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362 an experience to be had only by those who are so fortunate as to begin at the very bottom of living existence.

In the universes encircling Havona there are provided only a sufficient number of perfect creatures to meet the need for pattern teacher guides for those who are ascending the evolutionary scale of life. The experiential nature of the evolutionary type of personality is the natural cosmic complement of the ever-perfect natures of the Paradise-Havona creatures. In reality, both perfect and perfected creatures are incomplete as regards finite totality. But in the complemental association of the existentially perfect creatures of the Paradise-Havona system with the experientially perfected finaliters ascending from the evolutionary universes, both types find release from inherent limitations and thus may conjointly attempt to reach the sublime heights of the ultimate of creature status.

These creature transactions are the universe repercussions of actions and reactions within the Sevenfold Deity, wherein the eternal divinity of the Paradise Trinity is conjoined with the evolving divinity of the Supreme Creators of the time-space universes in, by, and through the power-actualizing Deity of the Supreme Being.

The divinely perfect creature and the evolutionary perfected creature are equal in degree of divinity potential, but they differ in kind. Each must depend on the other to attain supremacy of service. The evolutionary superuniverses depend on perfect Havona to provide the final training for their ascending citizens, but so does the perfect central universe require the existence of the perfecting superuniverses to provide for the full development of its descending inhabitants.

The two prime manifestations of finite reality, innate perfection and evolved perfection, be they personalities or universes, are co-ordinate, dependent, and integrated. Each requires the other to achieve completion of function, service, and destiny.

Do not entertain the idea that, since the Universal Father has delegated so much of himself and his power to others, he is a silent or inactive member of the Deity partnership. Aside from personality domains and Adjuster bestowal, he is apparently the least active of the Paradise Deities in that he allows his Deity co-ordinates, his Sons, and numerous created intelligences to perform so much in the carrying out of his eternal purpose. He is the silent member of the creative trio only in that he never does aught which any of his co-ordinate or subordinate associates can do.

God has full understanding of the need of every intelligent creature for function and experience, and therefore, in every situation, be it concerned with the destiny of a universe or the welfare of the humblest of his creatures, God retires from activity in favor of the galaxy of creature and Creator personalities who inherently intervene between himself and any given universe situation or creative event. But notwithstanding this retirement, this exhibition of infinite coordination, there is on God's part an actual, literal, and personal participation in these events by and through these ordained agencies and personalities. The Father is working in and through all these channels for the welfare of all his far-flung creation.


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Rh As regards the policies, conduct, and administration of a local universe, the Universal Father acts in the person of his Creator Son. In the interrelationships of the Sons of God, in the group associations of the personalities of origin in the Third Source and Center, or in the relationship between any other creatures, such as human beings—as concerns such associations the Universal Father never intervenes. The law of the Creator Son, the rule of the Constellation Fathers, the System Sovereigns, and the Planetary Princes—the ordained policies and procedures for that universe—always prevail. There is no division of authority; never is there a cross working of divine power and purpose. The Deities are in perfect and eternal unanimity.

The Creator Son rules supreme in all matters of ethical associations, the relations of any division of creatures to any other class of creatures or of two or more individuals within any given group; but such a plan does not mean that the Universal Father may not in his own way intervene and do aught that pleases the divine mind with any individual creature throughout all creation, as pertains to that individual's present status or future prospects and as concerns the Father's eternal plan and infinite purpose.

In the mortal will creatures the Father is actually present in the indwelling Adjuster, a fragment of his prepersonal spirit; and the Father is also the source of the personality of such a mortal will creature.

These Thought Adjusters, the bestowals of the Universal Father, are comparatively isolated; they indwell human minds but have no discernible connection with the ethical affairs of a local creation. They are not directly co-ordinated with the seraphic service nor with the administration of systems, constellations, or a local universe, not even with the rule of a Creator Son, whose will is the supreme law of his universe.

The indwelling Adjusters are one of God's separate but unified modes of contact with the creatures of his all but infinite creation. Thus does he who is invisible to mortal man manifest his presence, and could he do so, he would show himself to us in still other ways, but such further revelation is not divinely possible.

We can see and understand the mechanism whereby the Sons enjoy intimate and complete knowledge regarding the universes of their jurisdiction; but we cannot fully comprehend the methods whereby God is so fully and personally conversant with the details of the universe of universes, although we at least can recognize the avenue whereby the Universal Father can receive information regarding, and manifest his presence to, the beings of his immense creation. Through the personality circuit the Father is cognizant—has personal knowledge—of all the thoughts and acts of all the beings in all the systems of all the universes of all creation. Though we cannot fully grasp this technique of God's communion with his children, we can be strengthened in the assurance that the "Lord knows his children," and that of each one of us "he takes note where we were born."

In your universe and in your heart the Universal Father is present, spiritually speaking, by one of the Seven Master Spirits of central abode and, specifically, by the divine Adjuster who lives and works and waits in the depths of the mortal mind.

God is not a self-centered personality; the Father freely distributes himself to his creation and to his creatures. He lives and acts, not only in the Deities,

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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364 but also in his Sons, whom he intrusts with the doing of everything that it is divinely possible for them to do. The Universal Father has truly divested himself of every function which it is possible for another being to perform. And this is just as true of mortal man as of the Creator Son who rules in God's stead at the headquarters of a local universe. Thus we behold the outworking of the ideal and infinite love of the Universal Father.

In this universal bestowal of himself we have abundant proof of both the magnitude and the magnanimity of the Father's divine nature. If God has withheld aught of himself from the universal creation, then of that residue he is in lavish generosity bestowing the Thought Adjusters upon the mortals of the realms, the Mystery Monitors of time, who so patiently indwell the mortal candidates for life everlasting.

The Universal Father has poured out himself, as it were, to make all creation rich in personality possession and potential spiritual attainment. God has given us himself that we may be like him, and he has reserved for himself of power and glory only that which is necessary for the maintenance of those things for the love of which he has thus divested himself of all things else.

There is a great and glorious purpose in the march of the universes through space. All of your mortal struggling is not in vain. We are all part of an immense plan, a gigantic enterprise, and it is the vastness of the undertaking that renders it impossible to see very much of it at any one time and during any one life. We are all a part of an eternal project which the Gods are supervising and outworking. The whole marvelous and universal mechanism moves on majestically through space to the music of the meter of the infinite thought and the eternal purpose of the First Great Source and Center.

The eternal purpose of the eternal God is a high spiritual ideal. The events of time and the struggles of material existence are but the transient scaffolding which bridges over to the other side, to the promised land of spiritual reality and supernal existence. Of course, you mortals find it difficult to grasp the idea of an eternal purpose; you are virtually unable to comprehend the thought of eternity, something never beginning and never ending. Everything familiar to you has an end.

As regards an individual life, the duration of a realm, or the chronology of any connected series of events, it would seem that we are dealing with an isolated stretch of time; everything seems to have a beginning and an end. And it would appear that a series of such experiences, lives, ages, or epochs, when successively arranged, constitutes a straightaway drive, an isolated event of time flashing momentarily across the infinite face of eternity. But when we look at all this from behind the scenes, a more comprehensive view and a more complete understanding suggest that such an explanation is inadequate, disconnected, and wholly unsuited properly to account for, and otherwise to correlate, the transactions of time with the underlying purposes and basic reactions of eternity.

To me it seems more fitting, for purposes of explanation to the mortal mind, to conceive of eternity as a cycle and the eternal purpose as an endless circle, a cycle of eternity in some way synchronized with the transient material cycles of time. As regards the sectors of time connected with, and forming a part of,


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Rh the cycle of eternity, we are forced to recognize that such temporary epochs are born, live, and die just as the temporary beings of time are born, live, and die. Most human beings die because, having failed to achieve the spirit level of Adjuster fusion, the metamorphosis of death constitutes the only possible procedure whereby they may escape the fetters of time and the bonds of material creation, thereby being enabled to strike spiritual step with the progressive procession of eternity. Having survived the trial life of time and material existence, it becomes possible for you to continue on in touch with, even as a part of, eternity, swinging on forever with the worlds of space around the circle of the eternal ages.

The sectors of time are like the flashes of personality in temporal form; they appear for a season, and then they are lost to human sight, only to reappear as new actors and continuing factors in the higher life of the endless swing around the eternal circle. Eternity can hardly be conceived as a straightaway drive, in view of our belief in a delimited universe moving over a vast, elongated circle around the central dwelling place of the Universal Father.

Frankly, eternity is incomprehensible to the finite mind of time. You simply cannot grasp it; you cannot comprehend it. I do not completely visualize it, and even if I did, it would be impossible for me to convey my concept to the human mind. Nevertheless, I have done my best to portray something of our viewpoint, to tell you somewhat of our understanding of things eternal. I am endeavoring to aid you in the crystallization of your thoughts about these values which are of infinite nature and eternal import.

There is in the mind of God a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life. And the infinite treasures of such a matchless career are yours for the striving!

The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh.

[Presented by a Mighty Messenger temporarily attached to the Supreme Council of Nebadon and assigned to this mission by Gabriel of Salvington.]


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HILE the Universal Father most certainly rules over his vast creation, he functions in a local universe administration through the person of the Creator Son. The Father does not otherwise personally function in the administrative affairs of a local universe. These matters are intrusted to the Creator Son and to the local universe Mother Spirit and to their manifold children. The plans, policies, and administrative acts of the local universe are formed and executed by this Son, who, in conjunction with his Spirit associate, delegates executive power to Gabriel and jurisdictional authority to the Constellation Fathers, System Sovereigns, and Planetary Princes.

Our Creator Son is the personification of the 611,121st original concept of infinite identity of simultaneous origin in the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. The Michael of Nebadon is the "only-begotten Son" personalizing this 611,121st universal concept of divinity and infinity. His headquarters is in the threefold mansion of light on Salvington. And this dwelling is so ordered because Michael has experienced the living of all three phases of intelligent creature existence: spiritual, morontial, and material. Because of the name associated with his seventh and final bestowal on Urantia he is sometimes spoken of as Christ Michael.

Our Creator Son is not the Eternal Son, the existential Paradise associate of the Universal Father and the Infinite Spirit. Michael of Nebadon is not a member of the Paradise Trinity. Nevertheless our Master Son possesses in his realm all of the divine attributes and powers that the Eternal Son himself would manifest were he actually to be present on Salvington and functioning in Nebadon. Michael possesses even additional power and authority, for he not only personifies the Eternal Son but also fully represents and actually embodies the personality presence of the Universal Father to and in this local universe. He even represents the Father-Son. These relationships constitute a Creator Son the most powerful, versatile, and influential of all divine beings who are capable of direct administration of evolutionary universes and of personality contact with immature creature beings.

Our Creator Son exerts the same spiritual drawing power, spirit gravity, from the headquarters of the local universe that the Eternal Son of Paradise would exert if he were personally present on Salvington, and more; this Universe Son is also the personification of the Universal Father to the universe of Nebadon. Creator Sons are personality centers for the spiritual forces of the Para-


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Rh dise Father-Son. Creator Sons are the final power-personality focalizations of the mighty time-space attributes of God the Sevenfold.

The Creator Son is the vicegerent personalization of the Universal Father, the divinity co-ordinate of the Eternal Son, and the creative associate of the Infinite Spirit. To our universe and all its inhabited worlds the Sovereign Son is, to all practical intents and purposes, God. He personifies all of the Paradise Deities which evolving mortals can discerningly comprehend. This Son and his Spirit associate are your creator parents. To you, Michael, the Creator Son, is the supreme personality; to you, the Eternal Son is supersupreme—an infinite Deity personality.

In the person of the Creator Son we have a ruler and divine parent who is just as mighty, efficient, and beneficent as would be the Universal Father and the Eternal Son if both were present on Salvington and engaged in the administration of the affairs of the universe of Nebadon.

Observation of Creator Sons discloses that some resemble more the Father, some the Son, while others are a blend of both their infinite parents. Our Creator Son very definitely manifests traits and attributes which more resemble the Eternal Son.

Michael elected to organize this local universe, and herein he now reigns supreme. His personal power is limited by the pre-existent gravity circuits centering at Paradise and by the reservation on the part of the Ancients of Days of the superuniverse government of all final executive judgments regarding the extinction of personality. Personality is the sole bestowal of the Father, but the Creator Sons, with the approval of the Eternal Son, do initiate new creature designs, and with the working co-operation of their Spirit associates they may attempt new transformations of energy-matter.

Michael is the personification of the Paradise Father-Son to and in the local universe of Nebadon; therefore, when the Creative Mother Spirit, the local universe representation of the Infinite Spirit, subordinated herself to Christ Michael upon the return from his final bestowal on Urantia, the Master Son thereby acquired jurisdiction over "all power in heaven and on earth."

This subordination of the Divine Ministers to the Creator Sons of the local universes constitutes these Master Sons the personal repositories of the finitely manifestable divinity of the Father, Son, and Spirit, while the creature-bestowal experiences of the Michaels qualify them to portray the experiential divinity of the Supreme Being. No other beings in the universes have thus personally exhausted the potentials of present finite experience, and no other beings in the universes possess such qualifications for solitary sovereignty.

Although Michael's headquarters is officially located on Salvington, the capital of Nebadon, he spends much of his time visiting the constellation and system headquarters and even the individual planets. Periodically he journeys to Paradise and often to Uversa, where he counsels with the Ancients of Days. When he is away from Salvington, his place is assumed by Gabriel, who then functions as regent of the universe of Nebadon.


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gosse, William Christie


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gould, Albert John


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Gould, John


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368

While pervading all the universes of time and space, the Infinite Spirit functions from the headquarters of each local universe as a specialized focalization acquiring full personality qualities by the technique of creative co-operation with the Creator Son. As concerns a local universe, the administrative authority of a Creator Son is supreme; the Infinite Spirit, as the Divine Minister, is wholly co-operative though perfectly co-ordinate.

The Universe Mother Spirit of Salvington, the associate of Michael in the control and administration of Nebadon, is of the sixth group of Supreme Spirits, being the 611,121st of that order. She volunteered to accompany Michael on the occasion of his liberation from Paradise obligations and has ever since functioned with him in creating and governing his universe.

The Master Creator Son is the personal sovereign of his universe, but in all the details of its management the Universe Spirit is codirector with the Son. While the Spirit ever acknowledges the Son as sovereign and ruler, the Son always accords the Spirit a co-ordinate position and equality of authority in all the affairs of the realm. In all his work of love and life bestowal the Creator Son is always and ever perfectly sustained and ably assisted by the all-wise and ever-faithful Universe Spirit and by all of her diversified retinue of angelic personalities. Such a Divine Minister is in reality the mother of spirits and spirit personalities, the ever-present and all-wise adviser of the Creator Son, a faithful and true manifestation of the Paradise Infinite Spirit.

The Son functions as a father in his local universe. The Spirit, as mortal creatures would understand, enacts the role of a mother, always assisting the Son and being everlastingly indispensable to the administration of the universe. In the face of insurrection only the Son and his associated Sons can function as deliverers. Never can the Spirit undertake to contest rebellion or defend authority, but ever does the Spirit sustain the Son in all of everything he may be required to experience in his efforts to stabilize government and uphold authority on worlds tainted with evil or dominated by sin. Only a Son can retrieve the work of their joint creation, but no Son could hope for final success without the incessant co-operation of the Divine Minister and her vast assemblage of spirit helpers, the daughters of God, who so faithfully and valiantly struggle for the welfare of mortal men and the glory of their divine parents.

Upon the completion of the Creator Son's seventh and final creature bestowal, the uncertainties of periodic isolation terminate for the Divine Minister, and the Son's universe helper becomes forever settled in surety and control. It is at the enthronement of the Creator Son as a Master Son, at the jubilee of jubilees, that the Universe Spirit, before the assembled hosts, first makes public and universal acknowledgment of subordination to the Son, pledging fidelity and obedience. This event occurred in Nebadon at the time of Michael's return to Salvington after the Urantian bestowal. Never before this momentous occasion did the Universe Spirit acknowledge subordination to the Universe Son, and not until after this voluntary relinquishment of power and authority by the Spirit could it be truthfully proclaimed of the Son that "all power in heaven and on earth has been committed to his hand."


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Rh After this pledge of subordination by the Creative Mother Spirit, Michael of Nebadon nobly acknowledged his eternal dependence on his Spirit companion, constituting the Spirit coruler of his universe domains and requiring all their creatures to pledge themselves in loyalty to the Spirit as they had to the Son; and there issued and went forth the final "Proclamation of Equality." Though he was the sovereign of this local universe, the Son published to the worlds the fact of the Spirit's equality with him in all endowments of personality and attributes of divine character. And this becomes the transcendent pattern for the family organization and government of even the lowly creatures of the worlds of space. This is, in deed and in truth, the high ideal of the family and the human institution of voluntary marriage.

The Son and the Spirit now preside over the universe much as a father and mother watch over, and minister to, their family of sons and daughters. It is not altogether out of place to refer to the Universe Spirit as the creative companion of the Creator Son and to regard the creatures of the realms as their sons and daughters—a grand and glorious family but one of untold responsibilities and endless watchcare.

The Son initiates the creation of certain of the universe children, while the Spirit is solely responsible for bringing into existence the numerous orders of spirit personalities who minister and serve under the direction and guidance of this selfsame Mother Spirit. In the creation of other types of universe personalities, both the Son and the Spirit function together, and in no creative act does the one do aught without the counsel and approval of the other.

The Bright and Morning Star is the personalization of the first concept of identity and ideal of personality conceived by the Creator Son and the local universe manifestation of the Infinite Spirit. Going back to the early days of the local universe, before the union of the Creator Son and the Mother Spirit in the bonds of creative association, back to the times before the beginning of the creation of their versatile family of sons and daughters, the first conjoint act of this early and free association of these two divine persons results in the creation of the highest spirit personality of the Son and the Spirit, the Bright and Morning Star.

Only one such being of wisdom and majesty is brought forth in each local universe. The Universal Father and the Eternal Son can, in fact do, create an unlimited number of Sons in divinity equal to themselves; but such Sons, in union with the Daughters of the Infinite Spirit, can create only one Bright and Morning Star in each universe, a being like themselves and partaking freely of their combined natures but not of their creative prerogatives. Gabriel of Salvington is like the Universe Son in divinity of nature though considerably limited in the attributes of Deity.

This first-born of the parents of a new universe is a unique personality possessing many wonderful traits not visibly present in either ancestor, a being of unprecedented versatility and unimagined brilliance. This supernal personality embraces the divine will of the Son combined with the creative imagination of the Spirit. The thoughts and acts of the Bright and Morning Star will ever be fully representative of both the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit. Such a


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370 being is also capable of a broad understanding of, and sympathetic contact with, both the spiritual seraphic hosts and the material evolutionary will creatures.

The Bright and Morning Star is not a creator, but he is a marvelous administrator, being the personal administrative representative of the Creator Son. Aside from creation and life impartation the Son and the Spirit never confer upon important universe procedures without Gabriel's presence.

Gabriel of Salvington is the chief executive of the universe of Nebadon and the arbiter of all executive appeals respecting its administration. This universe executive was created fully endowed for his work, but he has gained experience with the growth and evolution of our local creation.

Gabriel is the chief officer of execution for superuniverse mandates relating to nonpersonal affairs in the local universe. Most matters pertaining to mass judgment and dispensational resurrections, adjudicated by the Ancients of Days, are also delegated to Gabriel and his staff for execution. Gabriel is thus the combined chief executive of both the super- and the local universe rulers. He has at his command an able corps of administrative assistants, created for their special work, who are unrevealed to evolutionary mortals. In addition to these assistants, Gabriel may employ any and all of the orders of celestial beings functioning in Nebadon, and he is also the commander in chief of "the armies of heaven"—the celestial hosts.

Gabriel and his staff are not teachers; they are administrators. They were never known to depart from their regular work except when Michael was incarnated on a creature bestowal. During such bestowals Gabriel was ever attendant on the will of the incarnated Son, and with the collaboration of the Union of Days, he became the actual director of universe affairs during the later bestowals. Gabriel has been closely identified with the history and development of Urantia ever since the mortal bestowal of Michael.

Aside from meeting Gabriel on the bestowal worlds and at the times of general- and special-resurrection roll calls, mortals will seldom encounter him as they ascend through the local universe until they are inducted into the administrative work of the local creation. As administrators, of whatever order or degree, you will come under the direction of Gabriel.

The administration of Trinity-origin personalities ends with the government of the superuniverses. The local universes are characterized by dual supervision, the beginning of the father-mother concept. The universe father is the Creator Son; the universe mother is the Divine Minister, the local universe Creative Spirit. Every local universe is, however, blessed with the presence of certain personalities from the central universe and Paradise. At the head of this Paradise group in Nebadon is the ambassador of the Paradise Trinity—Immanuel of Salvington—the Union of Days assigned to the local universe of Nebadon. In a certain sense this high Trinity Son is also the personal representative of the Universal Father to the court of the Creator Son; hence his name, Immanuel.

Immanuel of Salvington, number 611,121 of the sixth order of Supreme Trinity Personalities, is a being of sublime dignity and of such superb condescension that he refuses the worship and adoration of all living creatures. He bears the distinction of being the only personality in all Nebadon who has never


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Goyder, George Woodroffe


text: The Complete Confectioner (1800)/Table of Contents


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Rh acknowledged subordination to his brother Michael. He functions as adviser to the Sovereign Son but gives counsel only on request. In the absence of the Creator Son he might preside over any high universe council but would not otherwise participate in the executive affairs of the universe except as requested.

This ambassador of Paradise to Nebadon is not subject to the jurisdiction of the local universe government. Neither does he exercise authoritative jurisdiction in the executive affairs of an evolving local universe except in the supervision of his liaison brethren, the Faithfuls of Days, serving on the headquarters of the constellations.

The Faithfuls of Days, like the Union of Days, never proffer advice or offer assistance to the constellation rulers unless it is asked for. These Paradise ambassadors to the constellations represent the final personal presence of the Stationary Sons of the Trinity functioning in advisory roles in the local universes. Constellations are more closely related to the superuniverse administration than local systems, which are administered exclusively by personalities native to the local universe.

Gabriel is the chief executive and actual administrator of Nebadon. Michael's absence from Salvington in no way interferes with the orderly conduct of universe affairs. During the absence of Michael, as recently on the mission of reunion of Orvonton Master Sons on Paradise, Gabriel is the regent of the universe. At such times Gabriel always seeks the counsel of Immanuel of Salvington regarding all major problems.

The Father Melchizedek is Gabriel's first assistant. When the Bright and Morning Star is absent from Salvington, his responsibilities are assumed by this original Melchizedek Son.

The various subadministrations of the universe have assigned to them certain special domains of responsibility. While, in general, a system government looks after the welfare of its planets, it is more particularly concerned with the physical status of living beings, with biologic problems. In turn, the constellation rulers pay especial attention to the social and governmental conditions prevailing on the different planets and systems. A constellation government is chiefly exercised over unification and stabilization. Still higher up, the universe rulers are more occupied with the spiritual status of the realms.

Ambassadors are appointed by judicial decree and represent universes to other universes. Consuls are representatives of constellations to one another and to the universe headquarters; they are appointed by legislative decree and function only within the confines of the local universe. Observers are commissioned by executive decree of a System Sovereign to represent that system to other systems and at the constellation capital, and they, too, function only within the confines of the local universe.

From Salvington, broadcasts are simultaneously directed to the constellation headquarters, the system headquarters, and to individual planets. All higher orders of celestial beings are able to utilize this service for communication with their fellows scattered throughout the universe. The universe broadcast is extended to all inhabited worlds regardless of their spiritual status.


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372 Planetary intercommunication is denied only those worlds under spiritual quarantine.

Constellation broadcasts are periodically sent out from the headquarters of the constellation by the chief of the Constellation Fathers.

Chronology is reckoned, computed, and rectified by a special group of beings on Salvington. The standard day of Nebadon is equal to eighteen days and six hours of Urantia time, plus two and one-half minutes. The Nebadon year consists of a segment of the time of universe swing in relation to the Uversa circuit and is equal to one hundred days of standard universe time, about five years of Urantia time.

Nebadon time, broadcast from Salvington, is the standard for all constellations and systems in this local universe. Each constellation conducts its affairs by Nebadon time, but the systems maintain their own chronology, as do the individual planets.

The day in Satania, as reckoned on Jerusem, is a little less (1 hour, 4 minutes, 15 seconds) than three days of Urantia time. These times are generally known as Salvington or universe time, and Satania or system time. Standard time is universe time.

The Master Son, Michael, is supremely concerned with but three things: creation, sustenance, and ministry. He does not personally participate in the judicial work of the universe. Creators never sit in judgment on their creatures; that is the exclusive function of creatures of high training and actual creature experience.

The entire judicial mechanism of Nebadon is under the supervision of Gabriel. The high courts, located on Salvington, are occupied with problems of general universe import and with the appellate cases coming up from the system tribunals. There are seventy branches of these universe courts, and they function in seven divisions of ten sections each. In all matters of adjudication there presides a dual magistracy consisting of one judge of perfection antecedents and one magistrate of ascendant experience.

As regards jurisdiction, the local universe courts are limited in the following matters:

The administration of the local universe is concerned with creation, evolution, maintenance, and ministry. The universe tribunals are, therefore, denied the right to pass upon those cases involving the question of eternal life and death. This has no reference to natural death as it obtains on Urantia, but if the question of the right of continued existence, life eternal, comes up for adjudication, it must be referred to the tribunals of Orvonton, and if decided adversely to the individual, all sentences of extinction are carried out upon the orders, and through the agencies, of the rulers of the supergovernment. The default or defection of any of the Local Universe Sons of God which jeopardizes their status and authority as Sons is never adjudicated in the tribunals of a Son; such a misunderstanding would be immediately carried to the superuniverse courts. The question of the readmission of any constituent part of a local universe—such as a local system—to the fellowship of full spiritual status in the


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Grace, Hon. Morgan Stanislaus


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Graham, Hon. George


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Rh local creation subsequent to spiritual isolation must be concurred in by the high assembly of the superuniverse.

In all other matters the courts of Salvington are final and supreme. There is no appeal and no escape from their decisions and decrees.

However unfairly human contentions may sometimes appear to be adjudicated on Urantia, in the universe justice and divine equity do prevail. You are living in a well-ordered universe, and sooner or later you may depend upon being dealt with justly, even mercifully.

On Salvington, the headquarters of Nebadon, there are no true legislative bodies. The universe headquarters worlds are concerned largely with adjudication. The legislative assemblies of the local universe are located on the headquarters of the one hundred constellations. The systems are chiefly concerned with the executive and administrative work of the local creations. The System Sovereigns and their associates enforce the legislative mandates of the constellation rulers and execute the judicial decrees of the high courts of the universe.

While true legislation is not enacted at the universe headquarters, there do function on Salvington a variety of advisory and research assemblies, variously constituted and conducted in accordance with their scope and purpose. Some are permanent; others disband upon the accomplishment of their objective.

The supreme council of the local universe is made up of three members from each system and seven representatives from each constellation. Systems in isolation do not have representation in this assembly, but they are permitted to send observers who attend and study all its deliberations.

The one hundred councils of supreme sanction are also situated on Salvington. The presidents of these councils constitute the immediate working cabinet of Gabriel.

All findings of the high universe advisory councils are referred either to the Salvington judicial bodies or to the legislative assemblies of the constellations. These high councils are without authority or power to enforce their recommendations. If their advice is founded on the fundamental laws of the universe, then will the Nebadon courts issue rulings of execution; but if their recommendations have to do with local or emergency conditions, they must pass down to the legislative assemblies of the constellation for deliberative enactment and then to the system authorities for execution. These high councils are, in reality, the universe superlegislatures, but they function without the authority of enactment and without the power of execution.

While we speak of universe administration in terms of "courts" and "assemblies," it should be understood that these spiritual transactions are very different from the more primitive and material activities of Urantia which bear corresponding names.

[Presented by the Chief of the Archangels of Nebadon.]


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HEN a Creator Son is personalized by the Universal Father and the Eternal Son, then does the Infinite Spirit individualize a new and unique representation of himself to accompany this Creator Son to the realms of space, there to be his companion, first, in physical organization and, later, in creation and ministry to the creatures of the newly projected universe.

A Creative Spirit reacts to both physical and spiritual realities; so does a Creator Son; and thus are they co-ordinate and associate in the administration of a local universe of time and space.

These Daughter Spirits are of the essence of the Infinite Spirit, but they cannot function in the work of physical creation and spiritual ministry simultaneously. In physical creation the Universe Son provides the pattern while the Universe Spirit initiates the materialization of physical realities. The Son operates in the power designs, but the Spirit transforms these energy creations into physical substances. Although it is somewhat difficult to portray this early universe presence of the Infinite Spirit as a person, nevertheless, to the Creator Son the Spirit associate is personal and has always functioned as a distinct individual.

After the completion of the physical organization of a starry and planetary cluster and the establishment of the energy circuits by the superuniverse power centers, subsequent to this preliminary work of creation by the agencies of the Infinite Spirit, operating through, and under the direction of, his local universe creative focalization, there goes forth the proclamation of the Michael Son that life is next to be projected in the newly organized universe. Upon the Paradise recognition of this declaration of intention, there occurs a reaction of approval in the Paradise Trinity, followed by the disappearance in the spiritual shining of the Deities of the Master Spirit in whose superuniverse this new creation is organizing. Meanwhile the other Master Spirits draw near this central lodgment of the Paradise Deities, and subsequently, when the Deity-embraced Master Spirit emerges to the recognition of his fellows, there occurs what is known as a "primary eruption." This is a tremendous spiritual flash, a phenomenon clearly discernible as far away as the headquarters of the superuniverse concerned; and simultaneously with this little-understood Trinity manifestation there occurs a marked change in the nature of the creative spirit presence and power of the Infinite Spirit resident in the local universe concerned. In response to these Paradise phenomena there immediately personalizes, in the very presence of the Creator Son, a new personal representation of the Infinite Spirit. This is the


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Rh Divine Minister. The individualized Creative Spirit helper of the Creator Son has become his personal creative associate, the local universe Mother Spirit.

From and through this new personal segregation of the Conjoint Creator there proceed the established currents and the ordained circuits of spirit power and spiritual influence destined to pervade all the worlds and beings of that local universe. In reality, this new and personal presence is but a transformation of the pre-existent and less personal associate of the Son in his earlier work of physical universe organization.

This is the relation of a stupendous drama in few words, but it represents about all that can be told regarding these momentous transactions. They are instantaneous, inscrutable, and incomprehensible; the secret of the technique and procedure resides in the bosom of the Paradise Trinity. Of only one thing are we certain: The Spirit presence in the local universe during the time of purely physical creation or organization was incompletely differentiated from the spirit of the Paradise Infinite Spirit; whereas, after the reappearance of the supervising Master Spirit from the secret embrace of the Gods and following the flash of spiritual energy, the local universe manifestation of the Infinite Spirit suddenly and completely changes to the personal likeness of that Master Spirit who was in transmuting liaison with the Infinite Spirit. The local universe Mother Spirit thus acquires a personal nature tinged by that of the Master Spirit of the superuniverse of astronomic jurisdiction.

This personalized presence of the Infinite Spirit, the Creative Mother Spirit of the local universe, is known in Satania as the Divine Minister. To all practical intents and spiritual purposes this manifestation of Deity is a divine individual, a spirit person. And she is so recognized and regarded by the Creator Son. It is through this localization and personalization of the Third Source and Center in our local universe that the Spirit could subsequently become so fully subject to the Creator Son that of this Son it was truly said, "All power in heaven and on earth has been intrusted to him."

Having undergone marked personality metamorphosis at the time of life creation, the Divine Minister thereafter functions as a person and co-operates in a very personal manner with the Creator Son in the planning and management of the extensive affairs of their local creation. To many universe types of being, even this representation of the Infinite Spirit may not appear to be wholly personal during the ages preceding the final Michael bestowal; but subsequent to the elevation of the Creator Son to the sovereign authority of a Master Son, the Creative Mother Spirit becomes so augmented in personal qualities as to be personally recognized by all contacting individuals.

From the earliest association with the Creator Son the Universe Spirit possesses all the physical-control attributes of the Infinite Spirit, including the full endowment of antigravity. Upon the attainment of personal status the Universe Spirit exerts just as full and complete control of mind gravity, in the local universe, as would the Infinite Spirit if personally present.

In each local universe the Divine Minister functions in accordance with the nature and inherent characteristics of the Infinite Spirit as embodied in one of the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise. While there is a basic uniformity of char-


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376 acter in all Universe Spirits, there is also a diversity of function, determined by their origin through one of the Seven Master Spirits. This differential of origin accounts for the diverse techniques in the function of the local universe Mother Spirits in different superuniverses. But in all essential spiritual attributes these Spirits are identical, equally spiritual and wholly divine, irrespective of superuniverse differentiation.

The Creative Spirit is coresponsible with the Creator Son in producing the creatures of the worlds and never fails the Son in all efforts to uphold and conserve these creations. Life is ministered and maintained through the agency of the Creative Spirit. "You send forth your Spirit, and they are created. You renew the face of the earth."

In the creation of a universe of intelligent creatures the Creative Mother Spirit functions first in the sphere of universe perfection, collaborating with the Son in the production of the Bright and Morning Star. Subsequently the offspring of the Spirit increasingly approach the order of created beings on the planets, even as the Sons grade downward from the Melchizedeks to the Material Sons, who actually contact with the mortals of the realms. In the later evolution of mortal creatures the Life Carrier Sons provide the physical body, fabricated out of the existing organized material of the realm, while the Universe Spirit contributes the "breath of life."

While the seventh segment of the grand universe may, in many respects, be tardy in development, thoughtful students of our problems look forward to the evolution of an extraordinarily well-balanced creation in the ages to come. We predict this high degree of symmetry in Orvonton because the presiding Spirit of this superuniverse is the chief of the Master Spirits on high, being a spirit intelligence embodying the balanced union and perfect co-ordination of the traits and character of all three of the eternal Deities. We are tardy and backward in comparison with other sectors, but there undoubtedly awaits us a transcendent development and an unprecedented achievement sometime in the eternal ages of the future.

Neither the Eternal Son nor the Infinite Spirit is limited or conditioned by either time or space, but most of their offspring are.

The Infinite Spirit pervades all space and indwells the circle of eternity. Still, in their personal contact with the children of time, the personalities of the Infinite Spirit must often reckon with temporal elements, though not so much with space. Many mind ministries ignore space but suffer a time lag in effecting co-ordination of diverse levels of universe reality. A Solitary Messenger is virtually independent of space except that time is actually required in traveling from one location to another; and there are similar entities unknown to you.

In personal prerogatives a Creative Spirit is wholly and entirely independent of space, but not of time. There is no specialized personal presence of such a Universe Spirit on either the constellation or system headquarters. She is equally and diffusely present throughout her entire local universe and is, therefore, just as literally and personally present on one world as on any other.

Only as regards the element of time is a Creative Spirit ever limited in her universe ministrations. A Creator Son acts instantaneously throughout his uni-


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Grant, Hon. James Macpherson


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Rh verse; but the Creative Spirit must reckon with time in the ministration of the universal mind except as she consciously and designedly avails herself of the personal prerogatives of the Universe Son. In pure-spirit function the Creative Spirit also acts independently of time as well as in her collaboration with the mysterious function of universe reflectivity.

Though the spirit-gravity circuit of the Eternal Son operates independently of both time and space, all functions of the Creator Sons are not exempt from space limitations. If the transactions of the evolutionary worlds are excepted, these Michael Sons seem to be able to operate relatively independent of time. A Creator Son is not handicapped by time, but he is conditioned by space; he cannot personally be in two places at the same time. Michael of Nebadon acts timelessly within his own universe and by reflectivity practically so in the superyniverse. He communicates timelessly with the Eternal Son directly.

The Divine Minister is the understanding helper of the Creator Son, enabling him to overcome and atone for his inherent limitations regarding space, for when these two function in administrative union, they are practically independent of time and space within the confines of their local creation. Therefore, as practically observed throughout a local universe, the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit usually function independently of both time and space since there is always available to each the time and the space liberation of the other.

Only absolute beings are independent of time and space in the absolute sense. The majority of the subordinate persons of both the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit are subject to both time and space.

When a Creative Spirit becomes "space conscious," she is preparing to recognize a circumscribed "space domain" as hers, a realm in which to be space free in contradistinction to all other space by which she would be conditioned. One is free to choose and act only within the realm of one's consciousness.

There are three distinct spirit circuits in the local universe of Nebadon:

The bestowal spirit of the Creator Son, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. The spirit circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit. The intelligence-ministry circuit, including the more or less unified activities but diverse functioning of the seven adjutant mind-spirits.

The Creator Sons are endowed with a spirit of universe presence in many ways analogous to that of the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise. This is the Spirit of Truth which is poured out upon a world by a bestowal Son after he receives spiritual title to such a sphere. This bestowed Comforter is the spiritual force which ever draws all truth seekers towards Him who is the personification of truth in the local universe. This spirit is an inherent endowment of the Creator Son, emerging from his divine nature just as the master circuits of the grand universe are derived from the personality presences of the Paradise Deities.

The Creator Son may come and go; his personal presence may be in the focal universe or elsewhere; yet the Spirit of Truth functions undisturbed, for


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378 this divine presence, while derived from the personality of the Creator Son, is functionally centered in the person of the Divine Minister.

The Universe Mother Spirit, however, never leaves the local universe headquarters world. The spirit of the Creator Son may and does function independently of the personal presence of the Son, but not so with her personal spirit. The Holy Spirit of the Divine Minister would become nonfunctional if her personal presence should be removed from Salvington. Her spirit presence seems to be fixed on the universe headquarters world, and it is this very fact that enables the spirit of the Creator Son to function independently of the whereabouts of the Son. The Universe Mother Spirit acts as the universe focus and center of the Spirit of Truth as well as of her own personal influence, the Holy Spirit.

The Creator Father-Son and the Creative Mother Spirit both contribute variously to the mind endowment of their local universe children. But the Creative Spirit does not bestow mind until she is endowed with personal prerogatives.

The superevolutionary orders of personality in a local universe are endowed with the local universe type of the superuniverse pattern of mind. The human and the subhuman orders of evolutionary life are endowed with the adjutant spirit types of mind ministration.

The seven adjutant mind-spirits are the creation of the Divine Minister of a local universe. These mind-spirits are similar in character but diverse in power, and all partake alike of the nature of the Universe Spirit, although they are hardly regarded as personalities apart from their Mother Creator. The seven adjutants have been given the following names: the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of worship, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of courage, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of intuition—of quick perception.

These are the "seven spirits of God," "like lamps burning before the throne," which the prophet saw in the symbols of vision. But he did not see the seats of the four and twenty sentinels about these seven adjutant mind-spirits. This record represents the confusion of two presentations, one pertaining to the universe headquarters and the other to the system capital. The seats of the four and twenty elders are on Jerusem, the headquarters of your local system of inhabited worlds.

But it was of Salvington that John wrote: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices"—the universe broadcasts to the local systems. He also envisaged the directional control creatures of the local universe, the living compasses of the headquarters world. This directional control in Nebadon is maintained by the four control creatures of Salvington, who operate over the universe currents and are ably assisted by the first functioning mind-spirit, the adjutant of intuition, the spirit of "quick understanding."

But the description of these four creatures—called beasts—has been sadly marred; they are of unparalleled beauty and exquisite form.

The four points of the compass are universal and inherent in the life of Nebadon. All living creatures possess bodily units which are sensitive and responsive to these directional currents. These creature creations are duplicated on down through the universe to the individual planets and, in conjunction with the magnetic forces of the worlds, so activate the hosts of microscopic bodies


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Rh in the animal organism that these direction cells ever point north and south. Thus is the sense of orientation forever fixed in the living beings of the universe. This sense is not wholly wanting as a conscious possession by mankind. These bodies were first observed on Urantia about the time of this narration.

The Divine Minister co-operates with the Creator Son in the formulation of life and the creation of new orders of beings up to the time of his seventh bestowal and, subsequently, after his elevation to the full sovereignty of the universe, continues to collaborate with the Son and the Son's bestowed spirit in the further work of world ministry and planetary progression.

On the inhabited worlds the Spirit begins the work of evolutionary progression, starting with the lifeless material of the realm, first endowing vegetable life, then the animal organisms, then the first orders of human existence; and each succeeding impartation contributes to the further unfolding of the evolutionary potential of planetary life from the initial and primitive stages to the appearance of will creatures. This labor of the Spirit is largely effected through the seven adjutants, the spirits of promise, the unifying and co-ordinating spirit-mind of the evolving planets, ever and unitedly leading the races of men towards higher ideas and spiritual ideals.

Mortal man first experiences the ministry of the Spirit in conjunction with mind when the purely animal mind of evolutionary creatures develops reception capacity for the adjutants of worship and of wisdom. This ministry of the sixth and seventh adjutants indicates mind evolution crossing the threshold of spiritual ministry. And immediately are such minds of worship- and wisdom-function included in the spiritual circuits of the Divine Minister.

When mind is thus endowed with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it possesses the capacity for (consciously or unconsciously) choosing the spiritual presence of the Universal Father—the Thought Adjuster. But it is not until a bestowal Son has liberated the Spirit of Truth for planetary ministry to all mortals that all normal minds are automatically prepared for the reception of the Thought Adjusters. The Spirit of Truth works as one with the presence of the spirit of the Divine Minister. This dual spirit liaison hovers over the worlds, seeking to teach truth and to spiritually enlighten the minds of men, to inspire the souls of the creatures of the ascending races, and to lead the peoples dwelling on the evolutionary planets ever towards their Paradise goal of divine destiny.

Though the Spirit of Truth is poured out upon all flesh, this spirit of the Son is almost wholly limited in function and power by man's personal reception of that which constitutes the sum and substance of the mission of the bestowal Son. The Holy Spirit is partly independent of human attitude and partially conditioned by the decisions and co-operation of the will of man. Nevertheless, the ministry of the Holy Spirit becomes increasingly effective in the sanctification and spiritualization of the inner life of those mortals who the more fully obey the divine leadings.

As individuals you do not personally possess a segregated portion or entity of the spirit of the Creator Father-Son or the Creative Mother Spirit; these ministries do not contact with, nor indwell, the thinking centers of the individual's mind as do the Mystery Monitors. Thought Adjusters are definite in-


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380 dividualizations of the prepersonal reality of the Universal Father, actually indwelling the mortal mind as a very part of that mind, and they ever work in perfect harmony with the combined spirits of the Creator Son and Creative Spirit.

The presence of the Holy Spirit of the Universe Daughter of the Infinite Spirit, of the Spirit of Truth of the Universe Son of the Eternal Son, and of the Adjuster-spirit of the Paradise Father in or with an evolutionary mortal, denotes symmetry of spiritual endowment and ministry and qualifies such a mortal consciously to realize the faith-fact of sonship with God.

With the advancing evolution of an inhabited planet and the further spiritualization of its inhabitants, additional spiritual influences may be received by such mature personalities. As mortals progress in mind control and spirit perception, these multiple spirit ministries become more and more co-ordinate in function; they become increasingly blended with the overministry of the Paradise Trinity.

Although Divinity may be plural in manifestation, in human experience Deity is singular, always one. Neither is spiritual ministry plural in human experience. Regardless of plurality of origin, all spirit influences are one in function. Indeed they are one, being the spirit ministry of God the Sevenfold in and to the creatures of the grand universe; and as creatures grow in appreciation of, and receptivity for, this unifying ministry of the spirit, it becomes in their experience the ministry of God the Supreme.

From the heights of eternal glory the divine Spirit descends, by a long series of steps, to meet you as you are and where you are and then, in the partnership of faith, lovingly to embrace the soul of mortal origin and to embark on the sure and certain retracement of those steps of condescension, never stopping until the evolutionary soul is safely exalted to the very heights of bliss from which the divine Spirit originally sallied forth on this mission of mercy and ministry.

Spiritual forces unerringly seek and attain their own original levels. Having gone out from the Eternal, they are certain to return thereto, bringing with them all those children of time and space who have espoused the leading and teaching of the indwelling Adjuster, those who have been truly "born of the Spirit," the faith sons of God.

The divine Spirit is the source of continual ministry and encouragement to the children of men. Your power and achievement is "according to his mercy, through the renewing of the Spirit." Spiritual life, like physical energy, is consumed. Spiritual effort results in relative spiritual exhaustion. The whole ascendant experience is real as well as spiritual; therefore, it is truly written, "It is the Spirit that quickens." "The Spirit gives life."

The dead theory of even the highest religious doctrines is powerless to transform human character or to control mortal behavior. What the world of today needs is the truth which your teacher of old declared: "Not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit." The seed of theoretical truth is dead, the highest moral concepts without effect, unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness.


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Rh Those who have received and recognized the indwelling of God have been born of the Spirit. "You are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in you." It is not enough that this spirit be poured out upon you; the divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.

It is the presence of the divine Spirit, the water of life, that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the unspiritualized human mind. Spirit-motivated beings "never thirst, for this spiritual water shall be in them a well of satisfaction springing up into life everlasting." Such divinely watered souls are all but independent of material environment as regards the joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly existence. They are spiritually illuminated and refreshed, morally strengthened and endowed.

In every mortal there exists a dual nature: the inheritance of animal tendencies and the high urge of spirit endowment. During the short life you live on Urantia, these two diverse and opposing urges can seldom be fully reconciled; they can hardly be harmonized and unified; but throughout your lifetime the combined Spirit ever ministers to assist you in subjecting the flesh more and more to the leading of the Spirit. Even though you must live your material life through, even though you cannot escape the body and its necessities, nonetheless, in purpose and ideals you are empowered increasingly to subject the animal nature to the mastery of the Spirit. There truly exists within you a conspiracy of spiritual forces, a confederation of divine powers, whose exclusive purpose is to effect your final deliverance from material bondage and finite handicaps.

The purpose of all this ministration is, "That you may be strengthened with power through His spirit in the inner man." And all this represents but the preliminary steps to the final attainment of the perfection of faith and service, that experience wherein you shall be "filled with all the fullness of God," "for all those who are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God."

The Spirit never drives, only leads. If you are a willing learner, if you want to attain spirit levels and reach divine heights, if you sincerely desire to reach the eternal goal, then the divine Spirit will gently and lovingly lead you along the pathway of sonship and spiritual progress. Every step you take must be one of willingness, intelligent and cheerful co-operation. The domination of the Spirit is never tainted with coercion nor compromised by compulsion.

And when such a life of spirit guidance is freely and intelligently accepted, there gradually develops within the human mind a positive consciousness of divine contact and assurance of spirit communion; sooner or later "the Spirit bears witness with your spirit (the Adjuster) that you are a child of God."

Already has your own Thought Adjuster told you of your kinship to God so that the record testifies that the Spirit bears witness "with your spirit," not to your spirit.

The consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a spirit-led mortal, "for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance."

Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the lowly paths of toil and in human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world; already have they begun to


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382 comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." And throughout every trial and in the presence of every hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends all fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence of the divine Spirit.

The flesh, the inherent nature derived from the animal-origin races, does not naturally bear the fruits of the divine Spirit. When the mortal nature has been upstepped by the addition of the nature of the Material Sons of God, as the Urantia races were in a measure advanced by the bestowal of Adam, then is the way better prepared for the Spirit of Truth to co-operate with the indwelling Adjuster to bring forth the beautiful harvest of the character fruits of the spirit. If you do not reject this spirit, even though eternity may be required to fulfill the commission, "he will guide you into all truth."

Evolutionary mortals inhabiting normal worlds of spiritual progress do not experience the acute conflicts between the spirit and the flesh which characterize the present-day Urantia races. But even on the most ideal planets, pre-Adamic man must put forth positive efforts to ascend from the purely animalistic plane of existence up through successive levels of increasingly intellectual meanings and higher spiritual values.

The mortals of a normal world do not experience constant warfare between their physical and spiritual natures. They are confronted with the necessity of climbing up from the animal levels of existence to the higher planes of spiritual living, but this ascent is more like undergoing an educational training when compared with the intense conflicts of Urantia mortals in this realm of the divergent material and spiritual natures.

The Urantia peoples are suffering the consequences of a double deprivation of help in this task of progressive planetary spiritual attainment. The Caligastia upheaval precipitated world-wide confusion and robbed all subsequent generations of the moral assistance which a well-ordered society would have provided. But even more disastrous was the Adamic default in that it deprived the races of that superior type of physical nature which would have been more consonant with spiritual aspirations.

Urantia mortals are compelled to undergo such marked struggling between the spirit and the flesh because their remote ancestors were not more fully Adamized by the Edenic bestowal. It was the divine plan that the mortal races of Urantia should have had physical natures more naturally spirit responsive.

Notwithstanding this double disaster to man's nature and his environment, present-day mortals would experience less of this apparent warfare between the flesh and the spirit if they would enter the spirit kingdom, wherein the faith sons of God enjoy comparative deliverance from the slave-bondage of the flesh in the enlightened and liberating service of wholehearted devotion to doing the will of the Father in heaven. Jesus showed mankind the new way of mortal living whereby human beings may very largely escape the dire consequences of the Caligastic rebellion and most effectively compensate for the deprivations resulting from the Adamic default. "The spirit of the life of Christ Jesus


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 Rh has made us free from the law of animal living and the temptations of evil and sin." "This is the victory that overcomes the flesh, even your faith."

Those God-knowing men and women who have been born of the Spirit experience no more conflict with their mortal natures than do the inhabitants of the most normal of worlds, planets which have never been tainted with sin nor touched by rebellion. Faith sons work on intellectual levels and live on spiritual planes far above the conflicts produced by unrestrained or unnatural physical desires. The normal urges of animal beings and the natural appetites and impulses of the physical nature are not in conflict with even the highest spiritual attainment except in the minds of ignorant, mistaught, or unfortunately overconscientious persons.

Having started out on the way of life everlasting, having accepted the assignment and received your orders to advance, do not fear the dangers of human forgetfulness and mortal inconstancy, do not be troubled with doubts of failure or by perplexing confusion, do not falter and question your status and standing, for in every dark hour, at every crossroad in the forward struggle, the Spirit of Truth will always speak, saying, "This is the way."

[Presented by a Mighty Messenger temporarily assigned to service on Urantia.]


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HE Sons of God previously introduced have had a Paradise origin. They are the offspring of the divine Rulers of the universal domains. Of the first Paradise order of sonship, the Creator Sons, there is in Nebadon only one, Michael, the universe father and sovereign. Of the second order of Paradise sonship, the Avonal or Magisterial Sons, Nebadon has its full quota—1,062. And these "lesser Christs" are just as effective and all-powerful in their planetary bestowals as was the Creator and Master Son on Urantia. The third order, being of Trinity origin, do not register in a local universe, but I estimate there are in Nebadon between fifteen and twenty thousand Trinity Teacher Sons exclusive of 9,642 creature-trinitized assistants of record. These Paradise Daynals are neither magistrates nor administrators; they are superteachers.

The types of Sons about to be considered are of local universe origin; they are the offspring of a Paradise Creator Son in varied association with the complemental Universe Mother Spirit. The following orders of local universe sonship find mention in these narratives:

Melchizedek Sons. Vorondadek Sons. Lanonandek Sons. Life Carrier Sons.

Triune Paradise Deity functions for the creation of three orders of sonship: the Michaels, the Avonals, and the Daynals. Dual Deity in the local universe, the Son and the Spirit, also functions in the creation of three high orders of Sons: the Melchizedeks, the Vorondadeks, and the Lanonandeks; and having achieved this threefold expression, they collaborate with the next level of God the Sevenfold in the production of the versatile order of Life Carriers. These beings are classified with the descending Sons of God, but they are a unique and original form of universe life. Their consideration will occupy the whole of the next paper.

After bringing into existence the beings of personal aid, such as the Bright and Morning Star and other administrative personalities, in accordance with the divine purpose and creative plans of a given universe, there occurs a new form of creative union between the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit, the local universe Daughter of the Infinite Spirit. The personality offspring resulting from this creative partnership is the original Melchizedek—the Father


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Rh Melchizedek—that unique being who subsequently collaborates with the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit to bring into existence the entire group of that name.

In the universe of Nebadon the Father Melchizedek acts as the first executive associate of the Bright and Morning Star. Gabriel is occupied more with universe policies, Melchizedek with practical procedures. Gabriel presides over the regularly constituted tribunals and councils of Nebadon, Melchizedek over the special, extraordinary, and emergency commissions and advisory bodies. Gabriel and the Father Melchizedek are never away from Salvington at the same time, for in Gabriel's absence the Father Melchizedek functions as the chief executive of Nebadon.

The Melchizedeks of our universe were all created within one millennial period of standard time by the Creator Son and the Creative Spirit in liaison with the Father Melchizedek. Being an order of sonship wherein one of their own number functioned as co-ordinate creator, Melchizedeks are in constitution partly of self-origin and therefore candidates for the realization of a supernal type of self-government. They periodically elect their own administrative chief for a term of seven years of standard time and otherwise function as a self-regulating order, though the original Melchizedek does exercise certain inherent coparental prerogatives. From time to time this Father Melchizedek designates certain individuals of his order to function as special Life Carriers to the midsonite worlds, a type of inhabited planet not heretofore revealed on Urantia.

The Melchizedeks do not function extensively outside the local universe except when they are called as witnesses in matters pending before the tribunals of the superuniverse, and when designated special ambassadors, as they sometimes are, representing one universe to another in the same superuniverse. The original or first-born Melchizedek of each universe is always at liberty to journey to the neighboring universes or to Paradise on missions having to do with the interests and duties of his order.

The Melchizedeks are the first order of divine Sons to approach sufficiently near the lower creature life to be able to function directly in the ministry of mortal uplift, to serve the evolutionary races without the necessity of incarnation. These Sons are naturally at the mid-point of the great personality descent, by origin being just about midway between the highest Divinity and the lowest creature life of will endowment. They thus become the natural intermediaries between the higher and divine levels of living existence and the lower, even the material, forms of life on the evolutionary worlds. The seraphic orders, the angels, delight to work with the Melchizedeks; in fact, all forms of intelligent life find in these Sons understanding friends, sympathetic teachers, and wise counselors.

The Melchizedeks are a self-governing order. With this unique group we encounter the first attempt at self-determination on the part of local universe beings and observe the highest type of true self-government. These Sons organize their own machinery for their group and home-planet administration, as well as that for the six associated spheres and their tributary worlds. And it should be recorded that they have never abused their prerogatives; not once


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386 throughout all the superuniverse of Orvonton have these Melchizedek Sons ever betrayed their trust. They are the hope of every universe group which aspires to self-government; they are the pattern and the teachers of self-government to all the spheres of Nebadon. All orders of intelligent beings, superiors from above and subordinates from below, are wholehearted in their praise of the government of the Melchizedeks.

The Melchizedek order of sonship occupies the position, and assumes the responsibility, of the eldest son in a large family. Most of their work is regular and somewhat routine, but much of it is voluntary and altogether self-imposed. A majority of the special assemblies which, from time to time, convene on Salvington are called on motion of the Melchizedeks. On their own initiative these Sons patrol their native universe. They maintain an autonomous organization devoted to universe intelligence, making periodical reports to the Creator Son independent of all information coming up to universe headquarters through the regular agencies concerned with the routine administration of the realm. They are by nature unprejudiced observers; they have the full confidence of all classes of intelligent beings.

The Melchizedeks function as mobile and advisory review courts of the realms; these universe Sons go in small groups to the worlds to serve as advisory commissions, to take depositions, to receive suggestions, and to act as counselors, thus helping to compose the major difficulties and settle the serious differences which arise from time to time in the affairs of the evolutionary domains.

These eldest Sons of a universe are the chief aids of the Bright and Morning Star in carrying out the mandates of the Creator Son. When a Melchizedek goes to a remote world in the name of Gabriel, he may, for the purposes of that particular mission, be deputized in the name of the sender and in that event will appear on the planet of assignment with the full authority of the Bright and Morning Star. Especially is this true on those spheres where a higher Son has not yet appeared in the likeness of the creatures of the realm.

When a Creator Son enters upon the bestowal career on an evolutionary world, he goes alone; but when one of his Paradise brothers, an Avonal Son, enters upon a bestowal, he is accompanied by the Melchizedek supporters, twelve in number, who so efficiently contribute to the success of the bestowal mission. They also support the Paradise Avonals on magisterial missions to the inhabited worlds, and in these assignments the Melchizedeks are visible to mortal eyes if the Avonal Son is also thus manifest.

There is no phase of planetary spiritual need to which they do not minister. They are the teachers who so often win whole worlds of advanced life to the final and full recognition of the Creator Son and his Paradise Father.

The Melchizedeks are well-nigh perfect in wisdom, but they are not infallible in judgment. When detached and alone on planetary missions, they have sometimes erred in minor matters, that is, they have elected to do certain things which their supervisors did not subsequently approve. Such an error of judgment temporarily disqualifies a Melchizedek until he goes to Salvington and, in audience with the Creator Son, receives that instruction which effectually purges him of the disharmony which caused disagreement with his fellows; and then, following the correctional rest, reinstatement to service ensues on the third day. But these minor misadaptations in Melchizedek function have rarely occurred in Nebadon.


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Rh These Sons are not an increasing order; their number is stationary, although varying in each local universe. The number of Melchizedeks of record on their headquarters planet in Nebadon is upward of ten million.

The Melchizedeks occupy a world of their own near Salvington, the universe headquarters. This sphere, by name Melchizedek, is the pilot world of the Salvington circuit of seventy primary spheres, each of which is encircled by six tributary spheres devoted to specialized activities. These marvelous spheres—seventy primaries and 420 tributaries—are often spoken of as the Melchizedek University. Ascending mortals from all the constellations of Nebadon pass through training on all 490 worlds in the acquirement of residential status on Salvington. But the education of ascenders is only one phase of the manifold activities taking place on the Salvington cluster of architectural spheres.

The 490 spheres of the Salvington circuit are divided into ten groups, each containing seven primary and forty-two tributary spheres. Each of these groups is under the general supervision of some one of the major orders of universe life. The first group, embracing the pilot world and the next six primary spheres in the encircling planetary procession, is under the supervision of the Melchizedeks. These Melchizedek worlds are:

The pilot world—the home world of the Melchizedek Sons. The world of the physical-life schools and the laboratories of living energies. The world of morontia life. The sphere of initial spirit life. The world of mid-spirit life. The sphere of advancing spirit life. The domain of co-ordinate and supreme self-realization.

The six tributary worlds of each of these Melchizedek spheres are devoted to activities germane to the work of the associated primary sphere.

The pilot world, the sphere Melchizedek, is the common meeting ground for all beings who are engaged in educating and spiritualizing the ascending mortals of time and space. To an ascender this world is probably the most interesting place in all Nebadon. All evolutionary mortals who graduate from their constellation training are destined to land on Melchizedek, where they are initiated into the regime of the disciplines and spirit progression of the Salvington educational system. And never will you forget your reactions to the first day of life on this unique world, not even after you have reached your Paradise destination.

Ascending mortals maintain residence on the Melchizedek world while pursuing their training on the six encircling planets of specialized education. And this same method is adhered to throughout their sojourn on the seventy cultural worlds, the primary spheres of the Salvington circuit.

Many diverse activities occupy the time of the numerous beings who reside on the six tributary worlds of the Melchizedek sphere, but as concerns the as-


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388 cending mortals, these satellites are devoted to the following special phases of study:

Sphere number one is occupied with the review of the initial planetary life of the ascending mortals. This work is carried on in classes composed of those who hail from a given world of mortal origin. Those from Urantia pursue such an experiential review together. The special work of sphere number two consists in a similar review of the experiences passed through on the mansion worlds encircling the premier satellite of the local system headquarters. The reviews of this sphere pertain to the sojourn on the capital of the local system and embrace the activities of the remainder of the architectural worlds of the system headquarters cluster. The fourth sphere is occupied with a review of the experiences of the seventy tributary worlds of the constellation and of their associated spheres. On the fifth sphere there is conducted the review of the ascendant sojourn on the constellation headquarters world. The time on sphere number six is devoted to an attempt to correlate these five epochs and thus achieve co-ordination of experience preparatory to entering the Melchizedek primary schools of universe training.

The schools of universe administration and spiritual wisdom are located on the Melchizedek home world, where also are to be found those schools devoted to a single line of research, such as energy, matter, organization, communication, records, ethics, and comparative creature existence.

In the Melchizedek College of Spiritual Endowment all orders—even the Paradise orders—of the Sons of God co-operate with the Melchizedek and the seraphic teachers in training the hosts who go forth as evangels of destiny, proclaiming spiritual liberty and divine sonship even to the remote worlds of the universe. This particular school of the Melchizedek University is an exclusive universe institution; student visitors are not received from other realms.

The highest course of training in universe administration is given by the Melchizedeks on their home world. This College of High Ethics is presided over by the original Father Melchizedek. It is to these schools that the various universes send exchange students. While the young universe of Nebadon stands low in the scale of universes as regards spiritual achievement and high ethical development, nevertheless, our administrative troubles have so turned the whole universe into a vast clinic for other near-by creations that the Melchizedek colleges are thronged with student visitors and observers from other realms. Besides the immense group of local registrants there are always upward of one hundred thousand foreign students in attendance upon the Melchizedek schools, for the order of Melchizedeks in Nebadon is renowned throughout all Splandon.

A highly specialized branch of Melchizedek activities has to do with the supervision of the progressive morontia career of the ascending mortals. Much of this training is conducted by the patient and wise seraphic ministers, assisted by mortals who have ascended to relatively higher levels of universe attainment,


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Rh but all of this educational work is under the general supervision of the Melchizedeks in association with the Trinity Teacher Sons.

While the Melchizedek orders are chiefly devoted to the vast educational system and experiential training regime of the local universe, they also function in unique assignments and in unusual circumstances. In an evolving universe eventually embracing approximately ten million inhabited worlds, many things out of the ordinary are destined to happen, and it is in such emergencies that the Melchizedeks act. On Edentia, your constellation headquarters, they are known as emergency Sons. They are always ready to serve in all exigencies—physical, intellectual, or spiritual—whether on a planet, in a system, in a constellation, or in the universe. Whenever and wherever special help is needed, there you will find one or more of the Melchizedek Sons.

When failure of some feature of the Creator Son's plan is threatened, forthwith will go a Melchizedek to render assistance. But not often are they summoned to function in the presence of sinful rebellion, such as occurred in Satania.

The Melchizedeks are the first to act in all emergencies of whatever nature on all worlds where will creatures dwell. They sometimes act as temporary custodians on wayward planets, serving as receivers of a defaulting planetary government. In a planetary crisis these Melchizedek Sons serve in many unique capacities. It is easily possible for such a Son to make himself visible to mortal beings, and sometimes one of this order has even incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh. Seven times in Nebadon has a Melchizedek served on an evolutionary world in the similitude of mortal flesh, and on numerous occasions these Sons have appeared in the likeness of other orders of universe creatures. They are indeed the versatile and volunteer emergency ministers to all orders of universe intelligences and to all the worlds and systems of worlds.

The Melchizedek who lived on Urantia during the time of Abraham was locally known as Prince of Salem because he presided over a small colony of truth seekers residing at a place called Salem. He volunteered to incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and did so with the approval of the Melchizedek receivers of the planet, who feared that the light of life would become extinguished during that period of increasing spiritual darkness. And he did foster the truth of his day and safely pass it on to Abraham and his associates.

After the creation of the personal aids and the first group of the versatile Melchizedeks, the Creator Son and the local universe Creative Spirit planned for, and brought into existence, the second great and diverse order of universe sonship, the Vorondadeks. They are more generally known as Constellation Fathers because a Son of this order is uniformly found at the head of each constellation government in every local universe.

The number of Vorondadeks varies in each local universe, just one million being the recorded number in Nebadon. These Sons, like their co-ordinates, the Melchizedeks, possess no power of reproduction. There exists no known method whereby they can increase their numbers.

In many respects these Sons are a self-governing body; as individuals and as groups, even as a whole, they are largely self-determinative, much as are the


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 390 Melchizedeks, but Vorondadeks do not function through such a wide range of activities. They do not equal their Melchizedek brethren in brilliant versatility, but they are even more reliable and efficient as rulers and farseeing administrators. Neither are they quite the administrative peers of their subordinates, the Lanonandek System Sovereigns, but they excel all orders of universe sonship in stability of purpose and in divinity of judgment.

Although the decisions and rulings of this order of Sons are always in accordance with the spirit of divine sonship and in harmony with the policies of the Creator Son, they have been cited for error to the Creator Son, and in details of technique their decisions have sometimes been reversed on appeal to the superior tribunals of the universe. But these Sons rarely fall into error, and they have never gone into rebellion; never in all the history of Nebadon has a Vorondadek been found in contempt of the universe government.

The service of the Vorondadeks in the local universes is extensive and varied. They serve as ambassadors to other universes and as consuls representing constellations within their native universe. Of all orders of local universe sonship they are the most often intrusted with the full delegation of sovereign powers to be exercised in critical universe situations.

On those worlds segregated in spiritual darkness, those spheres which have, through rebellion and default, suffered planetary isolation, an observer Vorondadek is usually present pending the restoration of normal status. In certain emergencies this Most High observer could exercise absolute and arbitrary authority over every celestial being assigned to that planet. It is of record on Salvington that the Vorondadeks have sometimes exercised such authority as Most High regents of such planets. And this has also been true even of inhabited worlds that were untouched by rebellion.

Often a corps of twelve or more Vorondadek Sons sits en banc as a high court of review and appeal concerning special cases involving the status of a planet or a system. But their work more largely pertains to the legislative functions indigenous to the constellation governments. As a result of all these services, the Vorondadek Sons have become the historians of the local universes; they are personally familiar with all the political struggles and the social upheavals of the inhabited worlds.

At least three Vorondadeks are assigned to the rulership of each of the one hundred constellations of a local universe. These Sons are selected by the Creator Son and are commissioned by Gabriel as the Most Highs of the constellations for service during one dekamillennium—10,000 standard years, about 50,000 years of Urantia time. The reigning Most High, the Constellation Father, has two associates, a senior and a junior. At each change of administration the senior associate becomes the head of the government, the junior assumes the duties of the senior, while the unassigned Vorondadeks resident on the Salvington worlds nominate one of their number as candidate for selection to assume the responsibilities of junior associate. Thus each of the Most High rulers, in accordance with present policy, has a period of service on the headquarters of a constellation of three dekamillenniums, about 150,000 Urantia years.

The one hundred Constellation Fathers, the actual presiding heads of the constellation governments, constitute the supreme advisory cabinet of the Crea-


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Rh tor Son. This council is in frequent session at universe headquarters and is unlimited in the scope and range of its deliberations but is chiefly concerned with the welfare of the constellations and with the unification of the administration of the entire local universe.

When a Constellation Father is in attendance upon duties at the universe headquarters, as he frequently is, the senior associate becomes acting director of constellation affairs. The normal function of the senior associate is the oversight of spiritual affairs, while the junior associate is personally occupied with the physical welfare of the constellation. No major policy, however, is ever carried out in a constellation unless all three of the Most Highs are agreed upon all the details of its execution.

The entire mechanism of spirit intelligence and communication channels is at the disposal of the constellation Most Highs. They are in perfect touch with their superiors on Salvington and with their direct subordinates, the sovereigns of the local systems. They frequently convene in council with these System Sovereigns to deliberate upon the state of the constellation.

The Most Highs surround themselves with a corps of counselors, which varies in number and personnel from time to time in accordance with the presence of the various groups at constellation headquarters and also as the local requirements vary. During times of stress they may ask for, and will quickly receive, additional Sons of the Vorondadek order to assist with the administrative work. Norlatiadek, your own constellation, is at present administered by twelve Vorondadek Sons.

The second group of seven worlds in the circuit of seventy primary spheres surrounding Salvington comprise the Vorondadek planets. Each of these spheres, with its six encircling satellites, is devoted to a special phase of Vorondadek activities. On these forty-nine realms the ascending mortals secure the acme of their education respecting universe legislation.

The ascending mortals have observed the legislative assemblies as they functioned on the headquarters worlds of the constellations, but here on these Vorondadek worlds they participate in the enactment of the actual general legislation of the local universe under the tutelage of the senior Vorondadeks. Such enactments are designed to co-ordinate the varied pronouncements of the autonomous legislative assemblies of the one hundred constellations. The instruction to be had in the Vorondadek schools is unexcelled even on Uversa. This training is progressive, extending from the first sphere, with supplemental work on its six satellites, on up through the remaining six primary spheres and their associated satellite groups.

The ascending pilgrims will be introduced to numerous new activities on these worlds of study and practical work. We are not forbidden to undertake the revelation of these new and undreamed-of pursuits, but we despair of being able to portray these undertakings to the material mind of mortal beings. We are without words to convey the meanings of these supernal activities, and there are no analogous human engagements which might be utilized as illustrations of these new occupations of the ascending mortals as they pursue their studies on these forty-nine worlds. And many other activities, not a part of the ascendant regime, are centered on these Vorondadek worlds of the Salvington circuit.


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392

After the creation of the Vorondadeks, the Creator Son and the Universe Mother Spirit unite for the purpose of bringing into existence the third order of universe sonship, the Lanonandeks. Although occupied with varied tasks connected with the system administrations, they are best known as System Sovereigns, the rulers of the local systems, and as Planetary Princes, the administrative heads of the inhabited worlds.

Being a later and lower—as concerns divinity levels—order of sonship creation, these beings were required to pass through certain courses of training on the Melchizedek worlds in preparation for subsequent service. They were the first students in the Melchizedek University and were classified and certified by their Melchizedek teachers and examiners according to ability, personality, and attainment.

The universe of Nebadon began its existence with exactly twelve million Lanonandeks, and when they had passed through the Melchizedek sphere, they were divided in the final tests into three classes:

Primary Lanonandeks. Of the highest rank there were 709,841. These are the Sons designated as System Sovereigns and assistants to the supreme councils of the constellations and as counselors in the higher administrative work of the universe. Secondary Lanonandeks. Of this order emerging from Melchizedek there were 10,234,601. They are assigned as Planetary Princes and to the reserves of that order. Tertiary Lanonandeks. This group contained 1,055,558. These Sons function as subordinate assistants, messengers, custodians, commissioners, observers, and prosecute the miscellaneous duties of a system and its component worlds.

It is not possible, as it is with evolutionary beings, for these Sons to progress from one group to another. When subjected to the Melchizedek training, when once tested and classified, they serve continuously in the rank assigned. Neither do these Sons engage in reproduction; their number in the universe is stationary.

In round numbers the Lanonandek order of Sons is classified on Salvington as follows:

Since Lanonandeks are a somewhat lower order of sonship than the Melchizedeks and the Vorondadeks, they are of even greater service in the subordinate units of the universe, for they are capable of drawing nearer the lower creatures of the intelligent races. They also stand in greater danger of going astray, of departing from the acceptable technique of universe government. But these Lanonandeks, especially the primary order, are the most able and versatile of