Adam and Eve gird themselves
and make the first altar ever built.
Book I. Chapter XXIII.
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Then Adam wept more and said,
"O God, have mercy on me, so far as to take upon Thee, that which
I will do."
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But God took His Word from
Adam and Eve.
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Then Adam and Eve stood on
their feet; and Adam said to Eve, "Gird thyself, and I also will
gird myself." And she girded herself, as Adam told her.
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Then Adam and Eve took stones
and placed them in the shape of an altar; and they took leaves from
the trees outside the garden, with which they wiped, from the face of
the rock, the blood they had spilled.
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But that which had dropped on
the sand, they took together with the dust wherewith it was mingled
and offered it upon the altar as an offering unto God.
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Then Adam and Eve stood under
the altar and wept, thus entreating God, "Forgive us our
trespass* and our sin, and look upon us with Thine eye of mercy.
For when we were in the garden our praises and our hymns went up
before Thee without ceasing.
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"But when we came into
this strange land, pure praise was no longer ours, nor righteous
prayer, nor understanding hearts, nor sweet thoughts, nor just
counsels, nor long discernment, nor upright feelings, neither is our
bright nature left us. But our body is changed from the
similitude in which it was at first, when we were created.
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"Yet now look upon our
blood which is offered upon these stones, and accept it at our hands,
like the praise we used to sing unto Thee at first, when in the
garden."
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And Adam began to make more
requests unto God.
*ORIGINAL OF THE LORD'S
PRAYER SAID TO BE USED ABOUT 150 YEARS BEFORE OUR LORD: Our
Father, Who art in Heaven, be gracious unto us, O Lord our God,
hallowed be Thy Name, and let the remembrance of Thee be glorified
in Heaven above and upon earth here below.
Let Thy kingdom reign over us now and
forever. The Holy Men of old said remit and forgive unto all
men whatsoever they have done unto me. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil thing; for Thine is the
kingdom and Thou shalt reign in glory forever and forevermore, AMEN.
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