Concerning the promise of
the great five days and a half.
Book I. Chapter III.
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God said to Adam, "I
have ordained on this earth days and years, and thou and thy seed
shall dwell and walk in it, until the days and years are fulfilled;
when I shall send the Word that created thee, and against which thou
hast transgressed, the Word that made thee come out of the garden, and
that raised thee when thou wast fallen.
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Yea, the Word that will again
save thee when the five days and a half are fulfilled."
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But when Adam heard these
words from God, and of the great five days and a half, he did not
understand the meaning of them.
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For Adam was thinking that
there would be but five days and a half for him, to the end of the
world.
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And Adam wept, and prayed God
to explain it to him.
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Then God in His mercy for
Adam who was made after His own image and similitude, explained to
him, that these were 5,000 and 500 years; and how One would then come
and save him and his seed.
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But God had before that made
this covenant with our father, Adam, in the same terms, ere he came
out of the garden, when he was by the tree whereof Eve took the fruit
and gave it him to eat.
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Inasmuch as, when our father
Adam came out of the garden, he passed by that tree, and saw how God
had then changed the appearance of it into another form, and how it
withered.
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And as Adam went to it he
feared, trembled and fell down; but God in His mercy lifted him up,
and then made this covenant with him.
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And, again, when Adam was by
the gate of the garden, and saw the cherub with a sword of flashing
fire in his hand, and the cherub grew angry and frowned at him, both
Adam and Eve became afraid of him, and thought he meant to put them to
death. So they fell on their faces, and trembled with fear.
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But he had pity on them, and
showed them mercy; and turning from them went up to heaven, and prayed
unto the Lord, and said:—
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"Lord, Thou didst send
me to watch at the gate of the garden, with a sword of fire.
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"But when Thy servants,
Adam and Eve, saw me, they fell on their faces, and were as
dead. O my Lord, what shall we do to Thy servants?"
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Then God had pity on them,
and showed them mercy, and sent His Angel to keep the garden.
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And the Word of the Lord came
unto Adam and Eve, and raised them up.
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And the Lord said to Adam,
"I told thee that at the end of five days and a half, I will send
my Word and save thee.
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"Strengthen thy heart,
therefore, and abide in the Cave of Treasures, of which I have before
spoken to thee."
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And when Adam heard this Word
from God, he was comforted with that which God had told him. For He
had told him how He would save him.
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