and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?

"And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth? Wilt thou not bless the children of Noah? *

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"And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedeness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah:

"And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth: and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve;

"And righteousness will I send down out of heaven, and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.

"And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; "And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest.

"And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years."-(Moses 7:18-64.)

A fuller account of Enoch's ministry as prophet, seer, and preacher of righteousness, may be found in that chapter of the

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Book of Moses from which the foregoing paragraphs are taken.
A Terrestrial Ministry. "Now this Enoch," says the
Prophet Joseph, “God reserved unto himself, that he should not
die at that time, and appointed unto him a ministry unto ter-
restrial bodies, of whom there has been but little revealed. He
is reserved also unto the presidency of a dispensation.
He appeared unto Jude, as Abel did unto Paul (Jude 14, 15).
* * * Paul was also acquainted with this character, and re-
ceived instructions from him: "By faith Enoch was translated,
that he should not see death, and was not found, because God
had translated him" (Heb. 11:5).

"Now the doctrine of translation is a power which belongs to this Priesthood. There are many things which belong to the powers of the Priesthood and the keys thereof, that have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world; they are hid from the wise and prudent to be revealed in the last times.

"Many have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fulness, but this is a mistaken idea. Their place of habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such characters, he held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets, and who as yet have not entered into so great a fullness as those who are resurrected from the dead." ("History of the Church," Vol. IV, pp. 209, 210.)

Enoch's City to Return.-Enoch's city, according to this teaching, is now in terrestrial glory, awaiting its return to earth, when the season is ripe, and preparations are complete for its reception. The change wrought upon its inhabitants by translation not being equivalent to resurrection, they will have to undergo a further change, to prepare them for celestial glory. Doubtless their case is similar to that of the Saints mentioned by Paul, who will not "sleep" in death, but be changed "in the twinkling of an eye" to complete immortality, at the time of the coming of the Son of God. (I Cor. 15:51, 52.) Zion Above and Zion Beneath.-The Zion of Enoch was

undoubtedly a foreshadowing of the Zion of the last days, with which it will blend, and the following glorious picture then be realized:

"The Lord hath brought again Zion:

The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel,
According to the election of grace,
Which was brought to pass by the faith
And covenant of their fathers.

The Lord hath redeemed his people,
And Satan is bound and time is no longer:
The Lord hath gathered all things in one:

The Lord hath brought down Zion from above.
The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath.

The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength:
And truth is established in her bowels:

And the heavens have smiled upon her:

And she is clothed with the glory of her God:
For he stands in the midst of his people:

Glory, and honor, and power, and might,

Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy,

Justice, grace and truth, and peace,

For ever and ever. Amen."-(D. and C. 84:99-102.)

CHAPTER IV.

Noah and the Deluge

The Son of Lamech.-Noah was the son of Lamech, who was a grandson of Enoch, and after him "the next great grand patriarch who held the keys of the priesthood." Lamech was ordained under the hand of Seth, the third son of Adam, who received from his father a blessing similar to the one afterwards pronounced upon Abraham, to the effect that his posterity. should be the chosen of the Lord. Seth seems to have succeeded to the position held by Abel, whom Cain slew (Gen. 4:25). He is described as "a perfect man," the express likeness of his father. Noah's patriarchal ordination came from Methuselah, the father of Lamech. Noah was but ten years old when his grandfather thus blessed and ordained him. (D. and C. 107:42, 43, 48, 51, 52.)

"And Noah was four hundred and fifty years old, and begat Japheth; and forty-two years afterward he begat Shem of her who was the mother of Japheth; and when he was five hundred years old he begat Ham

"And it came to pass that Noah prophesied, and taught the things of God, even as it was in the beginning.

"And the Lord said unto Noah: My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he shall know that all flesh shall die; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them.

"And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order, and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch.

"And it came to pass that Noah called upon the children of men that they should repent, but they hearkened not unto his words;

"And God saw that the wickedness of men had become great in the earth; and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually.

"And it came to pass that Noah continued his preaching unto the people, saying: Hearken, and give heed unto my words;

"Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as our fathers, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, that ye may have all things made manifest; and if ye do not this, the floods will come in upon you; nevertheless they hearkened not.

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"And God said unto Noah: The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence, and behold I will destroy all flesh from off the earth."-(Moses 8:12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22-24, 30.)

End of the World Foreshadowed.-Noah's period was prophetic of the end of the world. This is apparent from the words of the Savior, when prophesying over Jerusalem, and foretelling the end of the Jewish commonwealth, an event also typical of the final destruction of the wicked. Speaking of the social conditions that prevailed while Noah was preaching the Gospel and delivering his warning message, Jesus said:

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"As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

"For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.

"And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."-(Matt. 24:37-39.)

Earth's Baptism of Fire.-The deluge that destroyed the wicked "with the earth" (that is, with water, representing the earth) and which God covenanted with Noah never to repeat, is to be paralleled by another deluge, in which the wicked will be consumed by fire from heaven; and as unexpectedly as came the watery flood in which our planet was once immersed, will come the fiery baptism that is destined to cleanse it from all unrighteousness and prepare it for celestial glory.

A Second Adam.-Noah, who is Gabriel, and stands next to Adam, or Michael, in the priesthood, typifies the great patriarch, in that through him and his immediate family-eight souls in all-Earth was repeopled after the flood. Hence Noah is sometimes called "the second Adam."

Japheth, Shem and Ham.-Noah's eldest son, Japheth, peopled Europe; Shem, Asia; and Ham, Africa. Noah's blessing upon Shem and Japheth, and his curse upon Ham, through Canaan, Ham's son, are thus recorded in the Hebrew scriptures:

"And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

"And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." (Gen. 9:25-27.)

Noah's Curse Upon Canaan.-Part of the curse that fell upon Canaan was "a blackness," which came upon all his posterity, causing them to be "despised among all people" (Moses 7:8)-a blackness similar to that which had been placed upon the "seed of Cain" (Moses 7:22). The curse also deprived the Canaanites of the priesthood.—(Abraham 1:26.)