Chaos was transformed, and then the sun and the moon appeared.  He made the sun and the moon move to produce day and night.  He elaborated and perfected the ten thousand things; but in creating the first man, he endowed him with perfect interior harmony.  He enjoined him to watch over the sea of his desires.  His nature was without vice and without error; his heart, pure and simple, was originally without disorderly appetites.

2.  But Sa-Thang propagated lies, and stained by his malice that which had been pure and holy.  He proclaimed, as a truth, the equality of greatness, and upset all ideas.  This is why three hundred and sixty-five sects, lending each other a mutual support, formed a long chain, and wove, so to speak, a net of law.  Some put the creature in the place of the Eternal, others denied the existence of beings, and destroyed the two principles.  Others instituted prayers and sacrifices to obtain good fortune; others proclaimed their own sanctity to deceive mankind.  The minds of men labored, and were filled with anxiety; aspirations after the supreme good were trampled down; thus perpetually floating about they attained to nothing, and all went from bad to worse.  The darkness thickened, men lost their sight, and for a long time they wandered without being able to find it again.

3.  Then our Triune God communicated his substance to the very venerable Mi-chi-ho (Messiah), who, veiling his true majesty, appeared in the world in the likeness of a man.  The celestial spirits manifested their joy, and a virgin brought forth the saint in Ta-Thsin.  The most splendid constellations announced this happy event; the Persians saw the splendor, and ran to pay tribute.  He fulfilled what was said of old by the twenty-four saints; he organized, by his precepts, both families and kingdoms; he instituted the new religion according to the true notion of the Trinity in Unity; he regulated conscience by the true faith; he signified to the world the eight commandments, and purged humanity from its pollutions by opening the door to the three virtues.  He diffused life and extinguished death; he suspended the luminous sun to destroy the dwelling of darkness, and then the lies of demons passed away.  He directed the bark of mercy towards the palace of light, and all creatures endowed with intelligence have been succored.  After having consummated this act of power, he rose at midday towards the Truth.  Twenty-seven books have been left.  He has enlarged the springs of mercy, that men might be converted.  The baptism by water and by the Spirit is a law that purifies the soul and beautifies the exterior.  The sign of the cross unites the four quarters of the world, and restores the harmony that had been destroyed.  By striking upon a piece of wood, we make the voice of charity and mercy resound; by sacrificing towards the east we indicate the way of life and glory.

Our ministers allow their beards to grow,