FIRST BOOK OF GOD.
BEING COTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE BOOK OF CPENTA-ARMIJ, DAUGHTER OF JEHOVIH. AS THE UPPER BOOK RELATETH TO THE HIGHER HEAVENS, SO IN LIKE MANNER DEALETH THE FIRST BOOK OF GOD WITH THE LOWER HEAVENS AND WITH THE EARTH, FOR THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME. FOR WHICH REASON THIS BOOK IS PLACED BELOW THE OTHER. THIS BOOK TREATETH FULLY OF THE FOUR GREAT PERSONS CHOSEN BY GOD, NAMELY: PO, OF JAFFETH, INSPIRED BY THE GOD YIMA; BRAHMA, OF VIND’YU, INSPIRED BY THE GOD DIV; ABRAM, OF PAR'SI’E, AND AFTERWARD OF ARABIN'YA, INSPIRED BY THE GOD VISHNU; AND EA-WAH-TAH, OF NORTH GUATAMA, INSPIRED BY THE GOD OS. AND THESE INSPIRATIONS WERE FOR THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME, KNOWN IN THE KINGDOMS OF HEAVEN AS THE TIME OF THE ARC OF SPE-TA. THESE FOUR GODS WERE THE CHIEF DIVAN GODS OF THAT DAY, HA’CHUE BEING DIV IN CHIEF.
CHAPTER I.
1. The Creator of creations: Out of Whom are all voices: Of Whom are all things insemblance. From Him and in Him these utterances. By His Gods and Lords and high-raisedangels and mortals.
2. Into Whose dominion gave He the earth for the glory of Jehovih, Whose God came andwalked and talked with such as had been prepared for the deliverance of His chosen.
3. For the four preserved divisions of the earth gave he four Sons of holy light and powerfor the voice of God and his Lords:
4. Po, of Jaffeth; Abram, of Arabin'ya; Brahma, of Vindyu, and Eawahtah, of Guatama,whose records are everlasting on the earth, which are testimony that these men wereraised up by the Father for His Own glory, and for the deliverance of men.
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST CHINESE BIBLE. --BEING OF PO, AN IESU,CHOSEN BY GOD FOR THE CHILDREN OF JAFFETH.
1. These are the generations of the line of Light from the time of Zarathustra:
2. Shu sa, Gwan, Loo, Sam, Dhi Jo, Wee, Him, Gow, See, Wing, He Wen, Tse Kong,Lam Ne, Moo Yow Tine, Luts, Hime, Mai Se, Hong, Ghee, Wan Ghee, Tse Loo,succeeding one another.
3. All the foregoing were seers and prophets of God (Light), having the Voice from theiryouth up, and were each in turn a shield and guardian unto the chosen of God (Faithists).
4. God (Light)1 said: With Tse Loo, behold, the Voice was lost. But I called aloud on theface of the earth, and my Light spread abroad.
5. And there came a woman of Che Song, named Ha-se, an I'hin, through whom theVoice was regained.
6. Ha-se had seven sons and seven daughters, all of whom heard the Voice, and saw theLight.
7. And God divided the fourteen sons and daughters, one from another, and sent them indifferent ways.
8. These, then, are the tribes than sprung of them: King, Si, Gwe, Loo, Hi-Gah, Hi-se-Gua, Yo, Ha Fung, Ne, Hi Lam, Se'ing, Yuth, Lo, Jon, Ying'e and Ho Lun Gow.
9. From the line of Ha Fung sprang Enam-jo and Ze'zoo (half I'hin). From Ying'e sprangNo'e and Yu Laim; also Yu'tse and He-ah. And God commanded the He-ahns to dwelltoward the south, and they so dwelt.
10. From the line of King descended the We Yah-ho; and they lived toward the north andmade fellowship with the Foe-Sim, who were I'huans by blood, and also followers of theZarathustrian law under the name Sa Sin, having rab'bahs whom they called bah, the sameas to this day.
11. From the tribes of Foe-Sim sprang Han; and from We Yah-Ho sprang Hi and Te-Wing'e; both of which tribes had the Light and the Voice.
12. And all the north regions of Jaffeth dwelt in peace and happiness.
13. And God looked upon them and blessed them in all things.
14. Nevertheless, it came to pass that the tribes of Han forgot the commandments of God;and Le Han, a mighty chieftain, rose up amongst them, and re-established the Osiriandoctrines; that corporeal knowledge should stand higher than the Ormazdian law.
15. Han usurped the central throne of Jaffeth, calling himself HAN, KING OF THE SUN. Andso Han gave himself up to getting knowledge, and to enforcing knowledge upon thepeople.
16. Han issued the following decree: Han, King of the Sun! Behold, there is one sun andhis satellites. There shall be but one kingdom, with satellites.
17. Behold me, I am the sun king! I will put away all other doctrines and learning. Let allthe world bow down to me!
18. Han was asked: Shall a man not worship the Unseen? He answered: Better is it toworship a stone, which thou canst see.
19. Han said: Worship not in words, but in works; worship not in prayer, but in doingrighteously. What is prayer but crying to one's own weakness?
20. If there be an Unseen Light, He will do His own way. What is the use of praying toHim? Rites and ceremonies to Him are the expression of folly. Rites and ceremonies toour forefathers are excusable. If their souls continue to exist, the rites and ceremoniesmay give them good pleasure.
21. So, Han abolished the worship of Jehovih (Light) and His God and Lords.
22. God looked down from his holy hill in heaven, and he said: It is well; let Han havedominion. Behold, Han enraptureth the multitude with his new doctrines, rememberingnot that these doctrines were tried thousands of years before.
23. God prophesied through his prophet Ze-wing'e, saying: Hear me, O Han, and all yepeople of the whole world. I prophesy by the Voice and Light (God and Jehovih); I knowmy words are true words; by words the soul is bent; by not praying to the Unseen, theUnseen will be forgotten. By the abolition of rites and ceremonies to the Gods, the Godswill be forgotten. Man will rise up in self-conceit against his Creator, saying: Behold me;I am the highest of all things; my judgment is the greatest of all wisdom. And the tribes ofmen will aspire to establish opinions as fundamental doctrines. War and destruction willcome upon the nations!
24. Han would not heed the prophecy of God. Han established what was called THEFIRST HAN DYNASTY, and it overspread the land of Jaffeth from center to circumference.
25. And there came of the laws of Han great persecution against the Faithists, theworshippers of Jehovih (Light).
26. Han said: Try them by the food they eat; and whoso refuseth to eat fish or flesh shallsuffer death. Neither shall any man nor woman have favor in the courts, who holdethsacred the life of a cow, or a horse, or a dog, or any other animal on the face of the earth,or in the waters, or in the air above the earth.
27. So, the Faithists, the followers of the Zarathustrian law, were outlawed, and weretortured and put to death on every hand. And it had come true as prophesied by Zewing'e.
28. God said: Behold, they have not only forgotten the Creator, and denied His Person inwords, but in behavior also. For they no longer hold sacred anything He created alive,even man.
1 With the ancient Chinese the word Light is equivalent sometimes to our English word God, and sometimes to Jehovih (Creator), just as Christians and even Jews sometimes make no distinction between the words God and Jehovih. When we use the expression, And God said, etc., it sounds reverential to us, whilst to a Chinaman it sounds as silly as to our ears is the expression, And Joss said, etc. The same rule applies to the expression, And Light said, etc., or, And Mazda said, etc., or, And Or said, etc. In this FIRST BOOK OF GOD, these words are used in a cosmopolitan sense, covering Anglicized philology consonant with both ancient and modern times.
CHAPTER III.
1. From Ze-wing'e, God raised up prophets for seven generations. Ze'wing'e begat DoTse, who begat Yin, who begat Hi Ne, who begat Lan Se'ang, who begat Dhi Hsotch'e,who begat Ho Lon, who begat Po, who was an iesu in birth.
2. When Po was yet very young, the voice of God came to him, saying: Be steadfast in thedoctrines of thy forefathers, eating neither fish nor flesh; thy God will not only preservethee alive, but thou shalt gather together the scattered tribes of Zarathustrians, theFaithists, and re-establish them in this great land.
3. In those days many of the Zarathustrians were celibates; and the king saw his peoplebeing reduced by war, and he made a law against celibacy, commanding all men to marry,and all women to bring forth children, or be put to death.
4. When Po was grown up, God said to him: Behold, thou canst not fulfill the law, forthou art iesu-born. But I will fetch thee a wife like unto thee, who is also barren, but yetwain shall be blessed with three children, and thou shalt call them Wan-le, Toghan, andTse Loo.
5. And it came to pass that a woman of Hong Ge, with three adopted children, escapedfrom the tyranny of Dhi'wan, fleeing for the southern tribes of HiSeeGua and Yo, andGwan Goon; and with her, Po wed, and he named his wife Ah T'dowh Jee.
6. Po was twenty years old when he married, and he went with his wife and three childrento the country of Heng'a Di, which name signified brother land, and he labored atscutching flax and hemp.
7. And God came to Po, saying: What is the extent of thy fidelity to the All HighestLight?
8. Po said: I will obey him in all things.
9. God said: Wouldst thou sacrifice thy three sons, if commanded by thy Creator?
10. Po said: They are the Creator's, not mine. How dare I sacrifice that which is another's?
11. God said: Thou art wise; thou knowest the Ormazdian law.
12. Then Po asked: Who art thou? Who is this that cometh upon me silently, askingquestions?
13. God said: Go thou, visit Hi Seiang, the philosopher, and question him.
14. Hi Seiang was governor of the south province of Heng'a Di, and was, withal, a man ofgreat learning.
15. Po came to him and questioned him, saying: What is this that asketh us questions? Why do we question and answer ourselves all day long?
16. Hi Seiang answered: Are we not two selfs? Do we not discourse within ourselves liketwo selfs?
17. Po said: Which, sayest thou, is the superior self, that which questioneth within usforever, or that which is forever answering?
18. The governor said: That which asketh questions must be the superior self.
19. Po said: Who is it?
20. Hi said: It is nothing, it is something. Po answered him, saying: It appeareth to me,these two selfs are two different persons; one belongeth to the flesh, the other to theCreator. Because this questioning self is the same one that seeth and heareth Gods andangels.
21. Hi said: What sayest thou? God and angels?
22. Po replied: God and angels.
23. To which the governor took exception, saying: Dost thou too defy the law?
24. Po said: What I see I see, what I hear I hear. Something external to ourselves made us,and ruleth over us.
25. The governor asked: Have we not rid the world of superstition? Why dealest thouwith doctrines that were in the dark ages? I tell thee there are two things only in all theuniverse; the unseen firmament, and the corporeal worlds that float therein. Their actionand reaction on each other produce what we call life, which is but an effervescence thatcometh and goeth, and there is the end. The laws are right. Han hath done a good thing inabolishing the doctrines of the ancients.
26. Whilst they were yet talking, God sent a blaze of fire into a bush standing nearby,and a voice spake out of the flame, saying: Who, then, sayest thou I am? For verily I am!
27. The governor saw the light, and beheld that the bush was not burnt; and he also heardthe voice. But God suffered him to be hard of heart, and Hi said: Behold, thou comest tome, knowing I am a philosopher, and thou castest thy spell in the bush, like a magician. Iam master of a thousand books, and am registered as a man of great learning. Thou hastoffended me.
28. Po said: Why accusest thou me? For is it not just for me to accuse thee of casting thespell? I cast it not.
29. Again did God appear and speak, saying: Accuse thou not this, my son, Po. Thoushalt labor with him. Behold, I give into thy keeping the country of Feh; for even thishour hath died Moo Gwon. The tribes of Ghan shall be gathered together in Feh andHeng'a Di.
30. Hi Seiang, the governor, was astonished at the words of the Light; and he sent aservant, to ascertain if Moo Gwon was dead; and it turned out to be true, though thedistance was a day's journey each way.
