will give them a heavenly kingdom on earth. They shall war no more, nor deal
unjustly with one another; nor have suffering, nor immature deaths, nor famines,
nor sickness, but peace and love, and righteousness, and good works and nobleness.

17. For I will go down to them in person in time to come; and I will take with me angels
high raised, and appoint them unto mortals, and give them corporeal bodies for their
pleasure, and they shall be the teachers of man on the earth. And man shall put away all
selfishness and deceit, and lust, and lying; and the races of man shall be taught how to
beget offspring in purity and wisdom.

18. And in that day I will take back the drujas of heaven and engraft them on mortals and
re-raise them up with understanding. Wherefore, O Ahura, though I fortify myself in all
this, am I not laboring in the right way?

19. Ahura said: It seemeth to me a dangerous proceeding. I would compare thy plan to
that of a teacher who took his pupil into a place of vice to teach him virtue. How can a
heavenly kingdom exist amongst mortals, save with celibates? And they cannot people
the world. Is there any other way but by the delight of the lowest passion that man can be
born into life? What belongeth to the flesh is of the flesh; the spirit repudiateth the earth.

20. Osiris said: It hath been so said; but I will cast the higher love down into the lower.

21. Ahura said: Why, so thou canst; but, alas, will it remain down, and forever grovel on
the earth? I have seen a sweet maiden wed to a vicious husband, and she lifted him not
up, but he pulled her down. Will not it be so with the higher love, when thou weddest it to
the passions? Behold the manner of the oracles! We appoint high-raised angels to answer
the questions of mortals, to lead them to virtue and wisdom; but, alas, mortals come not
to the oracles to learn these things, but to learn wickedness, and war, and earthly gain.
Will it not be so with thy kingdom founded on earth? Instead of helping mortals up,
mortals will pull down the angels to answer them in their most sinful desires and
curiosity.

22. Osiris said: Thou hast great reason on thy side, and facts withal to sustain thee. Yet
forget not, O Ahura, I shall have a temple built of stone on the earth, and a chamber
where I can come and command the kingdom through the mortal king.

23. Ahura said: Behold, my mission is fruitless. I have now visited my three loves,
Te-in, and Sudga, and thee. And I cannot turn one, even a jot or tittle. In this I have
great sorrow; for I fear the time may come when great darkness will be upon you all.

24. Osiris said: I will consider thy wise words, O Ahura. And though thou now goest
from me, my love will follow thee.

25. Hereupon Osiris signaled the chief marshal and the vice-Gods, and they came.
Then Osiris and Ahura embraced each other and parted, both saluting in the sign,
LOVE FOREVER. Ahura retired even as he came, but backward, the vice-Gods on either
side and the marshal leading the way. After they crossed the arena, Ahura
was delivered to Egupt, and the chief marshal and the vice-Gods returned to Osiris.

26. Egupt passed Ahura on to his own attendants, who conducted him to his fireship wherein they embarked and set sail for his own heavenly place, Vara-pishanaha

Chapter XLV

1. Jehovih suffered the self-Gods to prosper for more than four hundred years; and
Te-in, and Sudga, and Osiris became the mightiest Gods that ever ruled on the earth.
Know, then, these things of them, in heaven and earth, whereof the libraries of
Jehovih’s kingdoms relate more fully that of which the following is a synopsis, to wit:

2. First of Te-in, then Sudga, then Osiris. And of Te-in’s heavenly kingdom, two viceGods, Noe Jon and Wang-tse-Yot. Chief high marshal, Kolotzka, and under him
thirty thousand marshals. Chief general, Ha-e Giang, and under him one hundred
thousand generals and high captains. Of these, twenty thousand were allotted to the
dominion of mortals in Jaffeth; the others served in heaven, mostly about the throne
of Te-in. Chiefly distinguished as Gods on the earth were Te-in’s fourteen chief
generals: Kaoan-cat, Yam-yam, Tochin-woh, Ho-jon-yo, Wah-ka, Oke-ya-nos,
Haing-le, Lutz-rom, Le-Wiang, Thu-wowtch, Eurga-roth, I-sa-ah, To Gow and Ah Shung.

3. These generals were divided into two parts, seven each; and they were allotted equally,
of the twenty thousand rank generals deputed to the earth; and these again were allotted
each thirty thousand angel warriors.

4. Te-in had said to these fourteen chief generals: When ye come to the earth, and finding
two cities near together, both of which worship other Gods than me, ye shall
divide yourselves into two parts; and one army shall go to one mortal city and the other
to the other, and by inspiration and otherwise ye shall bring the two cities to war
against each other, until both are broken down, or destroyed. After which ye shall
inspire another city, that worshippeth me, to come and possess both of those that
are destroyed. Better is it to make our enemies kill each other than to kill them ourselves.

5. And such was the mode of warfare by Te-in in that all the land of Jaffeth was subdued
unto himself in less than a hundred years. Save the matter of a million Faithists, scattered
here and there; and of the Listians who were in the mountains and wildernesses. And
great and costly temples were built in all the cities of Jaffeth, and dedicated to TE-IN,
CREATOR AND RULER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

6. Now, as to the worshippers of Joss and Ho-Joss, they were not converted but subdued,
and they worshipped their God in secret, and made rites and ceremonies whereby they
might know one another and the better escape persecution. Many of these rites partook
after the manner of the ancient rite of Bawgangad.

7. Of the great cities destroyed in these wars were: Hong We, Chow Go and Sheing-tdo.
For Hong We the wars lasted twenty years; and there were slain within the city five
hundred thousand men, women and children.

8. The wars of Chow Go lasted forty years, and within her walls were slain three hundred
thousand men, women and children. For Sheing-tdo the wars lasted twenty-five years,
and there were slain within her walls three hundred thousand men, women and children.

9. In the destruction of Hong-We there were consigned to ashes four hundred houses of
philosophy; two thousand four hundred colleges, and twelve thousand public schools. All
of which had been made glorious in the reign of Hong, the king of the city. Because he
worshipped Ho-Joss, his great city was destroyed.

10. In Chow Go there were destroyed six hundred houses of philosophy and two hundred
colleges of Great Learning. Here was the Temple of Jonk, which was dedicated to
worship of Joss (God), and which, in building, required twenty thousand men twelve
years. It had two thousand pillars of Awana stone, polished; and at the blood altar it had
twelve thousand skulls, of which the great king Bak Ho was slaughterer in the name of
Ho-Joss. The throne of worship for the king was set with diamonds and pearls; and it had
a thousand candlesticks of gold and silver. And the fine silk drapery and fine wool
drapery within the temple were sufficient, if spread out, for five hundred thousand men to
lie down on and yet not cover up the half of it. And the drapery was painted and
embroidered with pictures of battles and wars; and of scenes in heaven. For the
ornamentation of which drapery twenty thousand men and women had labored for forty
years. All of which were destroyed, together with all the great city and all its riches and
magnificence.

11. Sheing-tdo was a city of fashion and splendor, inhabited by the richest men in the
world. She had a temple called Cha-oke-king, dedicated to learning, but in fact
appropriated to the display of wealth and pageantry. It was round, with a high projecting
roof, the eaves of which rested on ten thousand pillars of polished stone. There were four
hundred door-ways to enter the temple; but, within each door-way, one came against
the square columns of precious stones that supported the roof inside; and to either side
of the columns were passage-ways that led into the four hundred chambers within. In
the center of the temple, artificial stalactites, twenty thousand, hung from the roof;
these were made of silk and wool and fine linen and painted, and of colors so bright that
mortal eye could scarce look upon them, and they were as ice with the sun shining
thereon, forming rainbows in every direction. Here came kings and queens and governors
of great learning; for here were deposited copies of the greatest books in all the world.

12. Besides the temple of Cha-oke-king, there were seven great temples built to Joss,
either of which was large enough for ten thousand men to do sacrifice in at one time. For
five and twenty years the people of Sheing-tdo fought to save their great city from
destruction, but it fell, and was destroyed, and all the temples with it; by king Bingh it
was laid low.

13. Next to these were the following great cities that were destroyed: Gwoo-gee, which
had one hundred houses of philosophy and forty colleges for great learning; one temple,
with eight hundred polished pillars and two thousand arches; thirty temples of wheat and
corn sacrifice; one feed-house, where was stored food for one hundred thousand people in
case of famine, sufficient for eight years; and all these, and the libraries of the records
of the Gods and Lords of earth, and all things whatever in the city were burnt to ashes.

14. The city of Young-ooh, of two hundred thousand inhabitants, which had seventy
houses of philosophy, and thirty-five colleges of great learning, besides many schools;
one TEMPLE OF THE STARS, where lectures were given daily to the people to teach them the
names and places of the stars and their wondrous size and motion; forty temples of
sacrifice, seven of which were large enough to hold all the inhabitants of Young-ooh, the
great city. By king Shaing it was laid in ashes, and nothing but heaps of stones remained
to tell where the city had been.

15. The city, Gwan-she, which had thirty houses of philosophy, and seventy temples of
sacrifice, two Temples of the Stars dedicated to Joss; eighty-five colleges of Great
Learning, and also a feed-house, stored sufficiently to feed the city seven years; and there
were two hundred thousand inhabitants within the city walls. Twelve years the people of
this city fought against the incited plunderers, the warriors under the God Te-in, but were
conquered at last, and their city laid low.

16. And the great cities, Ghi, and Owan, and Chong, and Goon, and Ca-On and Jongwong, and Sow, and Wowtch-gan, and Sem-Sin, and Gee, and Tiang, and Choe, and
Doth, and Ah-mai, and Conc Shu, and Guh, and Haingtsgay, and Ghi-oo-yong, and Boygonk, all of which had houses of philosophy and colleges of great learning, and public
schools, and temples of sacrifice, and feed-houses, and hundreds of thousands of
inhabitants. And all these cities were destroyed, and only heaps of stones left to tell where
they had been.

17. Besides these, there were more than two thousand cities of less prominence destroyed.
And yet, of villages and small cities, so great were they in number which were destroyed,
that no man ever counted them.

18. City against city; king against king; man against man; for the inhabitants of Jaffeth
were obsessed to madness and war and destruction; almost without cause would they fall
upon one another to destroy; for so had Te-in sent his hundreds of millions of warring
angels to inspire mortals to destroy all knowledge, and instruction, and learning, and
philosophy, and to destroy all trace of all other Gods and Lords, that he alone might reign
supreme.

19. And these angels taught mortals how to make explosive powder, and guns to shoot
with, more deadly than the bow and arrow; and taught the secret of under-digging a city
and blowing it up with explosive powder.

20. So, the fair land of Jaffeth, with its wisdom and great learning, was made as a
distracted and broken-up country. In all directions the bones of mortals were scattered
over the lands; nor could the land be tilled without digging amongst the skulls and bones
of the great giant race of I’huans that once had peopled it.

21. And of those who were not destroyed, one might say: They were a poor, half-starved,
sickly breed, discouraged and helpless, badly whipped.

22. And the spirits of the dead were on all the battle-fields, lighting up the dark nights by
their spirit-fires, and in the morning and the twilight of evening they could be seen by
hundreds and thousands, walking about, shy and wild! But an abundance of familiar
spirits dwelt with mortals; took on sar’gis forms, and ate and drank with them, and even
did things of which it is unlawful to mention.

23. Thus was Jaffeth won to the God Te-in. Now of Sudga, know ye.