The Household of God
Volume 2
Rise and spiritual prime of the first world empire Hanoch
- Chapter 24 -
CAUSE OF ENOCH'S FEAR TO SPEAK: FALSE HUMILITY. WE CAN LOVE GOD ONLY AS A MAN
After the somewhat over-curious were thus satisfied and Ghemela was again beside Lamech, and Purista with her parents, who were trembling with joy, the high Abedam summoned Enoch and said to him:
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"Listen, you My beloved, most pious Enoch! I perceive a fear in your heart, your immortal heart, which for some time has been surrounded by a shadow alarming you, like a healthy, fresh apple which is attacked by a stray fly ready to breed and probing with its stinging snout where it might penetrate the skin of the healthy fruit so as to deposit a wicked offspring of its evil kind in the flesh of the fruit, there to gnaw and possibly destroy the life of the fruit.
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"Behold, what good would such a fruit then be? To what purpose would a fear serve the free heart?
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"As a true high priest of My love, mercy and grace you shall make a speech to the people in My name.
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"Behold, this has for a long time been the pious wish of Adam, even before I came to you in person.
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"As previously, I have now actively acknowledged you and have told you both yesterday and today not to worry about what you shall, or want to, speak; for at the moment of need I shall inspire you faithfully, word for word, with what you shall say. And see, despite all this you are afraid!
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"Can you not see how silly such a fear is? Me you cannot possibly fear any longer; for you know it and have always known from Me that I am supreme Love Myself.
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"But now you also know that from the bottom of My heart I am meek, exceedingly gentle, mild, forbearing and exceedingly patient.
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"What, then, do you fear? Perchance your fathers, brothers or children? Behold, this is vain of you. You think about it in secret and say to yourself: 'How shall I stand if I should yet have to make the required Sabbath speech to the people, and even during the short presence of the Lord of eternity and the almighty Creator of infinity, - in the luminous presence of the supreme wisdom of the most holy Father, full of love, grace and mercy?
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"What will my poor word look like now after the most holy, most essential, living words which have already, like an endless stream of light, poured from the most holy mouth to us poor little worms in the Dust of all dust?'
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"Behold, are not these your own musings? - But what are they good for? Perchance for life? - Behold and understand: Surely you need no longer care about life. Do you think that I am pleased with your silence and with talking in your stead?
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"I tell you: I do not like the kind of humility where you lose courage before Me and are in fear of My ears and My eyes.
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"But I do take the greatest pleasure in a behavior like that of little children, who have no fear of their parents, are at all times of good courage and talk and chatter away before their parents as if they were the masters of the house; but as soon as they are hungry and thirsty they still run, full of childlike love and submission, to the parents asking for bread; and when they receive the bread out of the hands of the parents they thank them through the happy enjoyment of the same rather than through an excessive respect and fear of them and a meaningless torrent of words expressing their gratitude.
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"Do not every father and mother by far prefer the little children to happily enjoy what is proffered them, all the while looking healthy and fresh like little flowers after a refreshing rain, rather than have them tremble with fear and excessive respect before their parents, so much so that if these lovingly give them bread they do not dare to take, let alone eat it, out of excessive respect, all the while looking like withered grass emerging from weak roots out of a bare, stony cleft?
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"Behold, is this not folly? - Yet therein consists the rule of love and of all wisdom out of it, namely, that for him who is finite, everything must be kept within proper limits; for, to the finite, the infinite means death.
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"You cannot love Me as God, but only as man; for, what finite heart might be able to bear the infinite God, or the endless fire of divine love, what finite spirit the divine wisdom in its endless fullness?
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"What little child can ever fully return its mother's love? What would become soon of the little child if it could do this with its limited strength? 18. "Yet here it would only be a matter of one limitation versus another.
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What shall be the outcome, should the finite try in every respect to absorb the infinite?
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"Behold, Enoch, hence your fear is vain and futile. Whoever loves Me with all his endowed strength does enough, having fulfilled the measure allotted him. This requires neither fear nor anxiety.
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"A tree is a good tree, when its branches are loaded annually with sweet fruit; however, what folly to expect this tree to supply the whole earth plentifully with its fruits!
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Thus be of a joyful heart and fulfill My will, and I shall be fully pleased with you.
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"Do not strive to satisfy Me infinitely - which is an impossibility even for the highest created spirit -, but only in a finite manner according to your strength so that the measure granted you become full, and leave it to Me, your good Father, to look after the infinite.
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The required speech is part of your measure; thus raise yourself up courageously and open your mouth in My name before all those present. Amen."