The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 79 -
ADAM'S WEAKNESS
After Enoch had concluded his speech, he respectfully bowed to all the patriarchs and then thanked Me in his heart for the immense grace which had once more enabled him to proclaim to the fathers so much of the purely good and true out of Me.
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And Adam rose to his feet and said: "Amen!" and then continued to speak, saying: "My much-loved Enoch, this time I see very clearly that the words you have spoken have not originated within you, but that the Lord, our almighty Creator and most holy Father, has put them faithfully into your heart.
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"For truly, dear children, where is the man who could bring forth all that and reveal the meaning of this group of stones so comprehensibly in all its wondrousness as you have done through the supreme God's might and mercy?
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"It is the very first time that I have comprehended you so fully and, as it were, right to the root of the matter.
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"There is just one thing not quite clear to me, namely, that I cannot as yet imagine in what way you receive and hear the holy Word within you that it sounds as if it came from you, where as the so infinitely exalted meaning clearly proves the contrary, like a calm sheet of water upon which not the least unevenness can be discovered.
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"O dear Enoch, not now, but on a more suitable occasion when it pleases the Lord, do explain and reveal this to all of us so that we may obtain an inner criterion which would enable us to judge how and when each of us might perceive the holy Word within him, either for himself or for all.
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"But I tell you once more: Not now, but at a more suitable time! For now, we all thank the Lord that He has deemed us worthy of such exalted instruction and we shall now continue our journey and that in the already known order in the name of Jehovah. Amen."
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And they all complied with Adam's bidding in the innermost depth of their hearts.
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After having offered their thanks to Me, they rose and were ready to move on.
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However, before they started their walk, Adam said to Seth: "Listen, my beloved Abel-Seth, I am hungry, my weakening limbs are telling me that; but you know what I have vowed to the Lord with all of you when the jaws of the beast made almost all of us tremble.
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"Whatever could be done? I want to ask Enoch, but it is truly the first time in my life that I lack the courage to ask a child - who is even the children's child - how I can overcome my weakness without breaking this vow.
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"Go to him and ask him quietly for his advice. Amen."
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Seth went immediately to Enoch and said: "Listen, dear Enoch, our father Adam is feeling very weak in all his limbs and he is very hungry, but the vow does not permit him to eat during all this day. Tell me, if you can, in what other way could the arch father overcome his weakness?
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"O dear Enoch, do what you can! For although I have attained to life, I, too, feel a certain weakness within me and would be a poor support to the arch father.
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"But you have life in great abundance, therefore advise and help! Amen."
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So Enoch went to Adam and said: "O father, do not give in to temptation! It is the Lord Himself who allows you to experience this so as to test the strength of your covenant within you.
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"When you were not there as yet the Lord was able to call you into existence to become a free man and spirit in His image.
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"Now you have for a long time already been a free observer and recipient of inexpressible outpourings of His boundless love, mercy and grace. How can you now be seized by faint-heartedness and succumb to the feeble dust of the flesh when its death reminds you that it is not the flesh, this more and more aging cover of the inner life, but the spirit of love, which is the actual innermost life, that is destined for the life in God?
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"Let the flesh weaken; and if it weakens to the very core of life, the latter will all the more easily and quickly flow abundantly into the soul and through it also effectively nourish every fiber of the flesh for the future everlasting life.
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"For the spirit will then absorb the life of the flesh and death will have nothing left to destroy but itself, which is the empty flesh as such.
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"O father, rely on the strength of Jehovah in your weakness and you will enjoy the power of life in your restored strength and say:
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"O Lord, You best and most holy Father! I did not exist and You brought me into existence, and there I was in all the brave abundance of strength of the joyful, happy life out of You. It pleased You to test me with many a weakness; through Your grace I recognized the new trial and in my weakness made You an offering of childlike love. You have once more looked upon my weariness and I now, greatly rejoicing, am living a new, amazingly wonderful life in You, O Jehovah! All glory, praise and thanks be to You forever!'
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"O dear father Adam, worthy of all respect! Believe me, the weak Enoch that not an hour will have passed and your limbs will be stronger than those of the strong tiger. But you must keep the covenant! For the Lord always scorns the faithless fickleness of the heart.
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"For the time being let me guide and support you, and you will soon fully recognize the Lord's wondrous guidance. Amen."