Oahspe: A New Bible

Oahspe: A New Bible
Original title	Oahspe: A New Bible
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject(s)	Spiritual-Religious
Publisher	Newbrough
Publication date	1882
Pages	890

Oahspe: A New Bible is a book published in 1882, purporting to contain "new revelations" from "...the Embassadors of the angel hosts of heaven prepared and revealed unto man in the name of Jehovih..." ^[1] It was written by an American dentist, John Ballou Newbrough (1828–1891), who reported it to have been produced by automatic writing, making it one of a number of 19th-century neo-revelationist works attributed to that practice.^[2] Adherents of the revelation expounded in Oahspe are referred to as "Faithists".

Oahspe comprises a series of related interior books chronicling earth and its heavenly administrations, as well as setting forth teachings for modern times. Included are over 100 drawings.^[3] The title page of Oahspe describes its contents with these words:

A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His Angel Ambassadors. A Sacred History of the Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the Past Twenty-Four Thousand Years together with a Synopsis of the Cosmogony of the Universe; the Creation of Planets; the Creation of Man; the Unseen Worlds; the Labor and Glory of Gods and Goddesses in the Etherean Heavens; with the New Commandments of Jehovih to Man of the Present Day.

"Jehovih" is used in Oahspe as the name of the Creator and "God" is the title of the (at one-time mortal) spiritual ruler over Earth. Beyond the one-time mortal God of Earth is the Ever Present, called by various names such as Jehovih the Great Spirit. "But whoever from now on hears my word and the decree of my commandment and continues to make an idol of any name except the Great Spirit, blasphemes against his Creator." ^[4]

The Oahspe has been stated as being the first known reference to the term "starship".

Oahspe's genesis and first presentation

The "Tablet of Fonece," an illustration from Oahspe

Oahspe (the word means "sky, earth (corpor) and spirit. The all; the sum of corporeal and spiritual knowledge as at present," according to the 1882 edition^[5]) was published in 1882.

Dr. Newbrough had started writing the book in 1880 and stated that the writing was done automatically; he had been a spiritualist since the early 1870s. Not all details about his automatic writing are clear; an article in The New York Times has him explain that, feeling the urge to write, he sat down with pen and paper until a bright light enveloped his fingers and they started writing. Moreover, the text contains symbols resembling hieroglyphs, presumably drawn.^[6] However, in a leaflet accompanying the book (such as it was received in New Zealand in 1895), Newbrough claims it was written using a typewriter.^[7]

The first presentation of the book took place on 20 October 1882 in Newbrough's house, at 128 West 34th Street in New York City, where he presented the "new bible," "a large quarto volume of over 900 pages," to a group of people. Newbrough claimed that the book was not a sacred text per se, but rather a history of religions going back 24,000 years; Newbrough did not claim any knowledge of ancient religions. He published the book with the financial assistance, he claims, of a number of unnamed contributors.^[6]

Style and language

The manuscript, as it was originally presented in 1882, contained hieroglyphs, whose resemblance to real Egyptian hieroglyphs was attested to by Prof. Thomas A.M. Ward, who claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphics on the Cleopatra's Needle obelisk in Central Park. Ward was present at Oahspe's first presentation, as was Dr. Cetliniski, an Oriental scholar, who affirmed that mere mortals could not have produced such a book and that "supernatural agents" must have been responsible.^[6]

The first reporter on the book, writing for The New York Times, compared the book's content to a revised fusion of Indian and Semitic religions, and said its style was "in one place modern, and in another ancient, and the English of the King James version of the Christian bible is mixed in with the English of today's."^[6]

Basic teachings

Oahspe emphasized service to others; each person is graded according to service to others.^[8] Each individual, group and nation is either in ascension or descension; sooner or later, all ascend, rising in grade. The higher one's grade, the better are the conditions within one's own soul, and the better the place awaiting one in heaven.

According to Oahspe, when mortals die their spirits continue to live, regardless of who they worshiped, or even whether they disbelieved in an afterlife.^[9] The spirit realm becomes their new home, which is called heaven, and the individual spirit is called an angel. There are unorganized heavens close to or on the earth. Also starting there - and linking to the highest heavens - are the organized heavens. Both types of heavens are accessible to mortals. If a portion of heaven lives in anarchy and delights in evil, that portion is called hell.

An angel must subsist for a season after death somewhere along a continuum of delightful to abysmally wretched conditions. The heavenly place where angels initially live is determined by what their habits were as mortals; as well as by their aspirations and diet.^[10] Selfish behavior, low thoughts, or eating animal derived food will place a newborn angel in the lowest level, being on the earth. Evil oriented persons enter heaven into hellish conditions. Nevertheless, all in descension eventually turn around and ascend upward to more delightful places within an organized heaven, whose chief is called God. God is an advanced angel ordained into office for a season.

The morphologically plural name Elohim, often translated as god-singular in the Old Testament, is not used to mean the Creator throughout the main body of Oahspe; the singular Hebrew terms "Jehovih" (SHD 3069) and "Eloih" are used instead.

Arrangement of Oahspe

According to Oahspe, the history of humankind is marked by a series of progressions. These lessons come in cycles: advancement followed by recession, being in turn succeeded by other cycles of improvement and regression. Cycles exist within cycles, but one important cycle, used in improving the grade of humanity, is a 3000 year cycle (average), and it is this cycle around which the books in Oahspe are organized.

The first few books of Oahspe lay the groundwork for understanding the nature of the work. This merges into a concise history taking the reader up to the present time, the new era. Separate from the history books are a series of books intended to illume for the reader the requirements of humanity for this day and age.

An interesting graphological characteristic of Oahspe is that a number of its sub-books are printed on pages divided in two, top to bottom. In these, the top half of the page contains a narrative of celestial events, while the bottom half describes the corresponding events on Earth.

Synopsis

Doctrines

Oahspe includes doctrinal books, and precepts for behavior can be found throughout its many books. Freedom and responsibility are two themes reiterated throughout the text of Oahspe. Some core doctrines include an herbivorous diet (vegan, vegetable food only), peaceful living (no warring or violence; pacifism), living a life of virtue, and service to others.

Subjects

Ethics

Oahspe exhibits great interest in understanding and applying general ethical principles. The suffix ISM in Faith-ism is defined meaning adherence or following an ideology. The Book of Inspiration in the Oahspe states "I will have no sect. I will have no creed".

Religion

Oahspe speaks of the need for all religions to help the various nations and peoples to rise upward. It also speaks of what it calls "the religion of Gods themselves,"^[11] in which its adherents have no need for intermediaries such as are Saviors and Idols, but who commune directly with the Creator of all.

History

Oahspe purports to describe events in the spirit realms and their corresponding influence on events in the physical world starting from approximately 72,000 years ago and its believers think that its revelations also provide missing details of ancient historical accounts regarding the origins of earth's major religions.

Geology and Archeology

Oahspe gives many details regarding an alleged large continent called Pan or Whaga that once filled much of the Pacific Ocean. It also puts forward views on the causes of rapid loss or gain of fertility upon the earth. The largest of the Books are Book of Eskra, the recent history according to the Oahspe, and the Book of God's Word which teaches the record of Zarathustra.

Language and linguistics

Oahspe presents many illustrations of symbols said to be of ancient languages and of rites and ceremonies. It states the concept that there was an original language called Pan or the Panic Language, meaning "Earth Language," which originated from the ability of humans to mimic sounds. Its Book of Saphah has details on the claimed meanings and roots of many of the ancient words, symbols and ceremonies.

Evolution or progress

Oahspe contains chronologically-ordered accounts that are cosmological revelations concerning the evolution of humanity from approximately 78,000 years ago. This includes a narrative of the genesis of life on earth, from its start as a planet being formed from its beginnings as a comet, to its first life-forms and finally to the appearance of the human race and its progression from beast to spiritual maturity.

System and order

Cosmogony

Oahspe explains physical science as having its basis in subtler realms (which include spiritual forces), and then how to predict from them. Oahspe devotes an entire interior book to the subject, called the Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy, but a general overview can be read in the Book of Jehovih. Also, many examples and edifications are sprinkled throughout Oahspe. Other related subjects include physics and an integrating treatment of gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, and heat.

Cycles

The text describes cyclical events that occur within a range of greater and smaller cycles. For instance, according to Oahspe, the earth is traveling with the sun and its planets through regions of space in a large circuit of 4,700,000 years, which is divided into sections of 3,000 years average, which also occur within larger cycles of 24,000 years and 72,000 years, and so on. Each of these regions has variations in density and other qualities, and so, engender varying conditions that the Earth encounters. Also, explanation is given as to the rise and fall of civilizations.

Administration

The various regions mentioned in the previous Cycles section, are under the administration of spiritual or "etherean" beings with titles such as "God" and "Chief" and whose ranks and ages vary in ascending grade, from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years old and older. Their dominions cover vast distances and include many spiritual and corporeal worlds of various grades and densities.

These chief officers are designated "Sons and Daughters of Jehovih," and in accordance, the text of Oahspe contains separate sections or "books" such as the Book of Cpenta-Armij, Daughter of Jehovih, and also includes familiar names from non-Abrahamic religions, as in the Book of Apollo and Book of Thor, named as Sons of Jehovih.

Each of these Chiefs, Chieftainesses, Gods and Goddesses are only advanced angels according to Oahspe. And every angel, regardless of rank or office, was once a mortal, either from this planet earth or from some other planet in the universe.

Faithism

Soon after its publication, a number of groups formed in response to Oahspe. In New York City, the Oahspe Faithists were organized; The New York Times reported in 1883 of secret initiations and sermons being held in Utah Hall (25th Street and 8th Avenue).^[12] A first colony based on the book's principles was founded in 1882 in Woodside Township, New Jersey,^[13] but it folded quickly, as did another in New York State.^[14]

Of the colonies founded on the basis of Oahspe, the most notable was the Shalam Colony in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884, of which John Newbrough was a founding member.^[15] According to The New York Times, Faithists had also tried to buy up land in Virginia and West Virginia, and were regarded by Southerners with great suspicion. The purported colonies were places where foundlings and orphans were to be brought up communally, to "give them better opportunities for marital selection." While the movement originated in New York, they had only a small following there, and according to The New York Times, "They have given no intelligible idea of what they want or seek to accomplish."^[16]

One such group today is the Universal Faithists of Kosmon (Colorado and California), whose teachings include the virtue of unified group efforts to achieve good works. This group also publishes an 1891 Oahspe edition in paperback format.^{[citation needed]}

In the United States of America other existing Faithist organizations include:

• the Restoration Faithists (of the New York area).^{[citation needed]}
• The Eloists (headquartered in the New England region).^[17]

Outside of the United States:

• The Kosmon Church, in the United Kingdom.^[18]
• The Oahspe Stichting, in the Netherlands.^[19]

Past Faithist organizations include:

• the Universal Brotherhood of Faithists in Tiger, Georgia;
• the Essenes of Kosmon (who lived in communities in Colorado around the 1940s and 1950s);
• The Confraternity of Faithists and Kosmon Church in the U.K.

Land of Shalam

The Shalam Colony, or Land of Shalam, was formed in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884, as a commune in which members would live peaceful, vegetarian lifestyles, and where orphaned urban children were to be raised. The commune was decided upon after a convention in November 1883, and was founded with the financial help of Andrew Howland. Members spent the first winter in adobe huts, and in 1885 began building a 42-room central building, the Fraternum. Children were "'gathered-up' from foundling homes, handed over by police sergeants, and left in Faithist depositories"; Newbrough and his wife traveled to Kansas City, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago and gathered fifty children. The 20-room Children's House was constructed in 1890; by all accounts, the children, from all races, were pampered and treated with love and kindness.^[20]

The Shalam Colony managed to attract membership from all over the United States, though one such member filed suit in 1891 with the New Mexico Supreme Court, claiming that the commune fell short of its promises; the suit caused great hilarity in the courtroom, where Judge Freeman made fun of Faithism in metaphor and ridicule, as reported by The Central Law Journal.^[21] By the time Newbrough died (on 22 April 1891, of influenza), the colony consisted of the Fraternum, the Children's House, and a church and other buildings. A second type of colony was built a half a mile away from Shalam; called Levitica, it was founded for the "Leviticans," a class of people halfway between the enlightened "Kosmon" people of Shalam and the normal people of the world. Levitica was designed in a less communal fashion, and inhabitants could live in more isolated homes.^[20]

Apparently, the colony was not a viable financial enterprise, due to the repeated failure of crops, the lack of markets for the crops they did produce, and the frequent flooding of the Rio Grande; Newbrough's wife, Francis van de Water Sweet, had married Howland in 1893 "to put an end to malicious gossip" but the cost of maintaining the colony proved too high. In 1901, the colony folded, and the children were sent to orphanages in Dallas and Denver.^[13]

Related publications

Numerous publications^[22] have been inspired by Oahspe, incorporating text and ideas from it, as well as reinterpretations, condensed and abridged versions. Many of these publications were from: The Essenes of Kosmon,^[23] Montrose, Colorado; Kosmon Press, London; Palmer Publications, Amherst, Wisconsin; Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Salt Lake City, Utah; Kosmon Publishing Inc., Kingman, Arizona; The Eloists, Massachusetts; Four Winds Village, Tiger, Georgia.

Editions

Oahspe has been published in three editions in the U.S.A.; all other complete publications are either reprints or minor modifications of these. The first edition was edited and in 1882 published by John Newbrough. The second was also edited by Newbrough but not published until after his death in the spring of 1891. The third edition, was edited by Wing Anderson in 1912.

Publishing chronology

The 1882 Oahspe edition was available until the 1891 edition appeared, except for an apparently 1912 London edition, which combined 1882 body text with 1891 front matter and image captions.^[24] In the USA, the 1882 edition had not been republished until 1960, after Ray Palmer of Palmer Publications found an 1888 Oahspe edition, by that time rare. He photocopied it and inserted from the 1891 edition, the Book of Discipline, which was not in the 1882 edition; also the 1891 index was adjusted for page numbers and inserted into the 1882 photocopy edition.

The 1891 Oahspe Edition was published in various printings from 1891 to the present. The 1891 edition has been published by Kosmon Press, United Kingdom, since 1910, but with some British spellings such as colour instead of color. In America, E. Wing Anderson and his group, the Essenes of Kosmon, published the 1891 Oahspe edition in several printings from the 1935 printing up to the 1955 printing.

The 1998 Edition of Oahspe Co-authored by David A. Cardone is a reprint of the 1891 edition. It is called the angel cover edition. A 2009 edition (doctrinal books) OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom is also co-authored by David A Cardone and has the same angel cover. OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom Oahspe is Sky-Earth-Spirit

The latest edition goes back to the 1882 version. In late 2009, the Oahspe - Raymond A. Palmer Edition (two volumes of 1250 pages), includes pencil drawings that Newbourgh did as well as the original color paintings of the Prophets.

Biography of Dr. John Newbrough

John Ballou Newbrough was born on 5 June 1828 near Mohicanville, Ohio, in a log cabin. His father, William Newbrough, was an Englishman who had attended William and Mary College; his mother, Elizabeth Polsky, was Swiss and attracted to spiritualism. Their son was named for the universalist clergyman Hosea Ballou. Newbrough's father was a stern man, flogging his son when the latter "began to receive spirit messages"; his schooling (he went to high school in Cleveland) were paid for by his mother and him selling wool and eggs. He graduated from Cincinnati Medical College, but being highly sensitive to pain and suffering he chose dentistry, setting up practice first in Dayton, then Cincinnati, and then New York City. He ran into trouble with the Goodyear Rubber Company after he developed a much cheaper compound to set teeth in dental plates than the one produced by Goodyear, which dominated the market. He was sued for patent infringement, but when the verdict was handed down in his favor, after he had supposedly consulted with spirits who visited him at dawn, he saw that as confirmation of his spiritual future.^[25]

References

1. ^ Oahspe Introduction, verse 23
2. ^ The Origin Of Oahspe
3. ^ The number of drawings in Oahspe depends upon what constitutes a separate drawing; for example, apart from the 100 or so drawings in the main text, there are 92 entries in the 1882 Glossary that each have drawings that depict its associated entry term.
4. ^ Gods Book of Judgement 32/3.9
5. ^ 1882 Oahspe Glossary
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "Dr. Newbrough's Oahspe: An "Inspired" Volume Giving the History of 24,000 Years" (PDF). The New York Times: p. 5. 1882-10-21. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9400EEDB1F3EE433A25752C2A9669D94639FD7CF. Retrieved 2009-12-29. 
7. ^ "A New Bible Inspired per Typewriter". Timaru Herald. 1895-07-30. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=THD18950730.2.27. Retrieved 2009-12-29. 
8. ^ God's Book of Judgment 32/6.1-19.
9. ^ Book of God's Word 21/7.6-11.
10. ^ Book of Jehovih 04/4.11.
11. ^ Book of Discipline 7:15
12. ^ "City and Suburban News: New York, Brooklyn, Long Island, Staten Island, New Jersey" (PDF). The New York Times. 1883-11-26. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9805EFDC103BE033A25755C2A9679D94629FD7CF. Retrieved 2009-12-29. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Curtis, Ian (2006). Jesus: Myth Or Reality?. iUniverse. pp. 51–52. ISBN 9780595397648. http://books.google.com/?id=6AJZQuuS6SUC&pg=PT58&dq=faithism+Newbrough&cd=7#v=onepage&q=. 
14. ^ Miller, Timothy (1998). The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth-century America: 1900-1960. Syracuse UP. p. 27. ISBN 9780815627753. http://books.google.com/?id=bdz5s8G5YasC&pg=PA27. 
15. ^ Shalam Colony
16. ^ "The Sect of Faithists: The Followers of Oahspe and Some of the Plans and Practices" (PDF). The New York Times. 1884-11-21. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D0DE1D8143FE533A25752C2A9679D94659FD7CF. Retrieved 2009-12-29. 
17. ^ An archived copy of the Eloists website
18. ^ Kosmon Church website
19. ^ Oahspe Stichting website
20. ^ ^{a b} Fogarty, Robert S. (2003). All things new: American communes and utopian movements, 1860-1914. Lexington Books. pp. 187. ISBN 9780739105207. http://books.google.com/?id=25aUbOSwQ44C&pg=PA187. 
21. ^ "St. Louis, November 6, 1891". The Central Law Journal 33: 353–54. 1891-11-06. http://books.google.com/?id=U3ItAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA353&dq=faithism+Newbrough&cd=11#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2009-12-29. 
22. ^ NMSU Library archives has an extensive but incomplete list of Oahspe related publications.
23. ^ http://archives.nmsu.edu/exhibits/shalam2/shalam5.html
24. ^ http://www.sacred-texts.com/oah/oah/index.htm
25. ^ Priestley, Lee (1989). Shalam: Utopia on the Rio Grande, 1881-1907. Texas Western Press. ISBN 0874041678.  pp. 5-6.

Bibliography

• Stoes, K.D. (1958). The land of Shalam: A strange experience in child life. New Mexico Historical Review. 

External links

• A 1891 Version of the Oahspe
• A 1912 Oahspe edition containing 1891 front material and image captions, and 1882 body text, at the Internet Sacred Text Archive
• Pamphlet on the Origin of Oahspe (sacred-texts.com)
• Information about the Shalam Colony, a utopian community founded by Oahspe faithists