The Devil attempts arson.
Book I. Chapter XLIII.
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Then Adam and Eve were
afraid, and stood still. And Adam said to Eve, "What is
that fire by our cave? We do nothing in it to bring about this
fire.
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"We neither have bread
to bake therein, nor broth to cook there. As to this fire, we
know not the like, neither do we know what to call it.
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"But ever since God sent
the cherub with a sword of fire that flashed and lightened in his
hand, from fear of which we fell down and were like corpses, have we
not seen the like.
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"But now, O Eve, behold,
this is the same fire that was in the cherub's hand, which God has
sent to keep the cave in which we dwell.
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"O Eve, it is because
God is angry with us, and will drive us from it.
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"O Eve, we have again
transgressed His commandment in that cave, so that He had sent this
fire to burn around it, and to prevent us from going into it.
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"If this be really so, O
Eve, where shall we dwell? And whither shall we flee from before
the face of the Lord? Since, as regards the garden, He will not
let us abide in it, and He has deprived us of the good things thereof;
but He has placed us in this cave, in which we have borne darkness,
trials and hardships, until at last we found comfort therein.
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"But now that He has
brought us out into another land, who knows what may happen in
it? And who knows but that the darkness of that land may be far
greater than the darkness of this land?
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"Who knows what may
happen in that land by day or by night? And who knows whether it
will be far or near, O Eve? Where it will please God to put us,
may be far from the garden, O Eve! or where God will prevent us from
beholding Him, because we have transgressed His commandment, and
because we have made requests unto Him at all times?
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"O Eve, if God will
bring us into a strange land other than this, in which we find
consolation, it must be to put our souls to death, and blot out our
name from the face of the earth.
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"O Eve, if we are
farther estranged from the garden and from God, where shall we find
Him again, and ask Him to give us gold, incense, myrrh, and some fruit
of the fig-tree?
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"Where shall we find
Him, to comfort us a second time? Where shall we find Him, that
He may think of us, as regards the covenant He has made on our
behalf?"
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Then Adam said no more.
And they kept looking, he and Eve, towards the cave, and at the fire
that flared up around it.
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But that fire was from
Satan. For he had gathered trees and dry grasses, and had
carried and brought them to the cave, and had set fire to them, in
order to consume the cave and what was in it.
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So that Adam and Eve should
be left in sorrow, and he should cut off their trust in God, and make
them deny Him.
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But by the mercy of God he
could not burn the cave, for God sent His angel round the cave to
guard it from such a fire, until it went out.
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And this fire lasted from
noon-day until the break of day. That was the forty-fifth day.
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