1. GREAT became the wisdom of man in that day, and his power and glory were greater than had ever been in all the world. He established mighty kingdoms and sub-kingdoms, over the lands of Jaffeth, and Shem, and Parsi'e, and Arabin'ya.
2. He excelled in building temples and palaces; and in all manner of inventions; in fabrics of linen and silk, and wool and find leather; in writing books and tablets; in mathematics; in laws and reciprocities; in navigation, and in inland travel; in making thermometers and barometers, and magnetic needles, and telescopes and microscopes; in chemistry and botany.
3. Verily did the philosophers of those days know the mysteries of heaven and earth.
4. And man became no longer thankful to God and his Lords; but man became conceited, saying:
5. The Gods are fools! All things are Nature, and of growth. Man had become wise in spite of God and his Lords. All things evolve into higher states; it is the natural order. Neither is there any All Person, Jehovih! He is void, like the wind.
6. And God saw the conceit of man, and he said: Behold, he that I have raised up, turneth against me. Now, verily will I go away from man for a season, that he may learn wisdom. Behold, man shall also find that many of his fellows whom he raiseth up, turn against himself.
7. So the Lord departed out of the star chambers; and, lo and behold, the places were filled by the spirits of p. 158b the newly dead, who knew not the heavens above nor the way of the Almighty.
8. And man inquired of them, thus: Behold, thou art now a spirit! Tell me, is there any God, or Lord, or Jehovih?
9. And the spirits, desiring to flatter man, and, withal, not knowing the heavenly kingdoms, answered, saying: Nay, there is no God, nor Lord, nor All Person, Jehovih!
10. So the kings issued edicts, commanding the people to no longer worship God, nor Lord, nor Jehovih!
11. But woe, for the judgment of kings and queens. Man, having inherent worship in his soul, ceased indeed to worship God and his Lords, and even Jehovih; but, instead, he took to worshipping the stars.
12. Now, the spirits manifesting in the temples, advised one thing through one seer, and another through another; for they were of little knowledge, and wholly unorganized.
13. So, presently, the kings took to war against one another. Anarchy ensued, and man fell to destroying all the glories he had made.
14. Thus again, after three thousand years, man went down in darkness; again fell under the obsession of drujas, and again became a barbarian for three hundred years more.
END OF THE LORDS' FIFTH BOOK
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