"And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."[[5]]
"Zion is Fled."—"In process of time" consecration brought sanctification, and eventually translation, to the City of Enoch, regarding which, after its ascension, went forth the saying: "Zion is fled."[[6]]
The Tower of Babel.—The people who built the Tower of Babel are said to have done so in order that its top might "reach unto heaven." It was to prevent them from accomplishing this purpose, that the Lord confounded their language.[[7]] Tradition credits Joseph Smith with the statement that the "heaven" they had in view was the translated city.
The Jaredites.—A righteous remnant of the people, namely, the Jaredites, had been exempted from the general curse of tongue confusion;[[8]] and through them the pure Adamic language was preserved on earth.[[9]] The Jaredites, divinely led, separated themselves from the other inhabitants of the land, and migrated to North America. Here they flourished for many centuries, and then fell, a slaughtered race, ruined by internal dissension.[[10]]
Translation and Resurrection.—Translation, says the Prophet Joseph, does not take men "immediately into the presence of God." For translated beings there is a terrestrial "place of habitation," where they are "held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets," and "have not yet entered into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead." Enoch received from God an appointment to minister to beings of this character.[[11]]
The Future Unveiled.—Enoch walked with God, and was shown "the world for the space of many generations."[[12]] He beheld the Millennial Dawn, and the darkest hour before the dawn. "He saw great tribulations among the wicked, and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled."[[13]] In a splendid outburst of epic poetry, the inspired oracle tells how Zion was taken up into heaven; how Satan "veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness;" how he and his angels rejoiced; how "the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people and wept;" and how the heavens wept also, shedding "their tears as the rain upon the mountains."[[14]]
Enoch, addressing the compassionate Creator, inquires: "How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations, and thy curtains are stretched out still. . . . . And thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?"[[15]]
The Holy One answers, portraying the impending doom, the destruction of the wicked by the Flood, and their imprisonment in spirit dungeons until the coming of the Christ, bringing deliverance to the penitent.[[16]]
The Mother of Men.—Enoch hears a voice from the depths of the Earth:
"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 . . . . when shall my Creator sanctify me, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?"[[17]]