The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 56 -
IN ADAM'S GROTTO
When Enoch had concluded his brief explanation, Seth joyfully jumped up, embraced Enoch and said: "O father Adam, how brief is the word of love on the bright path of its wisdom and yet so full of clarity, life, power and effect!
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"But if man's clumsy mind laboriously counts all the stars, doubtfully traces the path of the winds, gazes at the drift of the clouds, wants to startle the sleeping mists in the valleys from their blessing rest, solemnly examines the dewdrops and the grass and almost foolishly and senselessly should ask the plants, the bushes and all the trees how they had rested during the night, in order to form from all these empty investigations a vague opinion from which one, at most with a guessed half-certainty, might conclude whether the coming harvest would be good, medium or bad, and that always after a lengthy deliberation, - such an explanation by Enoch is truly heaven sent and saves us all further quite sense- and worthless observations which in my opinion are as unimportant as is the time that has already passed a hundred years ago.
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"Oh you dear Enoch, do continue to explain the signs of life within us and I am convinced that such divination will be to all of us of endlessly more benefit than if we were able to talk with all the stars, suns and moons, but did not understand anything of what is at the bottom of our impulses, what all our feelings and emotions are saying and in what way eternal Love maybe makes itself known within us and eternal life through it.
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"O children, this is endlessly higher than are all the harvest fields and fruit trees on which we are unable, notwithstanding all our observations and Pre-Sabbath predictions, to bring forth even a single apple or other fruit, and the Lord despite all our futile care anyway does only what is in accordance with His love, wisdom and holiness.
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"O Enoch, do continue to speak and explain so that our torpid wood and twigs, after Kenan, may soon bear blessed fruit of the eternal, imperishable life! Amen."
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Thereupon Adam rose and said: "Amen, may you be blessed my beloved AbelSeth, greatly blessed the living tongue of Enoch and blessed all my children who have a good and pious heart!
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"But let us now go and visit all our working children and announce to them the Sabbath of tomorrow and what they may expect from the so highly blessed tongue of our dear, wise and pious Enoch.
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"May the Lord protect everyone of our steps from any hardship. Amen."
9
Then they all rose and happily left the hut, Eve by the side of Seth and Adam by the side of Enoch. All the children bowed to the old dwelling place of their father who took the lead with Enoch, followed by Seth with Eve and finally all the other present children of the main line.
10
They turned towards the east and had already covered quite a distance when they came to a grotto from which issued a pure spring. This grotto was known as "Adam's rest" and the spring as "Eve's rivulet of tears". Here Adam always used to have a rest and now, too, this was done.
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The grotto was very spacious and could easily give shelter to twenty thousand people. But the main feature of this grotto was that it was about one hundred fathoms high and was a tunnel through a mountain rather than just a grotto This tunnel was famous because towards the east it led through a large green and yellow crystalline cone-shaped mountain in the center of which a spring gushed upwards above which the sunlight was penetrating through motley crystal prisms in a thousand different hues.
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Though the light was penetrating more faintly in many different spots marvelously illuminating this rather long tunnel, the above mentioned center with the gushing fountain was the most wonderful and glorious part of this tunnel, by far surpassing everything you have ever known.
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That is also why this grotto-passage was Adam's favorite spot and, except for the children of the main line, others were seldom allowed to pass through it. This was not because of envy, but it was feared that a very emotional mind could allow itself to be carried away to worship such a miraculous place.
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When the main party found itself in the middle of the grotto where around the wide, round, golden water basin a great number of well shaped, motley pure crystal blocks were lying, Adam sat down for a while and all the others were allowed to follow his example. Only Enoch remained standing beside Adam
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Noticing this, Adam said: "Dear Enoch, why are you not doing what I and the others have done? Look, here on my right is a quite comfortable green crystal block. Do sit down and have a rest with me and the others."
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Then Enoch did according to Adam's wish, but said: "O father Adam, since you allow me to rest on Seth's stone I will do it because your word rates above the word of all the other patriarchs. But if I had sat down on it without your permission, I would have committed an act of presumptuousness and would have deserved the anger of Seth and all the other patriarchs O dear fathers, forgive me for daring to do this, for I always want to be obedient to all the patriarchs and I shall never do anything that might make me unworthy of their love. Amen."
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And Seth rose and said to Enoch: "O my most beloved and so exceedingly humble and modest Enoch, do you not know that you have already long ago become the beautiful center of our love? Look, you could safely prepare yourself a seat on my head, for you have done that already long ago in our hearts - and the head is not superior to the heart
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"Since we have long ago given you our love and life for a dwelling place, why should we mind a cold stone on which you sit down? Do not worry about this at all But there is something else of importance to me and no doubt to all the others. Just look at this glorious spot! Dear Enoch, do give vent to your blessed tongue without reservation! Amen."
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When Adam and the others had heard Seth's pious wish they all besieged Enoch to tell them something good and exalted about this tunnel from his loving heart.
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And the pious and obedient Enoch, as usual, did not have to be asked twice, but he rose, bowed towards the patriarchs and began to address the following most notable speech to all his fathers, saying:
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"O dear fathers, I am being asked to speak at this place of Adam's rest not knowing what I should actually say and what I should speak about. O dear fathers, it used to be the custom that if someone wished to hear something from another he at least put a question to the carrier of the secret, making it clear to him that there was something he did not know as yet.
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"However, I am now supposed to speak without having been asked a question.
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"So let it then be, for my tongue is free and can express what my eye clearly beholds as standing in the heart in glowing signs. These signs are living features of eternal Love and the all-merciful grace of the eternal, holy Father within me. And so I will speak out of these and hold an immortal conversation out of my God and your God, out of my holy Father, Who is full of love, and your holy Father full of love, grace and mercy.
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"O dear fathers, this grotto is a faithful picture of the human heart in its relationship to God. Wherever we may turn our eyes, we cannot see any opaque spot, except for the ground, which carries us.
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"Looking upwards to the high dome brightly illuminated by lights in a thousand colors, we see how gloriously this beautiful light animates this living, high-shooting fountain with a wondrous shine.
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"Whoever could describe the magnificence which, changing a thousand-fold in a moment, surprises the onlooker's eye when each falling drop resembles a star that boldly strives towards heaven and then, as a punishment for its foolhardiness, is Hung away from it, dying out.
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'Turning our eyes eastward, a green light shines towards us from the wide passage; looking back from where we came, the passage sends us a yellow light and, finally, even a blood-red one. Thus, wherever we may turn our eye a different light always surprises it
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"Having marveled at this to our heart's content we say, moved to our innermost by this great glory: 'O You Great God, how sublime, beautiful and exceedingly glorious is everything You have made, Lord! We respect Your works and in turn You bless us with blissful delight, for You have made them for us, and we rejoice and want to praise and glorify You at all times and thank you for having made such wonderful things for us whom in Your great mercy You have found worthy of being called Your children.
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"O dear fathers, it is only right that we should do this. However, if we looked into our heart and asked it whether the great Master Builder of these sublime things had created all these sublime marvels out of His boundless love and wisdom only for the enjoyment of our senses or whether He has maybe hidden within them other things we are to seek and find for the true glorification of His most holy name, - that, O dear fathers, is another question.
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"Look, only one sun shines its white rays upon the high crown of this pure crystal mountain, but what an effect of this one solar light in this grotto!
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"Let us gaze upwards! Whoever would be able to survey all the countless shapes each restless glance already multiplies endlessly, - and yet it is all the effect of one and the same light!
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"O dear fathers, behold, here the Lord has erected a very great monument to us.
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"We ourselves are this grotto in our earthly existence with an entrance from the evening and an exit towards the eternal morning. We are in the middle, as we are in the fullness of earthly life, entering from the evening as children into the grace and mercy, and all we see in front of us is the center of life, not bearing in mind that this grotto of life is not closed, but always keeps an opposite exit towards morning open for us.
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"O dear fathers, the most gracious little flame of eternal Love is also a single light. This sublime dome is our soul's vision. And this fountain is like our spirit that keeps striving upwards towards the light, but is constantly repulsed with the warning:
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"'Why do you weak being keep striving upwards? There is no road for you; remain where you are or return into the golden basin of your humble and obedient love! There view yourself in the testing delusion of your soul-light and be always prepared to follow the course of the rivulet towards morning. Only there will mighty rays from the Sun of Grace seize you and as a fire-cloudlet draw you upwards to your origin in the fullest freedom of your life.'
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"O dear fathers! Since we have already earlier in the hut spoken of signs, this explanation should be added. Amen."