A — The Rules

Part 33

Thou wilt do these things for Thy glory and for Thine own sake, to magnify the Law and the truth and to enlighten the members of Thy Council in the midst of the sons of men, that they may recount Thy marvels for everlasting generations and meditate unceasingly upon Thy mighty deeds. All the nations shall acknowledge Thy truth, and all the people Thy glory.

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For Thou wilt bring Thy glorious salvation to all the men of Thy Council, to those who share a common lot with the Angels of the Face. And among them shall be no mediator to invoke Thee, and no messenger to make reply; for.. They shall reply according to Thy glorious word and shall be Thy princes in the company of the Angels. They shall send out a bud for ever like a flower of the fields, and shall cause a shoot to grow into the boughs of an everlasting Plant.

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It shall cover the whole earth with its shadow and its crown to the clouds; its roots to the Abyss and all the rivers of Eden shall water its branches.

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A source of light shall become an eternal ever-flowing fountain, and in its bright flames all the sons of iniquity shall be consumed; it shall be a fire to devour all sinful men in utter destruction.

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They who bore the yoke of my testimony have been led astray by teachers of lies, and have rebelled against the service of righteousness. Whereas Thou, O my God, didst command them to mend their ways by walking in the way of holiness, where no man goes who is uncircumcised or unclean or violent, they have staggered aside from the way of Thy heart and languish in great wretchedness. A counsel of Belial is in their heart and in accordance with their wicked design they wallow in sin.

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I am as a sailor in a ship amid furious seas; their waves and all their billows roar against me. There is no calm in the whirlwind that I may restore my soul, no path that I may straighten my way on the face of the waters. The deeps resound to my groaning

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and my soul has journeyed to the gates of death.

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But I shall be as one who enters a fortified city, as one who seeks refuge behind a high wall until deliverance;

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I will lean on Thy truth, O my God. For Thou wilt set the foundation on rock and the framework by the measuring-cord of justice; and the tried stones Thou wilt lay by the plumb-line of truth, to build a mighty wall which shall not sway; and no man entering there shall stagger.

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For no enemy shall ever invade it since its doors shall be doors of protection through which no man shall pass; and its bars shall be firm and no man shall break them. No rabble shall enter in with their weapons of war until all the arrows of the war of wickedness have come to an end.

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And then at the time of Judgement the Sword of God shall hasten, and all the sons of His truth shall awake to overthrow wickedness; all the sons of iniquity shall be no more. The Hero shall bend his bow; the fortress shall open on to endless space and the everlasting gates shall send out weapons of war. They shall be mighty from end to end of the earth and there shall be no escape for the guilty of heart in their battle; they shall be utterly trampled down

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without any remnant. There shall be no hope in the greatness of their might, no refuge for the mighty warriors; for the battle shall be to the Most High God Hoist a banner, O you who lie in the dust! O bodies gnawed by worms, raise up an ensign for the destruction of wickedness!

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The sinful shall be destroyed in the battles against the ungodly. The scourging flood when it advances shall not invade the stronghold As for me, I am dumb.. my arm is torn from its shoulder and my foot has sunk into the mire. My eyes are closed by the spectacle of evil, and my ears by the crying of blood. My heart is dismayed by the mischievous design, for Belial is manifest in their inclination. All the foundations of my edifice totter and my bones are pulled out of joint; my bowels heave like a ship in a violent tempest and my heart is utterly distressed. A whirlwind engulfs me because of the mischief of their sin. Hymn I thank Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me by Thy strength. Thou hast shed Thy Holy Spirit upon me that I may not stumble.

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Thou hast strengthened me before the battles of wickedness, and during all their disasters Thou hast not permitted that fear should cause me to desert Thy Covenant. Thou hast made me like a strong tower, a high wall, and hast established my edifice upon rock; eternal foundations serve for my ground, and all my ramparts are a tried wall which shall not sway.

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Thou hast placed me, O my God, among the branches of the Council of Holiness; Thou hast established my mouth in Thy Covenant, and my tongue is like that of Thy disciples; whereas the spirit of disaster is without a mouth and all the sons of iniquity without a reply; for the lying lips shall be dumb. For Thou wilt condemn in Judgement all those who assail me, distinguishing through me between the just and the wicked. For Thou knowest the whole intent of a creature, Thou discernest every reply, and Thou hast established my heart on Thy teaching and truth, directing my steps into the paths of righteousness that I may walk before Thee in the land of the living, into paths of glory and infinite peace which shall never end. For Thou knowest the inclination of Thy servant, that I have not relied upon the works of my hands to raise up my heart, nor have I sought refuge

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in my own strength. I have no fleshly refuge, and Thy servant has no righteous deeds to deliver him from the Pit of no forgiveness. But I lean on the abundance of Thy mercies and hope for the greatness of Thy grace, that Thou wilt bring salvation to flower and the branch to growth, providing refuge in strength and raising up my heart.

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For in Thy righteousness Thou hast appointed me for Thy Covenant, and I have clung to Thy truth and gone forward in Thy ways.

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Thou hast made me a father to the sons of grace, and as a foster-father to men of marvel; they have opened their mouths like little babes.. like a child playing in the lap of its nurse. Thou hast lifted my horn above those who insult me, and those who attack me sway like the boughs; my enemies are like chaff before the wind, and my dominion is over the sons of iniquity, For Thou hast succoured my soul, O my God, and hast lifted my horn on high. And I shall shine in a seven-fold light in the Council appointed by Thee for Thy glory; for Thou art an everlasting heavenly light to me and wilt establish my feet upon level ground for ever. Hymn I thank Thee, O Lord,

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for Thou hast enlightened me through Thy truth. In Thy marvellous mysteries, and in Thy loving-kindness to a man of vanity, and in the greatness of Thy mercy to a perverse heart Thou hast granted me knowledge.

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Who is like Thee among the gods, O Lord, and who is according to Thy truth? Who, when he is judged, shall be righteous before Thee? For no spirit can reply to Thy rebuke nor can any withstand Thy wrath.

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Yet Thou bringest all the sons of Thy truth in forgiveness before Thee, to cleanse them of their faults through Thy great goodness, and to establish them before Thee through the multitude of Thy mercies for ever and ever.

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For Thou art an eternal God; all Thy ways are determined for ever and ever and there is none other beside Thee. And what is a man of Naught and Vanity that he should understand Thy marvellous mighty deeds? Hymn I thank Thee, O God, for Thou hast not cast my lot in the congregation of Vanity, nor hast Thou placed in the council of the cunning. Thou hast called me to Thy grace and to Thy forgiveness Thou hast brought me,

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and, by the multitude of Thy mercies, to all judgements of righteousness. As for me, I am an unclean man, and from the womb of her who conceived me I am an unclean man, and from the womb of her who has conceived me I am in sinful guilt, and from the breast of my mother in injustice, and in the bosom of my nurse in great impurity. And from my youth in blood, and until [my old age in the iniquity of the flesh. But Thou, O my God, Thou hast established my feet in the way of Thy heart, and hast opened] my ears to Thy wonderful tidings, and my heart to understand Thy truth for I have closed my ears to Thy teaching until... without knowledge hast Thou cut out of me, and glory.. no more for me a stumbling-block of iniquity. For Thou dost reveal Thy salvation, and Thy righteousness is made firm for ever. For man is not the master of his way, for Thou hast done all this for Thy glory. Hymn I thank Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast placed me beside a fountain of streams in an arid land, and close to a spring of waters in a dry land, and beside a watered garden in a wilderness.

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For Thou didst set a plantation of cypress, pine, and cedar for Thy glory, trees of life beside a mysterious fountain hidden among the trees by the water, and they put out a shoot of the everlasting Plant. But before they did so, they took root and sent out their roots to the watercourse that its stem might be open to the living waters and be one with the everlasting spring.

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And all the beasts of the forest fed on its leafy boughs; its stem was trodden by all who passed on the way and its branches by all the birds. And all the trees by the water rose above it for they grew in their plantation; but they sent out no root to the watercourse.

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And the bud of the shoot of holiness of the Plant of truth was hidden and was not esteemed; and being unperceived, its mystery was sealed. Thou didst hedge in its fruit, O God, with the mystery of mighty Heroes and of spirits of holiness and of the whirling flame of fire.

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No man shall approach the well-spring of life or drink the waters of holiness with the everlasting trees, or bear fruit with the Plant of heaven, who seeing has not discerned, and considering has not believed

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in the fountain of life, who has turned his hand against the everlasting bud.

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And I was despised by tumultuous rivers for they cast up their slime upon me.

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But Thou, O my God, hast put into my mouth as it were rain for all those who thirst and a fount of living waters which shall not fail. When they are opened they shall not run dry; they shall be a torrent overflowing its banks and like the bottomless seas. They shall suddenly gush forth which were hidden in secret, and shall be like the waters of the Flood to every tree, both the green and the barren; to every beast and bird they shall be an abyss. The trees shall sink like lead in the mighty waters, fire shall burn among them and they shall be dried up; but the fruitful Plant by the everlasting spring shall be an Eden of glory bearing fruits of life.

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By my hand Thou hast opened for them a well-spring and ditches, that all their channels may be laid out according to a certain measuring-cord, and the planting of their trees according to the plumb-line of the sun, that their boughs may become a beautiful Branch of glory.

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When I lift my hand to dig its ditches its roots shall run deep into hardest rock

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and its stem.. in the earth; in the season of heat it shall keep its strength. But if I take away my hand it shall be like a thistle in the wilderness; its stem shall be like nettles in a salty land, and thistles and thorns shall grow from its ditches, and brambles and briars. Its border trees shall be like the wild grapevine whose foliage withers before the heat, and its stem shall not be open to the spring.

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Behold, I am carried away with the sick; I am acquainted with scourges. I am forsaken in my sorrow.. and without any strength. For my sore breaks out in bitter pains and in incurable sickness impossible to stay; my heart laments within me as in those who go down to Hell. My spirit is imprisoned with the dead for my life has reached the Pit; my soul languishes within me day and night without rest.