Oahspe Study

THE MEANING OF HOLY COMPACT DAY

Why We Observe the Day of the Holy Seal

Holy Compact Day: Day 13 of the Faithist (Solar) Year a.k.a., July 2 of 2017 CE

As Faithists today we observe the Day of the Holy Seal also known as Holy Compact Day. On that day 61bk13 (61st year before kosmon, day 13) otherwise known as July 2, 1788, the Constitution of the United States of America came officially into effect, that is, it became irreversible on that day.

Oahspe, Book of Inspiration; 34/15.1 - 6.

Holy Compact Day

As Jehovih, through His God, bequeathed to the children of Guatama a government unfettered by the name of God, Lord or Savior, so Jehovih sanctified the day of the ratification and the signing and sealing of His compact (American Constitution), as the Day of the Holy Seal.

And for its sign He made, A hand holding a quill.

Which shall be the master's sign of salutation in the lodge on the day and evening commemorating the same.

And Jehovih made the answer to the master's sign, The holding up (by the member of the lodge) of a piece of paper, signifying, Constitution.

Therefore it was said: The master saluted on the sign, Day of the Holy Seal, and the lodge answered in the sign, Constitution.

And Jehovih said: Remember this day, and keep it holy, to the end of the world, for this was the beginning of the liberty of man!

History of Holy Compact Day

On July 2nd, in 1788, in the land of America, the president of its then current government, the Congress of the Confederation, speaking on behalf of and for that government, formally announced that the heavily debated Constitution was now in effect! In other words, from that time forward, it was irreversibly the core document around which America's government would form itself, thus sealing the fate of the American States and people, and known from then on, as the United States of America.

Thus on July 2, 1788, the fate of the new American Constitution was SEALED---made irrevocable---for legitimacy had been passed on that day, and without bloodshed, from the old government to the new government.

Consider now exactly what it is that the Faithists observe and why they keep the day holy.

At the heart of sanctifying the day as Holy stand three conditions supremely important for man's progress, all of them now irreversible --- though until the Seal was set (at that time), they were not.

The first and of primary importance for the other two was that the Republic was not founded on the name of any God, Lord or Savior, or as said in Oahspe, the constitution (compact) was founded unfettered by the name of any God, Lord or Savior. This allowed man to follow the light of his own conscience. This implies the freedom to follow one's conscience.

In fact the constitution as written did not include a guaranteed right for man to follow the dictates of his conscience. But during the ratification process it became evident that the constitution as it was written would not pass ratification without that guarantee for freedom of conscience as well as for other individual rights. Those in charge of the proceedings publicly promised that if the constitution-as-written was ratified, then amendments to the constitution would immediately proceed so that certain specified and unspecified rights of individuals and states would be included as amendments. The people voted in the constitution, and true to their word, those in charge set the amendment process in motion so that shortly they would be added to the U.S. Constitution.

Naturally, the original omission of these rights was not an evil plot by the founders, but thought unnecessary to include them since these rights were already in existence and entrenched in the people as well as being the law of the land for some 150 years under English Common Law. English Common Law was unwritten but understood by commoners as well as nobility to be the guiding body of boundaries (rights) beyond which a government could not trespass without risking rebellion and overthrow. Sensible people in governance understood that for any ruler to try to abrogate or diminish these rights, was to play with fire.

Accordingly, the constitution framers believed that the English Common Law would continue under the American system of jurisprudence but as American rights. And indeed the American judicial system built in great measure upon what they inherited from England (Great Britain) but framed and modified now under the broad mandates of the U.S. Constitution. Even under the American system, elements of English Common Law were still considered potent for a season as legal argument in court. Eventually these would be modified, qualified or discarded. Many laws of today have their antecedents in English Common Law.

Nevertheless, the framers of the U.S. Constitution underestimated the fear of the people regarding centralized government. And the power of the backlash did not come forth till the proposed U.S. Constitution was making the rounds of ratification by the people of each state. For, many of the populace did not trust centralized government from afar. The recent behavior (especially from about 1760) of Great Britain (including its agents) and war with it had made them wary. Accordingly, when no provision was seen in the proposed U.S. Constitution, an outcry arose fearing loss of the people's rights. After all, if they had been living under English Common Law, and England was no longer ruling them, then what guarantees did the proposed Constitution offer? NONE!

Accordingly a deal was struck by which such rights would be amended to the Constitution as soon as possible after the government was in place. On one side of the deal were those who desired the Constitution as is, the other desired it with included guaranteed Rights or else they would reject ratification. The sides agreed because they desired to avoid a repeat of the often tedious, contentious and always difficult job of reaching consensus in framing and promoting a Federal Constitution.

The leaders who made the deal had no intention of failing in their promise regarding the rights amendments. Both sides knew that were a deal to collapse, the entire "experiment" as the people of the time regarded it (meaning willing to try a new form of government) would have collapsed as the proposed new federal government would not have been able to form in the resulting climate of distrust. Knowing that prospects for any further constructive change would have been lost, they resolved to see their word fulfilled.

The important thing to keep in mind is that in the initial framing of the U.S. Constitution, these individual rights had been assumed to be part of the underlayment or ground of that new government being set forth by the proposed U.S. Constitution. The Declaration of Independence was also considered to part of that underpinning because the framers recognized and embraced the powerful sentiments within that declaration that stirred the desire for the perfect government --- although they settled through negotiation for something not as high, but nevertheless sturdy. (Interestingly, the Declaration of Independence in its function as initial unifier of the states and its peoples was agreed upon by the U.S. Continental Congress on July 2, 1776 (73bk13), one ode before the framing of the U.S. Constitution (1787) and to the day, 12 years prior to the Sealing of the U.S. Constitution, aka Holy Compact Day on July 2, 1788 aka 61bk13. 12 is the number of man in se'moin --- when we think of how significant for the whole of mankind, not just the New Republic, these two events were, one can't help but marvel at the harmony in which Jehovih's plans unfold)

The second thing we remember and honor is that the U.S. Constitution guarantees man the right to follow the dictates of his conscience.

This was the first amendment added to the Constitution (meaning becoming an integral part of it) after the constitution had been declared law of the land on July 2, 1788.

The third thing we remember and honor on Day of the Holy Seal, is that on this day 230 years ago, the power of governance changed hands to the people from monarchy (kings and dictatorships).

What we celebrate here is not that a majority itself knows how to govern (a majority is always the lesser light, see e.g., 39/26.2) but that the people as a whole can decide what form of governance to have rather than have a governance foisted upon them chosen by a king or queen or some dictator. One thing to bear in mind is that aside from voting for a monarch-free government, the people can vote to have a constitutional monarchy (regardless of what it calls itself), that is, a monarch who is restrained by a constitution. Or the people can vote for an autocratic system that allows for those who are dictator in style --- although these tend to either disregard a constitution, or to abrogate it, or to modify it in repressive ways without seeking consent of the governed, and so, usually end in disarray.

In any event, we hold dear those three foundational qualities that got established because of the U.S. Constitution, namely:

1. free of a named God or Lord or Savior;

2. freedom to follow the dictates of one's conscience; and

3. freedom for the members of a social order to choose the type of governance that will provide for and uphold their collective weal.

These, fellow Faithists, are the beginning of the foundation for Jehovih's kingdom on earth. The angelic hosts of Jehovih's kingdom helped man to attain to those three things. Those three things set the foundation on this earth for the first resurrection within the domain of God, Son of Jehovih. For without freedom to follow the dictates of one's conscience, one is bound by the beast and cannot therefore resurrect except perhaps -- comparatively -- stealthily and slowly inching upward, but not freely. For, Jehovih's resurrections are based upon freedom. But with freedom comes responsibility. And so power to decide his collective governance is given to man. And lastly, to set up a named God, Lord, or Savior over a people is to surrender power of governance to that God / Lord / Savior.

As can be perceived, then, the foundation for Jehovih's kingdom on earth was established at that time, because such an established inorganic first resurrection can exist within the domain of God, Son of Jehovih, and further resurrections can come forth from it. Keep in mind that Jehovih's angels did not tell man how to form his governance, man made his own choices. In other words, other than Jehovih's kingdom assisting man to make certain that the above three items were included, man was suffered to make his own decisions, although Jehovih's kingdom did provide light and inspired thoughts of better possibilities and solutions.

Since that time, those core ideas set forth in that founding document spread around the world. Man's progress since has been toward that foundation till at last they have become sealed in collective man's soul. And it is in the rising from that foundation that the next level of social order will come.

That core foundation will continue to be necessary, but not sufficient for the next level, which is the Fraternity Social Order. There, that core of freedom to follow the dictates of one's conscience, no imposed religion, and agreement of the members as to form of governance --- all three will be a given, that is, expected as normal even as we expect fresh air and solid earth to be available when we step outside our house.

Even as the importance of collective man will grow in the coming times, so will man's understanding grow regarding the true spiritual needs of collective man. It is in the recognition of this from which the Fraternity Social Order will grow. One of those collective needs will be for virtue. While many will attain to it, many will not. In short, amidst the second resurrection among mortals will be the first resurrection. The higher (those in the practice of fraternity) will perceive that it is in their collective interest to provide ways for the lower (those in the practice of the individual self) so that these latter may reach the higher. So that at the very bottom of this Fraternity Social Order will stand that core of three conditions that were already sealed in the Compact of the Republic. And when man is ready for the level above the Fraternity social order, it too will have at its very bottom, those three core conditions.

For those reasons then, we as Faithists in Jehovih the I AM, observe and honor Holy Compact Day as the Day of the Holy Seal.

May all perceive and receive the Blessings of the Great Spirit.

ADDENDUM

Thoughts for Holy Compact Day

Greetings brothers and sisters in the name of our Father, the Great Spirit Jehovih the I Am. Holy Compact Day of this year occurs anno kosmon (ak = year of kosmon) 172, day 13, or 172ak13, which in the uzian common era calendar is, because of their leap year, July 2, 2020.

Consider the first verse of Oahspe's Book of Inspiration chapter 15 (from 34/15.1-6):

Something about this verse always seemed bothersome even from the first read nearly 50 years ago. Oahspe is not flawless, but where is the flaw here? If something was somewhat off yet not enough to falsify the verse, what could it be? So in situations like these, waiting, knowing that sooner or later Jehovih would reveal, has paid off:

Today He did. Today it came clear that the parenthetical phrase "(American Constitution)" should not be there. Since it appeared in every Oahspe edition since the first published edition (1882), the most likely scenario is that the 1882 editor added it, undoubtedly well-intentioned and likely meant it as a clarifying phrase. If so, then the phrase simply clarifies what the 1882 editor thought Jehovih's Compact was. But as we shall see, it must be, and is, more than simply the US Constitution.

Let us see how it reads without that parenthetical statement.

HOLY COMPACT DAY

It now becomes clear that what is being honored on Holy Compact Day is the day of the Sealing of Jehovih's Compact, regardless of when the ratification and signing actually took place. To seal is to make irreversible, therefore it must be the last thing done. That only occurred on July 2, 1788 when the lawful government of the land, ratified (confirmed through their vote) and declared the Constitution the legal governing authority of the land---thus sealing it irreversibly in place. It is possible that Cyrus Griffin as the Confederation President signed something to that effect (after all, the President of the incoming Constitutional government must put his signature to paper to make a government action legal). But in any event, any other signing that may have occurred would have been at a different time and would not be the irreversible seal. For instance, the signing at the earlier Constitutional Convention did not make the Constitution irreversible but was merely a sign of support for it.

If we consider the seal time to be when sufficient number of states (9 of 13) ratified the Constitution, then that too was at another time altogether and must be rejected anyway since no one at the time considered it irreversible without the most populous and influential state of Virginia and without the largest state of New York that divided the proposed union in half---and neither had yet ratified, if they were going to, for even that was unclear since it was known that the victory / failure margin from the vote was going to be close (and it was).

So what is Jehovih's Compact that He made with the American people and meant as an example to the world? As it turns out the Constitution was only the final bookend of that compact, being sealed on that Day 13 starting the count from their June Solstice (which happened to be July 2 for them that year of 1788). And the first bookend of Jehovih's Compact began when their Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence with their vote of July 2, 1776, exactly 12 years before the day when the Compact was sealed (July 2, 1788.) by the vote of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States of America where they accepted and declared the new U.S. Constitution to be in effect as the official operating basis of America's government. This finale of the second and final bookend sealed the Holy Compact.

What is the Holy Compact for mortals? The Declaration based itself on Freedom and in it set forth the spirit of the American people, while the Constitution set forth the baseline Responsibility of its government toward the people. It was that union of Freedom and Responsibility that was the compact made and sealed by Jehovih so that this union could seal itself in the soul of man. This can be seen perhaps more clearly in the vision of George Washington's vision at Valley Forge. Perhaps the best account (because it also gives some other context) can be found here: Washington's Vision

In brief, it was winter of 1777-78 in the darkest moment for the American cause. An angel of Jehovih appeared to Washington showing him three perils that the Republic would face. The first one was the war he was in the midst of, out of which America would rise victorious.

From the description and scene of the second peril it becomes evident that it referred to the U.S. Civil War. One important thing to notice is that ending the Civil War was the appearance of a bright angel wearing a crown emblazoned with the word UNION, along with the statement to remember that they (the two sides of warriors) were of one family (brothers). Here is an excerpt, where George Washington was narrating:

"The inhabitants presently set themselves in battle array against each other. As I continued looking I saw a bright angel, on whose brow rested a crown of light, on which was traced the word 'Union', bearing the American flag which he placed between the divided nation, and said, 'Remember ye are brethren.' Instantly, the inhabitants, casting from them their weapons became friends once more, and united around the National Standard [nominally the US flag, representing the concept of Union as previously described; while uzians tend to think it symbolizes simply the uniting of the states into one federal union or symbolizes keeping them there through force if necessary]."

Next comes the start of the third peril:

"And again I heard the mysterious voice saying 'Son of the Republic, look and learn.' At this the dark, shadowy angel placed a trumpet to his mouth, and blew three distinct blasts; and taking water from the ocean, he sprinkled it upon Europe, Asia and Africa. Then my eyes beheld a fearful scene: From each of these countries arose thick, black clouds that were soon joined into one. Throughout this mass there gleamed a dark red light by which I saw hordes of armed men, who, moving with the cloud, marched by land and sailed by sea to America. Our country was enveloped in this volume of cloud, and I saw these vast armies devastate the whole county and burn the villages, towns and cities that I beheld springing up."

The third and final peril can be understood to have occurred with the second world war, and the peril came chiefly from the haden evil spirits who had been purposely left behind (as can be read about in Oahspe) after the removal of the four heads of the beast. Those haden spirits had intended to take over the world through their mortal emissaries. And yet, while America prevailed and seemingly won the outer realm (corporeal realm) war, yet the spirit realm battle (the dark clouds) continued. Then with Kosmon Day the evil spirits were removed. And America was left struggling but with victory still ahead. Or as stated by the angel of Jehovih:

"'Son of the Republic, look and learn' When the voice had ceased, the dark shadowy angel placed his trumpet once more to his mouth, and blew a long and fearful blast. Instantly a light as of a thousand suns shone down from above me, and pierced and broke into fragments the dark cloud which enveloped America. At the same moment the angel upon whose head still shone the word Union, and who bore our national flag in one hand and a sword in the other, descended from the heavens attended by legions of white spirits. [Kosmon Day, July 21, 2001] These immediately joined the inhabitants of America, who I [George Washington is narrating] perceived were well nigh overcome, but who immediately taking courage again, closed up their broken ranks and renewed the battle."

Now we come to our day where we approach this:

"Again, amid the fearful noise of the conflict, I heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn.' As the voice ceased, the shadowy angel for the last time dipped water from the ocean and sprinkled it upon America. Instantly the dark cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought, leaving the inhabitants of the land victorious!"

"Then once more I beheld the villages, towns and cities springing up where I had seen them before, while the bright angel, planting the azure standard he had brought in the midst of them, cried with a loud voice: 'While the stars remain, and the heavens send down dew upon the earth, so long shall the Union last.' And taking from his brow the crown on which blazoned the word 'Union,' he placed it upon the Standard while the people, kneeling down, said, 'Amen.'"

[George:] "The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at last saw nothing but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld…."

Notice that after the final sprinkling there was no sword---man shall have grown beyond that---only a standard and the crown inscribed with 'Union' and a proclamation remained. So the question becomes what is this UNION that is to be preserved? The answer is it is the very same as that union made in Jehovih's Compact with the people to preserve the Union of Liberty and Responsibility. That is so because Freedom and Responsibility stand as the foundation and the apex of Jehovih's kingdom and His resurrections. The standard planted into the earth signifies the irreversible entry into the soul of man of the Seal of Jehovih's Covenant.

Neither can the Union refer to the Republic Social Order per se, because it will be replaced by the Fraternity Social Order as stated in Oahspe. Moreover, the Fraternity Order will base itself more thoroughly and conscientiously around this Compact. Repeat: the Compact is not about the US Constitution per se, because that document though the highest best that could be wrought at the time of its conception, although sufficient for its purposes, is a limited instrument because it was based upon self and self-aspiration, and it created a system and order that is not much longer feasible or usable in its present form. But why can this be truthfully said?

Consider the word "administration". It essentially means adding to a ministration. Accordingly, a government administration should be adding to the ministration of (ministering to) its members as well as to others. But the U.S. Constitution has resulted in administrations that administer mostly to a minority or select elite members of its domain, such as the chief money-getters and large corporations. But the ministrations have been falling away from its poorer, poorest, and most helpless people in its domain that it claims. Freedoms have been whittled away under many guises. This is not only the opposite of the Union but a beastly repudiation of the Union. It is the very opposite of Jehovih's kingdoms. These latter minister and administer to All in their domain, wisely providing for their resurrection in the manners and ways of a loving family. Oppositely though, has been the Republic in its actions. As Oahspe indicates, when a government becomes a separate self from its people it is on its way out. Yet the Union will remain sufficiently with the people so as to establish a higher, better-suited-to-them social order.

So, on this Day of the Holy Seal, let the Faithists remember their Father in Heaven and His compact. We shall forever be grateful that He upholds His end of the compact. We must also have Faith that man in sufficient numbers shall have grown sufficiently that this UNION of the Compact---this Union of Freedom and Responsibility stands as a central pillar within them---an integral part of who they are and what they truly believe as to values.

May your day and life be fruitful for Jehovih and for the glory of the earth, and may you have a blessed Holy Compact Day.

All Oahspe references are from the modern language edition: Oahspe Standard Edition 2007

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