Chapter 2
Osire said: In the name of the All Light, I will have fifty million conquerors to do my will, on earth and in heaven. But first, send an es’elene, with suitable attendants, to deliver God, his Lords, and their hosts, the Brides and Bridegrooms of Jehovih. And leave the earth in darkness thirty days. Meanwhile, let my builders provide a ship for me and my hosts; and let the heralds go abroad in Se’ing, announcing this, my decree.
Jehovih said: Do not think, O man, that I gave talents to men differently on earth, and there to end, making my exalted places to be even shorn and alike. I did not create man so; but as one on earth is mild, and leads on by smooth words and persuasive behavior; and as another, by quick perceiving and strong will, plunges in headlong; even so I carry them onward in My high heavens, perfecting them in their bent, but with wisdom and love, till each becomes as a sun in his sphere.
Do not fear, O man, whether I have labor for them in high heaven: I have worlds to be nurtured and coaxed at times; worlds to be pruned at times; and worlds to be commanded at times by most severe authority, and made to know that All Power lies in Me, through My Gods and Lords.
For these exalted extreme Gods I have places in the firmament, and numberless worlds on which they dwell as stars in My heavens. There I make roadways for My traveling corporeal worlds, where My etherean fields of pasture lie, to glorify Me, and lead on the mortal born. So, now, 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.
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 of the will and service of Gods. Osire, impetuous and much-loved God of Lowtsin, was going to visit these earth-sons, wash them clean, and put jackets on them.
Osire said: In written words I will set down explicit laws for these unruly false Gods, the Ghans, and give them bondage, like the people of other worlds. O, if only they had received discipline before, instead of sweet persuasion!
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, his Lords, and the Brides and Bridegrooms prepared for the resurrection; next, the ship, Buer, an adavaysit, built for Osire and his hosts, fifty million strong.
Osire said: So that no adventure runs foul, let swift messengers be stationed along the roadways; and they shall announce the proceedings of my Gods and Lords, and their whereabouts. || And the order of heaven was executed; the earth was stripped of her God and Lords, and darkness reigned on earth and in her heavens.
Then Osire left his high place, and with his hosts, aboard the etherean ship of fire, set out at break-neck speed toward the earth; for such was the disposition of this most determined God. Nor did he stop at Chinvat, the boundary of the earth’s vortex, but sped on with banners and curtains flying, and with most martial music to stir up the souls of his hosts to sudden tittle.
Down he came to the earth with his fire-ship, and sped around 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 learned to rule by love for eight hundred years, and was unappreciated by the crude boasters, the unlearned druj), there now stood castles and mansions of the false God, Utaya, around whom a million sentinels armed for battle were stationed to protect him, the false, and do his will.
To here came Osire, and over the battlements raised his ship, and brought it directly into the arena of the Council of hada. Then, halting, bade his marshals proclaim his voice:
Come forth, O Utaya; behold my power! Your sentinels stand appalled. I raised my hosts by higher law, and stand on my feet in your citadel.
Utaya said: Strange and audacious God! From what unmannerly region have you sprung? Know that Gods should kneel outside my walls, and beg to know my will, for an audience. Then Osire decided to hear his arguments, and thus spoke:
From Great Jehovih, I have come! I kneel to none except Him. To do His will in reverence I come in power and majesty. But before I demolish your pitiful walls, and cast you down, suppliant, to do my will, tell me, how do you excuse yourself in turning from the exalted heavens, and building here a kingdom of slaves, for your own glory?
Utaya said: O you jester! Before I demolish you and your ship, and enslave your hosts as mine, I will pacify your worthless curiosity, so that, from now on, you may know your lesson well. But first, you have mocked me for my slaves. What more are your hosts? Have you not tampered with their too willing love by stories of your unseen Jehovih, and persuaded them to let you lead them on to glory? Now I declare to you, there is no Jehovih, no All Person! Hence, your 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!
Osire said: After I have cast you down, you might say it was merely because it so happened that one was stronger than another. So, then, that you may remember my words are more in wisdom than in blind force, hear me while you can, for I cannot talk long with one like you: He who admits the universe moves in harmony and discipline (system and order), already admits the All Person, Jehovih. He who denies the All Person, Jehovih, denies unity in all things (for is your person not the unity of your members, and the All Person the unity of all things?). If all things are not in unity, then all things are divided, one against another. Whoever holds this conviction, is a disintegrator; and whoever holds that all things are a unit, is a unitor (unifier). Therefore, if there is greater strength in unison than in isolation (proving which of the two is the more potent), then unison has won the battle and so becomes the All Person (the Unifier of all).
Touching the matter of slaves: There is only One Master, and He rules over all; but it lies in the power of each and every soul to attune himself with the All Person, which is freedom. My hosts are of this kind. In contrast, your slaves attune themselves to you; they cannot rise higher than you; but my hosts have the universe for their model. Because you cannot find the Cause of your coming into life, why not say: I will call Him (that Cause) a name, and it shall be Jehovih!
And now Utaya began a long discourse, which Osire did not wait to hear, but turned to his marshals, saying: Break down the walls of Gau, and raise up ten thousand pillars of fire. Here I will rebuild Jehovih’s kingdom. Let the es’enaurs chant, ALL HAIL TO OSIRE, GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH!
To which the astonished Utaya stood silently, as if wondering whether this was real, or a frenzied dream, that anyone should so disregard his power, now well established for three hundred years.
Out of the ship came the hosts, and without command, or waiting to know their parts, but everyone in time to the music, took their 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:
In Your name, O Jehovih, and by virtue of Your power vested in me, I now command the elements to do my will, and raise a throne for me worthy of Your Immortal Son! And with his voice, his hosts, in concert, quickly piled the adamantine seat, and hung it around with transparent tapestry, woven with the elements of silver and gold.
Meanwhile the laborers of Osire overturned the walls of Utaya’s city, and set his millions of slaves free, even while Utaya’s officers, panic-stricken, dropped onto 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 those who were his most steadfast zealots in time of peace and easy rule, beholding them now, in thousands, vanquished without even a cruel deed or word.
Not long did the fray last, for Osire’s work was like a man 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 would 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; at which, behold, from the vault of heaven above there descended mantles of light, matchless in brilliancy!
Utaya was illumined, and all his former evil deeds and cruelty stood out in huge black spots, quailing before the sea of light; for around 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 the blubbering of a beaten schoolboy, he cried out:
Enough! Enough! You God Almighty! Take me away from your dissolving fire! I was only needing to witness some great God’s deeds, to find proof of my own worthlessness!
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.
O give me relief, cried Utaya, you God of heaven and earth! I consume, I burn in Purity’s flame! For pity’s sake, turn down the consuming light!
Osire halted from his labors long enough to answer thus: All Light cannot cease for the convenience of one man; clothe yourself, O false one, with robes of darkness, and hide your cruel butcheries. You, who would have made slaves of my hosts, should be of holier metal than to plead for help. Behold, I have not taken one of your slaves, or asked any to bow in obedience. To the righteous, the worlds are free; only evil men and evil Gods quail before Jehovih’s ceaseless fire!
Meanwhile, Utaya hustled his glittering robes closely around himself, and pulled his flashing crown down over his scalded eyes, but its worthless fabric only fed the fury of the All Light, which came from the throne of God, Osire’s resting-place. The slaves of Utaya had 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.
Still the voice of Utaya rang aloud for help and pity; but none came to him. 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. At this, Osire sent Yesta, sister of Atonas, Goddess of Opsa, in etherea, to rescue him, and mantle him around with balm from the upper heavens.
So Yesta and her band took Utaya away, far beyond the boundaries of the new-laid Gau.