CHAPTER X.
1. When they came to Utza, Hoab cried out: What do my eyes behold! As I live, here are people who once belonged to Zeredho, mine own heaven! By what strange law left they my kingdom to come and dwell in these torments?
2. Fragapatti caused the avalanza to halt, that information be obtained. So he called the druj, and there came thousands of them, ragged and drunken. Hoab knew many of them, and he said: Know ye who I am? And they answered: Yea, Hoab, God of Zeredho. Again spake Hoab, saying: For what reason left ye my glorious kingdom to come and dwell in this hell of iniquity?
3. They answered, saying: Alas, that we left, indeed! But since it is so, it is so. Hear us, then, O Hoab, this is the reason: Even as mortals oft leave Purity in order to revel in sin. More reason we know not.
4. Then spake Fragapatti, saying: Jehovih saith: I have given man many talents. Because the roadways are not open for their growth, he plungeth into darkness. Think not that ye can draw a line, and say: O man, thou shalt not do this, or thou shalt do thus: for ye are powerless to hold him, whom I created to go forward. And if he find not a way to go forward, he will turn and go backward.
5. The drujas said: Yea, master: Zeredho did not fill our souls; we were thirsty for amusement and lightheartedness. We heard no voice but Utility. We sheared off all ornament and diversion, and art, and, finally, even music. We fain would hear from Zeredho, to know if they have not ceased to talk, and perhaps to live, because, forsooth, Utility hath spoken!
6. And they laughed, and frolicked about like idiots and fools, mingling with harlots, and thieves, and liars, and drunkards.
7. Fragapatti caused the ship to move on a while, and then halted, and called other drujas, and questioned them in the same manner, and received answers of the same character.
8. Again they moved onward, and the same was repeated; finally, they came to a place where all was darkness and noise and confusion, where they even heeded not the ship, nor the calls made to them. Then spake Fragapatti to Hoab, saying: Hath it been proven to thee that man cannot stand still? Hoab said: It is true. This matter cometh close home to me. I perceive now that had I not come out of Zeredho, I had not witnessed these things, nor had I seen Zeredho as I now see it.
9. Fragapatti said: Be not hasty against thine own philosophy, for I will show thee thine own wisdom by and by. So they traveled seven days in hell, the lowest division of hada, where there was neither government, nor order, nor truth, nor virtue, but torments and wailings and cursings.
10. Fragapatti said: Thou hast seen that these many people know not their own darkness.
11. Hoab said: Is it not true, O Chief, that no man knoweth his own darkness? Who, then, is safe? Who knoweth he is not on the downward road?
12. Fragapatti said: Thou hast said man is the All Highest. But doth it not come home to us all, as to the ancients, that to do good with all our wisdom and strength, and have faith therein, that we are on the road to the All Highest?
13. Certainly thou hast proven, said Hoab, that Zeredho is not the All Highest, for it cannot retain its people. Even hell hath prevailed over her. And doth not hell prevail over all self-righteousness, and over riches and kingdoms and empires? If, therefore, hell prevaileth, is not hell the most powerful? And if the most powerful is not hell, therefore the All Highest? The ancients were happy in ignorance, for in believing in an All Person, a Creator, and that they should ultimately see Him, they had an object in view. But with the growth of wisdom, we find we cannot realize such a Person, and so have no object in view ahead of us. Thereupon, we recoil upon ourselves, and all is dead.
14. Fragapatti said: Hath man no lesson from the past? In the ancient times the Gods persuaded mortals to make stone idols and worship them. And they were sufficient until man attained more knowledge. Again came the Gods to mortals, inventing a large man- God in the sky, persuading them to worship him. He was a sufficient God till man learned to commune with angels; and the angels contradicted that philosophy. But hear me, O Hoab, have we not a lesson in this, which is, that we must ever have an All Highest Person so far ahead that we cannot attain Him? If this be true, when we have surpassed a Person whose figure and condition we can comprehend, is it not incumbent upon us to create within our own souls the thought of an All Person beyond our comprehensibility?
15. Hoab said: It seemeth so. But how canst thou teach thy soul to think of an All Person beyond man's comprehensibility?
16. Fragapatti said: For a basis to reason from, let us consider the etherean, the atmospherean and the corporeal worlds to constitute His body; and the motion therein and thereof, the manifestations of His Power and His Wisdom. Since, then, we ourselves have these things in part, we find, also, we have another attribute embracing all the others, which is combination concentrated into one person. Shall we not, then, give to Him, who embraceth all things within Himself, combination concentrated into one person? Otherwise, He is our inferior, which cannot be. Therefore, being ourselves persons, are we not mere offshoots from the All Person? Otherwise, we could not have attained personality. Doth not a child take its personality because its mother was a person? Can man have an entity save he receive it from an entity? Could man be a person, save he sprang from a Person?
17. Hoab said: Thou art a great light, O Chief! Verily, hast thou unfolded a universe before me! Yea, there must be an All Person! O that I had seen this philosophy before!
18. Fragapatti said: Be not infatuated, O Hoab, with sudden appearances. For were I to show thee, first, what it is to believe in an All Person, Whose magnificence surpasseth the universe itself, and then that man can attain to be one with Him, even as a note in music is one within a tune, I would so far enrapture thy soul that thou wouldst do naught but listen. Let us, therefore, suspend our research awhile, that we may devise some resurrection for this hell of suffering millions.
CHAPTER XI.
1. The avalanza was so constructed that the words spoken by Fragapatti and Hoab could be heard by all who chose, of whom there were two thousand millions on board. And when Hoab expressed conviction, the same sentiment seized upon the whole assembly; whereupon, Fragapatti raised his hand, saying: By virtue of Thy power, O Jehovih, will I illume this hell!
2. And by Fragapatti's will there was created a sudden light, so brilliant, none present, save the ethereans, could look upon him. Hoab bowed down, and hid his face, and Hoab's hosts were overcome with fear, prostrating themselves on the floors of the avalanza.
3. Fragapatti said to the swift messengers: Go at once to Mouru, greeting, and say that Fragapatti demandeth, at once, one thousand million etherean volunteers, for signal centers in Aoasu's lowest hells, bringing rods of fire and water.
4. The swift messengers departed hastily. Fragapatti then commanded that the avalanza be anchored for a day; and he and many of his hosts went out into hell, where the spirits were weeping and wailing, and cursing, or lying in drunkenness and lethargy. Many of them were naked and foul smelling; and hundreds of thousands of them, having had diseased corporeal bodies whilst on earth, had now carried with them into hell the substance of their corruptions, even the rottenness of plagues and consumptions, and of other diseases it is not even lawful to mention.
5. Fragapatti said: By Thy Power, O Jehovih, shall a wall of fire encompass these people about. They shall not escape. For were they to return to a nation of mortals, they would inoculate them unto death. Fire, O Jehovih, fire! Thou All Purifier!
6. And he cast his hands outward and upward, in majesty, and there rose up walls of fire on the face of the mountains; and the light thereof fell into the valleys of Ugh'sa, the pit of hell. To the east and west and north and south, Fragapatti turned, saying: A wall of fire! a wall of fire! And he, himself, shone as a sun, united with the Eternal All Creator, Whose voice was power to wield the elements to His will.
7. Presently, there were hemmed into one field more than five hundred million drujas, who, by the sudden transformation, were roused up to desperate wildness, with bated breath, running hither and thither, first one way and then another.
8. And yet there were other millions of them, so low and stupid and crazed, that the others ran over them as if they were but a heap of rubbish, death!
9. Then Fragapatti went to Hoab, saying: For pity's sake, come thou and help me, and persuade thy hosts also.
10. Hoab said: O friend, and brother, do not mock me! Thou hast undone me entirely. I am nothing. My hosts are nothing. For pity's sake, temper thou thine own light. It pierceth me through!
11. Fragapatti said: Shall I not send thee back quickly to Zeredho, with thy hosts? Hoab said: My wish is nothing; my will is nothing! Thine and the Great All Power's will be done. Fragapatti said: If ever thou hadst faith in thy life, I charge thee now quickly to summon it to thy soul, for Great Jehovih is with me now, and but ask and speak in faith by the Creator, and it shall be granted unto thee. Speak quickly, whilst yet the power holdeth upon me: Shall I put on a thousand-fold more light? Say thou: IN FAITH I WILL ENDURE ALL, FOR THE GLORY OF JEHOVIH! GIVE ME, OR FIRE OR TORMENTS, OR WHATSOEVER THOU WILT, O JEHOVIH!
12. Hoab trembled, and then strained in every part, and at last suddenly sprang up facing the light, melting in the flame of fire; and he said: I WILL ENDURE ALL, IN FAITH OF THEE, O JEHOVIH! GIVE ME, OR FIRE OR TORMENTS, OR WHATSOEVER THOU WILT. HENCEFORTH I WILL DO FOR THEE, FOREVER!
13. Presently, his spirit took the crystal form, and the victory dawned upon his soul. A smile, denoting knowledge of All Holiness and Majesty gleamed in his countenance! The light began to retract and to reflect from his face, brilliant and sun-like. He had conquered and won! He said: Thanks, O Jehovih!
14. Fragapatti said: Quick, now, seize the goal; go forth practicing thy light for others, and it will grow, giant-like. And Hoab was strong in faith, almost mad with the delight of such wondrous change; and he rushed forth, commanding, in the name of Jehovih, raising up hundreds and thousands, even as he had been raised, crystallizing.
15. All one day and one night they labored, and all the ethereans with them; and they rescued, and divided, and sub-divided the spirits of darkness into grades and sections. And many of the spirits belonging to the hosts of Hoab were thus raised to the second resurrection, with light and power.
16. But of the hundreds of millions of spirits in the torments of hell none were as yet raised even to the first resurrection. But they were stirred up and routed out of lethargy; and the supplies for their drunkenness were cut off by the walls of fire, created by Fragapatti, which went up day and night, without ceasing.
17. And Fragapatti stationed sentinels with power near the walls of fire, commanding them to cast in the elements of ughs and brimstone, so that the suffocating smell would prevent the drujas from escaping.
18. On the second day, millions of ethereans, with rods of water and rods of fire, came from Mouru, in answer to Fragapatti's commandment. And when they had arrived before him, and had saluted in the sign of Jehovih's name, he said unto them: Behold, I have established one signal center in hell. It will require a thousand more centers before we have broken them up and delivered them. From the rank of DAS the marshals shall select from amongst you ten thousand to remain in this center and complete the work I have laid out.
19. So the marshals selected from the ethereans of the rank of DAS ten thousand. Now the das are such as have attained to power with the rod with water, and the rod with fire, but not with the hand, like the ranks above them. They go amongst the denizens of a signal center with the two rods, casting water with one and fire with the other. And the hosts of spirits in darkness run for them, like cattle for salt; and the das thus discover and assort them; for the lowest spirits go for the rods with water, and the highest for the rods of fire. Because the lowest spirits dread the light; and because the highest desire to be rescued from the lowest.
20. On the second day, therefore, the das began work; and there were baptized with water many millions; but with fire only one million. The latter were then taken without and beyond the walls of fire, and colonized, and clothed, and fed, and guardians placed over them, preparatory to the nurseries, hospitals, schools, factories, and such other educationals as belong in the lowest heaven.
21. On the third day the das went through the same labor again, and again many millions were baptized with water, and but two millions with fire. The latter were also taken without and beyond the walls of fire, and colonized in the same manner as those of the previous day.
22. Such, then, is the labor of the das in hell, baptizing and selecting; and it continueth until all the people are taken without and beyond the walls. The last taken are, therefore, the lowest grade, and the first taken are the highest grade. But the last are usually so low in knowledge and ambition that they move not of themselves, but are bestowed in nurseries and hospitals, to be cleansed from their foulness, and to be healed of their infirmities.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Fragapatti caused the ship, the avalanza, to be moved to other black mountains, deep buried in revolting crimes and misery; wherein no one with God-like power had ventured in for hundreds of years. Again he called down Jehovih's fire, and raised walls, impenetrable, high on every side, affrighting and stirring up the self-condemned with frenzied fear. And they ran, all polluted with foul thoughts, which had clothed them about with foulness terrible, and oaths and curses and imprecations against all righteousness.
2. And Hoab, too, now a very sun, desperate to do overwhelming good things, even more a thousand times than in his self-ease of other days he refrained from dark company lest he be polluted, now rushed in headlong to the very worst and foulest. Proclaiming Jehovih and active work to stir them up; and by his quick and unmistakable zeal proving his soul's connection with the Almighty's Power.
3. After Fragapatti and Hoab rushed in, hundreds of thousands of ethereans did so also, laboring for the Father's kingdom; with flames of fire cutting loose the demons' grips of torture on the helpless, and hurling them separate. None could escape because of the walls around, now seething with the choking smell of brimstone; and must needs fall prostrate, before the crystallizing lights thrust at them, weeping and wailing.
4. All day long, and all night, Fragapatti and Hoab, now a powerful worker, the which Fragapatti had previously seen would be the case, and the etherean hosts, rested not; but waded into the hell of death. Turning them to the right or to the left, the miserable, devouring wretches, brothers and sisters of mortals and spirits, now engulfed in their own depravity, and by their desperate desire for sin, holding millions of the moderately good as officers of torture, in order to gratify their horrid love of witnessing horrors. Into groups and series they roughly selected them, as a starting point for the das that were to come after, and more carefully divide them.
5. Then Fragapatti called the das and put them to work with their rods of water and rods of fire, making stations beyond the walls of fire, where the naked, trembling, rescued sufferers and drujas were housed and fed, restrained by guardians of ample strength and foresight. For of such nature is the low man and low woman, that love of evil in time delighteth to feed itself in evil more than in good, and will even turn against benefactors, and spurn good offerings.
6. Of whom Jehovih saith: As by fire the dross of metal is burned and cast out, leaving that which is pure; so created I the righteous with light from My countenance, to burn out the dross which the wicked nestle into their bosoms. Wherein, man shall perceive that it is the dross that healeth Me and My chosen. Go, then, deliver the wicked in hell, and make them clean with water and with fire, and ye shall find a star in every soul. And as many of these as ye deliver, so is your glory in My etherean kingdoms.
7. For each deliverer is as a sun around which these stars congregate, and they magnify one another forever. And when these stars have grown, they also go and do in like manner; for it is of such that My exalted ones are in the highest heavens, whom ye call Gods and Lords, and justly so, because of their supremacy.
8. Thus went Fragapatti through the lowest regions of Aoasu; for forty days and nights labored he and his hosts, and he broke up the regions of hell, and cast out the souls of the tortured, thousands of millions of them. Neither was there left any place standing in all the lower heavens where evil held dominion.
9. And there were established in those regions around about, two hundred thousand colonies, comprising the evil ones who had been rescued. But the very lowest, who knew not anything, who were: some, infants who died at the time of birth; some, infants of drunkards, who came to the lower heavens with the intoxicating liquors or smoke of their mother's debauchery; some, very young abortions, slain by their mothers and fathers; some, chaotic, killed in wars, who were mad and crazed, howling and screaming and fighting, of whom there were nine hundred millions: these Fragapatti had brought away from all the others, putting guardians over them for the present.
10. Then he called together the crew of the avalanza, and all the hosts of Hoab, and Hoab himself; and when they were duly in order, Fragapatti extemporized a throne and sat on it; and thus he spake, saying:
11. Without Thee, O Jehovih, man is nothing. Nor can he stand upright, nor hold up his head, nor his soul after he is up, save but by Thee. When he cutteth himself off from Thee, he falleth like a limb of a tree that is severed.
12. He goeth about boasting: There is no All Person. But his words are as a severing knife, and he knoweth it not. He setteth up his judgment, saying: Thou wert good for fools, O Jehovih; but as for me, Thou art a foolish encumbrance!
13. Yea, he saith: Who hath seen Jehovih! And he laugheth because of his cleverness. He saith: What stood Jehovih upon when He created the worlds? How long slept He before He created? He saith: What a foolish Creator! He created sin and death! He saith: Who knoweth the size of His head; the length of His arm; the place He liveth; or who hath heard His voice!
14. He saith: Verily, there is no All Person; no All Highest; no Light. This is the second downward stage, and in the third, he saith: A curse upon Faith! A curse upon all things! A curse upon myself! And then cometh hell and her horrors to swallow him up.
15. But thou art near, O Jehovih! Thy hosts traverse the universe. In Thy name they come, and Thy power and glory are with them. In their majesty they encounter all evil; they cast out hell and its prisoners.
16. Then Fragapatti turned to Hoab, saying: Speak, O Hoab. Nine hundred millions of dead, that are still sleeping in death, lie at our feet. These regions are unsuited for their treatment; whither shall we take them? Or shall we, because they are so dead, leave them to shift for themselves.
17. Then rose Hoab, saluting, and tears were in his eyes. He said: Mighty art Thou, O Jehovih! Lo, I was on the verge of an everlasting fall! I was on a steep precipice, but saw not. With blinded eyes I walked about. I lost Thy countenance. My family became strangers to Thee, and we were following close after, to become strangers to one another!
18. Yea, I was ungrateful before Thee. I forgot that Thou createdst me. I forgot that all the joys I had ever had were bestowed by Thee; and that by Thee I had been made capable to appreciate mine own enjoyment. And then I raised up my voice against Thee, and turned Thee out of the world.
19. Yea, I chose a corner and appropriated it for my own ease and glory. I said: To keep other Gods and angels away from my lands, this is all I desire. But Thou wert mindful of me, O Jehovih! Thy voice sounded in the heavens above, and Thy Son came down in Thy glory. He beheld my vanity and my weakness, but he rebuked me not. Yea, I told him I loved not to go to those beneath me and raise them up. I said: Let them shift for themselves!
20. Now am I rebuked in mine own words! Now have I cast myself out of hell. Behold, I said: Zeredho shall be a place for me and my people forever! None shall come hither to make us afraid or to annoy us. And Thy Son said to me: I can teach thee and thy people that ye shall never more fear to be annoyed by the low or by the evil-minded; nor shall ye fear for Gods or angels to come and inhabit Zeredho!
21. Thus spake Thy Son, O Jehovih! And he hath given us the secret. We no longer fear that others will encroach upon Zeredho. Behold, Zeredho is Thy place, O Jehovih. These unfortunates, these drujas, are Thy children. They shall go to Zeredho. I fear not pollution now, nor do my hosts. We will wade into this filth, like scavengers into a filthy street, and we will make these children like shining stars in Thy firmament!
22. Yea, O Jehovih, nothing more can make us afraid! We have nothing; we have nothing to lose. We are Thy servants, now and forever!
23. Then spake Fragapatti, saying: Behold the size of my avalanza, O Hoab! If thou wilt but take the measure, thou shalt find it is just the size and build to take thee and thy hosts and these drujas. Think not that this matter so happened, for I sent beforehand, and had all these unfortunates enumerated, and thy people enumerated also.
24. When Hoab perceived this great wisdom in Fragapatti, and comprehended the care that had been used to accomplish so much, he made no reply at first, but, looking at him, burst into tears. Presently, he said: By Thy Power and Wisdom, O Jehovih, will I, also, lift my fellows up out of darkness and misery!
