Chapter 2

Thvs saith our Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, to whom I gaue commandment by my seruantes the Prophetes, whom they would not heare, but made my counsel frustrate.

Their mother that bare them, sayth to them: Goe children, because I am a wydow and forsaken.

I brought you vp with ioy, & haue lost you with mourning & sorow, because you haue sinned before our Lord your God, & haue done that which is euil before him.

But now what shal I doe to you? I am a wydow and desolote, goe my children, & aske mercie of our Lord.

And I cal thee o father a witnes vpon the mother of the children, that would not keepe my testament,

that thou geue them confusion, & their mother into spoile, that there be no generation of them.

Let their names be dispersed into the Gentiles, let them be destroyed out of the land: because they haue despised my sacrament.

Woe be to thee Assur, which hidest the wicked with thee. Thou naughtie nation, remember what I did to Sodom & Gomorrha:

whose land lieth in cloddes of pitch, & heapes of ashes: so wil I make them, that haue not heard me, saith our Lord omnipotent.

Thus saith our Lord to Esdras: Tel my pople, that I wil geue them the kingdom of Ierusalem, which I ment to geue to Isreal.

And I wil take to me the glorie of them, and wil geue them eternal tabernacles, which I had prepared for them.

The wood of life shal be to them for an odour of oyntment, and they shal not labour, nor be wearied.

Goe & you shal receiue. Aske for your selues a few dayes, that they may abide. Now the kingdom is prepared for you, watch ye.

Cal thou heauen and earth to witnes: for I haue destroyed euil, and haue created good, because I liue sayth our Lord.

Mother embrace thy children, bring them vp with ioy. As a doue confirme their feete: because I haue chosen thee, sayth our Lord.

And I wil raise againe the dead out of their places, and out of the monumentes I wil bring them forth, because I haue knowen my name in Israel.

Feare not o mother of the children, because I haue chosen thee, saith our Lord.

I wil send thee ayde, my seruantes I saie, and Ieremie, at whose counsel I haue sanctified, and prepared for thee tweleue trees loden with diuerse fruites,

and as manie fountaines flowing milke and honie: and seuen huge mountaines, hauing the rose and the lilie, in the which I wil fil thy children with ioy.

Iustifie thou the widow, iudge for the pupil, geue to the needie, defend the orphane, cloth the naked,

cure the broken & feeble, mocke not the lame, defend the maimed, and admitte the blind to the vision of my glorie.

The old man & the yong keepe with in thy walles:

where thou shalt finde the dead, committe them to the graue signing it, & I wil geue thee the first seate in my resurrection.

Pause and rest my people, because thy rest shal come.

As a good nurce nourish thy children, confirme their feete.

The seruantes that I haue geuen thee, none of them shal perish. For I wil require them of thy number.

Be not wearied. For when the day of affliction and distresse shal come, others shal weepe, and be sad, but thou shalt be merie and plenteous.

The gentiles shal enuie, and shal be able to doe nothing against thee, sayth our Lord.

My handes shal couer thee, that thy children see not hel.

Be pleasant thou mother with thy children, because I wil deliuer thee sayth our Lord.

Remember thy children that sleepe, for I wil bring them out of the sides of the earth, & wil doe mercie with them: because I am merciful, sayth our Lord omnipotent.

Embrace thy children til I come, & shew them mercie: because my fountaines runne ouer, and my grace shal not faile.

I Esdras receiued commandment of our Lord, in mount Oreb; that I should goe to Israel: to whom when I came, they refused me, and reiected the commandement of our Lord.

And therfore, I say vnto you gentiles, which heare, and vnderstand, Looke for your pastor, he wil geue you the rest of eternitie: because he is at hand, that shal come in the end of the world.

Be ye readie for the rewardes of the kingdom, because perpetual light shal shine to you for time euerlasting.

Flee from the shadow of this world: receiue ye the pleasantnes of your glorie. I openly cal to witnes my sauiour.

Receiue the commended gift and be pleasant, geuing thankes to him that called you to the heauenlie kingdomes.

Arise, & stand & see the number of them that are signed in the feast of our Lord.

They that haue transferred them selues from the shadow of the world, haue receiued glorious garmentes of our Lord.

Receiue o Sion thy number, and shut vp thyne made white, which haue accomplished the law of our Lord.

The number of thy children, which thou didst wish is ful. Desire the powre of our Lord that thy people may be sanctified, which was called from the beginning.

I Esdras saw in mount Sion a great multiude, which I could not number, and they did al prayse our Lord with songes.

And in the middes of them was a young man high of stature, appearing aboue ouer them al, & he put crownes vpon euerie one of their heades, and he was more exalted. And I was astonied at the miracle.

Then asked I an Angel, and sayd: Who are these Lord?

Who answering sayd to me: These are they that haue laid of the mortal garment, and taken an immortal, and haue confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned, and receiue palmes.

And I sayd to the Angel: That yongman what is he, which putteth the crownes vpon them, and geueth palmes into their handes?

And answering he sayd to me: The same is the Sonne of God, whom they did confesse in the world: & I begane to magnifie them, that stood strongly for the name of our Lord.

Then sayd the Angel to me: Goe, tel my people, what maner of meruelous thinges and how great, thou hast sene of the Lord God.