Chapter VI
Of resurrection. In the words of God.

1. Whether on earth or in heaven, the same rules apply to both:
2. He that serves himself one-half and serves others one-half, shall stand grade fifty.
3. He that serves himself three-quarters and others one quarter, shall stand grade twenty-five.
4. He that serves himself one-quarter and others three-quarters, shall stand grade seventy-five.
5. He that serves himself only shall stand grade one.
6. He that serves others wholly shall stand grade ninety-nine.
7. And he who serves accordingly, himself or others, shall stand in grade even as his works manifest.
8. To serve one's self is to work for one's self; to strive for one's self, to think of one's own self, as to what will profit one's own self only.
9. To serve others is to do good unto others; to help them; to teach them; to give them joy and comfort. This is the service of Jehovih.
10. But there are some who are below the grades; who seek to do evil; who seek to make others unhappy; who delight in crime and pollution. These, if mortal, shall be called druks, and if spirits, shall be called drujas.
11. After such manner, in general, are the grades of my heavens of the earth, atmospherea.
12. Grade one is on the earth; grade fifty, midway between the earth and the emancipated heavens, etherea.
13. Grade twenty-five is one-quarter way up from the earth, toward etherea; but grade seventy-five is three-quarters way upward, toward etherea. And so on, relatively, grade and place of ascent intermediately.
14. But grade ninety-nine is the highest atmospherean grade, preparatory to entrance into the company of the all pure in spirit.
15. But good works alone are not sufficient to attain the highest grades, for they require knowledge and capacity to unfold others.
16. To accomplish this, those of the higher grades shall often return to the lower grades and learn to lift them up. For it is this which calls the ethereans in the times of resurrections;
17. During which the righteous, who are yet mortal, begin at once lifting up their fellows.
18. This labor is to the spirit as exercise is to the mortal body, that which gives strength.
19. Judge, then, yourself, O man of the earth, as to the place your spirit will rise in the time of your death.

Chapter VII

1. A man may be wise as to books and philosophy and mathematics and poetry and great learning, and yet be low in grade as to spirit.
2. A man may know little of all such knowledge, and may be poor as well, but by hardship and experience developed in sympathy and good works done unto others, be high in grade as to spirit.
3. So also may it be with spirits that manifest through you as great orators, who stand even in the lowest grade in heaven.
4. Let not yourself deceive yourself, O man, as to your knowledge, or your speech or professions.
5. You have the scales in your own hands, and shall, sooner or later, weigh yourself justly and take your place even as you have prepared yourself.
6. Nor flatter yourself that you can cheat heaven, or change the ways of it.
7. Nor hide yourself behind doctrines, or behind the promises of Gods or Saviors.
8. Old things are done away, and none of these things shall avail you on earth or in heaven.
9. Whether you be king or queen or judge or servant, the same judgment shall stand upon all.
10. When the garment is gone, and the diadem and riches and the flesh as well, consider the grade of your spirit and the bondage upon you.
11. You shall take that for which you have fitted yourself, according to what you have done.
Chapter VIII
1. Hear my words, O man, and be considerate of the justice of your Creator.
2. These are my exhibits which I place before you, so that you shall not err:
3. And if you be a rich man and adorn a city by donating unto it a park, with statuary and pleasure-walks, hoping to glorify yourself by it and be praised by men; in doing this you bury yourself in the first resurrection. And the act lowers your grade instead of raising it.
4. For in whatever you give, you shall consider first the lowest of the low, whether they have bread to eat and a place to sleep: And the sick, whether they have attendance and good provision.
5. And if you be a rich man and contribute a house for the orphans or for the helpless and aged who cannot help themselves, it raises you in grade.
6. But so far as you do this for the applause of men, you detract from the rate of your beneficence.
7. Neither does such a good work help you more than the poor man helps his own grade by assisting one poor orphan.
8. For your resurrection depends not on the quantity you give, but as to whether you give according to what you have. Of which matter you shall judge yourself.
9. For he who gives a penny may be raised up more by so doing than he that gives ten times ten thousand.
10. A certain rich man, being converted from the desires of earth, went about casting his money freely in the streets and in giving to whoever asked him for it.
11. And some gathered it up and fed and clothed themselves; others took of it and went and got drunk and became worse than before.
12. The measure of righteousness of that man's behavior was not in giving what he had to the poor, but in the good and evil that came of it, being weighed, as to which outbalanced the other.
13. And where he lowered the grade of them that received this money, or where he lowered a greater number than he raised, there his act of casting the money away was a judgment against him.
14. He who gives, saying: Here, you beggar! does a good material act, but an evil spiritual act. He lifts up with one hand, but knocks down with the other. Such an act detracts from the grade of that man.
15. A certain rich man, being converted to do good works, went and built a score of soup-houses to feed the poor gratuitously.
16. And all the poor people of that town went there and were fed. But the next year, behold, there were twice as many poor. And the rich man built another score of soup-houses, and they were all fed.
17. But the next year there were still twice as many poor people to feed; but the rich man had exhausted his means and could feed none at all.
18. Judgment is therefore rendered against that man for his supposed beneficence.
19. For, while he did a little material good, he did a great spiritual wrong, because he lowered the grade of manhood and womanhood in those that he fed. His benevolence promoted dependence.
20. A rich man founded a place of labor for the poor, who had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. And he said unto them:
21. The Creator has given you hands to work with; come, be men and women.
22. And they went and worked and earned their living.
23. Judgment is rendered in favor of that man, for he raised the spiritual grade of the poor. This is a beneficence that extends into heaven.
24. Let your charity be to the sick and helpless, but be wise in directing the able-bodied to help themselves.
25. For all charity tends to lower the self-respect of the receiver and casts him lower in the grades in heaven.
26. Certain ones depend on alms, not having either sickness nor yet strong bodies. Nevertheless, were they aroused, they could support themselves.
27. When you give to them regularly, they depend on you. These become beggars in the lowest grades in heaven.
28. That which you give them accounts against your own grade. Better is it for you and for them, that you arouse them from their degradation.
29. To do this tenderly and mercifully is a great virtue; to do it cruelly is a great crime.
30. Consider not so much what you shall do to raise your own grade, but what you can do to raise the grade of those within your reach.
31. Remember, all men and women are your brothers and sisters, and you shall labor to make them make themselves a glory unto the Creator.

Chapter XII
1. O man, remember your Creator and praise Him. In this you are graded by your God.
2. Those who do not see Him are weak in spirit; those who see Him in all things and hear His voice in the leaves, and in every herb, are strong in spirit.
3. These are the grades of the resurrection of the souls of men.
4. For what is the earth but a foaling nest, and the possessions of the earth but chains of bondage.
5. My heavens rest upon the earth; the place of the newly arrived spirit is in my keeping. And I have adjusted the places of the grades of my heavens according to the inhabitants of them.
6. I people the heavens of the earth with the spirits of the dead; according to their grade in their corporeal lives, so do I arrange them.
7. To provide ever-continuing ascension for them, and make them to rejoice in their being. These are the labors of your God.
8. For the beasts of the field and the birds and fowls of the air, and for many animals that are companions to man, I made a place in heaven where their spirits should survive for a season.
9. And this animal heaven I graded, one, in the order of my heavens.
10. For I saw that man on the earth had delight in them; and I provided for him for his es'yan period, that he might rejoice in remembrance of finding his loves.
11. And I made the animal heaven to rest on the face of the lands of the earth in the same place as is the es'yan in grade one.
12. Remember, O man, your Creator gave to every animal a season on the earth; but He limited them to a time to become extinct. Even so, and of like duration I made a heavenly period for the spirits of animals companionable to man.
13. But for man I provided heavens above, where he should rise as to place even as he rises as to goodness and knowledge.
14. Magnify your perception, O man, so that you may comprehend the kingdoms of your God. See the example your Creator set before you in the fashioning of the earth.
15. In large bodies, He placed the lands; in large bodies, He placed the oceans. Not in little hillocks of land and little puddles of water.
16. Even larger than these are the divisions (plateaus) of the heavens of your God; the heavens of the earth are separated by atmospherean oceans.
17. I do not fill the air of the firmament with angels scattered about; but I give unto them regions that are habitable and home-like. And I grade them suitable to the resurrection of the spirits of the dead.
18. Consider the work of your Creator, and the knowledge and symbols He places before you. You hold up a lump of salt, and it is solid and of dimensions; but cast it into water, and it is not seen, but dissolved and lost as to your perception.
19. And you see the earth, which has dimensions also; but the ethe, you do not see. As water is to salt the solvent, so is ethe to corporeal things the solvent. By slow velocity the solid earth holds its form; yet, in ethe, external to the body of the earth, the swift velocity of corpor is magnified into dissolution. By vortices in ethe are these things accomplished.
20. In the atmosphere of the earth, there is sufficient corpor to make many worlds like this habitable earth. And this corpor, which is in solution (as to a mortal's eyes), floats in the firmament of the earth, in continents wide as the earth and deep as the earth; and there are thousands of them.
21. And yet, O man, these are but the atmospherean heavens. These are the dominions given into the keeping of your God. These are my kingdoms and my heavens for a season.
22. As you, O man of the earth, sail your ships abroad over the ocean, and coming to a new land, going ashore, do settle your people on it and it becomes a new kingdom, even so does your God in the heavens of the earth, in the plateaus of this vortex.
23. Remember the magnitude of your Creator's works and the symbols He set before you: Where the clouds float high, it does not rain; where they drag on the face of the earth, it rains daily.
24. Consider the habitations of the resurrections of the dead which are in the keeping of your God.
25. Even as to the square of the distance away from the earth, so are the grades of my resurrections.
26. According to the exaltation of man's soul, so shall he inhabit the places I have made.
27. According to his own soul's growth and development, so shall he ascend in my kingdoms, outward away from the earth; grade unto grade I adapted them.