{"collection":"oah","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/oah/pamphlet.htm","path":"oah/pamphlet.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/oah/pamphlet.htm","text":"THE ORIGIN OF OAHSPE\nIn view of the numerous enquiries which reach the\nKosmon Press regarding the origin of OAHSPE the following\nbrief account of how the work came to be written and published\nis offered to the public.\nThe teachings contained in the volume were communicated\nfrom the interior planes through an American medium,\nJ. B. Newbrough (1828-1891). From the testimony of those\nwho knew him while on earth he appears to have been a man\nof exceptional moral character who possessed also the most\nremarkable powers in the direction of inspiration and clairvoyance.\nThe exercise of these faculties over many years culminated\nin 1881 in his becoming the instrument through\nwhich OAHSPE was communicated to the world. Fortunately\nenough in a letter addressed to The Banner of Light,\nBoston, in 1883 he himself has given a detailed account of\nthe origin of the book so that it will be sufficient here to\nreproduce his original words :-\nNew York.\nJanuary 21st, 1883.\nTo the Editor of\nThe Banner of Light,\nBoston, Mass.\nDear Sir,\nIn compliance with your request that I furnish for publication a\nbrief article in regard to the writing of Oahspe, the new bible, I\ncheerfully proceed to do so.\nYou have observed, no doubt, that in Oahspe no mention is made\nof the manner in which the book was written, nor by whom. Well,\nwas it not plain to anybody acquainted with such matters, that any\nstatement on my part would not be believed by persons unacquainted\nwith spiritual manifestations? And had I said that I myself wrote it,\nmy own acquaintances would have known better. Had I said that the\nangels wrote it through my hands, then I would have been denounced\nas a pretender. Again, if a book have merit, what matters it as to\nwho wrote it? And if it have no merit, then certainly it does not\nmatter whence it came. The time has been when the name of an\nauthor clothed his product with some sort of authority. I rejoice that\nthat day is past; that man-worship is at an end, and that all books,\nincluding Bibles, are perused not as authorities, but as pastimes, to lead\nus nearer and nearer to the Everlasting Light. And if a man turn out\na good book, I accord him little more credit than I would a ripe apple\nfor being on the sunny side of the tree. But I rejoice most of all\nbecause our Heavenly Father, through his angels co-operating with our\nforefathers, provided us a government that protects us in publishing\nour highest conceptions, regardless of creeds or dogmas. Why, to-day\nwe have Protestant preachers in their pulpits denying the inspiration\nof the Old and New Testaments, and only in the slightest possible\ndegree less than Thomas Paine. They begin to judge so-called sacred\nbooks according to what they are, and not by a supposed authority.\nThis is progress, undoubtedly.\nOn reflecting on these things, it was concluded to publish the first\nedition of Oahspe without any reference to its authorship. No attempt\nhas been made to conceal the method in which, it was written, but most\nof the particulars have been told from time to time to inquiring friends.\nBriefly, then, Oahspe was mechanically written through my hands\nby some other intelligence than my own. Many spiritualists are\nacquainted with this automatic movement of the hands, independent of\none's volition. There are thousands and thousands of persons who\nhave this quality. It can also be educated, or rather, the susceptibility\nto external power can be increased. In my own case I discovered,\nmany years ago, in sitting in circles to obtain spiritual manifestations,\nthat my hands could not lie on the table without flying off into these\n\"tantrums.\" Often they would write messages, left or right, back-\nward or forward, nor could I control them in any other way than by\nwithdrawing from the table. Sometimes the power thus baffled would\nattack my tongue, or my eyes, or my ears, and I talked and saw and\nheard differently from my normal state. Then I went to work in\nearnest to investigate spiritualism, and I investigated over two hundred\nmediums, travelling hundreds and hundreds of miles for this purpose.\nOften I took them to my own house and experimented with them to\nmy heart's content. I found that nearly all of them were subject to this\ninvoluntary movement of the hands, or to entrancement. They told me\nit was angels controlling them. In course of time, about ten or fifteen\nyears, I began to believe in spiritualism. But I was not satisfied with\nthe communications; I was craving for the light of heaven. I did not\ndesire communications from friends or relatives, or information about\nearthly things; I wished to learn something about the spirit-world;\nwhat the angels did, how they travelled, and the general plan of the\nuniverse. So, after awhile I took it into my head that wise and exalted\nangels would commune better with us if we purified ourselves physically\nand spiritually. Then I gave up eating flesh and fish, milk and butter,\nand took to rising before day, bathing twice a day, and occupying a\nsmall room alone, where I sat every morning half-an-hour before sunrise,\nrecounting daily to my Creator my shortcomings in governing\nmyself in thought and deed. In six years' training I reduced myself\nfrom two hundred and fifty pounds down to one hundred and eighty;\nmy rheumatism was all gone, and I had no more headaches. I became\nlimber and sprightly. A new lease of life came to me.\nThen a new condition of control came upon my hands; instead of\nthe angels holding my hands as formerly, they held their hands over my\nhead (and they were clothed with sufficient materiality for me to see\nthem) and a light fell upon my hands as they lay on the table. In the\nmeantime I had attained to hear audible angel voices near me. I was\ndirected to get a typewriter, which writes by keys, like a piano. This I\ndid, and I applied myself industriously to learn 'it, but with only indifferent\nsuccess. For two years more the angels propounded to me\nquestions relative to heaven and earth, which no mortal could answer\nvery intelligently. I always look back on those two years as an enigma.\nPerhaps it was to show me that man is but an ignoramus at best; perhaps\nI was waiting for constitutional growth to be good. Well, one morning\nthe light struck both my hands on the back, and they went for the typewriter,\nfor some fifteen minutes, very vigorously. I was told not to\nread what was printed, and I had worked myself into such a religious\nfear of losing this new power that I obeyed reverently. The next\nmorning, also before sunrise, the same power came and wrote (or\nprinted rather) again. Again I laid the matter away very religiously,\nsaying little about it to anybody. One morning I accidentally (seemed\naccidental to me) looked out of the window and beheld the line of light\nthat rested on my hands extending heavenward like a. telegraph wire\ntowards the sky. Over my head were three pairs of hands, fully\nmaterialised; behind me stood another angel, with her hands on my\nshoulders. My looking did not disturb the scene; my hands kept right\non, printing . . . printing.\nFor fifty weeks this continued, every morning half-an-hour or so\nbefore sunrise, and then it ceased, and I was told to read and publish\nthe book Oahspe. The peculiar drawings in Oahspe were made with\npencil in the same way. A few of the drawings I was told to copy\nfrom other books, such as Saturn, the Egyptian ceremonies, etc.\nNow during all the while I have pursued my vocation (dentistry)\nnor has this matter nor my diet (vegetables, fruit and farinaceous food)\ndetracted any from my health or strength, although I have continued\nthis discipline for upwards of ten or more years. I am firmly convinced\nthat there are numberless persons who might attain to marvellous\ndevelopment if they would thus train themselves.\nA strict integrity to one's highest light is essential to development.\nSelf-abnegation and purity should be the motto and discipline of every\none capable of angel communion.\nYours truly,\nJ. B. NEWBROUGH.\nNewbrough immediately printed and published the\nmanuscript, the first edition of the work, a folio, being issued\nin New York and London in 1882. A second edition, a\nquarto, and cheaper in price, was published in Boston and\nLondon in 1891. This contained in addition, a series of\nreproductions of paintings of great spiritual teachers made by\nthe author when in the trance state. They were not, however,\nan integral part of the original work.\nHalf a century later in 1936 the Kosmon Press in California\nacquired a number of sheets of this imprint (including\ntwo important pages which for some reason were not included\ntherein) and issued a new edition, which is now obtainable\nin America and England.\nThe first cheap edition was one which was printed\nprivately in England in 1912, but which is now no longer in\ncirculation. It may be identified through the fact that the\nplates are all bound together at the end of the volume.\nAlmost at the same time there appeared the first English\nedition (also at a low price) issued by the Kosmon Press in\nLondon. A revised edition was published in London, Sydney\nand Melbourne in 1926.\nAs to the original manuscript of OAHSPE, from which\nall these editions ultimately take their authority, for some time\nafter Newbrough's death this was kept in the basement of a\nhouse in El Paso, Texas, until it was ultimately destroyed by\na flood. Although this happening may appear to be unfortunate\nfrom the point of view of the scholar and the archaeologist\nit is clear also that there was thereby avoided all danger that\nauthority should come to be vested in a historical document\nrather than in that interior light of the soul in which OAHSPE\nitself teaches man to place his trust.\nIt appears, however, that the destruction) of the manuscript\ntook place only when its correspondence with the printed\nversion had already been carefully established. In the Preface\nto the second edition it is stated that although certain errors\nhad crept into the first edition they had been thoroughly\neliminated by comparison with the original, which was then\n(1891) still in existence. As Newbrough died the same year\nin April it is just possible that he himself was able to undertake\nthe task before he passed over.\nWith regard to the contents of this extraordinary book,\nit will suffice here to say that it contains detailed teachings\nregarding the Creator and His relation to Man and the\nUniverse; the history of the earth and its heavens for the past\n24,000 years; the principles of cosmogony and cosmology,\nembracing a completely revolutionary conception of physics;\nthe nature of the angelic worlds and their relation to the earth;\nthe origin of man and his path onwards and upwards during\nlife and after death towards spiritual emancipation; the principles\nof an enlightened morality; the lost keys to all the\ndifferent religious doctrines and symbols in the world; the\nhistory of the great teachers who have been sent to humanity\nin different cycles; the character of the civilisation which will\nsupersede that in which we are at present living; and a mass\nof remarkable teachings regarding metaphysics, rites and ceremonies,\nmagic, prophecy and the like.\nLike all Bibles OAHSPE is so conceived that it can\nprofitably be read on every level. The simple may find set\nforth therein that which they need to know, while the philosopher,\nthe mystic and the esotericist will never exhaust the\nprofundity of its more recondite pages.\nPublications of\nTHE KOSMON PRESS\n39, Chestnut Road, West Norwood, London, S.E.27.\nOAHSPE : A NEW REVELATION FOR THE KOSMON ERA.\nCrown qto. Large type 21/-, post free.\nCrown oct. 12/6 and 8/6, post free.\n905 + xiv pp. Numerous plates.\nTHE LIGHT OF KOSMON\nFive books (112 pp.) from Oahspe, embodying some of its most\nfundamental teachings. 9d., post free.\nLIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS AND PERSISTENCE\nA constructive examination of present-day spiritual thought.\nDemy 8w. 62 pp. 2/6 and 1/6, post free.\nTHE CONFRATERNITY OF FAITHISTS AND THE\nKOSMON CHURCH\nA brief explanation of Faithist Aims and Ideals.\n16 pp. 6d., post free.\nTHE WONDER BOOK- \"OAHSPE\"\nA radio message from Station 2 GB, Sydney, N.S.W.\nReprinted from an Australian Magazine, l^d., post ITCP.\nTHE ESSENIAN COMMUNION\nAn epitome of several addresses on Angel Communion, delivered in\nKosmon Church, London. Ud., post free.\nTHE ORIGIN OF OAHSPE\nA brief account of how the book came to be written, l^d., post free.\nIssued for the Confraternity of Faithists by the\nKosmon Press, 39, Chestnut Road, IT. Norwood, S.E.27.","title":"THE ORIGIN OF OAHSPE","type":"page"}