The Household of God
Volume 2
Rise and spiritual prime of the first world empire Hanoch
- Chapter 222 -
THUBALKAIN'S EXAGGERATED REVERENCE TOWARDS ENOCH. ENOCH'S SPEECH ON TRUE REVERENCE AND ON MARRIAGE BETWEEN RELATIVES. THE HALLOWED NIGHT ON THE CLEANSED MOUNTAIN (30th December 1842)
After this brief remark by Enoch the two bowed deeply and then went about their business.
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But Thubalkain rushed over to Enoch and asked his forgiveness for having overlooked such an inexpressibly high visitor among them and not showing him at once the highest respect.
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However, Enoch lifted up Thubalkain from the floor and said to him: "Brother, poor brother! What are you doing before me, your brother?
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"Look, even the Lord, our God and Father, despite His infinite, untouchable holiness has forbidden this to us all by proving to us precisely that it is by far easier for man to bend the knees rather than the heart before Him.
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"However, this does not lead man to life, but alone the bending of the heart does!
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"Therefore, someone with an unbending heart, unwilling to humble and purify the same before God but throwing himself into the dust all his life will derive no benefit from all this.
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"But the one who bends his heart, purifies it and fills it with love, no longer needs to cast his body in the dust; for his spirit knows in its humility and great love for God, the holy Father, that the body belongs to the dust of the earth and will return to where it was taken from.
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"If you lived in a house and a high-ranking visitor came to you, - would you perchance for sheer reverence tear the whole house down into the dust before the noble visitor and then build it anew so as to receive the visitor into your house?
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"I reckon this would be utterly ridiculous and foolish; for firstly the noble visitor does not demand this, and secondly he will only be concerned with his reception by you, as owner of the house, ... but not with the way your dead, as such inert house will behave towards him.
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Thus also our body is merely a dwelling for the spirit and not identical with the spirit, and the holy, most loving Father sees then only what the spirit does.
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"Which is the love and its free will-, but not what the body might be doing which can do nothing but merely tacitly comply with its natural needs which are under judgment.
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"So you, Thubalkain, be my dear brother in spirit!
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"Bend your heart alone before God, love Him above all and me, your brother, as yourself, and you have done everything that is honest and proper before God and the world.
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"You have also taken a wife, - which is right and proper; however, cohabiting with your own sister was an abomination before God. This, the first children of Adam were allowed to do at a time when God had not yet separated the blood, there being thus only one blood and one flesh.
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"However, as gradually mankind increased in number, God segregated the blood lest it soon deteriorate and die out.
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"For that reason the degrees of blood relationship were more and more determined, due to which rule no one is allowed without God's special permission to take a wife in the first degree (of relationship. Transl.), but only in the second, third and so forth; so the more remote the relationship, the more proper the choice.
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"You have now taken a wife from a very remote branch; thus you have acted well and properly also in this and may bring her here so that also I may bless you."
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And presently Thubalkain called his wife and respectfully introduced her to Enoch.
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And Enoch laid his hands on them and blessed them in the Lord's name.
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After this act Enoch summoned Lamech and the seven and told them:
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"Brothers! Listen, this is the will of the Father: 'In the evening, after you have taken refreshment with several brothers from the lowlands, bless them in My name and then let them retire to their night's rest.
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"'However you, including Lamech, go up the mountain Kisehel has cleansed in My name, and wake there until morning!
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"'As soon as you will notice the first signs of dawn, concentrate on your innermost heart; for around this time I shall be among you, first perceptibly, then audibly and finally visibly!'
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"So let us do all this so that we may share in this grace. Amen."
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And presently the brothers, including Lamech, rose, blessed all the many who were present and sent them to their rest.
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When amid much praising of the divine Name all had left, also Enoch and all the other seven, including Lamech, left the house and hurried to the about three-hundred-fathom (500 meters) high summit of the mountain.
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When they had arrived on the summit, they all unanimously offered a praise and thanksgiving to the Father. After that they reflected on the guidance given by God and on the splendor of the great works, Lamech being all attention and almost beside himself with bliss.
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When Enoch noticed the approach of dawn he said to the brothers:
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"Now let our tongue be silent! Let each concentrate deep in his heart and prepare himself for the hallowed reception of the Lord, our God, our most holy Father; for He is already on the way to us."
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Thereupon all were silent, and the Father came quietly to His own waiting for Him.