The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 78 -
ASMAHAEL'S SPEECH OF THANKS
Having heard this from the mouth of Adam, Asmahael was moved to tears and spoke with his eyes raised towards heaven:
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"Oh, if it were only possible to save the poor, poor deadened brothers! Oh truly, then I, as the most insignificant fly, would wish to turn into a mighty hawk and with the greatest speed shoot to the lowlands there to seize all the poor brothers, who are dead to light and life, and carry them here at a speed faster than thought so that they may together with me behold in amazement how soon and sublimely the mighty children of the Lord on the hallowed heights wisely teach the weak and dead the most marvelous things, reveal and show to them in mighty forms, built from holy words, the abode of life within man - and, more overwhelming than all that, the mightiest, most holy Creator of the worlds and suns as the Father of men!
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"Oh, if it were only possible!
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"O fathers of the earth's fathers, when the eye in amazement gazes into the infinite spaces of splendid creation it does not notice the insignificant mote, - but when, carried by the wind, this mote has fallen into the eye of the beholder, then the great one begins to rub the painful eye endeavoring to rid himself of that which disturbing and burning obstructs his sight. And often a brother calls to his brother:
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'Oh come and remove this idle, troublesome thing from my eye!' And when the brother has discovered it, embedded in the watering eye of his brother, he calls: 'O brother! The idle foe of your sight has become harmless, for it is now lying buried under the conquering flood of your tears. And soon compassionate tears will rid you of the feared, idle foe. For once the mote has itself become a tear, it will no longer obstruct your sight and prevent your beholding the shining distances of eternal creation.'
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"O fathers of the earth's fathers, you gaze with hallowed eyes out into the endless regions of eternal light, but down there in the dark depth of human misery a raging storm whirls the hostile dust often up to the hallowed heights, obstructing your sight.
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"If this causes you pain, let it be seized by a caring tear and bear it until it becomes a grateful tear itself.
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"Oh forgive me, the poor and weak one! And though the fly cannot roar like tigers and lions, yet its low buzz tells you, too: 'O fathers of the earth's fathers, also I have gone forth from the mighty hand of your holy Father and, therefore, you great ones, do favor me weak one also with a sympathetic glance!' Hear this! Amen, O amen."
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Adam, very pleased with Asmahael's beautiful words, said: "I have perceived your justified sighs and am quite familiar with the evil dust of the lowlands, this great foe of all inner contemplation. But before we embark on any relief work, the will of the great Lord must be carefully explored. For we must never do anything unless we have clearly recognized the will from above. Therefore, a little more time and it shall be decided still today what the great Lord above the stars has resolved to do in the depths of abomination; and that will then be the best. Whether it is for or against our wishes, His most holy will be done with the utmost precision! Amen."
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Thereupon Seth rose and said to Adam: "Dear father! Should not here also Enoch, as he did in your grotto, give us a brief interpretation of this magnificent region? I am truly longing for this. How often I have pondered on it, but could find no other explanation beyond what my eyes saw and my ears heard, namely, these sky-high towering uniform tapering rock-cones with the peculiar jets of water which in countless drops gush over the steep walls down to earth creating a harmonic sound which delights the ear in a wondrous way.
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"Would you, therefore, allow Enoch to give all of us a true interpretation. Amen."
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And Adam, fully agreeing with Seth's wish, said: "O Seth, you have forestalled me, for this has for a long time already been my own wish. Therefore, what you wish shall be done. And you, dear Enoch, offer your thirsty fathers a refreshing and invigorating drink out of your love as desired by me and Seth. Amen."
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And behold, Enoch rose and began to address the following most noteworthy words to the fathers, saying:
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"O fathers! In the bosom of God's vast infinity there are surely even greater and more magnificent natural sceneries to be found which are unspeakably more sublime than these seven times ten water-spurting stone cones all of which would amount to no more than a few thousand man lengths from their base which is hardly as much as a leaf mite in relation to us. And yet such a tiny mite is in its kind greater than this entire water spurting stone structure.
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"If such a magnificent-seeming scene is to preach a silent word from the wisdom of the most loving and holy Father, only the meaning is sublime and not the mute, lifeless instrument. Thus no mouth is more sublime than another, even if it has uttered most sublime words; for sublimity does not lie in the mouth but in the word.
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Thus it is also with this scene. Only the recognition within us is sublime and worthy and not the scene as such, though we recognize from it in the inner correspondence of the spirit the seven spirits or powers of God and that each of them is full of the living water of grace which constantly rains upon the poor soil of our soul without producing much more fruit than the constantly watered soil around the bases of these stone cones, - nor because the ten cones behind them portray the holy duties of love, which are always the same, as the seven spirits are actually only one spirit, which is proved by one and the same height, the same color, the same shape, the same bulk, the same direction, the same water and the same harmonious sound of the rushing water.
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"Find the solution to the wonders first in the heart: says the Lord, 'truly, only then will you agree with Me and say: 'O Lord, the one who has tasted only a drop of Your love loathes the earth in his own heart's loud rejoicing at God! ', Amen."