1. OF the abundance of thy Creator's creations be thou apalled, O man!
2. Consider the inhabitants of the whole earth, and the number of a thousand millions brought into life every thirty-three years.
3. Compute thou the number for a thousand years, and for ten thousand years.
4. And, yet, the earth is not full.
5. And the heavens of the earth are yet even as if scarcely habited. Thousands of plateaux there are, with no angels to dwell thereon.
6. But to induce the spirits of the dead to rise up from the earth, this is the work and the glory of thy God.
7. To make them put away earthly desires, to become pure and wise and strong and adapted to the sublimated spheres, what an endless labor for thy God and his exalted angels.
8. As thou, O man of the earth, holdest to the desire for earthly things, thou entailest thyself in heaven, and canst not rise upward. Even so is it with the great harvest, the thousands of millions of angels born of the earth.
9. If thou stand a pyramid before thee, wide at the base, equal to the height, such is the manner of the proportions of the spirits of the dead on their entrance into the es world.
10. Consider, then, O man, how sparse are the settlements in the upper kingdoms of the earth's heavens, compared to the numbers in the lowest grade. And remember thou, the percentage of inspiration that cometh to thee, from this grade, which is doubly degraded in the cities and great capitals.
11. Know thou, O man, that all cities built by men, soon or late, fall p. 769 into destruction. Search into the generations, as to the grade of mortals, and thou hast a type of the spirits of that city, chiefly as to the lowest grades. But, remember, the highest grades of angels go away, whilst the lowest remain. As the spirits of one generation are to the form of a pyramid, so, not so will be the spirits of that city in the next generation.
12. But, in proportion to the increase of the mortal city, and in proportion to the raising up of the second, third, fourth and fifth grades, so will be the relative increase in the proportion of drujas that dwell in that city.
13. And, in time, all holiness passeth away therefrom; and, when thy God abandoneth that city for a day, taking hence his holy angels, the people fall into anarchy, or run with brands of fire, and burn down the city.
14. And the hundreds of millions of drujas lose their anchorage on the earth, and thy God and his exalted ones march them away.
15. Find thou the grade and the rate of declension of the mortals of a city, and, when the whole number, with the spirits therein, hath fallen to one per cent, thou shalt prophecy the time of the fall of that city.
16. Be thou fearful of the abundance of drujas about thee; and search out thine own imperfections and uncleaness and thy passions, lest drujas fasten upon thee in a way thou knowest not of.
17. Call not upon the spirits of the dead to come to thee; but call thou on thy Creator for wisdom and light and truth and purity; and, if it will be well for thee, He will send unto thee such spirits as are best adapted to thee for thy resurrection.
18. Whoso consulteth the spirits as to earthly things, or profit, or great undertakings, or marriage, or war, or riches, is already in the hands of drujas. Woe be unto him in the hour of death.
19. When thou sittest in communion with angels, do so reverently to thy Creator; and the members of thy circle shall pray unto Him, or sing songs of praise and glory unto Him and His works. Nor shalt thou habit thyself to sit with such as do not this reverence to Jehovih. And, when the angels appear and converse with thee, remember thou that even the least of them hath passed the bars of death.
20. Be not long-faced or melancholy with doleful songs; but rather cheerful, like the birds that sing unto the Creator. And let thy speech be respectful, and relating to spiritual things. Learn thou from them of the places they inhabit in heaven, and the manner of their occupations.
21. And if thou inquire of them as to earthly things, let it be as to how thou mayst help the poor and distressed.
22. For, if the angel that talketh with thee be a druj only, thy discourse shall, in this way, awake him to see his own shortness.
23. And if they be high-raised angels, they shall understand the working of thy soul, and they will provide unto thee for thy everlasting exaltation.
24. Be upright before thy Creator and thy God, who know thy weakness. Emulate them in all thy doings, for this is the way of resurrection, worlds without end.