commandment

And Adam wept and said, "O Lord, do not cut me off for this, neither smite me with heavy plagues, nor yet repay me according to my sin; For we, of our own will, did transgress Thy commandment, and forsook Thy law, and sought to become gods like unto Thee, when Satan the enemy deceived us."

"O God, Thou madest them obedient to me, and didst order that not one of them break from my sway, according to Thy commandment, and to the dominion which Thou hast given me over them. But now they are all estranged from me.

"But now, O God, since we transgressed Thy commandment and broke Thy law, Thou hast brought us out into a strange land, and has caused suffering, and faintness, hunger and thirst to come upon us.

But Adam began to pray to God and to beseech Him to give him of the fruit of the Tree of Life, saying thus: "O God, when we transgressed Thy commandment at the sixth hour of Friday, we were stripped of the bright nature we had, and did not continue in the garden after our transgression, more than three hours.

"O God, look upon us with an eye of pity, and do not requite us according to our transgression of Thy commandment, in presence of Thee.

"When we transgressed Thy commandment, Thou madest us come out of the garden, and didst send a cherub to keep the Tree of Life, lest we should eat thereof, and live; and know nothing of faintness after we transgressed.

"But these forty-three days cannot make amends for the hour in which thou didst transgress My commandment.

"But since thou didst transgress My commandment, all these sufferings have come upon thee.

"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.

"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?

"When thou wast under My control, all creatures yielded to thee; but after thou hast transgressed My commandment, they all rise over thee."

THEN Adam and Eve began again to come into the cave. And when they came to the way between the fire, Satan blew into the fire like a whirlwind, and made on Adam and Eve a burning coal-fire; so that their bodies were singed; and the coal-fire scorched them. 2 And from the burning of the fire Adam and Eve cried aloud, and said, "O Lord, save us! Leave us not to be consumed and plagued by this burning fire; neither require us for having transgressed Thy commandment."

And the cherub who guarded the garden was standing at the western gate, and guarding it against Adam and Eve, lest they should suddenly come into the garden. And the cherub turned round, as if to put them to death; according to the commandment God had given him.

"For once has it pleased him, O Adam, to come to thee, to comfort thee, and to strengthen thee, and to rejoice with thee, and to send his hosts to guard thee; because thou hast hearkened to him, and hast yielded to his counsel; and hast transgressed My commandment but has followed his behest?"

"And He said to me, 'Abide here!' And I abode there according to His Word, neither did I transgress His commandment.

"But it is Satan, thy master who did it; he to whom thou hast subjected thyself; My commandment being meanwhile set aside. He it is, who burnt down the corn, and poured out the water, and who has led thee astray; and all the promises he has made you, verily are but feint, and deceit, and a lie.

"Now, then, if I deceive him to do this thing, and to wed Eve without God's commandment, God will kill him then."

From that hour it left Adam and Eve, and they enjoyed rest by the commandment of God. But God did not the like to any one of Adam's seed; but only to Adam and Eve.

Again Seth said, "I am afraid of doing any thing without my father's and mother's leave, lest I perish like my brother Cain, and like my father Adam, who transgressed the commandment of God. But, behold, thou knowest this place; come, and meet me here to-morrow."

But keep the commandments that I give thee this day; then give the same to thy son Enos; and let Enos give it to his son Cainan; and Cainan to his son Mahalaleel; so that this commandment abide firm among all your children.

"And now, O Seth, my son, behold I have revealed unto thee hidden mysteries, which God had revealed unto me. Keep my commandment, for thyself, and for thy people,"

WHEN Adam had ended his commandment to Seth, his limbs were loosened, his hands and feet lost all power, his mouth became dumb, and his tongue ceased altogether to speak. He closed his eyes and gave up the ghost.

But as to thy father Adam, keep thou the commandment he gave thee; and sever thy seed from that of Cain thy brother."

They hearkened to his commandment and went out, all of them, both old and young, and worked hard at it, and built a beautiful roof over the altar.

Mahalaleel, his first-born son, received this commandment from his father, who blessed him and died.

THEN Jared kept his father's commandment, and arose like a lion over his people. He fed them in righteousness and innocence, and commanded them to do nothing without his counsel. For he was afraid concerning them, lest they should go to the children of Cain.

"But after that I transgressed, He made me come out of it, and I was left to dwell in this cave; great and sore troubles came upon me; and when my death drew near, I commanded my son Seth to tend his people well; and this my commandment is to be handed from one to another, unto the end of the generations to come.

But after this, they no longer kept His commandment, nor held by the promise He had made to their fathers; but they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain, to look upon the children of Cain, from morning until evening, and upon what they did, upon their beautiful dresses and ornaments. 17 Then the children of Cain looked up from below, and saw the children of Seth, standing in troops on the top of the mountain; and they called to them to come down to them.

Enoch at that time was already grown up, and in his zeal for God, be arose and said, "Hear me, O ye sons of Seth, small and great--when ye transgress the commandment of our fathers, and go down from this holy mountain--ye shall not come up hither again for ever."

Then God sent His Word to Jared, saying, "These thy children, whom thou didst call 'My children,'--behold they have transgressed My commandment, and have gone down to the abode of perdition, and of sin. Send a messenger to those that are left, that they may not go down, and be lost."

And when they were come to him he prayed over them and blessed them, and said to them, "Ye are righteous, innocent sons; go ye not down from this holy mountain; for behold, your children and your children's children have gone down from this holy mountain, and have estranged themselves from this holy mountain, through their abominable lust and transgression of God's commandment.

"But I know, through the power of God, that He will not leave you on this holy mountain, because your children have transgressed His commandment and that of our fathers, which we had received from them.

"Therefore, O my sons, set your hearts on your own selves, and keep the commandment of God which is with you. And when you go from this holy mountain, into a strange land which ye know not, take with you the body of our father Adam, and with it these three precious, gifts and offerings, namely, the gold, the incense, and the myrrh; and let them be in the place where the body of our father Adam shall lay.

BUT Enoch kept the commandment of Jared his father, and continued to minister in the cave.

And I became enamoured of and I lay with her, and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and the commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife.

And I became enamoured of and I lay with her, and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and the commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife.

After I had drunk wine I reverenced not the commandment of God, and I took a woman of Canaan to wife.

And he replied, 'To our parents continually, for God has given us a most important commandment with regard to the honour due to parents. In the next place He reckons the attitude of friend towards friend for He speaks of "a friend which is as thine own soul." You do well in trying to bring all men into friendship with yourself.'

This building now built in your midst is not that which is revealed with Me, that which prepared beforehand here from the time when I took counsel to make Paradise, and showed Adam before he sinned, but when he transgressed the commandment it was removed from him, as also Paradise.

And afterwards come to that place and I will reveal Myself to you, and speak true things with you, and I will give you commandment regarding the method of the times; for they are coming and tarry not.'

I have told you these things, therefore, that wherever ye go, ye may test the souls that are holy, and tell them those things which are fitting and right, and those things which are about to be, and all those things which, before I was glorified, I gave you in commandment,’ so that believing [them] they may truly live From henceforth shall be the beginning of travail,’ and the mystery of destruction." Turning therefore to the Church,” setting right, duly ordering, and arranging, and doing all things in uprightness and holiness, speak to every man as is helpful to him, so that your Father which is in heaven may be glorified1 Be ye wise, that ye may persuade those who are in captivity to error, and those who are sunk in ignorance, that coming to the knowledge of! God, and living piously and purely, they may praise My Father and your God.

But to us also Jesus said:—Because that ye also have asked Me concerning the rule ecclesiastical, I deliver and make known to you how ye ought to order and command him who standeth at the head of the Church, and to keep the perfect and just and most excellent rule, in which My Father who hath sent Me is well pleased. Verily I say unto you, that he who knoweth the power of this commandment and of this testament, and doeth according to those things which are written therein, shall be made like unto the angels who praise My Father and shall be holy unto God. But My Father is mediator and all His host, that if their sins are as the sand of the sea[shore] which cannot be numbered, and any of them, understanding these words, shall do them, these sins shall be forgiven him, and he shall live in Me.

Let the appointment be thus. As she prayeth at the entrance of the altar and looketh down, let the bishop say quietly, so that the priests may hear, thus: PRAYER OF THE INSTITUTION OF WIDOWS WHO SIT IN FRONT O God, the Holy One, the Most High, who seest the [things] that are humble, who hast chosen the weak and the mighty; the Honoured One who hast created also those [things] which are despised; give, O Lord, the spirit of power to this Thine handmaid, and strengthen her with Thy truth, so that doing Thy commandment and serving in the house of Thy sanctuary, she may be an honoured vessel " unto Thee, and may glorify!? [Thee] in the day 3 when Thou wilt glorify Thy poor, O Lord. And grant to her power cheerfully to accom- plish Thy teachings which Thou hast determined for a rule for Thine handmaid. Grant to her, O Lord, the spirit of meek- ness and of power and of patience and of kindness, so that, bearing with ineffable joy Thy burden, she may endure labours. Yea, O Lord God, who knowest our weakness, perfect Thine handmaid for the praise of Thine house; strengthen her for edification and a good example,’ sanctify [her], make [her] wise; comfort [her] O God; for blessed and glorious” is Thy kingdom, O God the Father. And to Thee [be] praise, and to Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Ghost [who is] good and adorable and the Maker of life,” and of equal essence with Thee,” now and before all the worlds and for the ages and for ever and ever. The people: Amen.