The Household of God
Volume 2
Rise and spiritual prime of the first world empire Hanoch
- Chapter 262 -
THE REBUKED DOUBTER IN DISCUSSION WITH ONE OF HIS FRIENDS (27th February 1843)
After this impressive living lesson our main speaker bowed deeply before the poor man and went back to his company, deep in thought. When he arrived there, he turned to one of his friends and addressed the following question to him, saying:
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"Dear brother! Do tell me quite sincerely: Do you really believe beyond all doubt that yonder poor man is the supreme divine Being Itself?
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'Tell me: If you weigh carefully all the circumstances, all attributes absolutely necessary to the Deity in Its purity, do you not have any scruples?
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"It is true: The words spoken by the man abound with the most profound wisdom, love being everywhere the basic theme; but when I scrutinize the terribly simple man out of whose mouth such glorious words issue, and say to myself: 'Shall that, can that be God, God the Infinite, the Almighty, the Eternal?', oh look, then my intellect always struggles against it!
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'Therefore I should still like to hear your verdict in this extremely momentous matter. Do you earnestly believe this, or do you believe it merely out of sheer expediency, which is also always warranted? Do tell me this."
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But the other one says to our main speaker: "Listen, friend and brother to us all, you certainly remember that I was thrown into prison by Lamech because I absolutely refused to recognize him as a God.
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"Look, at that time many recognized him as a God, not for pure, but for dirtiest expediency's sake. Did I do this?
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"You say: 'By no means!' However, having had a taste of the prisons, I would surely be utterly deceitful if I recognized the poor man in accordance with Lamech's stated will as the sole true God of heaven and earth!
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"O brother, I tell you: Lamech could have threatened me with a thousand prisons to recognize the man as a God, - if He were not, truly, I would never have done it!
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"On the contrary, I would at any time be inclined to oppose Lamech a thousand fold rather than obey him; for you know how he took my wife and children, making the wife a slave and selling the children to the princes for indecent profit.
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"Listen, brother! The prison and this meal do not heal such a wound, inflicted on a father and the faithful husband of a most lovable wife.
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"If you ponder this carefully, you will discover horribly little expediency with me.
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"But, since I recognize the man for the sole true God undoubtedly and now, forgiving Lamech all wrong, firmly and actively believe that apart from that God there is and can be none other, you can surely accept that I must have quite a good reason for it.
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"And this reason is precisely the poor man Himself. Learn to know Him with your heart - not with the intellect -, and you will find within yourself the unspeakable reason, which will tell you:
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"Behold, this poor man is the great, holy, most loving, heavenly Father of all angels and humans, Creator of all things, and all eternities and infinity are subject to His most holy and mighty will!
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"And it would require only the slightest hint on His divine part and all visible creation would cease to exist or a thousand new suns would be burning in the firmament.
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"Look, thus it is and will remain forever. This is my reason and I believe it because the love for Him tells and shows me this.
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"So you, too, love Him above all and you will soon realize it; for the Father wants to be loved rather than recognized. This is His will.
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"Do not the little children love their parents before they even recognize them, and we have never complained about it.
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"Why should the almighty, divine Father not have the same intention with us? He wills it so, and so do it, brother! Do understand it well. Amen."