Chapter 45
DANG: Let the Faithist remember his Father in heaven. The rising Sun adorns the East. (Here the Onetavis and the Emeth’a give the signs of Dawn, facing to the East.)
DANG: Give voice, O you who remember Him. His name is a power in heaven and earth.
O. AND I: In Jehovih’s name! (The salutation and signs withheld from publication.)
D: Before proceeding on the road of everlasting life, let the Hyarh measure the bread and meal, so that far-distant regions may not entrap us in want. If the measure is short, then we must replenish. (The Hyarh pass five times around the altar, spelling the sacred name by the motions of their arms, halting for that purpose at the eastern fire. The Orgives now bring forward a polished stone tablet, with chalk or ink to write with, and lay the tablet on the altar to the south of the tripod and the prophet’s seat. Wa-wa-tu-sa’a (women), five in number, bring water in basins and set them down by the feet of the Emeth’a. Hyarh says:)
Arise, O Children of Dawn! Come to the west of the altar, O Children of Dawn! (This they do.)
EAST (with sound of gong, twice): Hear us, O Jehovih! Your voice be with us. Your wisdom guide us. Your love exalt us. As we hope for Your exalted angels to come and minister to us, O show us, Mighty and All Perfect, how we can best minister to others who are less fortunate than ourselves. Sting us, O Jehovih, like wasps and nettles sting, if we fail to devote our whole time to the lifting up of our fellow-men. You have measured all things, and made wisely. Attend to me, O Jehovih. (Seven priests, representatives of the seven stars, now pass in front of the East, but face south and salute upward with the twelve preceding signs.)
EAST: Jehovih says: As a builder measures the place for the house and provides a sure foundation, let My chosen not neglect the All Light that I have given to every soul. In My sight you are like the stones in one building; and every one must be squared for the place I fashioned from the beginning. The Emeth’a shall be My house; to them I will give the whole earth. Yes, all others shall fail; but My chosen shall not fail.
Jehovih says: There have been idolaters from the time of the ancients to this day. Yes, they have had idols of stone, wood and brass; and they have had spirits in heaven and hell, before whom they bowed down and worshipped, but I put their idols away and none can find them. See to it, O My beloved, that you are searched out and made upright before Me.
HYARH: Speak, O Emeth’a! Raise up your voices before the Father. What was the building of the house of Dawn? How did the temple stand? How did its spirit chamber stand? (Here the Emeth’a give the description and name the instruments used, and cite the position of the stars, after which they repeat the reading of Tablet Emeth, all of which is withheld from publication. After this the Hyarh says:)
H: By what right are you in this chamber of light?
EM: By right of our covenant with Jehovih. Behold the ark! Jehovih’s name we have written.
H. What was done at Dawn in the East?
EM: A philosopher passed twice around the table of the ancients. He held the key of many in one, and disclosed it before our eyes. After that he lit the incense and departed. Then we covenanted, swearing an oath to Jehovih, which was duly deposited, and we were proclaimed under a Hawitcha with Dhargot, and then saluted Children of Dawn.
H: Are you still steadfast in your oath?
EM: Yes.
H: What more do you desire?
EM: More light from heaven!
H: Man shall learn earthly things from the earth. But light from heaven descends to mortals by the angels in heaven, who are servants of the Most High!
EAST: As the sun at noon is to the corporeal earth, so is Jehovih to the souls of men. As the eye turns to the east to behold the rising sun, so turns the spirit of the Child of Dawn to Jehovih, the Great Spirit.
NORTH: He has uttered the sacred name. His hands have made the signs of the ancients. His feet have run quickly to the afflicted, and his substance lifted them up.
EAST: As the wicked find strength in armies, so, not single-handed, labors the Child of Dawn.
NORTH: He has united in a brotherhood with many. In the chamber of holies he supplicated the Great Spirit. The words of enchantment are at his tongue’s end; with his own hand he writes on stone the password of the Faithist. It is the circumference of all. It extends from left to right, and from below to upward, and it holds the symbol of life.
EAST: I am the Self within all selfs, says Jehovih. Neither things seen nor unseen, nor light and darkness, are, or were, but all things proceed out of Me, and are of Me. Into motion and life I quickened them, and all of them are members of My body.
EAST: I made man a spirit, but I gave him a corporeal body so that he could learn corporeal things, says Jehovih. Death I made so that man could inherit My etherean worlds in the firmament of heaven.
EAST: But man turned away from Me and desired the things of earth; and after death his spirit was bound to that which he desired, and he became a wandering spirit on the face of the earth.
EM: In the midst of my desires I am cast down. I am unworthy in Your sight, O Jehovih! Have I not set store on my house and my land, and on all manner of earthly things? Yes, as with a chain, have I bound my spirit, to become a wanderer on the earth?
EAST: Man builds a kingdom and he gathers riches, says Jehovih. Yes, he wars against his brethren for the glory of the king and chief ruler, and for the profane man. For opinion’s sake, they slay one another outright.
EAST: Jehovih said: I have bound the spirit of the rich man, the warrior, the great captain, the man of renown, as well as the leader of men; and his spirit cannot rise up from the earth. I have made him a companion, in the lower heavens, to the wanton, the drunkard, the chaotic and the foul-smelling.
EM: Never, O Jehovih, will I raise up my hand against any man; neither will I war for the king, nor chief ruler, nor for any man, nor for any land, house or earthly thing. And though I am placed in front of battle, yet I will not take any man’s life! So help me, O Father in heaven.
EAST: And I have made the spirit of the bound to encompass the earth in all places, and until they put away the darkness that is in them, they shall not inherit My etherean worlds, says Jehovih. Neither shall they hear My voice nor believe in My person, for they have descended into darkness and are blind and dumb to My glories in the firmament of heaven.
EAST: But I provided for them in their darkness, says Jehovih. For I bring the earth into a light region in the firmament above, and I send My holy angels to deliver them out of darkness and bondage. In My name they raise up men with eyes to see and ears to hear, and I proclaim to all the nations of the earth.
EM: Make my body and my spirit, O Jehovih, a servant to You; and whatever You put upon me, I will accept that and do with all my might, wisdom and love. I will proclaim that which You have taught me, fearing nothing that may come upon me; for You shall make me an example of steadfastness for Your glory. Neither shall I complain for any loss of my earthly goods, nor for imprisonment, toil, sickness or death! To Your servant these things are as nothing. Without You, O Jehovih, I am as nothing; but from this time forward I will be Your servant, forever. Amen!
HYARH: My friends, what was the light of the ancients?
EM: To learn the earth and call it Ah! To learn the sky and call it Oh! To learn the unseen power, as the wind, and call it E-O-Ih!
H: Which was the secret password to the lodge of light with the ancients. What was next?
EM: To worship Eloih; to do no murder; to keep holy one day in seven; to not steal and to commit no adultery.
H: What was the next light?
EM: To not do to others that which we desire not done to us.
H: What next?
EM: To do to others even as we desire them to do to us; to love one’s neighbor as one’s self; to return good for evil. (Here ended the ancient light. But in kosmon, to the order of this day, is added:)
H: I now give a greater light to you, in the name of Jehovih, which is: THAT YOU SHALL DO GOOD TO OTHERS WITH ALL YOUR WISDOM AND STRENGTH, ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES; AND THAT YOU SHALL PERCEIVE NO EVIL IN ANY MAN, WOMAN OR CHILD, BUT IN THEIR BIRTH AND SURROUNDINGS.
EM: This, also, I accept from You, O Jehovih. Help me to not swerve, O Light of my soul, for Your glory and for the glory of Your dominions, forever!
(Then come the anointing rod of fire and the key to the astronomical problems. After this the Em. are conducted to North, South, West, and East, where they are bestowed with raiment, the ceremony of which is withheld from publication.) M’hak (Dark, or Degree of Golden Chamber)