The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 70 -
ENOCH'S SERMON ABOUT LOVE
Having heard this loving-wise speech from the mouth of Seth, the children raised their heads, gazed towards heaven and thanked and praised Me aloud for having awakened Seth to proclaim to them through his mouth such wonderfully healing words of comfort.
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Adam, also moved, said: "Since you have now received from me a word of advice and from Seth a proper word of comfort, prepare yourselves now and open your hearts wide to receive also a word of life from the mouth of Enoch. Through me you have become a fertilized field, which Seth has loosened up with his words; but the living seed has not yet been planted in the furrows of your hearts. Enoch has from above been appointed the sewer and so you shall receive the seed of life from him! Amen."
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Then Enoch rose, turned his heart to Me and in his indescribably great love entreated Me for mercy and grace and that I may fill him with words of life thereby to quicken those who had grieved and wept in My name for having become unfaithful through their frivolous act.
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Thereupon I fully awakened Enoch's heart He soon perceived a bright light flaming in his heart and, seeing for the first time a fiery script in his soul, recognized it as a living word out of Me. He thanked Me fervently, finally opened his mouth and began to address the following exceedingly noteworthy speech to all:
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"O fathers and you children of the midday! Hear what the Lord, our God and most holy Father, is speaking!"
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And behold, when the patriarchs heard this twofold call they were wondering why they too were to be included with the midday-children.
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But Enoch said: "O fathers, are you to be excluded from life when these midday-children receive it? For now it is not I speaking to you, but He Who has the life and gives life with every word out of His boundless love speaking through my mouth!"
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Then Seth rose and said quickly: "O Enoch, far be that from us! We know only too well wherein we are still greatly lacking. So do speak also to us so that we too may gain life! Amen."
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And so Enoch began with his actual speech, saying: "It is true, the field is fertilized and the soil furrowed, but there is still no seed in the furrows. But where shall we take the living seed from to plant it in the furrows there to develop to a living fruit?
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"O fathers and children of the midday! 'The seed is love and love is life and life is the Word. The Word, however, has dwelt in God from eternity. God Himself was in the Word as the Word was in Him. All things have come into existence out of this Word, including us, and no one, except God, is capable of uttering this Word. This Word is the actual name of God and no one can pronounce this name. And this name is the boundless love of the most holy Father, which love we have to recognize within us and with it then with all our strength and might love the One to Whom we and all things owe this happy existence.
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"Therein consists life eternal that we recognize it as such in our love for God, that is, that with our love we recognize the love in God and the eternal life within it.
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"When we consider our physical eye and notice what great distances we can reach with it, it is clear and true that such a light was not given us for standing still, but for progressing and being active. Whoever could doubt that someone would be able to reach a seen destination, all the more so when he was given two feet which can carry him to the seen destination?
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"If we have been given the inner vision, as well as the eyes and feet, and with this vision behold the love within us, we have, like the feet of the body, the free will with the help of which we are able to energetically pursue this goal of all life thus bringing our whole nature to love, in order to let it be taken over by same to become alive throughout.
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"Having accomplished this, how should then eternal life not be ours, as is the light of the eyes of the body? Or do you think that this life is a mere illusion? I ask you: Are then we and all the things we see mutual illusions?
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"If we do not regard the bark as an illusion, who would regard the wood and the innermost marrow of life as an illusion?
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"Do you believe the Lord has maybe created live machines that consume grass and meat only for His entertainment? Oh truly, His supreme wisdom would surely be capable of a better entertainment than being forced to create grass-eating machines and to watch with delight how they turn grass and other things into stinking dirt? Oh for the shame of such unbelief!
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"Or do you think when in the great limitation of your ideas you produce some limited work - within time and space - that also God, the Infinite, might like you be capable of limited ideas? Oh, what an offence against the holiness of God!
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"Show me a created being you would be able to destroy completely. Show me a thing that does not hold something infinite within. Divide in your mind the tiniest mote and show me the ultimate particle that can no longer be divided; or show me a grain of seed that is not capable of endless multiplication.
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"Since already these unimportant things show us the endlessness of the divine ideas, how foolish and extremely blind would it be even to think that God should with those beings He has well endowed with the living feeling of an eternal life in the love for Him have associated a temporally limited idea, - He, the Infinite, the supremely Sublime, the Holy, the Eternal, full of love and all life!
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O fathers and you children of the midday, listen to these words which come from the holy heights of the most loving Father!
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"We have no commandment except that of eternal life which is love, and it is as follows: 'You shall love Me, your God and holy Father, out of and with all the love which I gave you from eternity for everlasting life and as eternal life When you love Me, you unite once more with Me and your life will never end; if you fail to do this, you separate yourself from life. Your life will not end because of it, nor shall I ever cease to be your judging God and though, separated from My life, you will fall along the eternal space of the depths of My wrath, your fall will truly not take place outside of Me. You will never lose Me, your God, but you will lose your most loving, best and holy Father and with Him an eternal, free and most blissful life.'
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"O fathers and you children of the midday! This is the sale commandment we have; it has been written deeply into the heart already of every child. This commandment is the living seed which all of you must plant in your hearts if you want to live as children of a holy Father, Who is God, holy, holy, holy from eternity to eternity.
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"You fathers have spoken much about obedience and have thus loosened up the hearts of these children; but I say that he who loves can dispense with obedience. Is not obedience the spiritual road to love, which is the goal of a life? Once someone has reached the goal on this road, tell me, whither he should then still walk on this road?
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Therefore, if someone were still far from the goal he would do well to walk on until he has reached it. Once he has reached it let him seize it with all his strength and hold on to it; that is, let him love God above all, then he has received everything. He has found the Father of Life forever and his freedom will then be endless.
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"So receive this precious seed of life, you fathers and you children! God Himself gave it to me for you. O Love! You are this living seed; so do quicken the hearts of the weak and the dead! Amen, amen, amen."