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Chapter II

1. OSIRE said: In the name of the All Light, I will have fifty millions of conquerors to do my will, on earth and in heaven. But first, send ye an es'elene, with suitable attendants, to deliver God, his Lords, and their hosts, the Brides and Bridegrooms of Jehovih. And leave ye the earth in darkness thirty days. Meantime, let my builders provide me a ship for my hosts; and let the heralds go abroad in Se'ing, announcing this, my decree.

2. Jehovih said: Think not, O man, I gave talents to men differently on earth, and there to end, making My exalted places to be even shorn and alike. Not so created I man; but as one on earth is mild, and leadeth on by smooth words and persuasive behavior; and as another, by quick perceiving and strong will, plungeth in headlong; even so carry I them onward in My high heavens, perfecting them in their bent, but with wisdom and love, till each becometh as a sun in his sphere.

3. Fear not, O man, that I have not labor for them in high heaven: I have worlds to be nurtured and coaxed at times; worlds to be pruned at times, and commanded; by most severe authority made to know that All Power lieth in Me, through My Gods and Lords.

4. For these exalted extreme Gods I have places in he firmament, and worlds numberless, whereon they dwell as stars in My heavens. Thither make I roadways for My traveling corporeal worlds, where lie My etherean fields of pasture, to glorify Me, and lead on the mortal born. So, now, p. 145a to My commanding God, Osire, who ruled in Lowtsin most amiably, with equals, but was high-strung with impatience toward self-willed ignorance, I brought the undisciplined earth to feel his giant power.

5. Say'ah, scribe of Ctaran, thus described the scene: Osire had spoken; his word had gone forth. Heaven was stirred up; Gods and Goddesses knew that work was on hand, new of its order in this place in the firmament. the earth had sons, at last, worthy the will and service of Gods. Osire, impetuous and much-loved God of Lowtsin, was going to visit these earth-sons, and wash them clean, and put jackets on them.

6. Osire said: In written words will I set down explicit laws for these unruly false Gods, the Ghans, and give them bondage, like the people of other worlds. O that they had had discipline before, instead of sweet persuasion!

7. Say'ah said: When some Gods give command, the people move along; but when Osire decreed, the whole heaven of Lowtsin ran. And quickly, now, the mandates were filled; the ships were built, first, the es'elene, commanded by Yok, and equipped with five million souls, and started off in hot haste to the earth to deliver God and his Lords, and such Brides and Bridegrooms as were prepared for the resurrection. Next, the ship, Buer, an adavaysit, built for Osire and his hosts, fifty millions strong.

8. Osire said: That no adventure run foul, let swift messengers be stationed along the roadways; and they shall announce the proceedings of my Gods and Lords, and their whereabouts. And, even so, was the order of heaven executed. And time came, and passed, and the earth was stripped from her God and Lords, and on her, and her heavens, darkness reigned.

9. Then Osire left his high place, and with his hosts, aboard the etherean ship of fire, sat out toward the earth, at break-neck speed; for such was the disposition of this most determined God. Nor halted he at Chinvat, the boundary of the earth's vortex, but sped on with banners and curtains flying, and most martial music to stir up the souls of his hosts to sudden tittle.

10. Down he came to the earth with his fire-ship, and sped round about it, to learn its weak and salient points; and next rose up a little to view the atmospherean spirits who had presumed defiance toward high heaven. In the place where Gau had been (whose God, a most holy one, had p. 146a learned to rule by love for eight hundred years, and was unappreciated by the crude boasters, the unlearned druj), there stood now, castles and mansions of the false God, Utaya, round whom a million of sentinels armed for battle were stationed to protect him, the false, and do his will.

11. Hither came Osire, and over the battlements raised his ship, and brought it even into the arena of the Council of hada. Then, halting, bade his marshals proclaim his voice:

12. Come forth, O Utaya; behold my power! Thy sentinels stand appalled. I raised my hosts by higher law, and stand on my feet in thy citadel.

13. Utaya said: Strange and audacious God! From what unmannerly region hast thou sprung? Know thou, Gods should kneel outside my walls, and beg to know my will, for an audience. Then Osire determined to hear his arguments, and thus spake:

14. From Great Jehovih, I am come! I kneel to none save Him. To do His will in reverence am I come in power and majesty. But erst I demolish thy pitiful walls, and cast thee down, suppliant, to do my will, tell me wherein excusest thou thyself to turn from the exalted heavens, and build here a kingdom of slaves, for thine own glory?

15. Utaya said: O thou jester! Erst I demolish thee and thy ship, and enslave thy hosts as mine, I will, then, pacify thy worthless curiosity, that thou mayest hereafter know thy lesson well. But first, thou has mocked me for my slaves: what more are thy hosts? Hast thou not tampered with their too willing love by stories of thy unseen Jehovih, and persuaded them to suffer thee to lead them on to glory? Now I declare before thee, there is no Jehovih, no All Person! Hence, thy philosophy is founded on falsehood. The space is before us; the worlds are before us; there is nothing more. Let him who will, assume a kingdom; let him who will be a slave, be a slave. I am Apollo!

16. Osire said: When I shall have cast thee down, thou mightest say it was merely because it so happened that one was stronger than another. So, then, that thou mayest remember my words are more in wisdom than in blind force, hear me whilst thou canst, for it is not long that I can talk to such as thou: He who admitteth the universe moveth in harmony and discipline, already admitteth the All Person, Jehovih. He who denieth the All Person, Jehovih, denieth unity in all things. If all things are not in unity, then are all things divided, one p. 147a against another. Whoever holdeth this, is a disintegrator; and whoever holdeth that all things are a unit, is a unitor. Wherefore, if there be greater strength in unison than in isolation, then therein hath unison won the battle and become the All Person.

17. Touching the matter of slaves: There is but One Master, and He ruleth over all; but it lieth in the power of each and every soul to attune himself with the All Person, which is freedom. Of such are my hosts. Thy slaves attune themselves to thee; they cannot rise higher than thou; my hosts have the universe for their model. Because thou canst not find the Cause of thy coming into life, why not say thou: A name I will call Him, and it shall be Jehovih!

18. And now began Utaya with a long discourse, the which Osire waited not to hear, but turned to his marshals, saying: Break ye down the walls of Gau, and raise me ten thousand pillars of fire. I will here rebuild Jehovih's kingdom. Let the es'enaurs chant, ALL HAIL TO OSIRE, GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!

19. To which the astonished Utaya stood silently, as if to know if it were real, or but a frenzied dream, that any one should so unrecognize his power, now well established for three hundred years.

20. Out of the ship came the hosts, and without command, or waiting to know their parts, but every one in time to the music, taking place in the citadel. Osire strode forward, and by the majesty of his power, overturned the throne of Utaya, the false God, and heaped the rubbish aside. Then, stretching forth his hand, he said:

21. In Thy name, O Jehovih, and by virtue of Thy power, in me vested, do I here command the elements to do my will, and raise me a throne worthy of Thy Immortal Son! And with his voice, his hosts, in concert, quickly piled the adamantine seat, and hung it round with transparent tapestry, woven with the elements of silver and gold.

22. The while the laborers of Osire overturned the walls of Utaya's city, and set free his millions of slaves, even whilst Utaya's officers, panic-stricken, dropped on their knees, pleading for pity, or fled precipitously off to the earth. And Utaya, conjecturing the worthlessness of his stuff, compared to that which descended from the higher heavens, shouted and called in vain to his most steadfast zealots in time of peace and easy rule, beholding them, in thousands, vanquished without even a cruel deed or word.

p. 148a

23. Not long the fray lasted, for Osire's work was as if a man were overturning the toys of a child; and Utaya, to prove his faith in himself, stood sole spectator, unmoved from his tracks, but helpless, wondering what should come next. But now Osire, with no words of explanation or excuse, ascended the new throne and gave the sign, IN JEHOVIH'S NAME, which was answered by his mighty hosts; when, behold, from the vault of heaven above there descended mantles of light, matchless in brilliancy!

24. Utaya was himself illumined, and all his former evil deeds and cruelty stood out in huge black spots, quailing before the sea of light; for round on every side stood millions of souls, all pure and transparent, washed by the ordeal of time and holy works. But Utaya was not all evil, or short in owning an honorable adversary; and so, quickly comprehending his awful plight in the midst of Purity, first let fall a tear, the which, in pity, blinded him from witnessing further his dire humiliation; and next, with blubbering of a beaten school-boy, he cried out:

25. Enough! Enough! Thou God, Almighty! Take me hence, from thy dissolving fire! I was but wont to witness some great God's deeds, to find proof of mine own worthlessness!

26. But Osire was not new to such a situation, and proceeded with the affairs of heaven, appointing officers and laborers, and apportioning his High Council to do Jehovih's will, and so left Utaya to sweat a while in his own torments.

27. O give me relief, cried Utaya, thou God of heaven and earth! I consume, I burn in Purity's flame! For pity, turn down the consuming light!

28. Osire halted from his labors long enough to answer thus: All Light cannot cease for convenience of one man; clothe thyself, O false one, with robes of darkness, and hide thy cruel butcheries. Thou, that wouldst have made slaves of my hosts, should be of holier metal than to plead for help. Behold, not one of thy slaves have I taken, or asked to bow in obedience. To the righteous, the worlds are free; only evil men and evil Gods quail before Jehovih's ceaseless fire!

29. Meanwhile, Utaya hustled close around himself his glittering robes, and pulled his flashing crown down over his scalded eyes, which worthless fabric but fed the fury of the All Light, from the throne of God, Osire's resting-place. The slaves of Utaya had p. 149a fled, or lay piteously prostrate, speechless with fear and wonder. Over these the hosts of Osire watched, and hastily took them beyond the now rapidly rising pillars of fire, where they were housed temporarily.

30. Still the voice of Utaya rang aloud for help and pity; but to him none came. Then he saw that the prostrate victims fared better and were less conspicuous; so Utaya cast himself prostrate, along with the rubbish of his former throne. Whereupon Osire sent Yesta, sister of Atonas, Goddess of Opsa, in etherea, to rescue him, and mantle him around with balm from the upper heavens.

31. So Yesta and her band took Utaya hence, far beyond the boundaries of the new-laid Gau.


Next: Chapter III