Now this does not apply, but he shall be hanged at the crossroad." BRT:6:23 "It is not unlawful for a husband to kill his wife's seducer. It is unlawful to require that a wife shall lick ash off a spearhead to establish her virtue. The first God-given right of man was the right to maintain his family
inviolate; and it is the duty of the rulers to uphold that right. The seven qualities of manliness are: courage, fortitude, kindness, integrity, truthfulness,
consideration and protectiveness."
BRT:6:24 A stranger accosted the master and said, "I don't like Your
methods." The master answered, "Is that so? Well actually, I am not too satisfied with them myself. Tell me, how do you inspire men to live in harmony among themselves?" The stranger said, "I don't." Said the master, "I prefer the way I do it to the way you don't." BRT:6:25 The stranger said, "You are unbending in Your teachings. Is it not wise to follow the path of moderation?" The master answered, "I am not
interested in moderate faith or moderate goodness, moderate honesty or moderate virtue. There can be no moderation in things of vital importance. The moderate man is not for me. Would you eat a moderately fresh egg, or want to live in a house that keeps out most of the wind and rain? Would you
be satisfied with most of your wages or with moderate work from your servants? I am not a moderate man, but one who plants his standard firmly. A standard of moderate morality is no standard at all. Could an army of moderate fighting men secure the land?" BRT:6:26 The master went on to say, "Man lives for two things: the acquisition of knowledge and skill, and the refining of the spirit through experience. He who commands by his integrity is like the pole star, which remains constant while others revolve around it. To give you the essence of my teachings, I would say: Let all your thoughts be wholly good." BRT:6:27 One asked of the master, "Who shall be our teachers?" The master replied, "They who, by revitalising the old wisdom of their forefathers
in this land and adding to this new knowledge, are suitable." When they asked who should preach, he said, "He who should not preach what he desires others to practise is one to whom these practices are not normal. To learn without thinking is futile; to think without learning is profitless."
BRT:6:28 "Wisdom does not consist of what a man knows, but of recognising the limits of his knowledge. Listen always, but speak seldom. Maintain silence when in doubt, and you will seldom get into trouble. Keep your eyes open, but forget what you should not have seen. Never gossip, and
shun all gossipmongers." BRT:6:29 The master was asked, "How should a master deal with his servants," and he replied, "Promote those who are worthy and reward their loyalty, and train those who are incompetent. To know what is right and not to do it is cowardice. Wealth and station are desired by every man, but if these can be acquired or retained only to the detriment of his service to his creed, he must relinquish them. Poverty and subordination are disliked by all, but if they can be avoided only to the detriment of his creed, he must accept
them with good grace." BRT:6:30 Become paladins among the people, making the words of these writings the cause you serve. The inspiration is divine, but the medium is human. In the past, the pure light of Truth was concealed, from the multitude of the people, in riddles and a fog of jargon. Parables satisfied the people's understanding. Religion degenerated because in its higher aspects, it was not understood by the mass of the people, and there was a fear of casting pearls before swine, hence the mysteries and the need for ceremonial, images and symbols. People more readily worship representations of God, because they cannot comprehend Him and shirk the effort of trying to. God cannot be represented by things of this world to the understanding of the aristocratic
soul.
BRT:6:31 There are Adamites whose souls slumber within, and Godmen who are the ultimate earthly beings. These are mysteries held close and safeguarded by the Knights of Karwidrin, but which came to our master through Gwalgwin of the white hawk crest, and Gwalanad the Summer Hawk. Also, through Palader of the spears and Lancelot, he who carried the mystic spear of Lot. They who are ready will read these things with
understanding.
BRT:6:32 Words are mysterious things, within which can be hidden profound things, but enlightenment does not come easily or from mere reading of what is written. Greatness declined during the great peace, when knights were lax and pleasure-seeking. Men forgot their past unity and there were quarrels and rebellion. Peace is a fatal sickness to the Sons of Brittania. It was said of their battlechief that he lost every lesser battle and won every
big one.
BRT:6:33 The art of the scribe came to Britain with the highbrowed one who taught Gwilidun of Ivern, who had seven sub-scribes. He said to the king, "This strange art will make the Britons wiser and will improve their memories, for it is the very essence of memory, which has been brought to this island." The king said, "Most wonderful, but while you may be prepared to bestow this, have you the ability to judge the worth of this art? Should not this be with another? The potter lacks the ability to judge the worth of his own pots, or the knight his own horse. Therefore, the ability to judge the usefulness or harm of this new thing should surely lie with another. Now, you who are the master of letters have been so swayed by your affection for them that you endow them with powers quite the opposite of what they actually possess. For this new thing will not increase the range of memory, but will lead to forgetfulness in the mind of those who learn this strange art. It encourages men to cease to practise their memory. Are the legs of a horseman equal to those of a man who walks? With time, men will put their trust in writing, and these strange signs will discourage memory. They are not instruments of memory but of reminding. Those who learn to read many things without proper instruction will then give an appearance of knowing many things, of which they are in fact ignorant. They will be hard to get along with, since they will not be wise but only appear so." BRT:6:34 So it was that the art of writing did not come easily to Britain. Yet always, there had been the letters on stone and the brand sticks, but these
were not for ordinary men. Give an ass oats, and he will run after thistles. Such is the nature of man, and never went out an ass that came home a horse.
BRT:6:35 The king had imprisoned one of the master's followers, and when the master sought the king's ear, his retainers drove him off. He returned, but this time, they turned loose the hunting dogs upon him. The master stood firm and made no move, saying in his heart that if God decreed that the hounds should maul him, so let it be. The hounds stopped before him
and refused to obey the urging of those who trained them. This filled the heart of the king with wonder, for he knew the nature of the dogs of Britain,
and he released the prisoner. BRT:6:36 It was at this place that the master was challenged to produce his God. They said, "Though you decry our images, yet do we have likenesses of our gods while you lack even this. Your words are no more than puffs of wind." The master said, "These are the words of the report; to few has the arm of God been revealed. Did it not shoot up before your eyes as a sapling from a staff, and did not the withered staff take root in alien soil?
Even so will it be with my words."
BRT:6:37 "I heard the Spirit of God in the nightwatches, saying, 'Go, carry My words of Truth to the unbelievers, and it will be like the rain that ends the drought. My words shall strike deep into fertile soil. Its beauty shall be like the holly tree. Its fragrance shall fill the land like the scent wafted from a new-mown meadow. You, My servant, will plant a tree, which shall