The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 122 -
ASMAHAEL TELLS A PARABLE
After Methuselah had thus spoken to his son Lamech, Asmahael joined them and addressed the following words to them:
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"Dear friends, listen and understand well what I am going to tell you concerning the words you have exchanged. Assume that there was a man who had much experience in all kinds of wisdom and the manifold effects from it and that there were people around him who were constantly striving after wisdom and all the effects out of it, but could not achieve anything worthwhile because they were quite ignorant of the root of all wisdom since they allowed their eyes to be veiled by all kinds of worldly tree branches and their ears to be plugged up with smooth stones so that they could neither see nor hear.
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"If this man worked strange things among them out of his true wisdom, will not the ones surrounding him soon begin to ask each other: 'But how can he accomplish things which we humans cannot possibly comprehend? To do something like that would be out of the question anyway. Who is this man? Is he from below or from above? Where did he get such power from? None of his words is futile, each one an accomplished fact. He speaks as if out of his own power and appears to feel very important. What is it about this man who is only like every one of us, yet when he acts it is as if all the power and might of God were completely subject to him?'
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"And after such questions no one knows what to do and what to make of the wise man. Should he be feared or loved; should he be fled or followed?
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"Some among them are full of fear, others full of love, again others curious, some full of doubts and others anxious to do similar things, yet on no account do they strive to become similar to him in love and true humility which alone is the true root of all wisdom.
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"What do you think? If this wise man then wishes to choose some from the unwise people around him, which ones would he choose as suitable for his school?
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"I tell you, surely not those who have no courage, nor the friends of spectacles and also not those who ask: 'What, who and whence is the one who performs such things through the word alone?' And also not those who are full of doubts and have no firmness anywhere, neither in their feet nor in the hands, nor in the head, nor in the heart and all the intestines and joints. He will also not choose the blind and deaf in spirit, but only those who are full of love and humility towards God and even their brothers.
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"Behold, all this is before your eyes and you do not recognize it!
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"But I, Who am standing before you, tell you: You are fortunate to have Me walk among you as the Sole Wise One before all the world!
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"You, Methuselah, put on the love of your son and you, Lamech the patience of your father and you will soon see the stranger with quite different eyes. Amen. Do understand this, amen."