of our first parents’ life, Adam uttered such a loud and bitter cry that
the whole earth quaked.
The All-merciful was filled with compassion, and bade him follow a cloud
which would conduct him to a spot where he would be directly opposite
His throne, and there he was to build a temple.
“Go about this temple,” said Allah, “and I am as near to you as to the
angels who surround my throne.” Adam, who was still the size that God
had created him, easily strode from Ceylon to Mecca after the cloud,
which stood over the place where he was to build. On Mount Arafa, near
Mecca, to his great delight, he found Eve again, and from this
circumstance the mountain takes its name (from Arafa, to recognize, to
know again). They both began to build, and erected a temple having four
doors—one was called Adam’s door, another Abraham’s door, the third
Ishmael’s door, and the fourth Mohammed’s door. The plan of the temple
was furnished by Gabriel, who also contributed a precious stone, but
this stone afterwards, through the sin of men, turned black. This black
stone is the most sacred Kaaba, and it was originally an angel, whose
duty it had been to guard the Wheat-Tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, and to warn off Adam should he approach it. But through his
inattention the design of God was frustrated, and in punishment he was
transformed into a stone, and he will not be released from his
transformation till the Last Day.
Gabriel taught Adam also all the ceremonies of the great pilgrimage.
Adam now returned with his wife to India, and lived there till he died,
but every year he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, till he lost his primitive
size, and retained only the height of sixty ells.
The cause of his diminution in height was his horror and dismay at the
murder of Abel, which made him shrink into himself, and he was never
afterwards able to stretch himself out again to his pristine
dimensions.[88]
The Book of the Penitence of Adam is a curious apocryphal work of Syriac
origin; I give an outline of its contents.
God planted, on the third day, the Terrestrial Paradise; it is bounded
on the east by the ocean in which, at the Last Day, the elect will wash
away all those sins which have not as yet been purged away by
repentance.
On leaving this garden of delights, Adam turned to take of it one last
look. He saw that the Tree which had caused his fall was cursed and had
withered away.
He was much surprised when night overtook him, for in Paradise he had
not known darkness. As he went along his way, shedding tears, he
overtook the serpent gliding over the ground, and licking the dust. That
serpent he had last seen on four feet, very beautiful, with the hair of
a young maiden, enamelled with brilliant colours. Now it was vile,
hideous, and grovelling. The beasts which, before the Fall, had coveted
its society, fled from it now with loathing.
Filled with rage at the sight of Adam and Eve, to whom it attributed its
present degradation, the serpent flew at them and prostrated them.
Thereupon God removed from it its sole remaining possession—the gift of
speech, and it was left only its hiss of rage and shame.
Adam soon felt exhaustion, heat, fear and pain;—afflictions he had not
known in Eden. As the shadows of night fell, an intense horror
overwhelmed the guilty pair; they trembled in every limb and cried to
God. The Almighty, in compassion, consoled them by announcing to them
that day would return after twelve hours of night. They were relieved by
this promise, and they spent the first night in prayer.
But Satan, who never lost sight of them, fearing lest their prayers
should wholly appease the divine justice, assembled his host of evil
angels, surrounded himself with a brilliant light, and stood at the
entrance of the cave where the banished ones prayed. He hoped that Adam
would mistake him for God, and prostrate himself before him.
But Adam said to Eve: “Observe this great light and this multitude of
spirits. If it were God who sent them, they would enter and tell us
their message.” Adam did not know then that Satan cannot approach those
who pray. Then Adam addressed himself to God and said, “O my God! is
there another God but Thou, who can create angels and send them to us?
Lord, deign to instruct us!”
Then a heavenly angel entered the cavern and said, “Adam, fear not those
whom you see; it is Satan and his host. He sought to seduce you again to
your fall.”
Having thus spoken, the angel fell upon Satan and tore from off him his
disguise, and exposed him in his hideous nakedness to Adam and Eve. And
to console them for this trial, God sent Adam gold rings, incense and
myrrh, and said to him, “Preserve these things, and they will give you
at night light and fragrance; and when I shall come down on earth to
save you, clothed in human flesh, kings shall bring me these three
tokens.”
It is because of this present that the cavern into which Adam and Eve
retreated has been called the Treasure-cave.
Adam and Eve, greatly cheered, blessed the Lord, and thanked Him for His
goodness, and resolved to continue their repentance.
A short time after they committed a fault. Satan presented himself to
them under the form of an angel of light, and announced that he was
commissioned by the Most High to lead them to the brink of the River of
the Water of Life, into which they were to plunge and wash away their
sin.
They believed, and followed him by a strange road, and he led them to
the edge of a precipice, down which he endeavoured to fling them; for,
he thought, were he to destroy the man and the woman, he would be
supreme in the world God had made. But the Almighty rescued Adam and
Eve, and drave Satan from them.
To punish themselves for their involuntary fault, Adam and Eve
separated, so as not to see one another, and resolved to spend forty
days up to their necks in the sea.
Before parting, Adam said to his wife, “Remain in the water here, and do
not quit it till I return, and spend your time in praying the Lord to
pardon us.”
Now, whilst they were undergoing this penance, Satan cast about how he
might bring to naught our first parents, and he sought them but could
not find them, till on the thirty-fifth day of their penance he
perceived the two heads above the water; then he knew at once what was
their intention, and he resolved to frustrate it. So he took upon him
the form of an angel of Heaven, and flew over the sea, singing praises
to God; and when he came to the place where Eve was, he cried, “Joy, joy
to thee! God is with thee, and He has sent me to bring thee to Adam to
announce to him that he has found favour with the Most High.”
Eve instantly scrambled out of the water, and followed Satan to Adam,
and the Evil One placed her before her husband, and vanished. When Adam
saw his wife, he was filled with dismay, and beat his breast and wept.
When she told him why she was there, he knew that the great Enemy had
been again at his work of deception, and he fell into despair. But a
voice from Heaven bade him return with Eve to the Treasure-cave.
Hunger, thirst, cold, and prayer had completely exhausted the pair, and
Adam cried to the Lord, “O God, my Creator! Thou hast given me reason
and an enlightened heart. When Thou didst forbid me to eat of the fruit
of the Tree, Eve was not yet made, and she did not hear Thy command; in
Eden we hungered not, nor felt thirst or pain or fatigue. All this have
we lost. And now we dare not touch the fruit of the trees or drink of
water without Thy command. Our bodies are exhausted, our strength is
gone; grant us wherewith to satisfy our hunger, and to quench our
thirst.”
God ordered the Cherubim who kept the gate of Eden, to carry to Adam two
figs from the tree under which our first parents had concealed
themselves after the Fall.
“Take,” said the Cherubim, presenting the figs to them, “take the fruit
of the tree whose leaves covered your shame.”
“Oh!” cried Adam, “may God grant us some of the fruit of the Tree of
Life.”
But God answered, “I will give unto you this fruit and living water, to
you and to your descendants, on that day that I shall descend into the
abode of death and shall break the gates of iron in sunder, to bring you
forth into my garden of pleasures. That which you ask of Me shall take
place at the expiration of five long days and a half (_i.e._ 5,500
years), after that my blood has flowed upon thy head, O Adam, upon
Golgotha.”
Adam and Eve took the figs, which were very heavy, for the fruits of the
earthly paradise were much larger than the fruit of this outer world in
which we live. And when they were about to enter into the Cave of
Treasures, they saw there a great fire; this mightily astonished them,
for as yet they had not seen fire except in the flaming sword of the
Cherub. Now this fire which surprised them was the work of Satan; he had
collected branches and had fired them in the hope of burning down the
cavern and driving Adam to despair.
The fire lasted till the morrow; Satan, without showing himself, keeping
it supplied with fresh fuel. Adam and Eve did not venture to approach,
but recommended themselves to God; and the Evil One, finding that his
plan had failed, let the fire die out and departed.
Adam and Eve slept the following night at the foot of a mountain near
their lost Eden. Satan, beholding them, said, “God has made a compact
with Adam, whom He desires to save, but I will slay him, and the earth
shall be mine.”
He therefore summoned his attendant angels, and they dislodged a huge
rock from the mountain and hurled it upon the sleepers. But as this mass
was bounding down the flank of the mountain, and was in mid-air in one
of its leaps, God arrested it above the heads of the sleepers, and it
sheltered them from the dews of night.
Adam and Eve awoke greatly troubled by their dreams, and they asked of
God garments to cover their naked bodies, for they suffered from the
scorching sun by day, and the frost by night. God replied, “Go to the
shore of the sea; you will there find the skins of sheep which have been
devoured by lions: of them make to yourselves raiment.”
Satan heard the words of God, and he outran our first parents, that he
might secure the skins and destroy them, in the hopes that Adam and Eve,
finding no hides, would doubt God and think that He had failed in His
word. But God fastened Satan in his naked hideousness beside the skins,
immoveable, till Adam and Eve arrived, when He addressed them in these
terms: “Behold him who has seduced you; see what has become of his
beauty. After having made you such promises, he was about to rob you of
these hides.” Adam and Eve took the skins and made of them garments. A
few days after, God said to them, “Go to the west till you arrive at a
black land; there you will find food.” They obeyed, and they saw corn
full ripe, and God inspired Adam with knowledge how to make bread. But
not having sickles they tore the corn up by the roots, and having made a
rick of it, they slept, expecting to thrash it out and grind it on the
morrow. But Satan fired this rick and reduced their harvest to ashes.
Whilst they wept and lamented, Satan came to them as an angel, and said,
“This is the work of your Enemy the Fiend, but God has sent me to bring
you into a field where you will find better corn.”
They followed him, nothing doubting, and he led them for eight days, and
they fainted with exhaustion and were foot-sore. Then he left them in an
unknown land; but God was their protector, He brought them back to their
harvest and restored their rick of corn, and they made bread and offered
to God the first sacrifice.[89]
But enough of this apocryphal work, which contains a string of absurd
tricks played by Satan on our first parents, which are invariably
defeated by God; of these the specimens given above are sufficient.
A curious legend exists among the Sclavonic nations by which the
existence of elves is accounted for. It is said that Adam had by his
wife Eve, thirty sons and thirty daughters. God asked him, one day, the
number of his children. Adam was ashamed of having so many girls, so he
answered, “Thirty sons and twenty-seven daughters.” But from the eye of
God nothing can be concealed, and He took from among Adam’s daughters
the three fairest, and He made them Willis, or elves; they were good and
holy, and therefore did not perish in the Deluge, but entered with Noah
into the ark and were saved.
The story of Adam’s penitence as told by Tabari is as follows:—
The moment that Adam fell out of Paradise and touched the ground on the
mountains in the centre of Ceylon, he understood in all its magnitude
the greatness of his loss and his sin. He remained stupefied with his
face on the earth, and did not raise it, but allowed his tears to flow
upon and soak into, the soil. For a hundred years he remained in this
position and his tears formed a stream which rolled down the mountain,
which still flows from Adam’s Peak in the island of Ceylon, and gives
their virtue to the healing plants and fragrant trees which there
flourish, and are exported for medicinal purposes.
When a hundred years had elapsed, God had compassion on Adam, and sent
Gabriel to him, who said, “God salutes thee, O Adam! and He bids me say
to thee, Did I not create thee out of the earth by My will? Did I not
give thee Paradise to be thine abode? Why these tears and sighs?”
Adam replied, “How shall I not weep, and how shall I abstain from
sighing? Have I not lost the protection of God, and have I not disobeyed
His will?”
Gabriel said, “Do not afflict thyself. Recite the words I shall teach
thee, and God will grant thee repentance which He will accept,” as it is
written in the Koran, ‘Adam learnt of His Lord words; and the Lord
returned to Him, for He is merciful, and He returns.’ Adam recited these
words, and in the joy he felt at the prospect of finding mercy, he wept,
and his joyous tears watered the earth, and from them sprang up the
narcissus and the ox-eye.
Then said Adam to Gabriel, “What shall I now do?”
And Gabriel gave to Adam wheat-grains from out of Paradise, the fruit of
the Forbidden Tree, and he bade him sow it, and he said, “This shall be
thy food in future.”
Afterwards, Gabriel taught Adam to draw iron out of the rock and to make
instruments of husbandry. And all that Adam sowed sprang up in the
self-same hour that it was sown, for the blessing of God was upon it.
And Adam reaped and thrashed and winnowed. Then Gabriel bade him take
two stones from the mountain, and he taught him with them to grind the
corn; and when he had made flour, he said to the angel, “Shall I eat
now?” But Gabriel answered, “Not so;” and he showed him how to build an
oven of iron. It was from this oven that the water of the deluge at
Koufa flowed. He taught him also to make dough and to bake.
But Adam was hungry, and he said, “Let me eat now,” and the angel stayed
him, and answered, “Tarry till the bread be cold and stale,” but he
would not, but ate. Therefore he suffered from pain in his belly. Next,
Gabriel by the command of Allah brought out of Eden the ox and fruit; of
these latter there were ten kinds whose exterior was edible, but whose
insides were useless to eat, such as the apricot, the peach, and the
date. And there were three that could not be eaten anyhow. Then he
brought ten more whose insides and outsides might be eaten, such as the
grape, the fig, and the apple. Said Gabriel to Adam, “Sow these,” and he
sowed them. These are the trees that the angel brought out of Paradise.
Now Adam was all alone on the peak in the midst of Ceylon, and his head
was in the first heaven. The sun burnt him, so that all his hair fell
off; and God, in compassion, bade Gabriel pass his wing over Adam’s
head, and Adam thereupon shrank to the height of sixty cubits. And then
he could no longer hear the voices of the angels in heaven, and he was
sore distressed.
Then God said to him, “I have made this world thy prison, but I send to
thee out of heaven a house of rubies, in order that thou mayest enter in
and walk round it, and therein find repose for thy heart.”
Thereupon out of heaven descended “the visited house,” and it was placed
where now stands the temple of Mecca. The black stone which is there was
originally white and shining. It was placed in the ruby house. Whosoever
looked in that direction from ten parasangs off, could see the light of
that house shining like a fire up to the heaven, and in the midst of
that red light shone the white stone like a star.
Afterwards, Gabriel conducted Adam to that house that he might go in
procession round it. All the places where his foot was planted became
verdant oases, with rivers of water and many flowers and trees, but all
the tract between was barren.
Gabriel taught Adam how to make the pilgrimage; and if anyone now goes
there without knowing the ceremonies, he needs a guide.
Then Adam met with Eve again, and they rejoiced together; and she went
back with him to Ceylon. Now at that time there was in the world no
other pair than Adam and Eve, and no other house than the mansion of
rubies.
Now Eblis had made his prayer to Allah that he might be allowed to live
till Israfiel should sound the last trumpet. And he asked this, because
those who are alive when that trumpet sounds, shall not die any more,
for Death will be brought in, in the shape of a sheep, and will be
slaughtered; and when Death is slaughtered, no one will be able to die.
And God said, “I give thee the time till all creatures must die.”
Then Eblis said, “Just as Thou didst turn me out of the right way, so
shall I pervert those whom Thou hast made.” Satan went to man and said
to him, “God has driven me out of Paradise, never to return there, and
He has taken from me the sovereignty of this world to give it to thee.
Why should we not be friends and associate together, and I can advise
thee on thy concerns?”
And Adam thought to himself, “I must be the companion of this one, but I
will make use of him.” So he suffered him to be his comrade.
The first act of treachery he did was this.
Every child Adam had by Eve died when born. Eve became pregnant for the
fourth time, and Eblis said to Adam, “I believe this child will be
good-looking and will live.”
“I am of the same opinion,” answered Adam.
“If my prophecy turns out right,” said the Evil One, “give the child to
me.”
“I will give it,” said Adam.
Now the child, when born, was very fair to look upon, and Adam, though
he repented of his rash promise, did not venture to break his word; so
he gave the child to Eblis, that is to say, he named it Abd-el-Hareth,
or Servant of Hareth, instead of Abd-Allah, Servant of God. And after
living two years it died.[90]
Thus Satan became an associate in the affairs of man.
But others tell the conclusion of the story somewhat differently. They
say that the child Abd-el-Hareth became the progenitor of the whole race
of Satyrs, nightmares, and hobgoblins.
Maimonides says that the Sabians attribute to Adam the introduction of
the worship of the moon, on which account they call him the prophet or
apostle of the moon.[91]
A large number of books are attributed to Adam. The passage in Genesis,
_This is the Book of the generations of Adam_,[92] led many to suppose
that Moses quoted from a book written by our first parent. That such an
apocryphal book did exist in after-times, appears from the fact of Pope
Gelasius in his decrees rejecting it as spurious. He speaks of it as
“the book which is called the Book of the generations of Adam or
Geneseos.” And the Rabbis say that this book was written by Adam, after
he had seen all his posterity brought out before him, as already
related. And this book, they say, Adam gave to Enoch.[93]
Beside this, there existed an Apocalypse of Adam, which is mentioned by
S. Epiphanius, who quotes a passage from it, in which Adam describes the
Tree of Life, which produced twelve kinds of fruit every year.[94] And
George Syncellus, in his Chronicle, extracts a portion of an apocryphal
Life of Adam.
Amongst the Revelations of S. Amadeus are found two psalms, which, in
vision, he heard had been composed by Adam. One was on the production of
Eve, the other is a hymn of repentance, a joint composition of the two
outcasts. It runs as follows:—
_Adam._—“Adonai, my Lord God, have mercy upon me for Thy great goodness,
and according to the multitude of Thy mercies do away my transgressions.
I am bowed down with trouble, Thy waves and storms have gone over me.
Deliver me, O God, and save me from the flood of many waters. Hear my
words, O Heavens, and all ye that dwell in them. May the Angels bear up
all my thoughts and words to Thee, and may the celestial virtues declare
them. May the Lord bend His compassionate ear to my lowly petition. May
He hear my prayer, and let the cry of my heart reach Him. Thou, O God,
art the true and most brilliant light; all other lights are mingled with
darkness. Thou art the sun that knowest no down-setting, that dwellest
in inaccessible light. Thou art the end to which all flesh come. Thou
art the only satisfaction of all the blessed.”
_Eve._—“Adonai, Lord God, have mercy upon me for Thy great goodness, and
for the multitude of Thy mercies do away my transgressions. Thou before
all things didst create the immoveable heaven as a holy and exalted
home, and Thou didst adorn it with angel spirits, to whom Thou didst in
goodness declare thy purposes. They were the bright morning stars who
sang to Thee through ages of ages. Thou didst form the moveable heaven
and Thou didst set in it the watery clouds. Those waters are under the
immoveable heaven, and are above all that live and move. Thou didst
create the light; the beauteous sun, the moon with the five planets
didst Thou place in the midst, and didst fix the signs and
constellations. Thou didst produce four elements, and didst kindle all
with Thy wisdom.”
_Adam._—“Adonai, Lord God, have mercy upon me for Thy great goodness,
and for the multitude of Thy mercies do away my transgressions. Thou
hast cast out the proud and rebel dragon with Thy mighty arm. Thou hast
put down the mighty from their seat and hast exalted the humble and
meek. Thou hast filled the hungry with good things, and the rich Thou
hast sent empty away. Thou didst fashion me in Thine own image of the
dust of earth, and destine me, mortal, to be immortal; and me, frail, to
endure. Thou didst lead me into the place of life and joy, and didst
surround me with all good things; Thou didst put all things under my
feet, and didst reveal to me Thy great name, Adonai. Thou didst give me
Eve, to be a help meet for me, whom Thou didst draw from my side.”
_Adam._—“Adonai, Lord and God, have mercy upon me for Thy great
goodness, and for the multitude of Thy mercies do away my
transgressions; for Thou hast made me the head of all men. Thou hast
inspired me and my consort with Thy wisdom, and hast given us a free
will and placed our lot in our own hands. But Thou hast given us
precepts and laws, and hast placed life and death before us that we
might keep Thy commandments, and in keeping them find life; but if we
keep them not, we shall die. Lucifer, the envious one, saw and envied.
He fought against us and prevailed. Conquered by angels, he conquered
man, and subjugated all his race. I have sinned. I am he who have
committed iniquity. If I had refused in my free will, neither Eve nor
the Enemy could have obtained my destruction. But being in honour I had
no understanding and I lost my dignity. I am like to the cattle, the
horse, and the mule, which have no understanding.”
_Eve._—“Adonai, Lord and God, have mercy upon me for Thy great goodness,
and for the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Great is our
God, and great is His mercy; His goodness is unmeasured. He will supply
the remedy to our sin, that if we will to rise, we may be able to arise;
He has appointed His Son, the glorifier of all, and our Redeemer; and He
has appointed the Holy Mother to be our mediatrix, in whose image He has
built me, Eve, the mother of all flesh. He has fashioned the Mother
after the likeness of her daughter. He has made the father after the
image and likeness of His Son; and He will blot out our transgressions
for His merits, if we yield our wills thereto, and receive His
sacraments. He will receive a free-will offering, and He will not
despise a contrite heart. To those going towards Him, He will fly with
welcome, He will pardon their offences and will crown them with glory.”