The Testament of Adam — True Church Edition
The Testament of Adam 13
1Methuselah lived for 969 years. When Death came to him, there gathered to him Lamech, and Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japhet and their wives, for none but they were left on the holy hill. Methuselah blessed them, and called to them; he was weeping and sorrowful. He said to them, “There remaineth none but you on this mountain out of all the tribes who once were on it. The Lord God of our fathers who formed our father Adam and our mother Eve and blessed them till the earth was filled with their progeny, may He bless you and multiply you and cause your fruit to grow. May He be to you a keeper and a shepherd.
2I ask of Him to fill the earth with your progeny, and to help you and strengthen you and save you from the fearful punishment that is coming upon this hill, and that He may give you a share of the gift which He gave to our father Adam, that He may bring blessings into your dwellings, and bestow upon you prophecy, power, and priesthood.” Then he said to Noah, “O thou blessed of the Lord, hear my speech and do my commandment. Know that I go out of this world as the saintly fathers went out of it. Verily the Lord shall send a Deluge to drown the earth for the many sins of men, but thou and thy children shall be saved.
3When I am dead, embalm my body like as were embalmed the bodies of the fathers who have gone before. Bury me in the Cave of Treasures. Take thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives; go down from this mountain, and bear with thee the body of our father Adam, and the offerings which thou didst bring out with him from Paradise, namely, gold and myrrh and frankincense. Put the body of our father Adam within the Ark which God commanded me to prepare; and the other bodies separately from it, so that the body of Adam may be like a dyke ever in the midst. Put the offerings on his breast.
4Dwell thou and thy sons in the east of the ark, thy wife and thy sons’ wives in the west, so that the body of our father Adam may be a barrier to hinder the men from sinning with regard to the women, and to hinder them from sinning with regard to the men; let them not gather together for food or drink till ye come out of the Ark. When the water of the Deluge departs from the earth, and ye come out of the Ark, and dwell upon the earth, then gather ye together for food and drink, and cease not the service before the body of our father Adam nor the ministration before God in godliness and holiness within the Ark.
5When your exit from it takes place, then put the offerings which thou didst bring out from Paradise in the east of the land in which thou dwellest. When Death comes to thee, make thy Testament to thy son Shem. Command him to carry the body of our father Adam, and to bury it in the middle of the earth. Verily (it is) the place in which there shall be salvation to him and to his children. Where he burieth the body, let him appoint a man from among his children to serve before the body and to minister.
6Let him be pure all the days of his life, and let him command him that he dwell not in any house, that he shed no blood, that he shave not his hair, nor pare his nails, nor bring there any offering of beasts, but let his offering before the Lord be of fine bread, pure and white, and the best drink, pressed from the fruit of the vine, until the time that God shall certainly command him. Verily the Angel of the Lord shall go before the man chosen to officiate as a priest before the body of Adam till he shall put it in the middle of the earth, and where the body ought to be buried. Let this chosen one be commanded that his raiment be of the skins of beasts, and that he be unique as it is unique. Verily he is the priest of the glorious God.” When Methuselah had finished this testament, and tears were coming down from his eyes, on account of the grief that was in his heart, he died. Then nine hundred and sixty-nine years were completed, it was in Adar (March) on a Sunday. Noah and Shem and Japhet and their wives laid him out with weeping and groaning.
7They held a mourning for him for 40 days; he was swathed and embalmed and laid with the fathers in the Cave of Treasures. They were blessed by the other bodies that were there. Then Noah bore the body of Adam and the bodies of the fathers from the Cave, and put them into holy coffins. Of the offerings Shem carried the gold, Ham carried the myrrh, and Japhet carried the frankincense. They left the Cave of Treasures with weeping and groaning. A noise was raised by them which was heard from Paradise, sorrow and mourning on account of [their] departure from the mountain, when they knew that they were leaving it for good.
8They lifted up their heads towards Paradise, they sobbed, and wept, and said: “Peace be to thee, O holy Paradise! dwelling-place of our father Adam; we are deprived of thy shelter, which is denied to us then, on our return to the cursed land in which we suffer pains and endure labours. Peace be to thee, O Cave of Treasures! from us and from all the bodies of the fathers. Peace be to thee, O glorious dwelling-place and inheritance of the saintly fathers for ever. Peace be to you, O ye Fathers, beloved friends of God. Pray for us and bless us, and entreat for our salvation, O holy ones of God, who are well-pleasing unto Him. Peace be to Seth, chief of the fathers. Peace be to Enos, governor of his people, and righteous judge amongst them. Peace be to Cainan and Mahlaleel, those who govern their people in purity. Peace be to Methuselah and Jared and Lamech and Enoch, servants of God. We entreat you all to mediate for our salvation lest we be prevented looking for our inheritance from this time forth for evermore.”