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Chapter 2 Explanation of Scriptures

An objection and its refutation (21.12.1843)

1. Someone here will say, "This is quite true, that only by active reading (acting on) can one reap the true fruit of reading; but if someone is given so much material, can one put it aside for the sake of doing and read only so much of what one is convinced that one can actively implement?

2. Consider only the great mass of what is given in the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, and then besides that, the vast mass of truly spiritual-exegetical (explanatory) books! If one were to read all this, only according to the degree of activity, indeed, one would probably never be able to cope with only a few chapters throughout his life;

3. But I say: Considered from this point of view, the objector is certainly right; because if you only want to read so much and no more than how much you are actually going to cumbersomely put into practice, then of course a few chapters would be too much! But, with a different attitude, this will never become too much material, and the reader can immediately put everything he has read, into activity!

4. For one could also say, for example, that if any farmer were in possession of a large piece of good agricultural land, which yields him a hundredfold crop, why does he then sow the whole field?! One-tenth of it carries as much as what is necessary for the farmer's needs!

5. But I ask: If this countryman sows the whole field with a good grain, and the field brings him a hundredfold crop, of which one tenth is sufficient for his subsistence, will the superfluous nine tenths injure him? - Oh, sure not! For half of the excess can be distributed to the needy, who will be greatly grateful to him, and the other half of the abundance he can bring to the market; and as it is a good crop, he will find many buyers who will take it away from him at advantageous prices, and he can then use the money gained, to order the rest of his household, and thereby become a respectable and rich fellow countryman.

6. Now see, it is clear from this example, that if one has a good field in himself, and has plenty of good seed in abundance, then he should not be sparing in sowing! For he who sows abundantly will also reap abundantly; but if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly! And what does it need for that? If only the soil of the field is well worked, you may sow so much good corn on it, and yet no grain will perish in the good soil, but every grain will shoot its abundant stem!

7. Likewise it is also in this matter that concerns the spiritual sowing of the Word through reading!

8. For the cultivation of the spiritual ground, man needs no more than the two commandments of love; With these he works his spiritual field easily. If this is worked on, then everyone can sow so much in the same soil, as he only ever can and likes; or he can read as much of the good given, as he can procure of any one of them in fair amount - the whole sacred scripture and all explanations relating to the same, and he will take in nothing of all that which does not give him a rich harvest.

9. For the difference between infertile and fruitful reading consists in:

10. Would someone for instance like to adjust and awaken by reading alone, he would be like one who would sow the seed on an unplowed, unfertilized field. Will not the birds soon come from the air and consume most of the seed in a short time?! And will a small part, which fell among the weeds of the field, not be suffocated by it at once, so that in the end, at the time of the harvest, not even a grain shot into a stalk will be seen anywhere?!

11. But when the sower or the reader sees no harvest for his trouble, does he not then become discouraged, and finally curses the field, and all the seed that was sown, which did not yield a harvest for him?!

12. Such people then become incredulous, fall away from the whole good thing and end up being a sheer fraud.

13. But it is quite different, if somebody formerly, through true love unto Me and his neighbor, freed his spirit, or rather out of Me, and thus properly fertilized and plowed his field; He then does not read the writings of My grace and mercy, so that he should first prepare himself a good field, but he then reads them for My sake, because I have awakened in his spirit the longing to see Me all the more face to face and thereby to possibly grow more and more in love for Me and through that, unto the neighbor.

14. In this case, will he not find every word of Me alive and eternally true, if he is already alive within himself?! But if he is not alive in himself beforehand, will not even the liveliest word in him be killed?!

15. Throw gold pieces into a stinking puddle, and the coarse sulphurous salt of the puddle will dissolve the gold pieces and turn them too, into dirty mud; On the contrary, if you throw more precious metals into a real gold tincture, they will all become like the noble gold in the end!

16. See, that is exactly the case here! By reading My Word, as by listening to it, every man can gain an immense profit for himself and his brethren, having previously converted himself to a gold tincture by observing the two laws; but if it is still a puddle, there are still so many pieces of gold thrown into it (the puddle) that will certainly not turn into a golden tincture.

17. Thus it is also said: "He who has, he will be given that he has in abundance; but he who does not have, will also lose what he has! "(Matthew 13:12) "having" here means: to be in the possession of a good, fertilized and plowed field, or to be in oneself a perfect vessel, full of the true golden tincture, which is a free-living spirit. By 'not having', however, is meant to sprinkle a seed on an unprocessed field, whereby the sower not only has no harvest to expect, but also loses the seed he has sowed; or it is also said to be in itself a puddle of coarse sulfuric salt, which not only cannot ever be transformed into a gold tincture by the gold thrown into it, but the gold which has been thrown into it, is also lost on top of that.

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