Lectionary Readings for Friday, March 29th, 2019

Friday Evening: Eve of Seventh-Day Sabbath

Book of God’s Word Chapters XIII and XIV

Chapter XIII

1. When the time had come, on the morrow, the king said: I have not slept. All night I
was as one burnt with a fever; for thy wondrous words and thy miracles have well nigh
turned my judgment upside down.

2. I’hua’Mazda said: Because a man cannot understand a thing, shall he cry out, MIRACLE!
Now I declare I have done no miracle; nor hath Zarathustra. Yet to mortals these things
are miracles! If so, is not a man a miracle to himself? Is not procreation a miracle?

3. This, then, I have found, O Asha, what man is not accustomed to, he calleth a miracle;
after he hath seen a matter frequently, he calleth it natural law. What man hast thou found
that comprehendeth the first cause of anything under the sun?

4. Why, then, shall man waste his time in unprofitable research? Is it not wiser that man
labor to raise his fellow-men out of misery and darkness, than to gratify his own personal
desire for great learning?

5. The king said: Thou reasonest well. And yet, what learned good man hast thou found
who will not say: Yea, to do good is a pretty philosophy! And there endeth his aspiration.
What, then, can I say, or what canst thou say, that they words will not be barren of fruit?

6. I’hua’Mazda said: Thou art this day king of all the world; nor is there any other
kingdom but payeth thee tribute. Whatsoever thou desirest is as a law unto all other
kingdoms. For that reason am I come unto thee. Yea, thou wert born to this end. Hear,
then, the voice of thy God, and thou shalt do that which is good for thy soul and good for
all other people.

7. Asha said: Almost am I tempted to accede to thy wishes ere thou hast revealed; but yet
hear thou the voice of thy king; what matters it to me about the good of other people?
Even if it be proven that great men have souls that live after death, it is not yet proven
that the druks have souls also. If they have souls, then heaven must be a stupid place
indeed. For thou hast not shown me that man obtaineth wisdom by dying, nor is it
reasonable that he should do so. Rather tell me, O Zarathustra, how I may get rid of the
world; for of what use is life at most?

8. I’hua’Mazda said: Because thou rejoicest not in thy life, thou perceivest that thy
philosophy is deficient, and not that the world is. For I will yet prove to thee that thou art
overflowing with happiness. To believe the things I reveal and have faith therein, is
to become happy. Then the king answered him, saying: To believe, there is the matter.
I declare unto thee, there is not a grain of belief in my heart. How, then, can it grow?

9. I’hua’Mazda said: He who can say, I can think of an All Highest, hath the seed of
everlasting life in him. He who liveth the all highest he can; he who thinketh of the All
Highest; he who talketh to the All Highest; he who trieth to perceive from the standpoint
of the All Highest, quickly transcendeth belief and becometh a very God in faith. He
becometh master of himself, and feedeth himself with happiness, even as men feed
themselves with bread.

10. Asha said: What wouldst thou have me do? To which I’hua’Mazda said: With the
people thou hast greater authority than a God, greater than miracles. Thy decrees are all
powerful. Thou shalt have a copy of this book written on stone and cloth, one copy for
every sub-kingdom in thy dominions. And thou shalt send it to them with a sword and a
serpent, saying to them: Receive ye this book, for it is a Holy Book, the ALL HIGHEST LAW!
the I’hua’Mazdian law, the Zarathustrian law, the Ormazdian law. And it shall be a rule
and guide unto you and your kingdom forever. And every king in the KINGDOM OF THE SUN
shall serve one year in living with the poor, carrying the alms-bowl for sacrifices unto
Ormazd.

11. And when thou hast sent this decree forth into all the world, thou shalt thyself give up
thy kingdom; and thou shalt give to the poor all thy gold and silver and cases, and all thy
treasures whatsoever, having nothing left unto thyself but the clothes that cover thee. And
thou shalt go and live with the poor, carrying the alms-bowl thyself in the streets of Oas.
And of the food thou gatherest in the bowl, thou shalt give the choicest parts to the poor,
saying: THIS IS THE SACRAFICE OF THE MANY GIVEN UNTO THEE; EAT YE OF IT, FOR IT IS THE VERY BODY AND BLOOD OF ORMAZD, OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN! But the poorest of all that is in the bowl shall be thy portion.

12. At the end of one year, thou shalt go about preaching the Ormazdian law,
commanding the cessation of war and the abandonment of evil, and the acceptance of
righteousness.

13. The king said: What canst thou promise me if I do all these things? Then I’hua’Mazda
suffered Zarathustra to answer him: He said, NOTHING! Did the Creator ask this, before
He made the world? If thou desirest to approach thy Creator, do thou like unto Him.
Nor is it my place, nor the angels’place, nor the place of God, to promise thee anything.
Thou art not my servant; and thou shalt serve only the Master, All Light (Jehovih).

14. And as I have taught thee, so shalt thou go and teach others, explaining the
Ormazdian law.

15. Asha said: Do the Gods in heaven give rewards for good works and sacrifices done
on earth? Zarathustra said: He that doeth good works and maketh sacrifices unto
Ormazd hath his reward. For it is by this means that the soul of man becometh strong,
and especially strong for the first and second resurrections in the next world.

16. Asha said: To be with thee, O Zarathustra, and feast on the wisdom of thy words, I
would make any sacrifice. Wilt thou go with me amongst the poor?

17. I’hua’Mazda said: Nay, thou shalt go alone. And for company thou shalt pray to thy
Creator, and make songs of praise unto Him, nor think no more of thyself than as if thou
wert dead.

18. The king said: It is said of mad-men that they think they are not mad. How, then, am I
to know but I am mad? Will not the world so adjudge me if I obey thy commandments?
And cannot the world judge me better than I can judge myself? It was said of the ancients
that Sughdha obsessed old men and weak-hearted women; and it was for that reason
Osiris came and slew him. If there be Gods in heaven, as thou sayest, mayst not thou have
come to slay Osiris.

19. I’hua’Mazda said: Thou art a great multiplier of arguments; but in all thy speech I have
seen nothing that planned the resurrection of men from darkness into light. And is not this
the All Highest that man should aim at?

20. Asha said: I am done. Thy judgment is greater than mine. All thou hast commanded
of me I will do. From this time forth I will serve only Ormazd, the Creator. Thy God, O
Zarathustra, shall be my God. Thy ways shall be my ways. Henceforth I will argue forever
on the side of the Creator. And touching all matters, I will first ask myself what I shall say
that would be like thy God would say it; and what I shall do that will fulfill the
Ormazdian law.

Chapter XIV

1. Asha, KING OF OAS, the City of the Sun, KING OF THE SUN, ruler over the whole corporeal
world, owner and possessor of all mortals, men, women and children, COMMANDER OF ALL
FLESH, descended from the SUN GODS thousands of years, and whose forefathers were the
fathers of all living creatures, HIGHEST OF MEN, and by whose good grace the inhabitants of
the earth are permitted to live, and whose decrees are the standard of all things, MAKER OF
JUSTICE AND MAKER OF TRUTH, and whom none dare question, and on whose word the sun
and moon and stars bow down, greeting:

2. To the kings and queens of the east and west and north and south, over all the cities in
the world, rulers in the temples of the stars (observatories), slayers of dragons, and slayers
of lions, and slayers of tigers, and of men and of women and of children and serpents,
honored in the golgothas, and by millions of cowering slaves, owners of thousands of
wives, and whose boats sail in lakes of mortal blood, and whose crowns are honored by
ten thousand men slain every year, sworn on the flesh of the thigh, whose words are life
and death; and most obedient to the SUN KING, I command:

3. First, that there is an Ormazd, Creator, Person! Whose Soul is in all the world, and in
all things in the firmament above; Who is Father; Who is the Light of light, Creator of
darkness and men, Who is forever The Going Forth; Who is Cause of causes; larger than
all things seen and unseen; the Power of all power.

4. Second, I’hua’Mazda, His Only Begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mi (the Substance
Seen). Pure and All Holy; Master of Men; Person of Word; Essence of Ormazd revealed
in Word; SAVIOR OF MEN; Holder of the keys of heaven; through WHOSE GOOD GRACE ONLY
the souls of men can rise to Nirvana, the HIGH HEAVEN:

5. Third, Zarathustra, A man, All Pure, conceived by a Virgin, and born wise, being one
with I’hua’Mazda, who is one with Ormazd. Of Whom the word saith: Doeth He without
miracle. THE RAISING OF THE DEAD; HEALING THE SICK BY LAYING ON OF HANDS; WHOS WORD OF COMMAND BRINGETH FORTH RIPE WHEAT, FULL GROWN, IN A DAY; and doing all things that the ancients accredited to the Gods as miracles, but which the Ormazdian law showeth to be
NATURAL LAW TO ANY ONE WHO IS ALL PURE, and who draweth power from Ormazd, the
Creator, and His holy angels.

6. Fourth, A Book, holy and sacred, revealed by I’hua’Mazda to Zarathustra, the All Pure;
and written on stone and cloth, revealing All Wisdom, which is styled, the Ormazdian
law, the I’hua’Mazdian law, the Zarathustrian law, which is the All Highest Law in All the
world, approved by ASHA, I, THE KING OF KINGS!

7. Fifth, by ten thousand learned scribes in my command, written a copy of The Holy
Book, and herewith sent with commands by the KING OF THE SUN! That this book shall be
the All Highest law in all my sub-kingdoms, and that all my kings shall believe it and
command the same of their slaves. Nor shall any man stand up against this, my decree,
and live; nor shall any man alter one word or sign in this Holy Book; nor disbelieve one
word it containeth.

8. And my kings and sub-kings; and my queens and sub-queens, shall obey all the
commandments, even as I obey them; nor shall any man, or woman, or child, question
these things, as to whether they be the All Highest, or whether there be error in
whatsoever cometh from my hand; for by my decree they are made All Truth!

9. For I was raised up to the High Estate by Ormazd, for this purpose; and not one in the
whole world hath power like unto me.

10. And ye, to whom these holy words come, shall make oath on a serpent and a sword to
obey these, my commandments, now and forever.

11. Thus did Asha send officers to carry the books he had made to the kings and queens
in the east and west and north and south; and they that he sent were men of great learning,
and of the highest caste; and they took with them serpents and swords, and gave them as
commanded, exacting an oath from all who received them.