Chapter XLVII

1. Osiris, the false, on setting up a heavenly kingdom of his own, and dominion over Arabin'ya, and Parsi'e, and Heleste, said: Let Te-in and Sudga pursue their course in destroying; mine shall be in the opposite way.

2. Osiris, the false, said: Three kinds of bad people I have found in heaven and earth: They that are forever finding fault with, and putting down, what others have built up; they are most crafty in argument to find the flaws of others, the inconsistencies, errors and shortness; but there is nothing in them to build up anything in heaven or earth. The next bad man is he who findeth fault not only with all that hath ever been, but with all propositions designed for a new state of affairs. He is as worthless as the shaft of a spear without a head. The third bad man I have found is he who, seeing the faults and errors of others, harpeth not upon them, but plungeth into work with something new and bold, involving himself and others in disaster. And these three have the great multitude, the world, to take care of! I alone am capable of destroying and building up.

3. The non-resistance of the Faithists hath ever made them dependent on the mercy of their neighbors, in heaven and earth. They must be destroyed, and their doctrines also.

4. In destroying their doctrines, I must give something in the place. I have labored to put away Jehovih and establish the Lord God; now to put away the latter and establish myself as myself would take other hundreds of years. Better, then, is it, that since De'yus is cast into hell, I take the names, Lord God, and De'yus, and Creator, and all such as are acceptable in heaven and earth.

5. Neither will I rob them of their rites and ceremonies, but so add thereunto, that, by the superior glory, they will accept mine.

6. Nor will I abridge mortals of their learning; but, on the contrary, be most exacting and high in aspiration; for by this will I win the approval of the wise and learned.

7. Mortals love idols; therefore I will give them idols. Male and female will I give unto them.

8. Osiris then called Baal, Ashtaroth and Egupt into his heavenly Council chamber, and said unto them:

9. Two idols shall ye inspire mortals to build unto me: and one shall be the figure of a male horse, with a man's head and chest and arms, and he shall point upward, signifying, heavenly rest; and the other shall be the figure of a mare, with the head and breast and arms of a woman. And she shall hold a bow and arrow before her, and behind her a sword and a rose, signifying, for righteousness' sake. And the male idol shall be called Osiris, and the female, Isis.

10. For wherein I assert myself creator of all the living, I must show unto men that I am male and female.

11. Which of a truth is the fountain of all that is in heaven and earth, wherein Projection and Reception are the sum of all philosophy.

12. In which ye shall teach that to go forth is Osiris, and to rest in meekness is Isis; for which the ancients used the bull and the lamb.

13. For I was a globe, boundless as to size, and swift as to motion. And I put forth a wing for flying, and a hand for labor, by which are all things conquered and subdued. And beneath the wing I set the Lamb of Peace, as a sign of the flight of the defenceless; but under the hand I set the head of a bull, as a sign of my dominion.

14. And I made heaven and earth with wings flying forth, bearing the serpent and the sun. Square with the world, and circumscribed, have I made all things, good and powerful.

15. And in man's hand I placed the key to unlock the mysteries of the firmament of heaven, and the power, and wisdom, and riches, and glory of the earth. Into his hand I place a club, to slay the lion, or to subdue him.

16. For I am like unto man, having created him in mine own image; and I hold the key of heaven and earth, and dominions over all the inhabitants I created on the earth. I am Tau, I am Sed.

17. I am the light and the life, and the death. Out of myself made I all that live or ever have lived. The sun in the firmament I set up as a symbol of my power. The stars, and the moon, and things that speak not, and know not, are the works of my hand. Without me nothing is, nor was, nor ever shall be.

18. Whoso goeth forth warring for the right is for me, and I am with him. With warriors I am a god of war; with the peaceful I am a lamb of peace. To do, is of me; to not do, is not of me, but of death. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood, mercy for mercy; but force unto all things, with will to conquer, for in these am I manifest unto men.

19. For in the beginning I created the world of mine own force; and this is my testimony, justifying force even with violence when the greater good cometh to the greater number. Hereon hangeth my law; in which any man can understand that had the Faithists fought for righteousness, they would have long since mastered the world and subdued it unto their God.

20. What, then, is the strategem of Gods, save by some means to reduce men and angels unto oneness in all things? When Osiris had thus addressed the three Gods, he waited for them to speak. Baal said: This is a foundation; we have never had a foundation for men nor angels. Ashtaroth said: This is a head and front to lead the world. Egupt said: The wisdom of the Faithists was in having a direct course.

21. Osiris said: Then will I revise the doctrines of earth and heaven. I will not say this is for De'yus, nor the Lord, nor God, nor Osiris, nor Apollo, nor any other God. But I will give that which all save Jehovihians can accept.

22. For I will allot unto God all things, not defining which God, or what God, but God only; the rest will I manage in Agho'aden, my heavenly kingdom.

23. Go ye, therefore, to mortals, and revise the things of De'yus unto God; and if mortals question of the oracles to know who God is, say ye: He is Osiris, to the Osirians; Apollo, to the Apollonians; Isis, to the Isisians; he is the Creator, the master, the all, out of whom were created all things; he who created man in his own image; who dwelleth on a throne in heaven.

24. But if they question further, asking if he is the ever present, answer them: Nay. And if they say: Is he Jehovih, the Great Spirit? answer them, Nay.

25. For I will not suffer one Faithist to dwell alive on the face of the earth.

Plate 66 - Tablet of Osiris

PLATE 66.--TABLET OF OSIRIS.


Chapter XLVIII

1. In Haikwad, in Parsi'e, dwelt king Luthag, a man of great wisdom and kingly power. His capital city, Sowruts, lay on the border of Fonecea, and had twelve tributary cities, each city being ruled over by a king.

2. And great drouth came upon the regions ruled by Luthag; and, being a king of benevolence, he sent inspectors far and near, to find a country of water and good soil. But alas, they found not what was desired.

3. Luthag consulted the oracles, and behold, the angel, Egupt, came and answered the king, saying: Send thou thy seer and I will lead him. So the king sent for his high seer, and told him the words of the oracle. The seer said: Wherever the God touched thee, suffer thou me to touch also, and perhaps I can hear thy God speak.

4. The seer touched the king in the place, and at once the God spake to him, and he heard. So it came to pass, the God led the seer into Egupt, which at that time was called South Arabin'ya. The seer knew not the country, and he asked the God. The spirit said: Behold, the land of Egupt. Thus was named that land, which is to this day called Egypt.

5. The seer found the land fertile and well watered; and he returned to Parsi'e and informed the king. Thereupon the king commanded his people to migrate to Egupt. And they so went, in the first year fifty thousand, and in the second year one hundred thousand; and for many years afterward an equal number.

6. These things occurred in the seven hundredth year of the reign of De'yus in Hored. And in the space of two hundred years more, behold, the land of Egupt was peopled over with millions of people; for the drouth and famines in countries around about drove them hither.

7. Luthag sent his son to govern the land of Egupt, and he made it tributary to the kingdom of Sowruts. The son's name was Haxax; and when he was old and died, he left the governorship of Egupt to his son, Bakal, who broke the allegiance with Parsi'e and established all of Egupt as an independent kingdom. Bakal's son, Goth, succeeded him; and Goth enriched his kingdom with great cities and temples, and places of learning, and founded games and tournaments. Goth's daughter, Rabec, succeeded him; and was the first queen of Egupt. Rabec still further enriched the great land with cities and places of learning. Thus stood the country at the time De'yus was overthrown in his heavenly kingdom. And now for seventy years the Gods, Osiris, Baal, and Ashtaroth, and Egupt, had not much power with mortals.

8. And during this short period, the shepherd kings migrated into Egupt in vast numbers; and, in sympathy with these, and of kindred faith, were the followers of Abraham, the Faithists, who also migrated rapidly into Egupt.

9. Meantime the kingdom had passed from Rabec to her oldest son, Hwan; and to his oldest son, Naman; and to his oldest son, Sev; and to his daughter, Arma; and to her oldest son, Hotha; and to his oldest son, Rowtsag.

10. And here stood the matter when Osiris resolved to revise the records of mortals and angels as regardeth the history of creation by God; which he did according to his own decrees, which were as hereinbefore stated.

11. So it came to pass that through the oracles, king Rowtsag bestowed upon the libraries of Egupt the history of the creation of heaven and earth, with the origin of sin, and the creation of man, the first of whom was thence after called Adam, instead of A'su, adopting the Parsi'e'an word instead of the Vedic.

12. And these records were the same from which Ezra, three thousand years afterward, made selections, and erroneously attributed them to be the doctrines of the Faithists, who were called Iz'Zerlites. And the records of the Faithists were not kept, nor permitted in the state records, but kept amongst the Faithists themselves, for they were out-lawed then, even as they are to this day, because they would not adopt the Saviors and Gods of the state.

13. Rowtsag's son, Hi-ram, succeeded him; and Thammas, his son, succeeded Hi-ram. Thammas was a seer and prophet, and could see the Gods and talk with them understandingly. Thammas was succeeded by his daughter, Hannah; and she was succeeded by Hojax, who was a builder on the Temple of Osiris, commonly called the great Great Pyramid.

14. In honor of the prophet of De'yus, the first mortal servant of Osiris, whose name was Thoth, Hojax named himself Thothma, which is to say, God-Thoth; for Osiris told Hojax: Thou art the very Thoth re-incarnated; and behold, thou shalt be God of the earth.

15. Thothma could hear the Gods and talk with them understandingly. And to him, Osiris, through his angel servant God, Egupt, gave especial care from his youth up. At the age of sixteen years, Thothma passed the examination in the house of philosophy, and in astronomy and mineralogy. At seventeen he passed The Builder's School and the Histories of the Thousand Gods. At eighteen he was admitted as an Adept in Life and Death, having power to attain the dormant state; and to see without his mortal eyes, and to hear without his mortal ears. At nineteen, he ascended the throne, it being the time of the death of his father and mother.

16. For because Osiris desired to use Thothma, he sent his destroying angels, and they inoculated the breath of Hannah and her husband, and they died by poison in the lungs.

17. Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, thus spake to Thothma, saying: My son, my son! Thothma said: I hear thee, O God, what wouldst thou? Osiris said: Provide thou a dark chamber and I will come to thee. Thothma provided a dark chamber, and then Osiris through his servant God, came to him, saying:

18. Thou hast great wisdom, but thou forgettest thy promise! Thothma said: In what, O God? Osiris said: When thou wert in heaven, thou saidst: Now will I go down to the earth and re-incarnate myself, and prove everlasting life in the flesh. For many years Osiris had told this same thing to Thothma until he believed faithfully he had so been in heaven, and returned, and re-incarnated himself for such purpose.

19. And he answered Osiris, saying: Like a dream it so seemeth to me, even as thou sayest.

20. Osiris asked Thothma what was the greatest, best of all things. Thothma said: There are but two things, corporeal and spiritual.

21. Osiris said: True. What then is wisdom? Thothma said: To acquire great corporeal knowledge in the first place; and in the second, to acquire spiritual knowledge. But tell me, thou God of wisdom, how can a man attain the highest spiritual knowledge?

22. Osiris said: To come and dwell in heaven and see for one's self. Thothma said: How long shall a man sojourn in heaven in order to learn its wisdom? Osiris said: One day; a hundred days; a thousand years; a million years, according to the man.

23. Thothma said: If one could leave the corporeal part for a hundred days and travel in heaven for a hundred days, would it profit him? Osiris said: To do that is to master death. Behold, thou hast already attained to power of the dormant state. To control the course of the spirit; that is the next lesson.

24. Thothma said: Behold, O God, I have attained to the power of the dormant state, even as the magicians who submit to be buried for ninety days. Yea, and I go hence in spirit, and see many things, but my soul is like a breath of wind, and goeth at random.

25. Osiris said: Provide thou me a temple, and I will come and teach thee. Thothma said: How to keep the body so long, that it be not damaged, that is a question? The magicians who have been buried long, and being dug up and resuscitated, find their bodies so damaged that they die soon after.

26. Osiris said: Thou shalt build a Temple of Astronomy, and dedicate it unto Osiris, Savior of men and angels, God of heaven and earth. And it shall be built square with the world, east and west and north and south. And the observing line shall be with the apex of the Hidan vortex, which lieth in the median line of the variation of the north star (Tuax).

27. In the form of a pyramid shalt thou build it; measure for measure, will I show thee every part.

28. And thou shalt provide such thickness of walls that no sound, nor heat, nor cold, can enter therein; and yet thou shalt provide chambers within, suitable for thyself and for thy chiefs, and thy friends, who are also adepts. For I have also provided the earth unto heaven, and heaven unto the earth; and my angels shall come and dwell for a season on the earth; and my earth-born shall go and dwell for a season in heaven; yea, they shall come to me on my throne and behold the glories I have prepared for them.

29. Nor shall my temple be exclusive, but open unto all who will pursue the philosophies of earth and heaven. For which reason thou shalt build it with the sun, moon and stars; and it shall be a testimony unto the nations of the earth that thou art the highest of all mortals, and first founder of everlasting life in the flesh. For as the angels of heaven can return to the earth and take upon themselves corporeal bodies for a season, so shalt thou master thine own flesh to keep it as thou wilt. For this is the end and glory for which I created man on earth.

Chapter XLIX

1. Osiris then instructed King Thothma to drive out of the land of Egupt all the Faithists, especially the shepherd kings, who could not be made slaves of.

2. Thothma impressed an army of two hundred thousand warriors, and drove off the shepherd kings, putting to death more than three hundred thousand of them. And from the Faithists he took all their possessions, such as houses and lands, and suffered them not to hold any mortal thing in possession; neither permitting them to till the soil, save as servants, nor to engage in any other labor save as servants. And there went out of the land of Egupt, to escape the tyranny of Thothma, three millions of Faithists, including the shepherd kings, the unlearned. And in regard to the Faithists, who remained in the land of Egupt, Osiris, through king Thothma, made the following laws, to wit:

3. Thou shalt not possess any land, nor house, nor ox, nor any beast of burden, nor cow, nor calf, nor shall thy people possess an altar of worship, nor temple, nor place of sacred dance. But a servant and a servant of servants shalt thou be all the days of thy life. But in thy sleeping place and in the sleeping place of thy family thou shalt do worship in thine own way, nor shall any man molest thee therein.

4. Thou shalt not profess openly thy doctrines under penalty of thy blood and thy flesh; nor shalt thou teach more in the schools or colleges; nor shall thy children receive great learning. And of thy arts, of measuring and working numbers, thou shalt not keep them secret longer, or thy blood be upon thee.

5. And if thou sayest: Behold, the Great Spirit; or Jehovih, the Ever Present, thou shalt suffer death, and thy wife and thy children with thee. And if a man query, to try thee, asking: Who created the world? thou shalt answer: Behold, God! And if he should further ask: Thinkest thou the Creator is Ever Present? thou shalt say: Nay, but as a man that hath finished his labor, he sitteth on his throne in heaven. And if he further ask thee: Where is God? thou shalt answer: On the Mountain Hored, in heaven. And if he still further ask thee: Is the Ever Present a Person? thou shalt say: Nay, the Ever Present is void like the wind; there is but one ruler in heaven and earth, even Osiris, who is Lord the God, Savior of men.

6. Who else but doeth these things shall be put to death; whoso boweth not unto Thothma, my earthly ruler, shall not live, saith God.

7. These laws were entered in the libraries of Egupt, and also proclaimed publicly by the scribes and seers. And yet with these restrictions upon them there remained in the land of Egupt more than two million Faithists.

8. And it came to pass that Thothma began the building of the Temple of Osiris (pyramid), and he impressed two hundred thousand men and women in the building thereof, of which number more than one-half were Faithists. And these laborers were divided into groups of twelves and twenty-fours and forty-eights, and so on, and each group had a captain; but for series of groups of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight men and women, there were generals, and for every six generals there was one marshal, and for every twelve marshals was one chief, and these chiefs were of the Privy Council of the king.

9. And the king allotted to every chief a separate work; some to dig canals, some to quarry stone, and some to hew the stones; some to build boats, some to provide rollers, and others timbers, and yet others capstans.

10. Two places the surveyors found stone with which to build the temple, one was above the banks of the great river, Egon, at the foot of Mount Hazeka, and the other was across the Plains of Neuf, in the Mountains of Aokaba. From the headwaters of Egon a canal was made to Aokaba, and thence by locks descended to the Plains of Neuf, and thence to Gakir, the place chosen by the king for the temple to be built.

11. And as for the logs used in building, they were brought down the waters of Egon, even from the forests of Gambotha and Rugzak. These logs were tied together and floated on the water to the place required, where, by means of capstans, they were drawn out of the water ready for use.

12. As for the stones of the temple they were hewn in the region of the quarries. And when properly dressed, were placed on slides by capstans, and then, by capstans, let down the mountain sides, to the water, whereon they were to float to the place required for them.

13. The floats were made of boards sawed by men skilled in the work, and were of sufficient length and width to carry the burden designed. And at the bottom of the floats were rollers, gudgeoned at the ends. Now when a stone was let down from the place of its hewing on to the float, it was ready to be carried to its destination. And when the float thus arrived near Gakir, ropes, made of hemp and flax, were fastened to the float, and, by means of capstans on the land, the float was drawn up an inclined plane out of the water, the rollers of the float answering as wheels.

14. When all things were in readiness for building the temple, the king himself, being learned in all philosophies, proceeded to lay the foundation, and to give instruction as to the manner of building it.

15. These were the instruments used by the king and his workmen: The gau, the length, the square, the compass, and the plumb and line. Nor were there any other instruments of measure or observation used in the entire building of the temple. And, as to the measure called a length, it was the average length of a man, after trying one thousand men. This was divided into twelve parts, and these parts again into twelve parts, and so on.

16. After the first part of the temple was laid, the builders of the inclined plane began to build it also, but it was built of logs. And when it was raised a little, another layer of the temple was built. Then again the inclined plane was built higher, and another layer of the temple built; and so on, the inclined plane, which was of wood, was built up even the same as was the temple.

17. The width of the inclined plane was the same as the width of the temple, but the whole length of the inclined plane was four hundred and forty lengths (of a man). Up this inclined plane the floats, with the stones thereon, were drawn by means of capstans and by men and women pulling also.

18. For four and twenty years was Thothma building the temple; and then it was completed. But it required other half a year to take away the inclined plane used in building it. After that it stood free and clear, the greatest building that had ever been built on the earth or ever would be.

19. Such, then, was Thothma's Temple of Osiris, the Great Pyramid.

20. Jehovih had said: Suffer them to build this, for the time of the building is midway betwixt the ends of the earth; yea, now is the extreme of the earth's corporeal growth; so let it stand as a monument of the greatest corporeal aspiration of man. For from this time forth man shall seek not to build himself everlastingly on the earth, but in heaven. All these things shall be testimony that in the corporeal age of the earth man was of like aspiration, and in the spiritual age of man in an opposite condition of corporeal surroundings; for by the earth I prove what was; and by man prove what the earth was and is at certain periods of time.

Chapter L

1. When the temple was completed, and the king and his four high priests entered into the Holy Chamber, the false Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, came in sar'gis, and spake unto the king, saying: Here am I, O king!

2. Thothma said: My labor is well recompensed. That thou hast come to me, O Lord my God, I am blessed. Osiris said: Keep holy my chambers; suffer no man, nor woman, nor child, that dwelleth on the face of the earth, to know the mysteries of these, my holies, save and except my adepts. Here layeth the key of everlasting life.

3. Thothma said: How sayest thou, the key of everlasting life? Osiris said: Herein is that which is of good and evil, as I commanded thy forefathers; to eat whereof man shall become as Gods, and live forever. For this is the triumph of man over death, even for which I created him on the earth.

4. Thothma said: Shall only we five know these things? Osiris said: Nay, verily; else the light of my kingdom would not be full. Behold, thou, how I built the temple! Was it not in the keeping of adepts? So, then, as I have given unto thee to know my kingdom, thou shalt give unto others, not suffering these lights to come, save through my commandments.

5. Now in the second month after the temple was completed, Thothma, the king, having put the affairs of his kingdom in order, went into the Holy Chamber, and thence ascended into the Chamber of Life and Death, leaving the four chief priests in the Holy Chamber. And Thothma cast himself in death (dormancy) by swallowing his tongue. Whereupon the priests closed the entrance and sealed the king within.

6. Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, said unto the priests: One alone shall remain; in quarter-watch shall ye dwell within the Holy Chamber, and I will remain also. And the priests cast lots, and divided the watch in six hours each, unto every day. And Osiris sent Baal to the spirit of Thothma, and took him to Agho'aden, Osiris' heavenly place, showing the spirit unto the glory of the throne, saying: Behold the God of Gods. Thothma said: It is a great glory; lo, mine eyes are blinded by the light of the Lord my God. After this, Baal took the soul of Thothma into a thousand heavenly places in Osiris' kingdom, and showed him the glory thereof.

7. Thothma said unto Baal: Thou angel of God, thou hast shown me, of a truth, God is in the image of man. Nor is there any but one God, who ruleth over all.

8. Baal said: How sayest thou then; who is God? Thothma said: How sayest thou? For behold, his glory was so great I could not look upon him.

9. Then answered Baal, saying: Only angels and mortals; these are the sum of all things. He, thou hast looked upon, was even as thou art; a one-time mortal on a far-off star-world. He attained unto the Godhead, to create a world unto himself, even as thou, who art an adept, canst create flowers and plants and serpents. Thus he came into the void regions of space and created the earth and her heavens, and they belong unto him, for they are his. And in like manner is every star-world, created and ruled by a God like unto thy God, who is Lord of all.

10. Thothma said: O that all people knew these things! O that I may remember them when I am returned to earth. Baal said: More than this shalt thou remember; for I will now take thee to the hells of the idolators and the Jehovihians. Baal then took the soul of Thothma to the hells of De'yus, and showed him the horrors thereof. But he took him not to the regions of God, in Craoshivi.

11. Now when Thothma had traveled in heaven for thirty days, Baal brought his spirit back to the Chamber of Death, and showed him how to regain his corporeal part, the which he did. And then Baal signaled unto Egupt, and the latter spake to the priest on watch, saying: Behold, Thothma hath returned; go thou and fetch thy brother, and deliver him into the Holy Chamber.

12. And when they came they unloosed the sealing stones and delivered the king into the Holy Chamber, and he was awake from his trance, and remembered all he had seen in heaven, which he related to the high priests who were with him. And both Baal and Egupt came in sar'gis and talked in the Holy Chamber with Thothma and the priests. For one day the king remained in the Holy Chamber, that his spirit be reconciled to the flesh; and on the next day he and the priests came forth out of the temple and sealed the door thereof, and placed the king's guard in charge, that no man or woman might molest the place. Now Thothma had been in the death trance forty days.

13. The three angels, Egupt, Baal and Ashtaroth, came into the altar in the king's palace that night, and showed themselves to the college students who had attained adept. Baal spake orally before them, directing his words to the king, saying: Behold, I am the angel of God thy Lord, whom thou hast beholden in heaven; I am the same who traveled in heaven with thee. What I speak, I say in the name of the Lord our God, whose servant I am. On the morrow shall thy high priests draw lots, and one of them shall enter the Chamber of Holies, in the Osirian Temple, and do even as thou hast. And after him, behold, another of the high priests shall do likewise; and so on, until the four have had thy experience.

14. And it came to pass that the four priests in turn cast themselves in death, and visited Osiris' heavenly kingdoms, and also many of the hells of De'yus, being led in spirit by Baal or Ashtaroth, Egupt being the guardian God of the temple.

15. When they had thus accumulated the same knowledge of heaven and earth, the five of them were of one mind as to attaining life everlasting in the corporeal body. Osiris said: Behold, I will bring many back who are already dead; and they shall call unto their embalmed bodies and wake them up and inhabit them. Go ye, then, to the root of the matter, and prepare my people, for I will come in person and inhabit the temple ye have built; and my heavenly kingdom shall descend even to the earth. Prepare ye the Column of the Stars!

16. Thothma built a column to the east line of the slat, seven lengths, and the height was thirty-six lengths; of wood and stone built he it, with an opening from the bottom to the top, and the width of the opening was six lengths. In the walls thereof was a winding stairway, and there were windows looking out to the east and west and north and south, that the stars from every quarter might be observed. On the summit of the column were dwelling-places for the seers and mathematicians, with places for the measuring instruments and lenses.

17. When this was completed, Thothma built of wood and stone an external wall across the slat of the temple; and within this wall were stairs also, and these led to the top of the pyramid. This wall was also provided with windows, that the northern stars might be observed.

18. Thothma made an observing column for the sun, and it was provided with lenses of all colors, so that adepts standing at the base of the pyramid could see the sun at every hour of the day, and distinguish the spots and their changes. A gau was set within each of the angles of observation, that the relative position of the sun with northern stars could be determined every day.

19. By these two columns, therefore, Thothma and his mathematicians measured the sun and moon and stars, as to the distances and sizes thereof. And Osiris commanded the king to send into the far-off lands of the earth his wisest mathematicians, to observe the winds of heaven, and the drouth upon the earth; and the abundance of the yield of the earth in different regions, in different years and seasons; and to observe famines and pestilences, and all manner of occurrences on the face of the earth. He said unto the king: When thy mathematicians are returned to thee with their accumulated wisdom, thou, or thy successor, shall examine the sun and the stars and moon, as compared to the things whereof the mathematicians shall relate, one year with another; and three years with another three years, and five with five, and seven with seven, and so on for hundreds of years, and thousands of years.

20. And when thou hast taken in the term of three thousand three hundred years, and compared the sun and moon and stars, as relate to the occurrences of the earth, thou shalt have the key of prophecy for three thousand three hundred years ahead. And thou shalt say of this land and of that land; and of this people and that people, how it will be with them, and thou shalt not err.

21. Thothma, the king, called together his mathematicians, and, according to their grade, chose from amongst them twelve hundred. These he divided into groups of one hundred each; and he gave them a sufficient number of attendants; and he sent them toward all the sides of the world, allotting to them sixteen years each for observation, according to the commandments.

22. And they took with them all kinds of instruments to measure with, besides scribes to make the records of such matters as came before them. And they went throughout Arabin'ya, and Vind'yu, and Jaffeth, and Parsi'e, and Heleste, and Uropa, even across to the western sea; and to the south extreme of Arabin'ya, and to the great kingdoms of the interior, and to the north of Heleste and Parsi'e, and Jaffeth, to the regions of everlasting snow.

23. And in sixteen and seventeen years they returned, save some who died on the journeys. And most wonderful was the knowledge these mathematicians gained. In some countries they found philosophers who had the knowledge required even at their tongues' end. Thothma received them in great pomp and glory, and awarded all of them with great riches.

24. And Thothma had these things rewritten and condensed into books, and named them books of great learning, and they were deposited within the south chamber of the pyramid, where never harm could come to them.

25. And Thothma made it a law, that other mathematicians should travel over the same regions for other sixteen years and make like observations; and after them, yet other mathematicians to succeed them, and so on for three thousand three hundred years. And accordingly, a new expedition started forth. Now during the absence of the first mathematicians, Thothma and his philosophers observed the sun and moon and stars every day, and a record was made thereof, as to the earth in the regions of Thothma's home kingdom. And these observations were reduced to tablets and maps, and a record made of them in Parsi'e'an language, which was the language of the learned. For the Eguptian language of that day was spoken mostly by the unlearned, and was mixed with the Fonecean, a language of sounds.

26. After the mathemeticians returned, Thothma and his philosophers examined the whole matter as compared with the maps and tablets of the heavens, and the facts deduced therefrom were written in a separate book and called The Philosophies of God and His Son Thothma, King of Earth!

27. Copies of this book were made and sent into the lands of Arabin'ya, Vind'yu, Jaffeth, and Parsi'e and Heleste, and Uropa, to the priests of God, but the original book was filed in the Holy Chamber, in the Temple of Osiris.

28. Thothma applied himself to impart wisdom unto all men. And during his reign he built in the land of Egupt seventy-seven colleges of Great Learning, twelve colleges of prophecy, two hundred houses of philosophy, seven adepteries, and three thousand free schools, and four thousand houses of sacrifice unto Osiris, Savior of men.

29. Three hundred and forty obelisks to God, thirty triumphal arches to De'yus, four thousand oans-nus to the Creator, and these were mounted on pedestals of polished stone, and stood at the street corners.

30. And there were graduated to the rank of adept during Thothma's reign more than four thousand men and three hundred women, all capable of the death trance, and of going about in spirit. And of these over seven hundred were permitted within thirty years to test the cast of the holy chambers in the pyramid. And their spirits were conducted into Osiris' heavenly regions, and sojourned there for many days, and returned to their bodies unharmed. Because of the position of the chambers, there was no action upon their bodies whilst in the swoon.

31. Thus did Thothma prove himself to be one of the wisest and greatest men that ever dwelt on the face of the earth. He believed all things the Gods told him, believed he was Thoth re-incarnated, and believed he would never die as to the flesh.

32. The false Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, had said to Thothma: This is the manner of heaven and earth, as regardeth man: All men are re-incarnated over and over until perfected to immortal flesh; and in that day man hath so perfected his adeptism he can remain on earth or ascend to heaven, even when he desireth. Hence of all knowledge, adeptism is the greatest.

33. Thothma asked if there were any new creations. Satan prompted Osiris, who said: Nay, thy spirit is old as the earth. At first it was small and round, like a grain of mustard, only it was spirit. And the multitude of these seed comprise the All Unseen. When one of them taketh root in gestation, then is the beginning. And it is born into the world a frog, or an ass, or worm, or lion, or small creeping thing; and it liveth its time and dieth. And the spirit hieth it back again into another womb, and it is born forth a man low as to knowledge, evil as to life. And he liveth a time and dieth again; but again the spirit hieth back to another womb, and it is born forth again, another man, but wiser as to knowledge, and less evil as to life. And this continueth to hundreds of generations and to thousands. But he who hath attained adeptship hath it in his power to call forth out of the earth his own corporeality; he needeth no longer to go through the filth of others.

34. Thothma was wise even in his belief; for when he was growing old, and beholding his flesh sunken, and his eyes growing hollow and dim, and his hands getting withered, he inquired of the Gods, saying: I know thou hast taught me truth, O God. I am weak before thee, as to judgment, and curious in my vanity. Osiris said: Speak thou, O king!

35. Thothma said: By all the force of my will; and by my great learning, I cannot stay the withering of the flesh. If, therefore, I already dry up like a mummy, above the power of my will, how will it be with me when I am further emaciated?

36. Satan prompted Osiris to answer the king, and so he said: Until thou art even more emaciated thou canst not understand the power of thine own soul.

37. With this the king was reconciled, and even at the time he was tottering on his last legs he began to build a new palace, saying: After I have changed this flesh into immortal flesh, hither will I come and dwell forever. And I shall be surrounded by adepts, wise and faultless. And this shall be the first colony of the kind I will build on the earth.

38. But afterward I will build many colonies of like kind; more and more of them, until I have all the earth redeemed to immortal flesh. For of such shall be my kingdom, and all men and all women on the earth shall own me Lord of all.

39. Nevertheless, with all Thothma's wisdom, and the wisdom of his Gods, he fell on a stone and died suddenly on the day he was one hundred years old.

Chapter LI

1. When Thothma was quite dead the priests carried his body into the temple, fully believing his spirit would return from heaven and transform the body from corruptible into incorruptible flesh to live forever. And they laid the corpse in the place previously designated by the Gods, and sealed it up according to the commands of the false Osiris, Savior of men.

2. Osiris had said: Whoso believeth in me, him will I save unto everlasting life, and though he lose his body, yet again shall he find it, and the corruptible flesh shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and become incorruptible unto life everlasting, with the spirit that abideth therein.

3. On the fifth day the priests opened the chamber, for according to the Laws of Miracles, on that day, the spirit should accomplish the feat; but lo and behold, it came not, and the body still lay cold and dead. But the Gods came in sar'gis and said unto the priests: Seal ye up the body for other five days. And the priests did as commanded; and after that they examined it again, but life had not returned. Again they were commanded to seal it up for other five days, which they did, but life returned not.

4. Houaka, who was now the high priest, inquired of Osiris concerning the matter. And Osiris, through his servant God, Egupt, answered him, saying: Go fetch a young man who is warm in the blood, which is life in the flesh, and he shall be the seventh son of an adept, and know how to cast himself in death.

5. The priests brought Xaian, who was in his twenty-fourth year, and when he came into the Holy Chamber he was bid cast himself in death for benefit of the king's soul. And Xaian thus cast himself, and he was sealed in the chamber of death for five days along with the king's corpse. And in five days the priests brought both bodies into the Holy Chamber, according to instructions. And Osiris came and commanded them to stand around the bodies, and when they had done so, the angels from Osiris' kingdom came and spirited away the body of the king, and they brought back the spirit of Xaian to inhabit the body of Xaian, and put it in possession thereof, making believe it was the spirit of Thothma returned.

6. Houaka said to the Gods: Where is the body of Thothma? Hath it been transformed? And the Gods answered: It hath gone to heaven, and will return after many days. But as to the spirit of the king, behold, he is with thee. And the priests spoke to Xaian, believing it was Thothma. And after three days they came forth out of the temple and recrowned Xaian, Thothma the Second, and they proclaimed it abroad that these things were true, howbeit they knew to the contrary.

7. As to the spirit of Thothma, at the time of death, it was taken to Agho'aden and put amongst the servants of Osiris' heavenly kingdom, and thus enslaved. So Xaian became king of Egupt.

8. Now, as regardeth the false Gods, Osiris and his confederates, they never tried to reincarnate the spirit of Thothma; but because of the virtues and the wisdom of Thothma, they used him for benefit of Osiris' heavenly kingdom, and to establish Osiris everlastingly on the earth as the all highest God.

9. As to the kingdoms of the land of Egupt, which succeeded Thothma, the inhabitants of the earth already know the chief part. For hundreds and hundreds of years the Eguptians were the most learned people in the world, and especially in a knowledge of the stars, and the sun and moon, and in adeptism and miracles.

10. But woe came unto them; the land became flooded with hundreds of millions of drujas; and as to the people of Egupt, the chief desire was to be able to return in spirit after death and dwell with mortals. And the things which followed are not even lawful to mention.

11. Suffice it, these spirits lost all sight of any higher heavens than to dwell on the earth; they knew no other. And they watched about when children were born, and obsessed them, driving hence the natural spirit, and growing up in the new body of the newborn, calling themselves re-incarnated; and these drujas professed that when they previously lived on earth they were great kings, or queens, or philosophers.

12. And they taught as their master, Osiris, the false, did: That there was no higher heaven than here on the earth, and that man must be re-incarnated over and over until the flesh became immortal. Not all of these spirits drove hence the natural spirit; but many merely engrafted themselves on the same body; and whilst such persons lived, these spirits lived with them and dwelt with them day and night; not knowing more than their mortal companion. And when such person died, behold, the druja went and engrafted itself on another child, and lived and dwelt with it in the same way; and thus continuing, generation after generation.

13. And because of these indulgences many of the spirits came in sar'gis in the families of the Eguptians; eating and drinking with them corporeally; yea, and even doing things whereof no man may speak, whereby dire disease seized upon the flesh of mortals; and their blood and their flesh became inhabited with vermin. The people became idlers and vagrants; the lands were not tilled, and the places of learning became deserted ruins.


Continued

Index to Oahspe