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Chapter IX

1. REMEMBER thy Creator and the magnitude of his creations. Before Him thou art but an atom, and as only one small creature.

2. Nevertheless, a multitude of people make a nation, with cities and hamlets.

3. These are also graded by thy God, according to the ascendancy or the declension of the whole.

4. If a city, then the grades of all the people shall be summed together in a scale of one hundred.

5. And if a nation, then the grades of the cities and hamlets, and of people of isolation, shall be summed together in a scale of a hundred.

6. And if half the people are above grade fifty, and half below fifty, the grade of that people shall be fifty.

7. If one quarter only, then the grade of that people shall be twenty-five.

8. On the basis of individual grades, shall be the grades of a city and of a nation.

9. And the behavior of a city or a nation shall be graded in the same way, after the manner of an individual.

10. A certain nation built alms-houses and asylums sufficient for the needy, and, by its tyranny, made an equal number of needy ones. That nation raised not its grade for the good it had done.

11. Another nation built no alms-houses, but, by its wholesome laws, there were none needed. That nation raised its grade many-fold.

12. And yet another nation maintained a standing army, in order to maintain itself. That nation stood in grade one only.

13. The place of this last nation, in entrance into the es world, shall be grade one, which is the animal region, which is on the earth.

14. Whoso dwelleth in such a land, though he have a good individual grade, shall suffer deduction in the ratio of the grades of different nations of the earth.

15. But whoso dwelleth in a nation, high in grade, shall be ascended in his own individual grade.

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16. As these grades are on earth, so have I made them in the heavens thereof. In all cases depending on what one doeth for the resurrection of others.

17. If a city, or nation, or a kingdom in heaven do unto others in resurrection, then shall that nation be graded accordingly.

18. But, if there be no gain in the good than any of these do, they shall receive no grade.

19. But, if they increase in raising individual grade, then are such cities and nations rising in grade.

20. Consider thy nation, O man, one generation with another; and as the relative proportion of individual grades rise or fall, so shalt thou determine whether thy nation is ascending or falling in grade. Number its paupers and criminals as to increase or decrease.

21. Consider not its wealth, nor its ships, nor its armies, nor its great buildings. These all together are only one grade, and are of no value as to the spiritual grade of its people.

22. For the strength and life of thy nation depend on its spiritual grade. Pursue this, and thou shalt prophesy truly as to the growth or the downfall of a nation.

23. Pursue this also with regard to the nations of the earth, and thou shalt determine the relative place of thine own nation in the es world.


Next: Chapter X