It is noteworthy that the word does not occur in the Old Testament, which is usually regarded as the record, in part, of the Semitic peoples, and of God's dealings with them through the medium of the Mosaic Law. The definite distinction between this Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is strikingly illustrated by the segregation of the Holy Bible into Old and New Testaments. The teachings of Christ and later those of the Apostles emphasized the superiority of the Gospel over the Law, which latter was likened by Paul to a schoolmaster whose function was to discipline, train and instruct, in preparation for the greater revelation of the Gospel. See Gal. 3:23-29. These and other kindred facts have led to the erroneous assumption that the Gospel was first revealed to mankind when Christ came in the flesh. Nevertheless, the Gospel, comprising not alone precepts but the accompanying authority of the Holy Priesthood to administer ordinances, was preached to men in the earliest period of human history. The necessity of (1) faith in the then unembodied but chosen and ordained Savior of mankind, (2) the indispensability of repentance as a means leading to remission of sins, (3) the Divine requirement of baptism by immersion in water, and (4) spiritual baptism through the power of the Holy Ghost--which constitute the fundamental principles and ordinances of the Gospel--was preached and administered to Adam, the patriarch of the race, and by him to his posterity. Through a revelation to Moses this is recorded of Adam, following the Fall: "And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam saying . . . Thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son for evermore. And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and for ever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 20.) As wickedness increased among men "God cursed the earth with a sore curse and was angry with the wicked, with all the sons of men whom He had made. For they would not hearken unto His voice, nor believe on His Only Begotten Son, even Him whom He declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by His own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost." (p. 26.)