1AND the Angel that was sent to me, whose name is Vriel, answered,stylus2and sayd to me: Thy hart hath trubled thee in this world: and wilt thou comprehend the way of the Highest?stylus3And I sayd: euen so my Lord. And he answered me, & sayd: Three wayes I am sent to shew thee, and three similitudes to propose before thee.stylus4Whereof if thou shalt declare one to me, & I wil shew thee the way that thou desirest to see, & wil teach thee wherof is a wicked hart.stylus5And I sayd: Speake my Lord. & he sayd to me: Goe, wey me the weight of fire, or measure me the blast of winde, or cal me backe the day that is past.stylus6And I answered, and sayd: Who of men can do this, that thou askest me of these thinges?stylus7And he sayd to me: If I had asked thee, saying: How manie habitations are in the hart of the sea, or how manie springes in the beginning of the depth, or how manie vaines are aboue the firmament, or what are the issues of paradise:stylus8thou wouldest peraduenture say to me: Into the depth I haue not descended, nor into bel yet, neither haue I ascended into heauen.stylus9But now I asked thee not of these, but of fire, and winde, and the day which thou hast passed through, and of which thinges thou canst not be without: and thou hast answered me nothing of them.stylus10And he sayd to me: The thinges that are growen vp with thee, thou canst not know:stylus11and how can thy vessel comprehend the way of the Highest: and the world being now outwardly corrupted, to vnderstand the corruption that is euident in my sight?stylus12And I sayd to him: It were better for vs not to be, then yet liuing to liue in impietes, and to suffer, and not to know for what cause.stylus13And he answered me, and sayd: Going I went to a wood of the field, and the trees held counsel,stylus14and sayd: Come, let vs goe, & make warre against the sea, that it may depart before vs, and we make vs more woodes.stylus15Ligkewise the floudes of the sea held counsel, and sayd: Come, let vs goe vp, and fight against the woodes of the filde, that there also we may get vs an other countrie.stylus16And the counsel of the wood was in vayne, for fire came and consumed it.stylus17Likewise & the counsel of the fludes of the sea: for the sand stood, and stayed it.stylus18For if thou wert iudge of these, whom wouldest thou begin to iustifie, or whom to condemne?stylus19And I answered, and sayd: Verely they haue held a vaine counsel: for the earth is geuen to the wood, and the place of the sea to beare his floudes.stylus20And he answered me, and sayd: Thou hast iudged wel: & why hast thou not iudged for thy self?stylus21For as the earth is geuen to the wood, and the sea to his fludes: so they that inhabite the earth, can vnderstand nothing, but that which is vpon the earth: and they that inhabite the heauens, that which is aboue the height of the heauens.stylus22And I answered, and sayd: I besech thee Lord, let sense be geuen me to vnderstand.stylus23For I meant not to aske of thine oueruent, but of these thinges which passe by vs dayly, for what cause Israel is geuen into reproch to the gentils, the people whom thou louedst is geuen to wicked tribes, and the law of our fathers is brought to destruction, and the written ordinances are no where:stylus24and we passe as locusts, and our life is as a vapour, and we are not worthie to obtaine mercie.stylus25But what wil he doe to his name which is inuocated vpon vs? and of these thinges I asked.stylus26And he answered me, and sayd: If thou shalt liue, thou shalt see, and if thou shalt liue long, thou shalt meruel: because the world hastening hasteneth to passe,stylus27and can not beare the thinges, that are promised to the iust in time to come: because this world is ful of iniustice and infirmities.stylus28And of the thinges that thou askest me, I wil tel thee: for euil is sowen, and the destruction therof is not yet come.stylus29If therefore that which is sowen, be not turned vp, and the place depart where the euil is sowen, that shal not come which is sowen with good.stylus30Because the graine of euil seede was sowen in the hart of Adam from the beginning: and how much impietie hath it brought forth vntil now, and bringeth forth vntil the threshing floore come?stylus31Weigh with thy self an infant of ones iniquitie, & how great fruit of impietie it hath heaped.stylus32When the eares shal be cut downe, which are innumerable, what a great floore shal they fil?stylus33And I answered, and sayd: How and when shal these thinges be? why are our yeares few and euil?stylus34And he answered me, and sayd: Hasten not thou aboue the Highest: for thou hastenest for thy self, but the Highest for many.stylus35Did not the soules of the iust aske of these thinges in their cellars, saying: How long shal I hope thus? and when shal come the fruite of the floore of our reward?stylus36And Ieremiel the Archangel answered them, and sayd: When the number of the seedes in you shal be fulfilled: for he hath weyed the world in a balance,stylus37and with measure he hath measured the times, and in number he hath numbred the times: and he wil not moue, nor stirre them, vntil the foresayd number be fulfilled.stylus38And I answered, and sayd: O Lord dominatour, but we also are al ful of impietie.stylus39And whether for our sakes are not the floores of the iust filled, for the sinnes of them that inhabite the earth.stylus40And he answered me, and sayd: Goe thy way to a woman with child, and aske her, when she hath fulfilled her nine monethes, if her matrice can kepe the birth in it within her?stylus41And I sayd: It can not Lord. And he sayd to me: In hel the cellars of soules are like to the matrice.stylus42For as she that is in childbed hasteneth to bring forth when the necessitie of the time shal come: so doth he hasten to render those thinges that are committed to him.stylus43From the beginning thou shalt be shewed the thinges, that thou desirest to see.stylus44And I answered, and sayd: If I haue found grace before thine eyes, and if it be possible, and if I be mete,stylus45shew me this also, if there be more to come then is past, or whether the more part be past ouer vs.stylus46For what is past I know: but what is to come I know not.stylus47And he sayd to me: Stand vpon the right side, & I wil shew thee the interpretation of a similitude.stylus48And I stood, and behold an hote fornace passed before me: and is came to passe, when the flame had passed, I saw: and behold the smoke remayned.stylus49And after this there passed before me a cloud ful of water: and with violence it poured downe much raine: and when the violence of the raine was past, there remayned droppes in it.stylus50And he sayd to me: Thinke with thy self: as the rayne groweth aboue the droppes, and the fire aboue the smoke, so hath the measure of that which is past exceded: but the droppes and smoke remayned.stylus51And I prayed and sayd: Shal I liue thinkest thou vntil these dayes? or who shal be in those dayes?stylus52He answered me, and sayd: Of the signes whereof thou askest me, I can tel thee in part: but of thy life I am not sent to tel thee, neither do I know it.stylus
