The Household of God
Volume 2
Rise and spiritual prime of the first world empire Hanoch
- Chapter 9 -
SETHLAHEM'S THANKSGIVING SPEECH AND PRAISE OF HUMILITY
When Abedam had finished this speech the ten thanked Him from the bottom of their hearts, for, firstly, they now recognized Jehovah's endless mercy, love, patience, forbearance and gentleness and, secondly, He showed them such a great grace by choosing them, who imagined themselves to be the most unworthy, as tools for His great mercies.
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Finally, Sethlahem opened his mouth and said to all those who had also been chosen: "Brothers, now my prophecy is being gloriously fulfilled!
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"When you sometimes maintained that the sublime, most holy, great Jehovah could only take pleasure in great and glorious things, I told you that this was surely not the case, particularly when applied to us.
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The more unimportant a person is, the poorer, humbler and more fearful before Him and withdrawn from the world, the simpler in his speech and action, deeming himself less than all his brothers, the more eager to serve all others and the less caring about himself, the more pleasure He will take in him; for this is how I reasoned:
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"If Jehovah had His greatest pleasure in the great and splendid things He would have endowed them with tongues and a much greater perfection of speech than we are ever able to grasp, leaving us without speech.
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"After all, who has ever heard a tree talk, or a mountain, a river, the ocean, the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars?
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"And through the Lord's grace I continued to talk when you pointed out to me the grass and other mute things: "The modest grass, though unable to speak, is surely a thousand times more blessed than a proud, arrogant tree; one has only to consider its inestimable usefulness.
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"'It gives us bread; it feeds our cows, sheep and goats. How many large and small animals unknown to us live off the blessing of the modest grass, whereas not even a hungry bear can tear something off a proud and tall cedar to appease his hunger.'
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"And again I said to you: 'Behold the trees! The smaller they are, the more blessed and the lovelier and sweeter their fruit, which we enjoy with great pleasure and in gratitude to the holy Giver.
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"'But who would want to put his teeth to the tough, unpalatable fruit of the tall and very majestic oak, sharing its blessings with the swine? Or who would enter into a selfish dispute with the ravens over the empty fruit of the cedars? And the cones of the tall firs, - whose palate would like such a fare?'
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"And I also said to you: 'Look at the waters, the rivers and brooks! As long as they remain modestly small in their beds, they remain pure down to the bottom and it is a pleasure to look at them; but as soon as they begin to grow and become greater and mightier, how muddy they do become. And what the modest, pure brook, that and much more, previously blessed is now destroyed and ravaged by the mightily swollen brook, river and stream.
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"The blessed rain falls only in small droplets; but when grown to big drops, it comes with a great storm, striking down and destroying what otherwise in its modesty it might have enlivened and quickened.'
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"I would have told you many more things about constant poverty and modesty; however, at that time a different spirit prevailed in your hearts, and all your concepts of God and of how to please Him glittered either on the highest mountain peaks or beyond all the stars.
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"However, what I then with great effort gleaned from creation for myself, you and all my children, behold, the great Abedam Jehovah Emmanuel Himself now shows me and all of us in immense clarity by not respecting the importance, greatness, splendor and magnificence of the things of this world. He prefers a gnat to a mammoth; for the gnat He even endowed with a pair of wings to fly, but the mammoth must clumsily and with great effort move along on the ground, gathering the required food for its belly.
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"Thus behold the fulfillment of my prophecy, O brothers! How gloriously it is now revealed before our eyes!
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"The Lord, our almighty Creator, our holy Father, Jehovah the Eternal, the Infinite in His love and wisdom, He, the Light of all light, the Power of all powers, the eternal Might of all mights, He - He Himself has now shown us all that in His eyes only the lowliness of true humility, coupled with the pure love for Him, is of value, but everything else is worthless.
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O brothers, who can grasp the infinite magnitude of His mercy, love and grace?
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"For the attainment of His fatherly love, and thus of eternal life, He could just as easily have stipulated an ambitious heart, magnificence and love of splendor; Alone from an external viewpoint, quite apart from His eternal order, how dearly may we have had to pay for His grace.
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"But how easy it is now to gain eternal life! For in our greatest lowliness I and everyone else can obtain it as a free gift from Him, the immensely good, holy Father.
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O You beloved Father! How immensely glad I am now that You only take pleasure in the humble lowliness and not in a splendor I and we all could never have attained to!
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"Oh, for this do gracefully accept the eternal gratitude of our hearts. Therefore, to You alone all honor, glory and praise from us all, because You have looked at us in our lowliness and have chosen us to subdue the arrogance of the world in your name.
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"Do sustain us all also in the constant humility and love towards You and all brothers forever! Amen."