THE EPISTLE OF SAINT VELIUS TO THE KINGDOM OF ZELTENNIA: CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

¹Hear now these words, O King, and incline thine heart unto understanding: for what is the crown without righteousness, or the sceptre without the fear of the Lord?
²The Lord hath spoken from the whirlwind, and from the flame of the mountain hath He made His statutes known unto men.
³Seven great commandments did He ordain from the beginning, and confirmed them again by the mouth of His holy servant, Ajora.
⁴They are as pillars set in a sure place; whoso removeth them shall surely fall, and great shall be the ruin thereof.
⁵These commandments are not grievous, but just and full of mercy; they are as a lamp unto the feet and as a fortress in time of trial.
⁶Forget not the teachings of the Son, for He spake as one having authority, and His words were life to them that received Him.
⁷He opened the eyes of the blind and loosed the tongue of the dumb; He cleansed the leper and raised the dead; but greater than all these was His doctrine, which maketh wise the simple.
⁸And this was His doctrine: to love, and to judge rightly; to walk humbly, and to bear the burden of thy brother.
⁹But if any man turn aside from the way, and despise the commandments of the Lord, behold, his house shall be left unto him desolate.
¹⁰For there is a place prepared for the proud and the defiled, for the liar and the slayer, for the despoiler of the innocent and the mocker of holy things.
¹¹It is called the Abyss beneath the frost, the Frozen Hell, whose gates are of iron and whose breath is a vapor of knives.
¹²There ruleth he who is called Amphisbaena, the devourer of light, whose tail is in his mouth and whose eyes behold no mercy.
¹³From the beginning he hath envied the works of the Lord, and hath set snares for the sons of men.
¹⁴He was cast down from the heights for his rebellion, and burneth not with fire, but with cold unquenchable.
¹⁵In that place, the damned are as stones in the riverbed, unmoved and ever yearning, yet never satisfied.
¹⁶The weeping of their eyes is frozen upon their cheeks, and their cries are as the wind in the caverns of the deep.
¹⁷They gnaw their tongues for pain, yet feel it not; for the senses are numb, and the soul is ever wounded but never consumed.
¹⁸And the greatest torment is the remembrance of grace rejected, and of mercy scorned.
¹⁹They cry out, “Would that we had walked in the path of the Just! Would that we had obeyed the Son!”
²⁰But their time is past, and the gate is shut; for they who had no time for the Lord shall find that He hath no place for them.
²¹Therefore, O King, let thine heart be established in the commandments of the Lord, and let not the flatterer or the scribe of lies move thee from thy purpose.
²²Trust not in gold nor in chariots, for they shall rust and be broken, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
²³Let justice be as a mantle upon thy shoulders, and let truth speak from thy tongue.
²⁴Visit the orphan in his affliction, and defend the cause of the poor; for in doing so thou shalt stand upon the mountain of the Lord.
²⁵And remember the Sabbath, and the feasts of the Lord, and the holy assemblies wherein His name is praised.
²⁶Let no man pervert the doctrine of Ajora for gain or power, for the Lord shall not hold him guiltless that corrupteth the truth.
²⁷And let the temples be clean, and the altars without blemish; for the Lord walketh therein, and searcheth the hearts of them that minister.
²⁸Yea, and let the priests be holy, and the judges without bribe; let the singers lift up their voice in gladness, and let the people answer with reverence.
²⁹For in righteousness is a nation exalted, but sin is a reproach and a canker in the bone.
³⁰Thus saith the Lord through His servant: “Be ye holy, for I am holy; be ye faithful, for I am faithful.”
³¹And thou, O Arald, chosen of thy people and anointed with the oil of rule, see to it that the lamp of the law burn not low in thy kingdom.
³²Be not as the foolish king, who forsook the counsel of the wise and took pleasure in deceit; for his reign was short, and his name is remembered with scorn.
³³But be as the watchman on the tower, who soundeth the trumpet at the coming of danger and delivereth his city from the sword.
³⁴For the King who walketh in the way of the Lord is as the sun rising in strength; and his years shall be long, and his peace as the river that faileth not.
³⁵May the Lord grant thee wisdom in thy judgments, and courage in thy trials; and may thy people praise thee in thy days, and thy name be a blessing in the generations to come.
³⁶Amen.

▷THE SEVEN SCRIPTURES OF THE CHURCH OF GLABADOS
    ▷THE EPISTLES OF SAINT VELIUS TO THE NEW KINGDOMS
        ▷THE EPISTLE OF SAINT VELIUS TO THE KINGDOM OF ZELTENNIA
            ▶1—2—3—4

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