Chapter 8

And he answered me, & sayd: This world the Highest made for manie, but that to come for few.

And I wil speake a similitude Esdras before thee. For as thou shalt aske the earth, and it wil tel thee, that it wil geue much more earth wherof earthen worke may be made, but a litle dust wherof gold is made: so also is the act of this present world.

Manie in deede are created, but few shal be saued.

And I answered, and sayd: Then o soul swallow vp the sense, and deuoure that which is wise.

For thou art agred to obey, and willing to prophecie. For there is no space geuen thee but only to liue.

O Lord if thou wilt not permitte thy seruant, that we pray before thee, and thou geue vs seede to the hart, and tillage to the vnderstanding, wherof may the fruite be made, wherby euerie corrupt person may liue, that shal beare the place of a man?

For thou art alone, and we are one workmanshippe of thy handes, as thou hast spoken:

and as now the bodie made in the matrice, and thou doest geue the members, thy creature is preserued in fire & water: and nine monethes thy workemanship doth suffer thy creature that is created in it:

and it self that keepeth, and that which is kept, both shal be preserued: and the matrice being preserued rendreth agayne at some time the thinges that are growen in it.

For thou hast commanded of the members, that is the brestes to geue milke vnto the fruite of the brestes,

that the thing which is made, may be nourished til a certayne time, and afterward thou mayst dispose him to thy mercie.

For thou hast, brought him vp in thy iustice, and hast instructed him in thy law, and hast corrected him in thy vnderstanding:

and thou shalt mortifie him, as thy creature: and shalt geue him life, as thy worke.

If then thou wilt destroy him that is made with so great labours: it is easie by thy commandment to be ordayned, that also which was made, might be preserued.

And now Lord I wil speake, of euerie man thou rather knowest: but concerning thy people, for which I am sorowful:

and concerning thine inheritance, for which I mourne, and for Israel for whom I am pensiue, and concerning Iacob, for whom I am sorowful.

Therfore wil I begin to pray before thee for me, & for them: because I see our defaultes that inhabite the earth.

But I haue heard of the celeritie of the iudge that shal be.

Therfore heare my voyce, and vnderstand my word, and I wil speake before thee.

The beginning of the wordes of Esdras before he was assumpted: and I sayd: Lord which inhabitest the world, whose eyes are eleuated vnto thinges on high and in the ayre:

and whose throne is inestimable, and glorie incomprehensible: by whom standeth an host of Angels with trembling,

whose keping is turned in wynde and fire, thou whose word is true, and sayings premanent:

whose commandment is strong, and disposition terrible: whose looke dryeth vp the depthes, and indignation maketh the mountaynes to melt, and truth doth testifie.

Heare the prayer of thy seruant, & with thine eares receiue the petition of thy creature.

For whiles I liue, I wil speake: and whiles I vnderstand, I wil answere:

Neither doe thou respect the sinnes of thy people, but them that serue thee in truth.

Neither doe thou attend the impious endeuours of the nations, but them that with sorowes haue kept thy testimonies.

Neither thinke thou of them that in thy sight haue conuerst falsly, but remember them that according to thy wil haue knowen thy feare.

Neither be thou willing to destroy them that haue had the maners of beastes: but respect them that haue taught thy law gloriously.

Neither haue indignation towards them, which are iudged worse then beastes: but loue them that alwayes haue confidence in thy iustice, and glorie.

Because we and our fatheres languish with such diseases: but thou for sinners shalt be called merciful.

For if thou shalt be desirous to haue mercie on vs, then thou shalt be called merciful, to vs hauing no workes of iustice.

For the iust which haue manie workes layd vp, of their owne workes shal receiue reward.

For what is man, that thou art angrie with him: or the corruptible kinde, that thou art so bitter touching it?

For in truth there is no man of them that be borne, which hath not done impiously, and of them that confesse, which haue not sinned.

For in this shal thy iustice be declared, and thy goodnes, o Lord, when thou shalt haue mercie on them, that haue no substance of good workes.

And he answered me, and sayd: Thou hast spoken somethinges rightly: and according to thy wordes, so also shal it be done,

because I wil not in dede thinke vpon the worke of them that haue sinned before death, before the iudgement, before perdition:

but I wil reioyce vpon the creature of the iust, and I wil remember their pilgrimage also, and saluation, and receiuing of reward.

Therfore as I haue spoken, so also it is.

For as the husbandman soweth vpon the ground manie seedes, and planteth manie plantes, but not al which were sowen in time, are preserued, nor yet al that were planted, shal take roote: so they also that are sowen in the world, shal not al be saued.

And I answered, and sayd: If I haue found grace, let me speake.

As the seede of the husbandman, if it come not vp, or receiue not the rayne in time, if it be corupted with much rayne, perisheth:

so likewise also man who made with thy handes, and thou named his image: because thou art likened to him, for whom thou hast made al thinges, and hast likened him to the seede of the husbandman.

Be not angrie vpon vs, but spare thy people, and haue mercie on thy inheritance. And thou hast mercie on thy creature.

And he answered me, and sayd: The thinges that are present to them that are present, and that shal be, to them that shal be.

For thou lackest much to be able to loue my creature aboue me: and to thee often times, euen to thyselfe I haue approched, but to the vniust neuer.

But in this also thou art meruelous before the Highest,

because thou hast humbled thyself as becometh thee: & hast not iudged thyself, that among the iust thou maist be very much glorified.

For which cause manie miseries, and miserable thinges shal be done to them that inhabite the world in the later dayes: because they haue walked in much pride.

But thou for thyselfe vnderstand, & for them that are like vnto thee seeke glorie.

For to you paradise is open, the tree of life is planted, time to come is prepared, abundance is prepared, a citie is builded, rest is approued, goodnes is perfited, & perfit wisdome.

The roote of euil is signed from you: infirmitie, and mothe is hid from you: & corruption is fled into hel in obliuion.

Sorowes are past, & the treasure of immortalitie is shewed in the end.

Adde not therfore inquiring of the multitude of them that perish.

For they also receiuing libertie, haue despised the Highest, and contemned his lawe, and forsaken his wayes.

Yea and moreouer they haue troden downe his iust ones,

and haue sayd in their hart, that there is no God: and that, knowing that they dye.

For as the thinges aforesayd shal receiue you: so thirst and torment, which are prepared shal take them: for he would not man to be destroyed.

But they them selues also which are created, haue defyled his name which made them: & haue bene vnkind to him that prepared life.

Wherfore my iudgement now approcheth.

Which thinges I haue not shewed to al, but to thee, & to few like vnto thee. And I answered, and sayd:

Behold now Lord thou hast shewed me a multitude of signes, which thou wilt beginne to doe in the latter times: but thou hast not shewed me at what time.