1. NEPH, God of earth, said: Behold, O Aph, Son of Jehovih, by the power and magnificence of thy work am I bewildered in thy presence. Who can come so near the Almighty? Who but Jehovih hath attained beyond the power of thy soul? Who hath wisdom like unto thee, save the Great Creator? Thou hast stretched a line beyond the moon, and by thy spoken word crushed in the side of the great earth, as if it were nothing. Thou hast said: Arise! and a world moved at thy command! Yea, thou hast the love and esteem of millions of Gods and Goddesses.
2. And thou camest against the winds of the earth, saying: Turn ye hither or turn ye thither, and lo, the winds moved before thy words as an obedient child to its father's voice. Thou callest down the fire of heaven; it cometh at thy bidding; and thou sayst: O Jehovih, put thy hand under the heavens of the earth, and straightway a light and floor wide as the earth fly into the place of thy desire.
3. Now, behold thou hast said: O Jehovih, I surrender my commission; I have finished that which Thou commandest me to do. Wherefore, O Aph, my soul hath great sorrow. But because thou hast labored a hundred days and cleaned up the whole earth and her heavens, as one might sweep the floor of a house, I am bowed down in gratitude.
4. Then Aph, Son of Jehovih, said: O Jehovih, what have I done that Thy Son's love hath come to me? So far as I have become one with Thee, O Thou Everlasting Creator, so Thou showest me plainer and plainer that I am nothing. And yet Thy Son heapest praise upon me, seeing I am but as a figure moved by Thy hand. Shall a man lose sight of the Almighty!
5. Nevertheless, O Jehovih, who so weak in love as I, Thy servant? Because Thou hast quickened me in wisdom and power, so hast Thou made my love as a place that can never be supplied to the fill. How shall I find strength to leave this, Thy Son, on the far-off earth? Will I not glory in his love and great esteem; and yet know I not that I will repine because I have him not with me?
6. Hear me, O Jehovih, for I will measure Thy Son with swiftness. Scarce forty thousand years raised up to etherea, and yet Thou madest him God of heaven and earth. For three thousand years struggled he in the battle against evil and darkness; and the broad heavens in the etherean world looked on in sympathy and love and hope, because of his tenacity and wisdom and power.
7. It was as one man fighting against a house on fire, and the place filled with helpless babes. And yet Thy God ceased not, nor once rested and said: It is useless; but forever renewed the battle in new ways and stratagems. As a light showeth better in the dark, so did Thy Son Neph, O Jehovih, move the souls of even Gods and Goddesses in Thy exalted heavens.
8. Then came Thy voice, O Father, saying: Go thou, O Aph, My Son, and deliver the earth. And, behold, the congregating of Gods and Goddesses! So eager to fly to the assistance of Thy honored Son!
9. And God (Neph) said: One favor, O Aph, Son of Jehovih, I ask of thee; which is that thou shalt tarry three days and honor the throne of God. For I will have it founded and ready; and my Lords shall have the honor of speaking to thee face to face.
10. Aph, Son of Jehovih, said: By Thy permission, O Jehovih, I will tarry three days and three nights with Thy Son, God of heaven and earth, and I will honor his throne and speak face to face with his Lords, that I may win their love.
11. In three days' time the kingdom of God was founded, and situated in atmospherea, near and over the land of Jaffeth (Chine'ya), but the plateaux extended with two wings, so as to embrace Shem and Ham (India and Egypt); and thither went the Gods, with their Lords and attendants.
12. Now, there were with God (Neph) two million spirits (earth-born) in the second resurrection, who had volunteered to serve another two hundred years for the founding of the new kingdom of heaven, and they were well learned in official capacity, knowing how to found plateaux, with factories, mansions, hospitals, nurseries, and all such places as are required in heaven for the newborn, so that God only had to say: Do ye thus, or so; and it was done, and without error.
13. And now, from the hosts of Aph, Son of Jehovih, there came before God half a million etherean volunteers who p. 85 desired to remain two hundred years with God and his hosts.
14. God said to them: Behold, the earth hath passed Tryista, and it is no longer lawful for any but earth-born to hold the places of sub-Gods and sub-Lords and marshals; and since ye are from different stars raised, and from different etherean circuits, what shall I do that ye may be honored, and also profitable to yourselves in development?
15. Gaitivaya, chief spokesman for them, said: We desire to be laborers only. For what is two hundred years to us? We pray thee, appoint us not to the I'hins, for they are already advanced, but appoint us to the natives in the divisions of the earth, especially to those who speak but little, and who burrow in the ground. Neither do we desire a place in thy heaven, but we will abide with mortals, and in the first resurrection of those who are born in darkness.
16. God said: Thou shalt remain, and thy people with thee. For since thou hast volunteered to leave thy high estate and come and dwell for one dan * on the lowest of all places, laboring for the blind and dumb, thou shalt be recompensed with the love of millions in time to come.
17. Then God departed, and Aph, Son of Jehovih, went with him, and they came into the midst of the kingdom of God, whereat they halted, and God said: Here will I build my throne; and inasmuch as Sethantes, in the olden time, called his place Hored, so will I call my place Hored also, and on the earth it shall be called the Mountain of God, for it shall be my home.
18. So God stretched forth his hand to Jehovih, saying: Throne of Thy throne, O Father! And there came down from the heavens above a great light, and it settled around about in the midst of the place of God and Aph, Jehovih's Son; and presently the light gathered up of the atmospherean substance and made it shining and condensed, whereupon the attendants who do such matters brought and laid the throne of God, and thereafter fenced it around with pillars of fire, after the manner of Hored of the ancient days.
19. And God ascended and sat on the throne, and Aph also sat on the right hand of God, and the four Lords of the earth on the left hand; but the fifth Lord, Eolait, stood down at the foot. And he said: Behold, the division of the earth that was mine is sunk beneath the sea; how, then, shall I sit on the throne of God?
20. God said: Since thy labor hath been taken from thee, thou art as a parable on the newly dead; who have lost the earth, but have no place in heaven. Since the es'yan serveth a time through the proxy of others, so shalt thou in that which I will bestow upon thee. Know, then, thou shalt sit on my right hand, for thou shalt be my assistant and Vice-God during the time of my sojourn; and, after that, whatsoever thou wilt.
21. Eolait said: Thou hast honored me, O God! Jehovih's will be done! So God rose up, raising his hand, and said: O Thou All Light, crown Thou Thy Son Vice-God of Hored, for Thine Own Glory, forever!
22. And as the light of etherea descended into God's right hand, he shaped it into a crown and placed it on Eolait's head, with the usual ceremony of such rank in heaven. And Eolait came and sat on the right hand of God. And in that same time, Aph, Son of Jehovih, rose up, whereupon God and the Lords, and all people whatsoever, sat down, for the place was as if Jehovih had appeared in person. Aph said:
23. As a father is made to comprehend his own early life by looking on his infant son, so hast Thou, O Jehovih, forever raised up before my eyes the images of times and conditions long past. In these, Thy Lords, Thou hast called me back to the time and place when first Thou and Thy Son crowned me a Lord and a Vice-God over one of the divisions of my native star.
24. And my soul rose up to Thee in fear and prayer; for I understood how unmindful men and angels are of the labor of Gods and Lords, and prone to rate themselves as Chiefs of all created things. But Thy Voice, O Jehovih, came to me, saying: Complain not, My Son, against the self-conceit of men and angels, nor of their criticisms of My Gods and Lords; for to such boasters do I provide trials, which they perceive not till they are encompassed therewith. Suffer them, therefore, within thy dominions to grow in their own glory, for I have sufficient labor for them, either on earth or in heaven.
25. And I perceived Thy wisdom, and I applied it through my angels; and when my people rose to the first resurrection, and the second resurrection, behold, I knew where to place them that they might prove themselves all in all. And Thy light came upon me in my place, saying: As thou hast p. 86 profited in the first lesson, so shalt thou comprehend the second, and even up to the etherean heavens.
26. Nevertheless, O Father, Thou sufferedst all things to harass me and perplex my soul; and I was filled with fear and reverence because of the great responsibility Thou gavest unto my keeping. So great were my tribulations and trials that I called out to Thee in Thy holy place to remember all other Gods and Lords in Thy whole universe.
27. And Thou saidst: Hear the words of Thy Creator, thou, My God, My Son: For I created man to enter heaven as helpless as he entered earth life, and dependent on those above him, that he might comprehend the unity between high and low, strong and weak, light and darkness; and I placed him in My mills, wherein he should learn that, even as others grind for him, so should he grind for those beneath him.
28. For of what profit under the sun is it for My Lords to come down from their liberty and glory in My etherean firmament and become Lords over the grovellers in the flesh, or over the es'yans in darkness? Shall selfishness reign in heaven, and every one for himself? Have I not proved it on the earth that the love of doing good works unto others is all that insures a rich harvest of love in return.
29. Because they stoop from their high estate in order to promote My children which I created alive, are they not becoming the more one with Me? Even so is all exaltation in heaven; for as I stoop down to the dumb earth and water, and quicken them, making man, so have I stooped lower than can anything of all My universe. And they that do after My example, raising them up to make them have joy in life, are on the road to attain to all power and wisdom and love.
30. Aph, Son of Jehovih, said: I perceived Thy wisdom, O Father; and Thy power and wisdom came upon me tenfold. Then I sought forever after to go to the lowest and darkest places; but, lo, when I had grown in Thy judgment, Thou spakest again to me, saying:
31. O Aph, My Son, because thou hast found the key to unlock the doors to the highest heavens, behold, thou art too mighty for small labor. Come, therefore, with Thy Creator, for I have a whole etherean world at thy command, and thy wisdom and power are required at My hand.
32. And I obeyed Thy call, O Jehovih. And then again, after a season, Thou calledst me again, and again, and madest my labors to extend into many etherean worlds. But I loved to look back and glorify Thee for my first Lord-dom, and to treasure up the millions of loves I found in those days. And again, O Father, hast Thou blessed me to meet many millions of them in this pruning of the red star, the earth.
33. Now Thou hast called me to speak on the throne of Thy God of earth. Alas, thy God has said: O Aph, Son of Jehovih, come thou and honor my throne! Whereas, O Jehovih, I am the most honored of men and Gods because I have again opened my mouth before Thee and in Thy name. All glory be to Thee, O Jehovih, now and forever!
34. Then Aph, Son of Jehovih, sat down, and God signalled to the marshals, who proclaimed freedom for two whole days. Thereupon the Gods and Goddesses of Aph's staff filed past the throne, and after them came the hosts of God, and then the hosts of the Lords, for they all desired to pass near and look upon Aph, and receive the signal of his blessing.
35. And presently thereafter all the people joined in with the es'enaurs and sang a song of glory unto Jehovih, the All Highest. And when it was finished, the multitude turned to recreation and social intercourse.
85:* Two hundred years.