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A parable
3rd April 1841, from 6 to 10 in the evening.
Writer: Marie H., Wilhelmine H., Pauline H. and others Topics (chosen by the three sisters): ◦ What is the wasp a symbol of? ◦ What does the evening star mean? ◦ What is innocence? The Lord most graciously responded to this through His servant:
[1] Once upon a time there was a father who had three children; all three children were female. The father himself, however, was a great worldly wise man and was well versed in all earthly sciences as well as in the art of arithmetic and therefore could well calculate the movements of the stars. And since he was also well versed in the inner corresponding science of experience, he also knew how to decipher all kinds of interpretations from the various movements and positions of the planets and other celestial bodies. This last mentioned science was also the one that was his hobby, so to speak.
[2] But so that you may understand this parable a little easier, think of this worldly-wise father three thousand years earlier, than the number of your present time, and still think that this man was a heathen, who did not know much more about Me than a newborn child.
[3] However, it happened once that he stepped with his already quite adult three daughters in deepest night-time from his unsightly hut, in order to make new discoveries in the aforementioned area of interpretation in the presence of his three daughters. When he had gaped through the light-dotted sky to his satisfaction and there was nothing new for him to gain from the starry sky, he wanted to turn around and return to his hut loaded with his meager prey.
[4] But his three daughters were not of such a mind-set. For according to the custom of that country, a girl was never allowed to go out of the hut after sunset, therefore this first sight of the starry sky was covered with too much attraction for a very receptive youthful girl's heart to part so quickly from the so magnificently illuminated sky. Therefore the three daughters asked their father to stay in the illuminated hall only this time until sunrise.
[5] It did not need too much asking, and the father granted his beloved daughters what they asked for. However, as it already goes that the children, if a finger is handed to them, immediately reach for the whole hand, so it was also the case here. The daughters were not content with silent contemplation alone, but each of them immediately began to ask questions, as her tongue had grown and as her mind had given her in all eagerness to know.
[6] And see how these daughters have thrown many a diamond chunk to their wise father to bite open. What do you well think, dear children, about what the first asked her father? The question was indeed not so bad, for it revolved around nothing less than the childishly foolish trifle: who probably made these bright little dots together with this wide vault of heaven. The answer of the father was: "My dear daughters, we have a teaching that says that somewhere above all these stars, there should dwell a mighty being, of whom everything you see should once have been made. But, between ourselves, this
is just an old-fashioned myth, but it has no reality, because science teaches something completely different about it.” And again a daughter asked: What is this "something else entirely"? The father replied: So, my dear ones, that all this which you see there exists already from eternity, as you see it now.”
[7] However, the daughters were not satisfied with this answer, but asked the father again what it meant: from eternity. To which the father replied: "From eternity means so much as that a thing has never begun to be and to become. But this answer was even more unsatisfactory for the daughters than the previous one, and so the father had to put up with being hounded by his daughters with even more critical questions. And so one was immediately finished with the question, which was : "But, dear Father, does this teaching apply to all things – or only to the stars?
[8] Here the father was already a little embarrassed and wanted to get out of the noose by referring his teaching only to the stars. Alone, he did not make his situation any better, because another little daughter had already finished with a new question, which was : "In this way the earth is not eternal, if your teaching refers only to the stars.” Here the father already knew nothing more to say than that he apologized for having forgotten in his haste about the earth. This sham reason alone only gave the daughters a new opportunity to knit the father even tighter.
[9] And so immediately a new question was raised again, namely: How then it is to be understood that the earth – which consists of clay, stones, mountains, water, sand, and other all sorts of things – never began to be, while yet many things arise on it and pass away again. Yes, even if I often observed a small puddle of water being destroyed by the sun's rays and thought thereby if the sun would lower even hotter rays to earth, it could probably destroy a lake – so I would like to know how that should be taken: that something can exist temporarily, that never began to be, and when it is there, but can pass away anyway, that it should have been there before from eternity?” Here the father was as if sewn into a sevenfold sack and could not say anything else on it but: "My dear children! Man cannot know such things!" And immediately another one asked: "But if according to your teaching the wise man cannot know such thing, who is to know it afterwards then, when man is already the highest being?” And another one added another question, which was: When, according to your teaching, all trees, bushes, plants, animals, and people reproduce themselves, I have sometimes racked my brains over whether there have never been firstlings? Because it always seems to me: Where there was never a first, there can never ever be a second – can there, dear father? Because so your arithmetic indeed teaches us!"
[10] Behold, now the father was completly finished and knew nothing else to do but to tell his daughters: “Dear children, I just heard a huge buzz of stinging wasps, you know how much their sting burns. Therefore we do not want to wait for these uninvited guests, but since the morning star has just risen above the horizon and announces the imminent rise of the sun, we want to go into our hut, so that nobody meets us unseemly in the open air and on top of that badly mauled by wasps.” And soon they also stood up. But it didn't want to go very well, because when they approached their hut, they were recoiled by a rare fire meteor and did not even dare to look where the hut stood; because this meteor consisted of a flashing large column of fire and had an extremely threatening appearance.
[11] When the company was back in the previous place, their fear decreased, and the daughters asked their father why he was afraid of this pillar of fire – and whether this pillar of fire was also from eternity? To what question the father once again failed to answer and said only of the fear: Man should certainly not be afraid, but on such an extraordinary occasion one is afraid nevertheless; for such fear is salutary to man, since it keeps him from misfortune."
[12] But by this explanation he threw himself into a new embarrassment, because as soon as there was a new question, namely: “Where does this good, protective fear in people come from on such
occasions; for since it is a good thing, cannot it start from what man is appalled by?” To these questions finally the wise father said: “Dear children! If man could find a satisfactory answer to every question, he would be, dear children, – I do not know myself what he would be! – He would have to be more than a man in any case."
[13] And a new question, which consisted in the question why all stars do not shine alike and people do not know equally much, almost brought the wise father to despair, – and finally the question, why the difference between the beautiful morning star and the evening star of equally strong light, which they had already seen, brought the father to a somewhat annoying answer, which was thus: "None other than that between your questions and your innocence."
[14] Now, My dear children, in this parable you have everything explained you asked for. You have not asked about the essence, but only about the meaning, and this is given to you here also to overflowing sufficiency. Think about it in your heart, and everything will become clear to you, Amen. I, your Father, say this. Amen.