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EPISTLE II, CHAPTER III, 5-II.
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with revelation which is associated with you1. 8. Also from that which is repeatedly written by you with understanding of the rite, as regards all three teachings, it is manifest those rites are mentioned even as those which are more maintained, and are not those which are unnecessary to perform. 9. You are a something therein that tends to preserve a little of what it is not possible for thee to attain fully in any mode; when thou shalt obtain the operations of the voice, and the water and bull's urine, as well as the three men', or thou shalt give a man to wash therein, the intellect of those controlling is then, indeed, not preservative therein.
10. It is proper also for you to consecrate the water and bull's urine by that ritual which is in all three teachings, to prepare your own ritualistic liquid and other things which are approved among you with mutual assistance, and to appoint a purifier who has performed fully acceptably and been wanted. II. Then, to give out properly to the country that the purification is according to my order, I always
1 That is, even when not performing the ceremony himself, his presence would be desirable, for the sake of securing due attention to all the details, with which his superior knowledge must make him better acquainted than his subordinates.
• See § 1.
8
Reading bukhtano; the MSS. divide the word, so as to convert it into barâ tanû,' without a body.' The meaning is that by his presence he is, at all events, able to secure some efficiency in the ceremony, when he is compelled to intrust its performance to subordinates who are not fully competent.
In the prayers and exorcisms.
See § 4.
• That is, one thoroughly qualified (the priest mentioned in § 4) who requires no special supervision.
Z 2
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