Help

jakob-lorber.cc

The Twelve Hours

[9.12] If the commissioners have not found anything, they will be thoroughly beaten upon their return and dismissed from three years of service, during which time they will have to study again under the most rigorous professors in the world.

[9.13] After the end of the study period, an extraordinarily strict examination takes place. Those who pass the exam are reinstated, but those who fail, are flogged again and have to start their studies all over again.

[9.14] During the time that such commissioners must again undergo their penal studies, deputies shall be immediately and graciously appointed.

[9.15] This appointment shall be made in the following manner: Nine so-called trainees shall be summoned by His most just and most strict Majesty, and shall be orally examined by him.

[9.16] This examination consists in their first having to list all the manufactures of the country and how they are prepared. Then they must literally name and enumerate all the mountains, all the rivers, all the valleys and plains, all the animals, whether tame or wild, all the trees, plants and herbs. They must also give the names of all the subjects, exactly where each one is and what he owns.

[9.17] And finally they have to say the whole name of the emperor, which is actually the most difficult thing for the trainees. For this name is so long that you would hardly write it down on a strip of paper at least a mile long with one line, and contains everything, as there is the imaginary infinitely long lineage, then all things and trades of the country, and so also the names of all his subjects.

[9.18] If you now consider this, you will well understand what effort of memory is required to memorize this name, as you like to say. You will now ask, why such a long name?

[9.19] This can be easily explained to you, because he, the monarch, has recorded all his glory, history and possessions in it.

[9.20] Other persons in the country also have very long names, but none of them may be longer than the monarch's under penalty of death.

[9.21] Therefore also in this respect, very much study is made of the monarch's name, that they may compare their own names with the monarch's name in length.

[9.22] And if anyone, because of likewise very ancient origin, finds that his name is still longer than that of the monarch, he takes the record of the name, and carries it howling and with torn garment before the monarch, and asks for the punishment and for the complete destruction of his name.

[9.23] And when the monarch has measured the name with a compass and has found that it is really two fathoms longer, six fathoms of the name are cut off and burned. The petitioner is then graciously given the appropriate number of floggings, and only then is the shortened name presented to him.

[9.24] And now we go back to our trainees. If three or four of them have passed the examination, they will immediately be given the decree of employment according to your language, and with this handing over, however, they will also immediately be charged with the duty to go to the place as commissars in order to discover the treason discussed earlier.

[9.25] But these are then usually a hair wiser than the previous ones; They usually linger in this investigation for 1, 2 to 3 years, and during this time, they think of a clever trick to dupe their monarch, and when they return, they usually bring several bribed witnesses with them, who then testify that after this gruesome event, the lightning struck the place three more times, and that thereupon all those present praised the great God in the sun for having done such a great sign to glorify the great prince before his people.

[9.26] Now you may ask why were the first three not as smart as their successors?

[9.27] And you will be surprised when I tell you that the first three were even more clever than their successors; because they are now immediately freed from their studies, and are recognized by the monarch with their own mouth as completely legal, strict and good scientific statesmen, and in this way reach the highest dignity, by virtue of which they are even allowed to touch the monarch's robe four times a year, and are thereby exempted from all further brawling. For even if they have not raised the facts in the same way as their successors, that does not matter, but here only the great loyalty is the decisive factor.

[9.28] The successors, however, come to the level of their predecessors as truly employed civil servants. You must not think that this is something insignificant in this country.

[9.29] An official who is allowed to touch the monarch's robe four times a year, is something so extraordinary in this country, that if he walks in the street or is carried in a palanquin, all the people must fall on their faces before him under penalty of death; and a word spoken by him to someone is something so extraordinary that the person concerned often does not leave the place where such a favor has been bestowed upon him for three days.

[9.30] And if the word has been an unfavorable one, if the official has given the person concerned a reprimand or some other unpleasantness, such as an animal name or some other dishonorable thing, the person concerned immediately begins to weep and wail, and asks the high official for a most gracious award of punishment, which is also granted to him without much ado.

[9.31] And immediately he asks the high statesman not to be too lenient in punishing him, but to have him beaten up according to his severity, justice and desire.

[9.32] When the state official has heard such a request in his most graciously inclined ear, he immediately orders his very plentiful servants to seize the supplicant in question by the hands and feet, to lift him from the ground; and when he is then suspended in the air in the midst of eight servants, the beater comes with the bamboo rod and beats this supplicant until the high state official gives him a sign that with this stroke, his mercy is over.

[9.33] Then the supplicant, beaten half to death, is laid down again on the ground, and his neighbors come along and praise the high wisdom, justice and severity of the official for the sake of the beaten man.

[9.34] You will perhaps also want the people to offer a prize to the monarch for this. But this is not possible in this country, because there the monarch stands too high to be praised by the common people.

[9.35] Such things and others like them are actually the best part of this constitution; when we have become acquainted with such things, it is also fitting that we should shed a little light on the bad part.

[9.36] In this respect, things are truly like nowhere else in the world. For firstly, no-one has any property in this country, but everything is the exclusive property of the monarch.

[9.37] Every man, or rather every class, is prescribed exactly what and how much he must work.

[9.38] Their food and clothing are prescribed; their dwelling and district are prescribed, from which he may never depart except by special order of the state.

[9.39] They are prescribed how many wives they may have and how many children they may beget with his wives.

[9.40] They are prescribed by law what they have to deliver of the produce to the last drop.

[9.41] The inhabitants of the coast are strictly forbidden to give anything to strangers except the appointed place of trade. They are forbidden to allow a stranger to enter Japanese land except at the designated place, on whatever condition.

[9.42] And so all articles of trade are precisely prescribed, what may be given to foreigners, and what the foreigners may offer in return; and it is further prescribed in the strictest terms that of the foreigners, never more than one may remain in the place as an interpreter, who, however, from the moment he has been accepted as such, may never again move away from the coast.

[9.43] He must also teach his language to three Japanese commissioners, and may never go even one hour's journey into the interior of the country.

[9.44] See, this is approximately the extract of the Japanese constitution. I say approximately, because this country has no so-called existing state law at all, but the living state law is the respective existing prince and his highest state officials, and it is almost completely in their free will to create a new law immediately for every occurring case.

[9.45] For you can truly have no idea according to which petty circumstance the law imposes a completely different punishment on any crime. I will give you only one small example. Someone has been ordered to measure out his district, outside of which he is not allowed to move.

[9.46] He has not remembered the boundary exactly, and has moved only half a foot beyond the line. If his neighbor notices this, he reports it to his next neighbor, and he reports it to his next neighbor, until it reaches the home of the so-called district guard.

[9.47] The latter then goes to the spot with a compass and measures the crossing exactly. If the trespass is slightly more than half a foot, the violator must be immediately punished with 100 lashes.

[9.48] But if the district guard has found that at least ¾ of the foot has been put over the line, this circumstance almost doubles the punishment.

[9.49] If a person has put his whole foot over the line, he will first receive an uncounted beating, and then he will be tied to a pole for three days to get used to the most strict line.

[9.50] If such a case occurs seven times, he shall immediately have his foot cut off, as far as he has placed it outside the boundary.

[9.51] Whoever, without the permission of a court, undertakes to take a few steps outside his boundary, shall either be hanged by grace or beaten to death. And if it does not go by the way of mercy, then he is bound naked on a cross and left up there until he has died; however, even on the cross, the mercy of being killed by a lance thrust is still open to him by virtue of a mighty plea.

[9.52] See, from this small example you can already get an idea of how things are in this country; and the arrangement is such that no-one is exempt from the death penalty except the well-known high state officials.

[9.53] And so, in a way, one wedge drives the other. There will never be a case of a lower official being called to account and punished for possible cruelty; but there will be if he has been guilty of even the slightest negligence.

[9.54] For this reason, the compass and the scales form the main part of the state constitution, for there everything is circled and weighed.

[9.55] If you now think that in all these approximately announced basic regulations the death penalty with all kinds of torture variations plays the main role, then it will not be difficult to get an accurate idea of how it is in a country where the despotism has climbed the highest peak of the tyranny.

[9.56] For truly, there can hardly be a second country on the surface of the earth that resembles this one in it's arbitrary cruel evil.

[9.57] Now I have also sufficiently made known to you the bad part of this land. But there is still a worst one. Of course - you will now think - can there be anything worse in a country than we have already heard? Here I tell you nothing for the moment, but only instruct you to take a look at My table.

[9.58] Behold, therefore, this building is a temple! I also say to this temple: Epheta! - And now look into it. See, how there in an aside, remote round cell, several girls and young boys are fed, so that they should become beautiful and quite fat. See, the men sitting between them in yellow and blue clothes, are the sacrificial priests.

[9.59] When a year of evil befalls this land, it is immediately proclaimed that God is angry with this land, and therefore a sacrifice must be offered to Him to satisfy Him.

[9.60] And immediately, by order of the chief priest, six males and six females from this cell are washed and dressed according to their kind, and then a priest stands on a so-called wisdom chair; from this he then determines with angry words, as if the angry deity were speaking from it, how the sacrifice should be offered to it.

[9.61] If the girls have become very beautiful and luxuriant through this feeding, then the deity disdains sacrificing them and returns them to his priests for life.

[9.62] But the young men, if one is not of outstanding beauty, are treated not so gently by the angry deity, but they are usually destined for sacrifice, which consists either in burning them alive, or decapitating them first and then burning them, or leading them to a rock that juts out into the sea, and from there throw them into the sea.

[9.63] Of course, such human sacrifice happens only rarely, but enough; if it happens at all, such a country is already in the deepest darkness because of it, and has the most shameful and miserable concepts of a true God.

[9.64] Among the worst of all, is the killing of the surplus of children, and the genital mutilation of those who have begotten more than the [lawful] number of children.

[9.65] Among the worst of all, is that in this land the invasion of Christianity is treated with unheard-of cruelty.

[9.66] For not even a born-again with all the miraculous powers may venture into this land, for he is immediately punished as a stranger, a mischief-maker and an agitator of the people with the cruelest kind of death.

[9.67] There have already been cases that Christian messengers there have been kept alive by Me through the most diverse ways of death; but these brutes have considered all that null and void, and have insatiably tried all imaginable ways to kill such Christian messengers, until according to My order the number was full, and I had to call off My emissary, in order not to see the sanctuary exposed to such nameless contempt any longer.

[9.68] But now remember this: The destructive moment for this sanctuary of Satan is not far off; when you hear that this monarchy is abandoned to foreign nations, think that the end of things is not far off.

[9.69] See, in this outermost land of the east, there are still some nations that do not want to know about Me; but I will send there a few more messengers, but messengers of My near judgment; and it will be like a fruit tree in autumn, when the unripe fruit is taken down with the ripe.

[9.70] The ripe is kept for the Lord's table, but the unripe is thrown into the winepress and crushed there, and the little juice is taken for leavening, but the grains are thrown to the swine; and it will be like a householder in whose field the wheat has ripened.

[9.71] Truly, there shall be no evaluation of the ripeness of the tares, but they shall be taken out of the field with the wheat; and then shall they be separated from the wheat by the servants.

[9.72] They shall bind it in bundles and dry it up in the open field, and then they shall set it on fire and burn it to the ground, that all the seed of the tares may be destroyed; but they shall bring My wheat into the barns of eternal life.

[9.73] Behold, you shall not be offended thereby, if you find on the earth still so much unripe fruit and so many weeds among the wheat.

[9.74] Do not think that I will delay My Day because of this, but truly I say to you: I will only hasten it, for the sake of the elect; for if at the time of these last predestined tribulations these days would not be shortened, truly, even the living would lose life!

[9.75] Therefore, do not worry, and do not use this message too much as a literal view of the world, which is not full of advice, but rather use it for your own introspection, because that is why I give this to you, that you should recognize the world in you, despise it and flee out of love for Me.

[9.76] But only at the end of the last hour will I pull the cover from your eyes, where you will then fully see where I actually want to go with these twelve hours. Amen. The following addendum is not found in the first edition, but was taken from the third edition (1895). Some more about Japan, as an addendum to the ninth hour.

[9.77] Japan consists of the islands: 1. Sakhalin (now belonging to Russia, d. ed.), 2. Jesso (Hokkaidō, d. ed.), 3. Niphon or Nypon (Honshū, d. ed.), 4. Xikoko or Likok (Shikoku, d. ed.), 5. Kinsin or Ximo (Kyūshū, d. ed.), and is the most populous country on earth.

[9.78] The surface area is hardly as much as that of Great Britain. The (present) Japanese consist only of Mongols, Malays and a few natives, they are not at all related to the Chinese, and surpass them in everything, both in education - and in cruelty.

[9.79] What also contributes to the fact that they by far surpass the Chinese in various sciences is that they have only 48 simple letters in their language, whereas the Chinese have 50,000. Their language is very soft and flexible; their religion is a refined paganism; their laws are tyrannical to the highest degree.

[9.80] There are ten so-called castes among the inhabitants, for each (caste) there are some fixed unchangeable and also arbitrary, changeable laws.

[9.81] Each one is strictly assigned his district, from which he is not allowed to move before being cleared; the release consists in a kind of work vacancy.

[9.82] The most excellent localities are: Jeddo-Edo (Tokyo, ed.), on the Tonkai River, with 280,000 houses, and over a million inhabitants (anno 1841); this is at the same time almost the most populous city on earth (anno 1841). Rio or Miako (Kyōto, ed.), with 140,000 houses and nearly a million inhabitants; Nagasake (Nagasaki, ed.), a port city, with 10,000 houses and about 100,000 inhabitants; Mastmai or Matsumai (Matsumae, ed.), with 6,000 houses and 60,000 inhabitants.

[9.83] The northernmost tip of Sakhalin Island is called Cape Elizabeth by Englishmen, in the western half of this island is Cape Patience. This northernmost and also poorest island is separated from Jesso Island by La Peyrouse Strait.

[9.84] On the southeastern tip of Jesso Island is the town of Mastmai or Matsumai. The island is separated from the island of Niphon or Nipon by the Sangar road (Tsugaru road, d. Ed.). This middle and largest island is also the residence island.

[9.85] On it, there is a large harbor called Namba without city rights; then the residential city of Jeddo or Edo (now Tokyo) with a large harbor, which is protected by the eerie Cape Ring; then the mountain city of Rio or Miako, as the largest factory city of the Japanese; this island is also the most mountainous, like the northernmost island of Sakhalin - the most volcanic.

[9.86] The island of Xikoko is, so to speak, almost only a mountain out of the sea, and therefore also sparsely populated. However, the island Kinsin with the port city Nagasaki is again overpopulated, this island has the strictest laws, and is accessible only to the Dutch, and that only on the islet lying before Nagasaki under the name Guelport, as per the expelled bad Portuguese and Spaniards.

[9.87] Above the northwestern half of the island of Nipon, there is another somewhat important island, Sado, as a refuge for the natives, who enjoy some privileges here; some Portuguese have also taken refuge on this island, but they are never allowed to leave, and must worship everything Japanese and the full moon.

[9.88] The entire population of Japan is about 40 million people, four sevenths of whom are female. Besides mechanics, mathematics, nautics, geography and astronomy, they are ahead of the peoples of the earth in all industries, and are in possession of great riches and many secrets.

[9.89] The Sadoans still possess here and there the second sight, and still have science from the primitive times of Meduhed.

[9.90] Their number is 3 million people without the Portuguese, whose number is only a few thousand. All this serves you for a more exact survey of this country, and can be enclosed in the "Ninth Hour". Amen!

Desktop About us