The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 50 -
ENOCH'S MORNING CONTEMPLATION
When Enoch had ended this morning prayer, Adam rose cheerfully, praised My name and thanked Me sincerely for the gift of hearing which made it possible to hear such wondrous things, and for the eyesight to enable one to behold the great wonders of My mercy, and for the voice which can present well comprehensible words of praise and of the unfathomable and infinite sublimity of the great and holy God as understandable as possible to the small human heart. And he thanked Me also for all the other senses, for he realized that their gift and continuous preservation are a great blessing from the generous hand of My love.
2
After ending these repeated contemplations of praise and gratitude, as was done daily, he once more turned to Enoch, who silently in his heart had done the same, and said:
3
"Enoch, you chosen tongue of God's eternal Love, behold, I called you 'Abel', but this was wrong of me and ungrateful towards God. Abel was indeed my first blessed son whom God had given me and therefore a favorite of my heart and a faithful tool in the hand of God for my salvation. But now towards the end of my life the Lord has sent you to me as a bracing balm to heal in my latter days the wound in my heart, which Cain dealt me. If you were Abel's soul and spirit in the body of Enoch, then you would be what Abel was and you would be like my dear Seth whom the Lord put in Abel's place. But you the Lord awakened out of His love which He planted in Jared's seed that you might become a pure fruit of love to show all your fathers and brothers the gentle way of love and also to show that love is more than all our wisdom which can fall, whereas love created mountains and rocks from the mud of the sea.
4
"O Enoch, my dear Enoch, come to my fatherly bosom and let me love and bless you abundantly so that the blessing may last to the end of all times! For you have poured an oil into my heart, which had already hardened considerably, and it is now beginning to soften and become as it was when the Lord for the first time led my dear helper to me. Now a rose bush with many branches is unfolding in my great thoughts and on top I see a bud - O Enoch, a bud! - and this bud, closed, shines brighter than the midday sun! - But no more about this! - Behold, all this has been brought about by you.
5
"So you are neither Abel nor Seth, but a pure life of love out of God through the seed of Jared; and you have a life of your own which will never be conquered by death. Therefore, give to all of your abundance that they, too, may recognize that not wisdom, but love alone is the true eternal life out of God. For only now do I see it for myself that in love alone I shall be indestructible forever. All our wisdom shall and must come to nothing before God, whereas God will one day raise love, the little love, since He Himself is all love.
6
"O Enoch, when the sun rises, warn me and speak. Amen."
7
After these words Adam pressed Enoch once more to his fatherly bosom, blessed him again and then bade him have a look to see whether Seth was still asleep as well as his children in their huts. He was also to look at the position of the stars and whether the sun was close to rising and what things looked like in the deep places, misty or clear, in what direction the winds were blowing, whether the firmament was quite clear or showed cloudlets here and there and whether there was dew on the grass.
8
Having seen all this, he was to return and report on everything at the glorious rise of the morning sun.
9
And behold, Enoch thanked Adam respectfully and went to do what he had been bidden by Adam.
10
By your reckoning it would have been past the fourth hour when Enoch came out of Adam's hallowed hut. Thus stepping out into the open he took heart and thought to himself:
11
"O You eternal, great, and most holy Father, full of the most incomprehensible, purest, supreme love! How small this hallowed hut of Adam, our earthly father, is compared with Your immeasurable domain! The fiery stars, actually world-sized, are shimmering so small and isolated in Your great house which has no walls, and yet their number is endless and they are all floating in Your grace, firmly attached to Your love, and no power but Your own is capable of guiding them in the distant paths of endless circles.
12
"O You holy Father, how great, strong and good You are, and how glorious You must be in Your light since already Your night is so great, beautiful and glorious!
13
"O You my good, holy Father, do expand my too narrow breast so that I can love You to the full; for everything my eye is now seeing is just too beautiful and too great! How magnificently the tops of the tall cedars rise into the free, light-filled, gently moving air, moving their branches and twigs as if lovingly waving to the stars. Then there comes some breath from You, they sense Your holy nearness and bow their tall heads to the earth. But soon they straighten themselves out once more, drawn by the great, most holy might of Your love, and joyously rustle in the free height an unfathomable, thoughtful praise towards You. How great and sublime must this praise be that I cannot even surmise what kind of holy offering Your creation is bringing You, its sublime Creator. The earth, the grass, the plants, the bushes and trees and all the magnificent stars are praising You perpetually; only man is able to sleep in the midst of such holy offerings!
14
"O You exceedingly good and holy Father, I will never cease praising You; and every stirring mote shall encourage me never to slacken in praising You more and more!
15
"For You gave me a heart filled with love and piety, and I will always be happy at Your so endlessly great goodness and always rejoice in You, my God, that You are so full of love and grace towards everyone who has joy in Your most holy name.
16
"O joyfulness, joyfulness, you most wonderful companion of love, you taste so sweet to the heart that beats according to the will of the holy Father!
17
"Oh it is good and joyful to be where the most holy Father is graciously receiving a great praise from infinity as He is from a dewdrop blown away by the soft breath of the morning sun.
18
"O Father, look graciously down upon my weak heart, recognize the futile mote of my praise and do not miss hearing amidst the loud-sounding hymns of thanks from Your suns my poor chirping which may even be weaker than the soft buzzing of a most insignificant gnat dizzied by the night.
19
"O You, my great, holy, most loving Father, Lord and God, do receive this my confused stammering graciously and let me now faithfully carry out the will of the arch-patriarch Adam! Amen."