Book of Saphah

MASTER: Who are you?

PUPIL: A Son of Light. Behold the sign and emblem.

What did you see in the light?

The altar of Eolin.

What was its character?

The altar of incense and altar-fire rose up before me. The wind ascended and the stars shone in the firmament. A tree grew by the battlement and the black evil crossed the southwest. In the center stood the cross of Eolin, studded with pearls and diamonds.

What else did you see?

In the southeast floor of the temple, satan, black with the smoke of blood and war, demanded my surrender. And he drew forth the flaming sword.

What did you do?

I said, I pray to none but the Ever Present Creator. In Him I have faith. You I do not fear.

What next?

I came to the chamber of industry and I was taught a useful trade. After that I traveled northwest.

And was honored for your good work and love of peace, I suppose?

No, Master. I was confronted by a crowned king. He demanded that I stop, and ordered me to pray to the God he served. I remonstrated, saying: I pray only to the Great Spirit, trusting only in good works done to all men. || Instantly he flew into a rage, saying: You are the worst of men; your soul shall feed the fires of hell. With that, he hurled a javelin at me.

I escaped and traveled north, and came to a country most rich and prosperous, where many Israelites had gone before me.

Why did you not stay there?

I did, for a season, but warriors came and possessed the land and drove the Israelites away

What next?

I fled to the northeast, and came among savages, where I barely escaped being slain and feasted upon.

Which direction, then?

I traveled east and came into a country old in religion and philosophy. They had great riches for the rich and great poverty for the poor. Their philosophers wasted their time in reading the ancients.

Why did you not remain with them?

I was too poor to live with the rich, and too ambitious to live with the poor, who were little better than slaves.

Where did you travel next?

1420Toward the north part of the middle kingdom, where I came among magicians and necromancers.

What happened there?

They consulted the stars, moon, and palms of their hands, and called up the spirits of the dead, who then appeared before them. There was no industry among them, and I could find no employment with them. Nor did they assist one another.

Where next?

I went further south, where I came to an uninhabited country, the most favored under the sun. It was a place of joy and praise, filled with beautiful rivers, forests, plains, valleys, and countless singing-birds, all things raising up the ceaseless voice of glory to Great Eolin. Here I sat down and wept.

What, wept in so fair a place?

Alas, I remembered the crowded cities and warring empires. Here there were no people, and I could not live alone, so I traveled still further south.

And certainly found a good place next?

Alas, me. The country was good, the climate warm, and all things grew abundantly without labor.

And why was it not most excellent?

Voluptuousness was an ocean for them to bathe in. And their priests taught them, that, for all sins, if before they died, they called on Daeves, Son of the sun and Savior of men, they would ascend to the upper heavens on the third day after death. So I, not loving indolence or lust, departed out of that country.

Where next?

Toward the southeast, coming into a land afflicted with priests, soldiers and beggars. So I fled further east.

And what then?

1421I came to a small settlement of Israelites where I was received by warm hands. Here I prepared to settle down in peace for all my days. But the state soon became attractive by its places of learning and the beauty of the gardens and glory of its manufactories. There being no idle people nor beggars among us, the idolaters of Hemah, Savior of men, falsely accused us and then declared war on us, and with a powerful army marched upon us, taking all our possessions. I escaped and turned westward once more.

Your fate has been hard. Why do you smile?

Because, however hard my fate has been, it is nothing compared to that which I saw had once befallen another people where I came next.

What happened there?

This was a country once rich in ancient temples and monuments, but now ruined and desolate. Broken pyramids and colonnades, tumbling walls, and thorns and wolves, marked the once habitable places of mighty kings and high priests. By the tablets on the crumbling walls I read that these people, in ancient times long past, were worshippers of idols and Gods who professed to save the souls of men. And I saw that their pride and glory lay in ships of war and mighty weapons of death. Having myself learned the trade of a potter, I took up an ancient, ruined pot, and read this inscription on it: Because I am a Faithist in the Great Spirit, Eolin, I am enslaved by these idolaters. Alas, what is my crime?

Most pitiful place! Where to then?

I met a friend whose head had been compressed in infancy in order to make him a prophet. He took me into his private habitation and taught me how the brain and nerves of flesh could be changed in infancy, by pressure, to make the grown-up man of any character desired. Next he taught me the monotony of sound that brings on the prophetic spell and power to see the unseen. He thus expounded the philosophy of miracles, even to dying and coming to life again.

Wonderful philosophy. Will you show me some of these miracles?

I will, O Master, but the secret of their workings I cannot show. (The pupil exhibits.)

It is true, O friend! Surely, too, you have taught this wisdom to the world?

No; my teacher sent me south, to a school of prophets, where I learned the mysteries of invocation and prayer.

For what purpose have you visited my temple?

To make pots.

What, with all your wisdom?

A useful employment is the highest service to the Maker of all.

You and your people shall be my people; my harvests shall be yours; and my gardens and orchards; for He Whose eye sees all, is upon me, and I am His servant.

1423There are three more chambers in my temple: The first preserves the wisdom of the ancients. The second is the chamber of industry and inventions.

In the third and last chamber are the secrets of the fullness of worship. The name of this chamber is Om, because it is here the recipients repose in spirit from all the cares of the earth.

(Signs and passwords, and form of initiation, withheld from publication, because the rites are still practiced.) Aribania’hiayaustoyi (TABLET OF ANCIENT EGYPT) The invocation interpreted reads: