Plate 6.--SEMUAN FIRMAMENT
1. HEAR the word of thy God, O man, and be considerate in thy little learning; interpreting the records of the ancients rather by the spirit than by the word.
2. Wherein it was constantly commanded, in the ancient sacred writings, to avoid GOING DOWN TO DESTRUCTION, and they obeyed not the commandments of the Lord, behold ye the light of your God in this day.
3. For the I'huans, even before the flood, were in the first place born capable of everlasting life. But they mixed with the druks until the seed of the spirit of eternal life became exhausted, and they brought forth heirs incapable of self-sustenance in heaven. Hence it was said of them: They went down in darkness.
4. Now after awhile a new race of I'huans was brought forth, and they were at first capable of All Light and p. 135b of everlasting life. But they also kept not the commandments of the Lord; but also mixed with the druks (the ground people), and they descended rapidly on the road of everlasting death (as a race).
5. But the Lord your God created the new race, the Ghans, capable of an upward inspiration.
6. And he gave unto them the same commandments, to preserve their seed from the races beneath them, lest they go down in darkness also.
7. To which end thy Lord gave unto them certain rites and ceremonies and pass-words, in addition to the circumcision, which would enable them to distinguish with whom they should mingle according to the commandments of God.
8. Behold ye then the testimony which I lay before you, that ye may perceive the wisdom of my ways: For it wil be said by some that there is a law of evolution whereby man riseth from a lower to a higher state as the earth groweth older.
9. But I say unto you, there is no such law. Save but by the labor of thy Lord and thy God, through their angels, man riseth not upward; but he goeth the other way.
10. In which matter, behold, I have left many nations and peoples before you to this day, who are on the downward road. And ye have corporeal records before you, showing you that in times past, the same countries were inhabited by a higher race.
11. For thus Jehovih created man, to go as readily down the mountain as up it.
12. Behold, all resurrection cometh from above; all aspiration cometh from the Lord and his angels. For man, being in the flesh, goeth rather to the desires of the flesh than to the spirit.
13. As the light of the sun causeth sleep to pass away, so doth the light of Jehovih, through His Gods and Lords and angels, cause the soul of men to awake to the possibilities of everlasting life in the exalted heavens.
14. This also have I, thy Lord, proven in the world: that they who fall from the light of the Father, lose their symmetry and beauty of proportions.
15. Behold, in the time of Thor man p. 136b considered not the shapeliness of his spouse, nor the mold of her face, nor the clearness of her voice, nor her wit, nor conversational powers.
Jehovih said: Behold I caused all living creatures to gestate in the darkness. And this shall be the testimony to the end of the world, that, when I created life on the face of the earth, she travelled in my se'muan firmament. See page 8, Book of Jehovih.
16. By all strategems, and devices, and rites and ceremonies, have the Gods and Lords labored to make man mindful of the way of resurrection through the tree of life.
17. But even in this day, behold, the mother bartereth off her daughter to a rich man; and the man seeketh a spouse of wasted flesh for the sake of gold. And they bring forth heirs of crime.
18. And man crieth out: He cannot be a good God that createth these!
19. But I say unto you, they keep not my commandments; they have gone astray in the wilderness.
20. Be wise, O man; from that which is before you, remember the times of the ancients, and the labor of the Lord your God.
21. In the beginning of the cycle of Thor, the Lord opened up many ways for the deliverance p. 137b of the tribes of men on the earth; and man prospered in the way of God for a long season.
22. Then darkness came upon the races of men; millions of them returned to a state of savagery. And angels of darkness came upon the earth, verily taking upon themselves the semblance of corporeal forms, and dwelling with mortals, and engaging in practices whereof it is unlawful to write or speak.
23. So that, at the termination of three thousand years, the lands of the earth were covered with darkness.
24. And Jehovih cast a vail over the face of the sun, and it shone not in brightness for many years.
END OF THE LORDS' FOURTH BOOK
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