Earlier text: PREFACE.When God had formed the earth, there were mountains, hills, and plains, and interspersed among them were rivers and bodies of water. The earth was not one extensive plain, but the monotony of the scenery was broken by hills and mountains, not high and ragged as they now are, but regular and beautiful in shape. The bare, high rocks were never seen upon them, but lay beneath the surface, answering as bones to the earth. The waters were regularly dispersed. The hills, mountains, and very beautiful plains, were adorned with plants and flowers, and tall, majestic trees of every description, which were many times larger, and much more beautiful, than trees now are. The air was pure and healthful, and the earth seemed like a noble palace. Angels beheld and rejoiced at the wonderful and beautiful works of God. After the earth was created, and the beasts upon it, the FATHER and SON carried out their purpose, which was designed before the fall of Satan, to make man in their own image.34 They had wrought together in the creation of the earth and every living thing upon it. And now GOD says to his SON, “Let us make man in our image.” As Adam came forth from the hand of his CREATOR, he was of noble hight, and of beautiful symmetry. He was more than twice as tall as men now living upon the earth, and was well proportioned. His features were perfect and beautiful. His complexion was neither white, nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing with the rich tint of health. Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble—perfect in symmetry, and very beautiful. This sinless pair wore no artificial garments. They were clothed with a covering of light and glory, such as the angels wear. While they lived in obedience to God, this circle of light enshrouded them. Although everything God had made was in the perfection of beauty, and there seemed nothing wanting upon the earth which God had created to make Adam and Eve happy, yet he manifested his great love to them by planting a garden especially for them. A portion of their time was to be occupied in the happy employment of dressing the garden, and a portion in receiving the visits of angels, listening to their instruction, and in happy meditation. Their labor was not wearisome, but pleasant and invigorating. This beautiful garden was to be their home, their special residence. In this garden the LORD placed fruit-trees35 of every description, for usefulness and beauty, also lovely flowers which filled the air with fragrance. Everything was tastefully and gloriously arranged. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, the glory of which surpassed all other trees. Its fruit looked like apples of gold and silver, and was to perpetuate immortality. The leaves contained healing properties. Very happy were the holy pair in Eden. Unlimited control was given them over every living thing. The lion and the lamb sported together peacefully and harmlessly around them, or slumbered at their feet. Birds of every variety of color and plumage flitted among the trees and flowers, and about Adam and Eve, while their mellow-toned music echoed among the trees in sweet accord to the praises of their CREATOR. In the midst of the garden, near the tree of life, stood the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of this tree the LORD commanded our first parents not to eat, neither to touch it, lest they die. He told them that they might freely eat of all the trees in the garden except one; but if they ate of that tree they should surely die. Before the fall of Satan, the FATHER consulted his Son in regard to the formation of man. They purposed to make this world, and create beasts and living things upon it, and to make man in the image of God, to reign as a ruling monarch over every living thing which God should create. When Satan learned the purpose of God, he was envious at CHRIST, and jealous because the FATHER had not consulted him in regard to the creation of man. Satan was of the highest order of angels; but CHRIST was above all. He was the commander of all Heaven. He imparted to the angelic family the high commands of his FATHER. The envy and jealousy of Satan increased. Until his rebellion all Heaven was in harmony, and perfect subjection to the government of God. Satan commenced to insinuate his dissatisfied feelings to other angels, and a number agreed to aid him in his rebellion. Satan was dissatisfied with his position. Although very exalted, he aspires to be equal with God; and unless the LORD gratifies his ambition, determines to rebel, and refuse submission. He desires, yet dare not at once venture to make known his envious, hateful feelings. But he contents himself with gaining all he can to sympathize with him, as though deeply wronged. He relates to them his thoughts of warring against JEHOVAH. True, faithful angels, listening, hear the awful threats of Satan, and immediately report to their great commander. CHRIST tells them that he and the FATHER are acquainted with the purposes of Satan, and that they are forbearing only to see how many will unite with him to rebel against the government of GOD. He tells them that every purpose of Satan is understood. It was the highest crime to rebel against the government of GOD. All Heaven seemed in commotion. The angels were marshaled in companies, each with a higher commanding angel at their head. All the angels were astir. Satan was warring against the government of GOD, because ambitious to exalt himself and unwilling to submit to the authority of GOD’S SON, Heaven’s great commander. While some of the angels joined Satan in his rebellion, others reasoned with him to dissuade him from his purposes, contending for the honor and wisdom of God in giving authority to his Son. Satan urged, for what reason was Christ endowed with unlimited power and such high command above himself! He stood up proudly, and urged that he should be equal with God. He makes his boasts to his sympathizers that he will not submit to the authority of Christ. At length all the angels are summoned to appear before the FATHER, to have each case decided. Satan unblushingly makes known to all the heavenly family, his discontent, that38 CHRIST should be preferred before him, to be in such close conference with GOD, and he be uninformed as to the result of their frequent consultations. GOD informs Satan that this he can never know. That to his SON will he reveal his secret purposes, and that all the family of Heaven, Satan not excepted, were required to yield implicit obedience. Satan boldly speaks out his rebellion, and points to a large company who think GOD is unjust in not exalting him to be equal with GOD, and in not giving him command above CHRIST. He declares he cannot submit to be under CHRIST’S command, that GOD’S commands alone will he obey. Good angels weep to hear the words of Satan, and to see how he despises to follow the direction of CHRIST, their exalted and loving commander. The FATHER decides the case of Satan, and declares that he must be turned out of Heaven for his daring rebellion, and that all those who united with him in his rebellion, should be turned out with him. Then there was war in Heaven. CHRIST and his angels fought against Satan and his angels, for they were determined to remain in Heaven with all their rebellion. But they prevailed not. CHRIST and loyal angels triumphed, and drove Satan and his rebel sympathizers from Heaven. When Adam and Eve were placed in the beautiful garden, they had everything for their happiness which they could desire. But he chose in his all-wise arrangements to test39 their loyalty before they could be rendered eternally secure. They were to have his favor, and he to converse with them, and they with him. Yet he did not place evil out of their reach. Satan was permitted to tempt them. If they endured the trial they were to be in perpetual favor with GOD and the heavenly angels. Angels of GOD visited Adam and Eve, and told them of the fall of Satan, and warned them to be on their guard. They cautioned them not to separate from each other in their employment, for they might be brought in contact with this fallen foe. If one of them were alone, they would be in greater danger than if both were together. The angels enjoined upon them to closely follow the instructions GOD had given them, for in perfect obedience they were safe, and this fallen foe could then have no power to deceive them. GOD would not permit Satan to follow the holy pair with continual temptations. He could have access to them only at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve wandered away from the side of her husband, and was gazing with mingled curiosity and admiration upon the fruit of the forbidden tree. Satan, in the form of a serpent, conversed with Eve. The serpent had not the power of speech, but Satan used him as a medium. It was Satan that spoke, not the serpent. Eve was deceived, and thought it was the serpent. This serpent was a very beautiful creature with wings; and while flying through the air his appearance was very bright, resembling the color of burnished gold.40 He did not go upon the ground, but went from place to place through the air, and ate fruit like man. Eve’s curiosity was aroused. Instead of fleeing from the spot, she listened to hear a serpent talk. That strange voice should have driven her to her husband’s side to inquire of him why another should thus freely address her. But she enters into a controversy with the serpent. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” He begins his controversy in the form of a question. Eve answers, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” The serpent answers, “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil.” Satan would convey the idea that by eating of the forbidden tree, they would receive a new and more noble kind of knowledge than they had hitherto attained. This has been his special work with great success ever since his fall, to lead men to pry into the secrets of the ALMIGHTY, and not to be satisfied with what God has revealed, and not careful to obey that which he has commanded. He would lead41 them to disobey God’s commands, and then make them believe that they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge, which is purely supposition, and a miserable deception. They fail to understand what God has revealed, and disregard his explicit commandments, and aspire after wisdom, independent of God, and seek to understand that which he has been pleased to withhold from mortals. They are elated with their ideas of progression, and charmed with their own vain philosophy; but grope in midnight darkness relative to true knowledge. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It was not the will of God that this sinless pair should have any knowledge of evil. He had freely given them the good, but withheld the evil. Eve thought the words of the serpent wise, and she received the broad assertion, “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil”—making God a liar. Satan boldly insinuates that God had deceived them to keep them from being exalted in knowledge equal with himself. God said, If ye eat “ye shall surely die.” The serpent says, If ye eat “ye shall not surely die.” She ate, and was delighted with the fruit. It seemed delicious to her taste, and she imagined that she realized in herself the wonderful effects of the fruit. She took the fruit and found her husband and related to him42 the words spoken by the serpent, and told him that by eating the fruit she had felt, instead of death, a pleasing influence. As soon as Eve had disobeyed, she became a powerful medium through which to occasion the fall of her husband. I saw a sadness come over the countenance of Adam. He appeared afraid and astonished. A struggle appeared to be going on in his mind. He told Eve he was quite certain that this was the foe that they had been warned against. If so, that she must die. She assured him she felt no ill effects, but rather a very pleasant influence, and entreated him to eat. Adam regretted that Eve had left his side, but now the deed was done. He must be separated from her whose society he had loved so well. How could he have it thus. His love for Eve was strong. And in utter discouragement he resolved to share her fate. He seized the fruit and quickly ate it, and like Eve felt not immediately its ill effects. Adam disobeyed and fell. Eve thought herself capable of deciding between right and wrong. The flattering hope of entering a higher state of knowledge led her to think that the serpent was her especial friend, possessing a great interest in her welfare. Had she sought her husband, and they related to their MAKER the words of the serpent, they would have been delivered at once from his artful temptation. God instructed our first parents in regard43 to the tree of knowledge, and they were fully informed in regard to the fall of Satan, and the danger of listening to his suggestions. God did not deprive them of the power of eating the forbidden fruit. He left them as free moral agents to believe his word, obey his commandments and live; or believe the tempter, disobey and perish. They both ate, and the great wisdom they obtained was the knowledge of sin, and a sense of guilt. Immediately the covering of light about them disappeared, and under a sense of their guilt, and loss of their divine covering, a shivering seized them, and they tried to cover their exposed forms. The LORD would not have them investigate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, for then they would be exposed to Satan masked. He knew that they would be perfectly safe if they touched not the fruit. Our first parents chose to believe the words, as they thought, of a serpent, yet he had given them no tokens of his love. He had done nothing for their happiness and benefit; while God had given them every thing that was good for food, and pleasant to the sight. Everywhere the eye might rest was abundance and beauty; yet Eve was deceived by the serpent to think that there was something withheld which would make them wise, even as God. Instead of believing and confiding in God, she basely mistrusted his goodness and cherished the words of Satan. Their crime is now before them in its true44 and awful character. Adam censured Eve’s folly in leaving his side, and being deceived by the serpent. They both flattered themselves that GOD, who had given them everything to make them happy, might yet excuse their disobedience, because of his great love to them, and that their punishment would not be so dreadful after all. Satan exulted in his success. He had now tempted the woman to distrust GOD, to question his wisdom, and to seek to penetrate his all-wise plans. And through her he had also caused the overthrow of Adam, who through his love for Eve, disobeyed the command of GOD and fell with her. The news of man’s fall spread through Heaven—every harp was hushed. The angels cast their crowns from their heads in sorrow. All Heaven was in agitation. The angels were grieved at the base ingratitude of man, in return for the rich bounties God had provided. A council was held to decide what must be done with the guilty pair. The angels feared that they would put forth the hand, and eat of the tree of life, and thus perpetuate a life of sin. It had been Satan’s plan to lead Adam and Eve to disobey GOD, receive his frown, hoping that they then would eat of the tree of life, and live in sin. But GOD said he would drive the transgressors from the garden. Angels were immediately commissioned to guard the way of the tree of life, that they might45 gain no access to it. As Adam and Eve hear the sound of GOD’s majestic approach, they seek to hide themselves from his inspection, whom they delighted while in their innocence and holiness, to meet. GOD cursed the ground because of their sin in eating of the tree of knowledge, and declared, “In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” He had apportioned them the good, but withheld the evil. Now GOD declares that they shall eat of it, that is, should be acquainted with evil all the days of their life. The race from that time forward was to be afflicted by Satan’s temptations. A life of perpetual toil and anxiety was appointed unto Adam, instead of the happy, cheerful labor that he had hitherto enjoyed. He told Adam, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” GOD again sets the penalty of death before them, and declares they must suffer it. Holy angels were sent to drive out the disobedient pair from the garden, while other angels guarded the way to the tree of life. Each one of these mighty angels had in his right hand a glittering sword. Adam was driven out from that beautiful garden to till the earth from whence he came. And GOD guarded the tree of life with flaming46 swords which turned every way, lest man should eat of it and perpetuate a life of sin. In humility and inexpressible sadness Adam and Eve left the lovely garden wherein they had been so happy until they disobeyed the command of God. The atmosphere was changed, and it was no longer unvarying as before the transgression. God clothed them with coats of skins to protect them from the sense of chilliness and then of heat to which they were exposed. All Heaven mourned on account of the disobedience and fall of Adam and Eve, which brought the wrath of God upon the whole human race. They were cut off from communing with God, and were plunged in hopeless misery. The law of God could not be changed to meet man’s necessity, for in God’s arrangement it was never to lose its force, or give up the smallest part of its claims. The Son of God pities fallen man. He knows that the law of his FATHER is as unchanging as himself. He can only see one way of escape for the transgressor. He offers himself to his FATHER as a sacrifice for man, to take their guilt and punishment upon himself, and redeem them from death by dying in their place, and thus pay the ransom. The FATHER consents to give his dearly beloved Son to save the fallen race; and through his merits and intercession promises to receive man again into his favor, and to restore holiness to as many as should be willing to accept the atonement thus mercifully offered, and obey his law.47 For the sake of his dear Son the FATHER forbears awhile the execution of death, and to CHRIST he commits the fallen race. Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, were very unlike in character. Abel feared God. Cain cherished rebellious feelings, and murmured against God because of the curse pronounced upon Adam, and because the ground was cursed for his sin. These brothers had been instructed in regard to the provision made for the salvation of the human race. They were required to carry out a system of humble obedience, showing their reverence for God, and their faith and dependence upon the promised REDEEMER, by slaying the firstlings of the flock, and solemnly presenting it with the blood, as a burnt-offering to God. This sacrifice would lead them to continually keep in mind their sin, and the REDEEMER to come, who was to be the great sacrifice for man. Cain brought his offering unto the LORD with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised Sacrifice. He was unwilling to strictly follow the plan of obedience,48 and procure a lamb and offer it with the fruit of the ground. He merely took of the fruit of the ground and disregarded the requirement of God. God had made known to Adam that without shedding of blood there could be no remission for sin. Cain was not particular to bring even the best of the fruits. Abel advised his brother not to come before the Lord without the blood of a sacrifice. Cain being the eldest, would not listen to his brother. He despised his counsel, and with doubt and murmuring in regard to the necessity of the ceremonial offerings, he presented his offering. But God did not accept it. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat as God had commanded; and in full faith of the Messiah to come, and with humble reverence, he presented the offering. God had respect unto his offering. A light flashes from Heaven and consumes the offering of Abel. Cain sees no manifestation that his is accepted. He is angry with the Lord, and with his brother. God condescends to send an angel to Cain to converse with him. The angel inquires of him the reason of his anger, and informs him that if he does well, and follows the directions God has given, he will accept him and respect his offering. But if he will not humbly submit to God’s arrangements, and believe and obey him, he cannot accept his offering. The angel tells Cain that it was no injustice on the part of God, or partiality shown to Abel; but that it was on account49 of his own sin, and disobedience of God’s express command, why he could not respect his offering—and if he would do well he would be accepted of God, and his brother should listen to him, and he should take the lead, because he was the eldest. But even after being thus faithfully instructed, Cain did not repent. Instead of censuring and abhorring himself for his unbelief, he still complains of the injustice and partiality of God. And in his jealousy and hatred he contends with Abel and reproaches him. Abel meekly points out his brother’s error, and shows him that the wrong is in himself. But Cain hates his brother from the moment that God manifests to him the tokens of his acceptance. His brother Abel seeks to appease his wrath by contending for the compassion of God in saving the lives of their parents, when he might have brought upon them immediate death. He tells Cain that God loved them, or he would not have given his Son, innocent and holy, to suffer the wrath which man by his disobedience deserved to suffer. While Abel justifies the plan of God, Cain becomes enraged and his anger increases and burns against Abel, until in his rage he slays him. God inquires of Cain for his brother, and Cain utters a guilty falsehood, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” God informs Cain that he knew in regard to his sin—that he was acquainted with his every act, and even the thoughts of his heart, and says to him, “Thy brother’s50 blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” The curse upon the ground at first had been felt but lightly; but now a double curse rested upon it. Cain and Abel represent the two classes, the righteous and the wicked, the believers and unbelievers, which should exist from the fall of man to the second coming of Christ. Cain slaying his brother Abel represents the wicked who will be envious of the righteous, and will hate them because they are better than themselves. They will be jealous of the righteous, and will persecute and put them to death because their right doing condemns their sinful course. Adam’s life was one of sorrow, humility, and continual repentance. As he taught his children and grand-children the fear of the LORD, he was often bitterly reproached for his sin which resulted in so much misery upon his posterity. When he left the beautiful Eden, the thought that he must die thrilled him with51 horror. He looked upon death as a dreadful calamity. He was first made acquainted with the dreadful reality of death in the human family by his own son Cain slaying his brother Abel. Filled with the bitterest remorse for his own transgression, and deprived of his son Abel, and looking upon Cain as his murderer, and knowing the curse GOD pronounced upon him, bowed down Adam’s heart with grief. Most bitterly did he reproach himself for his first great transgression. He entreated pardon from GOD through the promised SACRIFICE. Deeply had he felt the wrath of GOD for his crime committed in Paradise. He witnessed the general corruption which afterward finally provoked GOD to destroy the inhabitants of the earth by a flood. The sentence of death pronounced upon him by his MAKER, which at first appeared so terrible to him, after he had lived some hundreds of years, looked just and merciful in GOD, to bring to an end a miserable life. To his children, and to their children, to the ninth generation, he delineated the perfections of his Eden home; and also his fall and its dreadful results, and the load of grief brought upon him on account of the rupture in his family, which ended in the death of Abel. He related to them the sufferings GOD had brought him through, to teach him the necessity of strictly adhering to his law. He declared to them that sin would be punished in whatever form it existed. He entreated them to obey52 GOD, who would deal mercifully with them if they should love, and fear him. Angels held communication with Adam after his fall, and informed him of the plan of salvation, and that the human race was not beyond redemption. Although a fearful separation had taken place between GOD and man, yet provision had been made through the offering of his beloved SON by which man might be saved. But their only hope was through a life of humble repentance, and faith in the provision made. All those who could thus accept CHRIST as their only SAVIOUR, should be again brought into favor with GOD through the merits of his SON. Adam was commanded to learn his descendants the fear of the LORD, and by his example and humble obedience teach them to highly regard the offerings which typified a SAVIOUR to come. Adam carefully treasured what GOD had revealed to him, and handed it down by word of mouth to his children and children’s children. By this means the knowledge of GOD was preserved. There were some righteous upon the earth who knew and feared GOD even in Adam’s day. The Sabbath was observed before the fall. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed GOD’s command, and ate of the forbidden fruit, they were expelled from Eden; but they observed the Sabbath after their fall. They had experienced the bitter fruits of disobedience, and learned that every transgressor of GOD’s commands will sooner or later53 learn that GOD means just what he says, and that he will surely punish the transgressor. Those who venture to lightly esteem the day upon which Jehovah rested, the day which he sanctified and blessed, the day which he has commanded to be kept holy, will yet know that death is the reward of the transgressor. On account of the special honors God conferred upon the seventh day, he required his people to number by sevens lest they should forget their Creator who made the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. The descendants of Cain were not careful to respect the day upon which God rested. They chose their own time for labor and for rest, regardless of Jehovah’s special command. There were two distinct classes upon the earth. One class were in open rebellion against God’s law; while the other class obeyed his commandments, and revered his Sabbath. Seth was a worthy character, and was to take the place of Abel in right doing. Yet he was a son of Adam like sinful Cain, and inherited from the nature of Adam no more natural goodness than did Cain. He was born in sin, but by the grace of GOD, in receiving54 the faithful instructions of his father Adam, he honored God in doing his will. He separated himself from the corrupt descendants of Cain, and labored, as Abel would have done had he lived, to turn the minds of sinful men to revere and obey God. Enoch was a holy man. He served God with singleness of heart. He realized the corruptions of the human family, and separated himself from the descendants of Cain, and reproved them for their great wickedness. There were those upon the earth who acknowledged God, who feared and worshiped him. Yet righteous Enoch was so distressed with the increasing wickedness of the ungodly, that he would not daily associate with them, fearing that he should be affected by their infidelity, and that his thoughts might not ever regard God with that holy reverence which was due his exalted character. His soul was vexed as he daily witnessed their trampling upon the authority of God. He chose to be separate from them, and spent much of his time in solitude, which he devoted to reflection and prayer. He waited before God, and prayed to know his will more perfectly, that he might perform it. God communed with Enoch through his angels, and gave him divine instruction. He made known to him that he would not always bear with man in his rebellion—that his purpose was to destroy the sinful race by bringing a flood of waters upon the earth. The pure and lovely garden of Eden, from which our first parents were driven, remained until God purposed to destroy the earth by a flood. God had planted that garden, and especially blessed it, and in his wonderful providence withdrew it from the earth, and will return it to the earth again, more gloriously adorned than before it was removed from the earth. God purposed to preserve a specimen of his perfect work of creation free from the curse wherewith he had cursed the earth. The LORD opened more fully to Enoch the plan of salvation, and by the spirit of prophecy carried him down through the generations which should live after the flood, and showed him the great events connected with the second coming of CHRIST and the end of the world. Enoch was troubled in regard to the dead. It seemed to him that the righteous and the wicked would go to the dust together, and that would be their end. He could not clearly see the life of the just beyond the grave. In prophetic vision he was instructed in regard to the Son of God, who was to die man’s sacrifice, and was shown the coming of CHRIST in the clouds of Heaven, attended by the angelic host, to give life to the righteous dead, and ransom them from their graves. He also saw the corrupt state of the world at the time when CHRIST should appear the second time—that there would be a boastful, presumptuous, self-willed generation arrayed in rebellion against the law of God, and denying the only56 LORD GOD and our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and trampling upon his blood, and despising his atonement. He saw the righteous crowned with glory and honor, while the wicked were separated from the presence of the LORD, and consumed with fire. Enoch faithfully rehearsed to the people all that GOD had revealed to him by the spirit of prophecy. Some believed his words, and turned from their wickedness to fear and worship GOD. Such often sought Enoch in his places of retirement, and he instructed them and prayed for them, that GOD would give them a knowledge of his will. At length he chose certain periods for retirement, and would not suffer the people to find him, for they interrupted his holy meditation and communion with GOD. He did not exclude himself at all times from the society of those who loved him and listened to his words of wisdom; neither did he separate himself wholly from the corrupt. He met with the good and bad at stated times, and labored to turn the ungodly from their evil course, and instruct them in the knowledge and fear of GOD. He taught those who had the knowledge of GOD to serve him more perfectly. He would remain with them as long as he could benefit them by his godly conversation and holy example, and then would withdraw himself from all society—from the just, the scoffing and idolatrous, to remain in solitude hungering and thirsting for communion with GOD, and that57 divine knowledge which he alone could give him. Enoch continued to grow more heavenly while communing with God. His face was radiant with a holy light which would remain upon his countenance while instructing those who would hear his words of wisdom. His heavenly and dignified appearance struck the people with awe. The Lord loved Enoch because he steadfastly followed him, and abhorred iniquity, and earnestly sought heavenly knowledge that he might do his will perfectly. He yearned to unite himself still more closely to God, whom he feared, reverenced, and adored. God would not permit Enoch to die as other men, but sent his angels to take him to Heaven without seeing death. In the presence of the righteous and the wicked, Enoch was removed from them. Those who loved him thought that God might have left him in some of his places of retirement; but after seeking him diligently, and being unable to find him, reported that he was not, for God took him. The LORD here teaches a lesson of the greatest importance by the translation of Enoch, a descendant of fallen Adam, that all would be rewarded, who by faith would rely upon the promised SACRIFICE, and faithfully obey his commandments. Two classes are here again represented which were to exist till the second coming of CHRIST—the righteous and the wicked, the rebellious and the loyal.58 GOD will remember the righteous, who fear him. On account of his dear SON he will respect and honor them, and give them everlasting life. But the wicked, who trample upon his authority, he will cut off and destroy from the earth, and they will be as though they had not been. After Adam’s fall from a state of perfect happiness to a state of misery and sin, there was danger of man’s becoming discouraged, and inquiring, “What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and walked mournfully before the Lord,” since a heavy curse is resting upon the human race, and death is the portion of us all? But the instructions which GOD gave to Adam, and which were repeated by Seth, and fully exemplified by Enoch, cleared away the darkness and gloom, and gave hope to man, that as through Adam came death, through JESUS, the promised REDEEMER, would come life and immortality. In the case of Enoch the desponding faithful were taught that, although living among a corrupt and sinful people, who were in open and daring rebellion against GOD, their CREATOR, yet if they would obey him, and have faith in the promised REDEEMER, they could work righteousness like the faithful Enoch, be accepted of God, and finally exalted to his heavenly throne. Enoch, separating himself from the world, and spending much of his time in prayer and in communion with GOD, represents GOD’s59 loyal people in the last days who will be separate from the world. Unrighteousness will prevail to a dreadful extent upon the earth. Men will give themselves up to follow every imagination of their corrupt hearts, and carry out their deceptive philosophy, and rebel against the authority of high Heaven. God’s people will separate themselves from the unrighteous practices of those around them, and will seek for purity of thought, and holy conformity to his will, until his divine image will be reflected in them. Like Enoch they will be fitting for translation to Heaven. While they endeavor to instruct and warn the world, they will not conform to the spirit and customs of unbelievers, but will condemn them by their holy conversation and godly example. Enoch’s translation to Heaven just before the destruction of the world by a flood, represents the translation of all the living righteous from the earth previous to its destruction by fire. The saints will be glorified in the presence of those who have hated them for their loyal obedience to God’s righteous commandments. Enoch instructed his family in regard to the flood. Methuselah, the son of Enoch, listened to the preaching of his grandson, Noah, who faithfully warned the inhabitants of the old world that a flood of waters was coming upon the earth. Methuselah and his sons, and grandsons, lived in the time of the building of the ark. They, with some others, received instruction60 from Noah, and assisted him in building the ark. Seth was of more noble stature than Cain or Abel, and resembled Adam more than any of his other sons. The descendants of Seth had separated themselves from the wicked descendants of Cain. They cherished the knowledge of God’s will, while the ungodly race of Cain had no respect for God and his sacred commandments. But when men multiplied upon the earth, the descendants of Seth saw that the daughters of the descendants of Cain were very beautiful, and they departed from God and displeased him by taking wives as they chose of the idolatrous race of Cain.