Chapter 12
Fragapatti caused the ship, the avalanza, to be moved to other black mountains, buried deep in revolting crimes and misery; into which no one with Godlike power had ventured for hundreds of years. Again he called down Jehovih’s fire, and raised walls, impenetrable, high on every side, frightening and stirring up the self-condemned with frenzied fear. And with oaths, curses and imprecations against all righteousness, they ran, all polluted with foul thoughts, which had clothed them about with foulness terrible.
And Hoab, too, now a very sun, desperate to do overwhelming good things, even a thousand times more than in his self-ease of other days when 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.
After Fragapatti and Hoab rushed in, so did hundreds of thousands of ethereans; laboring for the Father’s kingdom, with flames of fire they cut loose the demons’ grips of torture on the helpless, and hurled them separate. None could escape because of the surrounding walls, now seething with the choking smell of brimstone; and so, weeping and wailing before the crystallizing lights thrust at them, they had no recourse but to fall prostrate.
All day long, and all night, Fragapatti and Hoab (now a powerful worker, which Fragapatti had previously seen would be the case) and the etherean hosts, did not rest; but waded into the hell of death, turning 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 afterward and more carefully divide them.
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 such is the nature of the low man and low woman, that the love of evil, in time, delights to feed itself in evil more than in good, and will even turn against benefactors, and spurn good offerings.
Of whom Jehovih says: As by fire the dross (impurity) of metal is burned and cast out, leaving that which is pure; so I created the righteous with light from My countenance, to burn out the dross (darkness, evil) which the wicked nestle into their bosoms. In this, man shall perceive that it is Me and My chosen, casting out the dross, that heals. Go, then, deliver the wicked in hell, and make them clean with water and with fire, and you shall find a star in every soul. And as many of these as you deliver, so is your glory in My etherean kingdoms.
For each deliverer is like a sun around which these stars congregate, and they magnify one another forever. And when these stars have grown, they also go and do the same. Such are My exalted ones in the highest heavens, whom you call Gods and Lords, and justly so, because of their supremacy. ||
Thus went Fragapatti through the lowest regions of Aoasu; for forty days and nights he and his hosts labored, and he broke up the regions of hell, and cast out the souls of the tortured, billions of them. Nor was any place left standing in all the lower heavens where evil held dominion.
Now established in those regions were two hundred thousand colonies for the rescued evil ones. Aside from those were the very lowest, being nine hundred million who did not know anything: Some were 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 were very young abortions, slain by their mothers and fathers; and some were chaotic, killed in wars, mad and crazed, howling, screaming and fighting. And Fragapatti had all these unfortunates brought away from the others, putting guardians over them for the present.
Then he called together the crew of the avalanza and Hoab with all his hosts; and when they were duly in order, Fragapatti extemporized a throne, sat on it, and spoke, saying:
Without You, O Jehovih, man is nothing. Neither can he stand upright, nor hold up his head, nor his soul after he is up, except by You. When he cuts himself off from You, he falls like a limb of a tree that is severed.
He goes about boasting: There is no All Person. But his words are like a severing knife, and he does not know it. He sets up his judgment, saying: You were good for fools, O Jehovih; but as for me, You are a foolish encumbrance!
Yes, he says: Who has seen Jehovih! And he laughs because of his cleverness. He says: What did Jehovih stand upon when He created the worlds? How long did He sleep before He created? He says: What a foolish Creator! He created sin and death! He says: Who knows the size of His head; the length of His arm; the place He lives; or who has heard His voice!
He says: Truly, there is no All Person; no All Highest; no Light. This is the second downward stage, and in the third, he says: A curse upon Faith! A curse upon all things! A curse upon myself! And then comes hell and her horrors to swallow him up.
But You are near, O Jehovih! Your hosts traverse the universe. They come in Your name, and Your power and glory are with them. In their majesty they encounter all evil; they cast out hell and its prisoners.
Then Fragapatti turned to Hoab, saying: Speak, O Hoab. Nine hundred million dead, who are still sleeping in death, lie at our feet. These regions are unsuited for their treatment; where shall we take them? Or shall we, because they are so dead, leave them to shift for themselves?
Then Hoab rose, saluting, and tears were in his eyes. He said: Mighty You are, O Jehovih! Lo, I was on the verge of an everlasting fall! I was on a steep precipice, but did not see it. With blinded eyes I walked about. I lost Your countenance. My family became strangers to You, and we were becoming strangers to one another!
Yes, I was ungrateful before You. I forgot that You created me. I forgot that all the joys I had ever had were bestowed by You; and that by You I had been made capable of appreciating my own enjoyment. And then I raised up my voice against You, and turned You out of the world.
Yes, 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 You were mindful of me, O Jehovih! Your voice sounded in the heavens above, and Your Son came down in Your glory. He saw my vanity and my weakness, but he did not rebuke me. Yes, I told him I did not love to go to those beneath me and raise them up. I said: Let them shift for themselves!
Now I am rebuked in my own words! I have now cast myself out of hell. Behold, I said: Zeredho shall be a place for me and my people forever! None shall come here to make us afraid or to bother us. And Your Son said to me: I can teach you and your people so that you shall never again fear to be bothered by the low or by the evil-minded; nor shall you fear that Gods or angels shall come and inhabit Zeredho!
Thus spoke Your Son, O Jehovih! And he has given us the secret. We no longer fear that others will encroach upon Zeredho. Behold, Zeredho is Your place, O Jehovih. These unfortunates, these drujas, are Your children. They shall go to Zeredho. I do not fear pollution now, nor do my hosts. We will wade into this filth, like scavengers into a filthy street, and we will make these children be like shining stars in Your firmament!
Yes, O Jehovih, nothing can make us afraid again! We have nothing; we have nothing to lose. We are Your servants, now and forever!
Then Fragapatti spoke, saying: Behold the size of my avalanza, O Hoab! If you will take its measurement, you shall find it is just the size and build to take you and your hosts and these drujas. Do not think this matter is mere coincidence, for I sent scouts beforehand, and had all these unfortunates enumerated, and your people enumerated also.
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 Your Power and Wisdom, O Jehovih, I will also lift my fellows up out of darkness and misery!