|
"Very well," said God Incarnate. "Since you care more for thoselost souls than for your God, let your lot be to collect them! LetSheol be your Kingdom! Gather them there by the millions and tutorthem for the Light. I say none shall dissolve or disintegrate beyondyour power to draw them back into being; I say none shall be lost, butall shall be your responsibility, your students, your followers, yourservants.
"And until such a day as Sheol is empty! Until such a day as allsouls go directly to the Heavenly Gates, you are my Adversary, youare my Devil, you are Damned to spend no less than one third of yourexistence on Earth which you love so much, and no less than onethird in Sheol or Hell, whichever you choose to call it, yourKingdom. And only now and then by my grace may you come intoHeaven, and see to it that when you do you have your angelic form!
"On the Earth, let them see you as the demon! The Beast God?
the God of the dance and the drink and the feast and the flesh and allthe things you love enough to challenge Me. Let them see you as that,if you would have power, and your wings shall be the color of sootand ashes, and your legs shall be as a goat's legs, as if you were Panhimself! Or as a man only, yes, I give you that mercy, that you may bea man among them, since you think it is such a worthy enterprise tobe human. But an Angel among them, no! Never!
"You will not use your Angelic form to confuse and mislead them,to dazzle them or humble them. You and your Watchers did thatenough. But see that when you come through my gates, you areattired properly for me, that your wings are like snow, and so are yourrobes. Remember to be yourself in my realm!""I can do it!" Memnoch said. "I can teach them; I can guide them.
You let me run Hell as I choose to run it and I can reclaim them forHeaven; I can undo all that your Natural Cycle has done to them onEarth.""Fine, then, I should like to see you do it!" said the Son of God.
"Send me more souls then, through your purgation. Go ahead.
Increase my Glory. Increase the bene ha elohim. Heaven is endless andwelcomes your efforts.
"But you don't come home forever until the task is finished, untilthe passage from Earth to Heaven includes all those who die, or untilthe world itself is destroyed梪ntil evolution has unfolded to thepoint where Sheol, for one reason or another, is empty, and mark mywords, Memnoch, that time may never come! I have promised noending to the unfolding of the universe! So you have a long tenureamong the Damned.""And on earth? What are my powers? Goat God or Man, whatcan I do?""What you should do! Warn humans. Warn them so that theycome to me and not to Sheol.""And I can do that my way? By telling them what a merciless Godyou are, and that to kill in your name is wicked, and that sufferingwarps and twists and damns its victims more often than redeemsthem? I can tell them the truth? That if they would go to you, theywould abandon your religions and your holy wars and yourmagnificent martyrdom? They would seek to understand what the mysteryof the flesh tells them, the ecstasy of love tells them? You give mepermission? You give me permission to tell them the truth?""Tell them what you will! And in each case that you draw themaway from my churches, my revelations, misunderstood and garbledthough they may be梚n every case that you turn them away, you riskanother pupil in your hellish school, another soul which you mustreform. Your hell will be crammed to overflowing!""Not through my doings, Lord," Memnoch said. "It will be fullto overflowing, but that will be thanks to you!""You dare!""Let it unfold, My Lord, as you have said it always should. Onlynow I am part of it, and Hell is part of it. And will you give to methose angels who believe as I do and will work for me, and endure thesame darkness with me?""No! I will not give you one angelic spirit! Recruit your helpersfrom the earthbound souls themselves. Make those your demons!
The Watchers who fell with you are contrite. I will not give youanyone. You are an Angel. Stand alone.""Very well, I stand alone. Hobble me in my earthly form if youwill, but still I will triumph. I will bring more souls through Sheol toHeaven than you will bring by your direct Gate. I will bring morereformed souls singing of Paradise than you will ever gather throughyour narrow tunnel. It is I who will fill Heaven and magnify yourglory. You will see."They fell silent, Memnoch in a fury, and God Incarnate in a furyor so it seemed, the two figures facing each other, both of equal size,except that Memnoch's wings spread back and out in the semblanceof a form of power, and from God Incarnate came the more powerful,heartrendingly beautiful Light.
135/163 首页 上一页 133 134 135 136 137 138 下一页 尾页
|
