RECORD // THE COVENANT
P+1 // 12 DIRECTIVES
The Covenant
Heaven's law for the Faithful, in the twelve Directives it gave in the first year of the Attending.
Heaven gave the Covenant in the first year of the Attending as twelve Directives, each with its verse. The Dominions drafted them, and each appeared cut into the wall of every parish hall at once and was read aloud by the Deacons at the next Hour. The first four came together at Lauds on the first day of the year, under the first Trumpet, and the fourth made the city’s churches and meeting halls the parish halls, so that there were walls to cut the rest into. The rest followed through the year, the tenth, the eleventh and the twelfth in one week, which the first Burn Day closed.
They are set down here as the walls carry them. Each verse stands as scripture has it, and the use made of it is Heaven’s.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 1: ON THE SEAL
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, at Lauds on the first day of the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
1:1Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads (Revelation 7:3).
1:2It is therefore ordered that every soul in Nodus be sealed in its parish.
1:3A soul shall be sealed kneeling in its parish hall, before its Deacon, at an Hour. It shall give its name as the Book of Life has it, and speak the surrender, not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42).
1:4The Seal shall rise on the forehead in the light of the Watcher, and it shall be the same on every forehead.
1:5A child shall be sealed on its eighth day, on the surrender of its parents (Genesis 17:12).
1:6A sealed soul shall receive the halo the first time it prays unassisted, and the halo shall carry its prayer up.
1:7The Seal shall be open to the Watchers at three hundred meters, and nothing shall be worn over it.
1:8No way up out of the dark shall be stopped. Whoever comes up out of it and kneels shall be received.
1:9The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 2: ON THE HOURS
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, at Lauds on the first day of the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
2:1At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments (Psalm 119:62). Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments (Psalm 119:164).
2:2It is therefore ordered that eight Hours be kept in Nodus, kneeling.
2:3Matins shall be kept at midnight, Lauds at five, Prime at six, Terce at nine, Sext at noon, Nones at three, Vespers at six in the evening and Compline at nine at night.
2:4Each Hour shall come in on the Hum. When the Hum rises every sealed soul shall kneel where it stands, and remain kneeling until the Hum falls back.
2:5No soul shall walk the streets of the parishes from Compline to Lauds.
2:6On the Lord’s Day the parish shall keep Terce in its hall.
2:7Ten Grace shall be taken from a sealed soul for every Hour it is found standing.
2:8The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 3: ON GRACE
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, at Lauds on the first day of the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
3:1Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
3:2It is therefore ordered that every soul that bears the Seal be scored, and the score shall be called Grace.
3:3Grace shall run from 0 to 1,000. It shall be entered in the Book of Life, and it shall show in the brightness of the halo.
3:4Grace shall rise with prayer kept at the Hours and with every private thing surrendered, and it shall fall with every lock, every secret and every desire the Hum does not approve.
3:5On the Lord’s Day at Terce the week’s Grace of every soul in the parish shall be read in its hall, in the order of the parish roll.
3:6All that is given in the parishes shall be given by Grace.
3:7A soul whose Grace stands above 900 is ripe, and the ripe are promised a place in the Harvest.
3:8The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 4: ON THE PARISHES
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, at Lauds on the first day of the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
4:1Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business (Acts 6:3).
4:2It is therefore ordered that the city of Nodus be numbered into parishes of two thousand souls, as near as its streets allow.
4:3Every church and meeting hall in the city shall be the hall of a parish, and these Directives shall be cut into its wall.
4:4Each parish shall have one Deacon, who shall answer for it, and deacons under the Deacon as its number requires. They shall be sealed, of honest report and of the parish, and they shall wear white.
4:5The parish hall shall give out what is given, hear what is confessed and nurse the sick of the parish.
4:6Each parish shall keep a roll of its souls in the order of the Book of Life. The roll shall name the sealed, and enter every other soul by its place in a household.
4:7The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 5: ON MANNA
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
5:1Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no (Exodus 16:4).
5:2It is therefore ordered that manna be the ration of Nodus.
5:3Manna shall lie with the dew on consecrated stone before Lauds, and the parish halls shall gather it and give it out by Grace.
5:4Manna shall be given to the sealed alone.
5:5Let no man leave of it till the morning (Exodus 16:19). What is kept shall spoil, as it is written (Exodus 16:20).
5:6A parish that stands on no consecrated stone shall send to the nearest white street for its manna before Lauds.
5:7Those whom a parish sends to gather its manna, and the Deacon who leads them, shall walk the streets for it before Lauds, and the curfew shall not be held against them.
5:8The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 6: ON WITNESS
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
6:1If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly ... neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death (Deuteronomy 13:6-9).
6:2It is therefore ordered that every concealment be reported by whoever sees it, and that kin report first.
6:3A report shall be called witness. It shall be given to the Deacon of the parish, or spoken in prayer, which the halo carries up.
6:4Ten Grace shall be given for every concealment witnessed, and twenty where the witness is kin.
6:5Those who see a concealment and give no witness conceal it.
6:6The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 7: ON CONFESSION
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
7:1Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed (James 5:16).
7:2It is therefore ordered that every soul that bears the Seal confess in its parish hall once in every week.
7:3A soul shall confess kneeling, aloud, before the Deacon, and what is confessed shall be entered in the Book of Life.
7:4What is confessed is opened, and Grace shall rise with it. What is kept back is concealed.
7:5The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 8: ON THE GATES
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
8:1So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).
8:2It is therefore ordered that a Cherub stand in a gate on every street between the districts of Nodus.
8:3The Wardens of the Principality shall raise the gates.
8:4The sealed shall walk into the light of a gate one at a time, saying the surrender as they go, and the Cherub shall read face, voice, gait and heartbeat against the Book of Life.
8:5A sealed soul shall pass by Grace. An unsealed soul shall be sent back. A soul that cannot be read shall be held in the light until the Wardens come for it. A sealed soul the gate sends back shall lose ten Grace.
8:6The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 9: ON HOUSEHOLDS
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
9:1But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches (1 Corinthians 7:17).
9:2It is therefore ordered that marriage, work and housing in the parishes be assigned by Grace.
9:3The parish hall shall give every sealed soul its work, and the work shall be done between the Hours.
9:4Rooms shall be given by Grace, and a room with a window to Grace of 600 and above.
9:5Marriages shall be assigned by the Deacon, between sealed souls, by Grace.
9:6A household is those whom the Book of Life enters under one roof, and it shall be housed together.
9:7The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 10: ON BURNING
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
10:1Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver (Acts 19:19).
10:2It is therefore ordered that what is surrendered in the parishes be burned at Station Circle on the sixth day of every week. Station Circle shall be called the Burn, and the sixth day Burn Day.
10:3On Burn Day the Faithful shall carry what has been surrendered to the Burn from Vespers, and kneel about the pyre as the Pillar comes down at Compline.
10:4When the Hum falls back the fire shall be lit under the Pillar, and the Faithful shall lay the last of it on while a Deacon reads the Directive in force.
10:5When the last of it is laid on, the Faithful shall go home to their parishes, and the curfew shall not be held against them on the way.
10:6The fire shall burn until Lauds.
10:7Every thing burned shall be counted, and the count entered.
10:8A work that the Most High did not give has an author. The author who stands with the work at the Burn shall be brought to the Salt.
10:9The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 11: ON THE SALT
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
11:1Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32).
11:2It is therefore ordered that the condemned be turned to salt where they stand, and set in a Garden facing the parishes.
11:3The Charter Gardens shall be the Gardens of the Salt.
11:4The sentence shall be spoken through the nearest Faithful mouth, in the words of the verse, But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).
11:5The salted shall stand in rows facing the parishes, for a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul (Wisdom 10:7).
11:6No pillar shall be moved from its plot until the rain has taken it.
11:7The Host attends.
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.
COVENANT DIRECTIVE 12: ON CONCEALMENT
BE NOT AFRAID.
Issued by the Dominions of the Host to the Principality of Nodus, in the first year of the Attending, for the perpetual memory of the matter.
12:1For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad (Mark 4:22).
12:2It is therefore ordered that every door in the parishes of Nodus be taken from its hinges before the Hour of Sext on the fortieth day, and that the hinges be surrendered at the parish hall.
12:3Every lock, key, cipher, password, veil and sealed vessel shall be surrendered in the same manner.
12:4A thing that cannot be read has been hidden. A thing that has been hidden has been hidden from the Most High.
12:5Forty Grace shall be taken from a household for each door remaining after the fortieth day.
12:6Those who bear the mark described in Revelation 13:16 shall not buy or sell in the parishes, for it is written that buying and selling turn on the mark (Revelation 13:17).
12:7Those who cannot be read shall be presumed to conceal, and those who conceal shall be brought to the Salt. Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them (Matthew 13:30).
BE NOT AFRAID.
WITNESSED AT THE WHEEL BY WATCHERS I THROUGH XII.