A RIDDLE: WHO AM
I?
[This riddle was written by a lady
in California in response to an offer from a gentleman in Philadelphia, that
he would pay anyone $1,000 who could write a puzzle he could not solve. He failed
to solve it and paid the money.]
- Adam, God made out of dust,
- But thought it best to make me
first,
- So I was made before now,
- To answer God's most holy plan,
- A living being I became,
- And Adam gave to me my name,
- I from his presence then withdrew,
- And more of Adam I never knew.
-
- I did my Maker's law obey,
- Nor never went from it astray,
- Thousands of miles I go in fear,
- But seldom on earth appear,
- For purpose wise which God did
see,
- He put a living soul in me,
- A soul from me God did claim,
- And took from me the soul had
fled,
-
- I was the same as when first
made,
- And without hands or feet or
soul,
- I travel on from pole to pole,
- I labor hard by day, by night,
- To fallen man I give great light,
- Thousands of people, young and
old,
- Will by my death great light
behold,
- No right or wrong can I conceive,
-
- The Scripture I cannot believe
- Although my name therein is found,
- They are to me an empty sound,
- No fear of death doth trouble
me,
- Real happiness I'll never see,
- To Heaven I shall never go, or
to Hell below.
- Now when these lines you slowly
read
- Go search your Bible with all
speed,
- For that my name is written there,
-
- I do honestly to you declare,
- "The answer is ONE
word."
r...