Chapter 28
Te-zee pursued his researches for a long while, and with many prophets, magicians, seers and priests. Afterward he said:
All is vanity; all is falsehood. No man has answered me correctly as to the origin and destiny of man. Even the angels, or whatever they are, can only inform me of the things of earth; they only see as man sees. And it may be true that these angels are nothing more than Loo Sin said, that it is the spirit of the magician only. Because his body enters this trance it seems reasonable.
Now, therefore, I will put a stop to these magicians and priests; they are of no good under the sun. So Te-zee issued a decree covering his own province, commanding magicians and priests to leave the province, under penalty of death. And so they departed out of his dominions.
Now it so happened that in four other great provinces, the kings did precisely the same (questioned magicians and priests), and at about the same time. And these were the provinces, namely: Shan Ji, under king Lung Wan; Gah, under king Loa Kee; Sa-bin-Sowh, under king Ah-ka Ung; Gow Goo, under king Te See-Yong; and these five provinces [which included Te-zee’s province of Aen-Na-Po’e – ed.] comprised the chief part of Jaffeth. And all these kings issued similar edicts. So that the magicians, seers, and priests, were obliged to abandon their callings or go beyond these provinces, where barbarians dwelt.
Jehovih commanded Chine to go before king Te-zee, and when he had come, the king said to him: It has been some years since I heard you, and you were profound. I am delighted you have come before me again, so that I may question you.
Chine said: When you heard me before, the Great Spirit spoke through me. Now I am well learned, and He commands me to speak from my own knowledge.
First, then, I am a man as you are; yet every man has a different work. You are king of this province, and I am told, moreover, you are good and wise. I hope you are. Otherwise my words will not please you. As for myself, I was sent into the world to mark out this land and name it Chine’ya (Chine-land), and to establish anew those who accept the Great Spirit. For Chine’ya and her people shall remain a different country and different people from all the world.
Know then, O king, I do not come in vanity, boasting that I, Chine, am much or can do much; on the contrary, I say to you, I am one of the weakest of men; and yet I have more power than any other man in the world. And yet, mark you, of myself there is nothing to boast about; for I am only as a tool in the hands of Jehovih (Ormazd), and I myself do not do anything, but He through me.
I look upon you and see you have been questioning magicians and priests, and that you are unsatisfied. Know then, O king, your error is in not magnifying your judgment.
You have worked with magicians who are under the power of angels of the first resurrection, and even angels below them.
All such angels teach according to their own individual understanding; as wandering individuals they go about. And their miracles are of the same order, merely individual miracles.
He Whom I teach, works miracles not in a small corner, but in the affairs of kingdoms and nations; and not through magicians only, but through kings and queens, and even through common people. You yourself are an instrument in His hand.
Behold, when you issued your decree against magicians and asceticism, even in that same time four other great kings did the same thing! This is a miracle indeed! No man can counterfeit His miracles. Do not flatter yourself that such matters occur by accident. They do not occur by accident; but by Jehovih. For His angels in the second resurrection are organized, and work in mighty armies.
Te-zee said: You are great, Chine; or else your sudden philosophy turns my brain! Go on! How shall we know, first, that there are angels who are really the spirits of the dead? Second, how shall we distinguish between the first and second resurrections?
Chine said: Only by seeing and hearing with the natural eyes and ears, and with the spiritual eyes and ears, can any man attain to know anything either on earth or in heaven. When these senses are pure and clear, then a man knows that the spirits of the dead do live. For I declare, O king, in truth, that the spirit of my body has emerged from my body on many occasions, sometimes going subjectively and sometimes objectively. Nor is this a special creation meant for me only; but it is that which thousands and tens of thousands can attain to by discipline.
Touching the first and second resurrections, know, O king, spirits that dispose individual things, or earthly things; or propose riches or personal gain, or marriage, discanting (lecturing) to this man or that man about what is good for him as an individual; spirits giving great names, professing to be this or that great person long since dead; all these are deceivers and have not advanced beyond the first resurrection. They deny the I AM, the GREAT SPIRIT, the ALL PERSON. Their highest heaven is re-engraftment on mortals, and the reveling in lust. They flatter you, telling you, you were this or that great man in a former reincarnation. They manipulate you to make profit for their own magician; they are without truth or virtue, and of little wisdom.
The second resurrection does not come to an individual as an individual; it comes as an army, but not to an individual, but to a kingdom, a nation, a community. For as such angels belong to organized communities in heaven, so does that organization work with virtuous organizations of mortals.
This is wisdom, O king; to get away from the individual self; to become one with an organization, to work with the Great Spirit for the resurrection of men. For as you make yourself one with many to this end, so does the Father labor with you and them. As you keep yourself as an individual self, so do individual angels come to you as individuals.
Individual answers to individual; the first resurrection to the first; the second to the second. Moreover, the All Person is over all, and works each in its own order, to a great purpose.
Do not think, O king, I am making a new doctrine; I am only declaring that which was also proclaimed to the ancients. And those who came forward and had faith were called Jehovih’s chosen people, because, in truth, they chose Him.
Recognize, then, that whoever denies the All Person is not of His order; nor does such a one have the light of the Father in him. But he who has attained to understand that all things are really one harmonious whole, has also attained to know what is meant by the term, All Person, for He is All; and, consequently, Ever Present, filling all, extending everywhere.
In contradistinction from Him, two other philosophies have run parallel, which are darkness and evil. One says the All is not a person, being void, and less than even the parts thereof; the other says the only All High is the great angel I worship, who is like a man, and separate from all things.
These three comprise the foundation of all the doctrines in the world, or that have ever been or ever will be. The lowest is idolatry, which is evil; the second, unbelief, which is darkness; and the first is faith, truth, love, wisdom and peace.
Jehovih and His angels classify all men under one of these three heads. And they may be compared to three men looking across a field; one sees a light and knows he sees it; another hopes he sees it, but he only sees a white leaf; but the third sees nothing at all.
As a witness, therefore, the last one is worthless; the second is a circumstantial witness; but the first is positive, and stands the highest and firmest of all. He knows his Heavenly Father. He sees Him in the flowers; in the clouds, and in the sunshine; yes, in the fruits and herbs; in the beasts of the field, and in every creeping thing; and beyond, in the stars, moon, earth and sun. In sickness, in health, in sorrow and in rejoicing; truly he finds Jehovih in all things; he knows Jehovih’s eye and ear are forever upon him; and he walks upright in fear, but in truth and faith and pride and rejoicing!
Te-zee, the king, asked: Tell me, O Chine, what is the origin and destiny of man?
Chine said: The Ever Present quickens him into life in his mother’s womb; and he is then and there a new creation, his spirit from the Spirit Jehovih, and his body from the earth; a dual being the Father creates him.
His destination is everlasting resurrection; in which matter, man can have delightful labor as he rises upward forever and ever.
The king asked: If Jehovih is creating all the time, will the firmament not become too full of angels?
Chine said: A thousand men read a book, and yet that book is no fuller of ideas than at first. The corporeal man is not divisible, and so, fills a place. Thought, which may be compared to the soul, is the opposite of this. Ten thousand men may love your flower-garden, yet your garden is no fuller because of their love. Exalted souls in the upper heavens are without bulk and substance; and even so are the regions they inhabit, as compared to corporeal things.
The king said: I wish I were as you are! For which matter, if you will use your wand and make me even half as wise, I will give away all my kingdom!
Chine said: You cannot bargain for Faith, or purchase it, like a coat or sandals. And yet, until Faith is attained there is no resurrection. No bird ever flew from its nest without first having faith it could fly. And when you have Faith, you will cast away your kingdom and choose heavenly treasures instead. Until you have attained Faith you will retain your kingdom. This is a judgment to the rich man in the same way.
Riches and a king’s kingdom may be compared to balls of gold tied to a man’s feet in deep water; he cannot rise until he cuts himself loose, and casts away that which binds him. So, also, are men bound in spirit, and until they put their own hands to the matter, there is no resurrection for them.