Who Am I ???

This riddle was written decades ago by a lady in California, so it is said, in response to an offer from a gentleman in Philadelphia that said he would pay anyone $1,000 who could write a riddle that he could not solve. He failed to solve this one and so paid the lady $1,000. Can you solve it ??

Adam, God made out of dust,

But thought it best to make me first.

So I was made before man,

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 never knew.

I did my Maker's law obey.

Nor ever 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 again.

So when from me that 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 is found therein,

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 down to Hell far below.