The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 24 -
CAIN'S JOURNEYTO THE SEA
And behold, Cain wept and departed with his wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, and after forty days came to the shores of the sea. Seeing the great expanse of water he became frightened and thought in all earnest that he had come to the end of the world. "If Enoch now followed me, whither could I flee?" he thought.
2
"Before me is the end of the world and left and fight are high mountains where I am forbidden to go, and the Lord's gracious eye and ear are closed to me. Besides, I see here all kinds of strange and unblessed fruits; who would dare eat them? And the provisions we brought with us have now been consumed. Whatever shall I now do?
3
"I will once more attempt to cry mightily to the Lord. Either He will hear me or let us perish. Then we will at least finally fare according to His will which in our great blindness we have certainly not recognized during all this long time."
4
And behold, after a period of seventy-seven years Cain again began to pray to Me. He prayed for three days unceasingly day and night, crying all the time: "Lord, You just and loving God, look graciously down upon Your greatest sinner and do to me according to Your holy will!" These words he kept repeating many thousands of times.
5
Since he was crying so mightily and miserably I took pity on him and sent Abel to him in a flame of fire who spake the following words to him as if coming from Me: "Cain, rise from the ground and look at me and then tell me whether you still recognize me!"
6
Then Cain rose full of fear and looked at the flame, but did not recognize it, neither the voice nor the form and shaking with fear asked: "Who are you strange being in this flame?"
7
And Abel answered: "It is I, your brother Abel, in the flame of divine love before you. What do you wish to be done to you?" -"O brother," said Cain, "if it is you, behold I have no longer any will. My son Enoch has taken everything from me, also my will. Now I no longer have a will and, look, all of us here are now entirely without a will. Therefore, I can only say: Let it be done to me and us all according to the holy will of the Lord!"
8
Then Abel said: "So listen! It is the will of the Lord, my Father and your God, that you eat of all the fruits you find here without fear. For the serpent has driven you to this place and has stayed at home with your children in the city of Enoch with all its venom and will have no more dealings with you. Once a person has relinquished his will there is no more to do for the evil brood, but he who has subjected his will to the serpent is its captive and the end of his free actions has come.
9
"But to him who has escaped from its powerful fangs and thus has saved the last spark of his will and laid it down upon the earth before Jehovah, He will give a new will out of Himself that in the future he may work as His tool. Thus, it is the Lord's will for you too that in the future you act in accordance with His will. If ever the descendants of Enoch should find you and your people, they would not recognize you, for the love of the Lord will burn you permanently black.
10
"The name of 'Cain' will be taken from you and you will be given another name, which is 'Ethiope', meaning 'the one without a will after the will of God.' Now you and your people must make a very large basket out of rattan and reed which must be seven man-heights long, three wide and one high, very strong and stopped with resin and pitch. Having completed this with great diligence, you must place it near the great waters and for forty days gather fruits, put them in the basket and, finally, get all in.
11
"Then the Lord will send a great tide from the large waters. This will lift the basket with you in it and carry you to a distant land in the middle of these great waters where you will be completely safe from the persecution of Enoch.
12
"In these great waters you will see small islands all around you, and when there have become too many of you on one island, proceed to the next one, and so on. Thus you shall gradually, in accordance with the Lord's will, populate all the islands in the great expanse of water.
13
"And if you will not forget the Lord, He will some day give you a large continent to inhabit where you will remain until the end of the world. But this will first have to be cleansed from the curse by floods which will rush down upon it choking and killing the descendants of Enoch and also many children of God who will allow themselves to be enticed by the beautiful daughters of Enoch.
14
"However, you who have no will of your own shall not be touched by the torrents of these floods because the will of the Lord has set you upon the waters of His great mercies. - And if there is anything you should need, you know anyway where to find the great Giver Who will not forsake you if you will not forsake Him within your hearts.
15
"And now come closer, Cain." And behold, Cain stepped up to his flaming brother and Abel embraced him and he became jet-black and his hair became curly like fur. And this was done to the other five, too.
16
Then Abel said: "Now, brother Ethiope, you are free from any guilt, which has remained at home with Enoch, and so act in accordance with the will of the Lord! Amen."