The Conflict of Satan.

Then came the Word of God to Adam and Eve, and raised them from their dead state, saying unto them, "Why came ye up hither?  Do you intend to go into the garden, from which I brought you out?  It can not be to-day; but only when the covenant I have made with you is fulfilled."

Then Adam, when he heard the Word of God, and the fluttering of the angels whom he did not see, but only heard the sound of them with his ears, he and Eve wept, and said to the angels:—

"O Spirits, who wait upon God, look upon me, and upon my being unable to see you!  For when I was in my former bright nature, then I could see you.  I sang praises as you do; and my heart was far above you.

"But now, that I have transgressed, that bright nature is gone from me, and I am come to this miserable state.  And now am I come to this, that I cannot see you, and you do not serve me as you were wont.  For I am become animal flesh.

"Yet now, O angels of God, ask God with me, to restore me to that wherein I was formerly; to rescue me from this misery, and to remove from me the sentence of death He passed upon me, for having trespassed against Him."

Then, when the angels heard these words, they all grieved over him; and cursed Satan who had beguiled Adam, until he came from the garden to misery; from life to death; from peace to trouble; and from gladness to a strange land.

Then the angels said unto Adam, "Thou didst hearken to Satan, and didst forsake the Word of God who created thee; and thou didst believe that Satan would fulfill all he had promised thee.

"But now, O Adam, we will make known to thee, what came upon us through him, before his fall from heaven.

"He gathered together his hosts, and deceived them, promising them to give them a great kingdom, a divine nature; and other promises he made them.

"His hosts believed that his word was true, so they yielded to him, and renounced the glory of God.

"He then sent for us—according to the orders in which we were—to come under his command, and to hearken to his vain promise.  But we would not, and we took not his advice.

"Then after he had fought with God, and had dealt forwardly with Him, he gathered together his hosts, and made war with us.  And if it had not been for God's strength that was with us, we could not have prevailed against him to hurl him from heaven.

"But when he fell from among us, there was great joy in heaven, because of his going down from us.  For had he continued in heaven, nothing, not even one angel would have remained in it.

"But God in His mercy, drove him from among us to this dark earth; for he had become darkness itself and a worker of unrighteousness.

"And he has continued, O Adam, to make war against thee, until he beguiled thee and made thee come out of the garden, to this strange land, where all these trials have come to thee.  And death, which God brought upon him he has also brought to thee, O Adam, because thou didst obey him, and dist transgress against God."

Then all the angels rejoiced and praised God, and asked Him not to destroy Adam this time, for his having sought to enter the garden; but to bear with him until the fulfillment of the promise; and to help him in this world until he was free from Satan's hand.