[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.