Diuers signes of thinges to come are shewed to Esdras by an Angel: 16.
for the comforth of the people in captiuitie.
BVT concerning signes: behold the dayes shal come, wherin they that
inhabite the earth shal be taken in a great number: and the way of
truth shal be hid: and the countrie shal be barren from fayth. 2 And
iniustice shal be multiplied aboue that which thy self seest, & aboue
that which thou hast heard in time past. (Matt 24) 3 And they shal put
their foote into the countrie which now thou seest to reigne, and they
shal see it desolate. 4 And if the Highest geue thee life, thou shalt
see after the third trumpet, and the sunne shal sodenly shine agayne in
the night, and the moone thrise in a day, 5 and out of wood bloud shal
distil, and the stone shal geue his voice, and the peoples shal be
moued: 6 and he reigne, whom they hope not that inhabite vpon the
earth, and soules shal make their flight away. 7 & the sea of Sodom
shal cast the fishes, and shal make a noise in the night, which manie
knew not, and al shal heare the voice therof, 8 and there shal be made
a confusion in manie places, and the fire shal often be sent backe, and
the sauage beastes shal goe to other places, and wemen in their
monethlie flowers shal bring forth monsters, 9 and in swete waters shal
salt waters be found, and al frendes shal ouerthrow one an other: and
then shal witte be hid, and vnderstanding shal be separated into his
cellar: 10 and it shal be sought of manie, and shal not be found: and
iniustice shal be multiplied, and incontinencie vpon the earth. 11 And
one countrie shal aske her neighbour, and shal say: Hath iustice doing
iust passed throught thee? and she shal denie it. 12 And it shal be in
that time, men shal hope, and shal not obtaine: they shal labour, and
their wayes shal not haue successe. 13 These signes I am permitted to
tel thee: and if thou pray againe and weepe, as also now, and fast
seuen dayes, thou shalt heare againe greater thinges then these. 14 And
I awaked, and my bodie did shiuer excedingly: and my soule laboured,
that it fainted: 15 and the Angel that came, that spake in me, held me,
and strengthened me, and sette me vpon my feete. 16 And it came to
passe in the second night, and Salathiel the prince of the people came
to me, and sayd to me: Where wast thou? and why is thy countenance
heauie? 17 Knowest thou not that Isreal is committed to thee in the
countrie of their transmigration? 18 Rise vp therfore, and taste bread,
and forsake vs not, as the pastour his flocke in the hand of wicked
wolues. 19 And I sayd to him: Goe from me, & approch not vnto me. And
he heard, as I sayd: and he departed from me. 20 And I fasted seuen
dayes howling & weeping, as Vriel the Angel commanded me. 21 And it
came to passe after seuen dayes, and againe cogitations of my hart
molested me very much, 22 and my soule resumed the spirit of
vnderstanding: & agayne I began to speake wordes before the Highest: 23
and I sayd: Lord Dominatour of euerie wood of the earth, & al the trees
therof, thou hast chosen one vineyard: 24 & of euerie land of the world
thou hast chosen thee one ditch: & of al the flowers of the world thou
hast chosen thee one lilie: 25 and of al depthes of the sea, thou hast
filled thee one riuer: and of al the builded cities, thou hast
sanctified vnto thyself Sion: 26 and of al created soules, thou hast
named thee one doue: and of al beastes that were made, thou hast
prouided thee one shepe: 27 and of al multiplied peoples, thou host
purchased thee one people: and a law approued of al thou hast geuen to
this people, whom thou didst desire. 28 And now Lord, why hast thou
deliuered one vnto manie? And thou hast perpared vpon one roote others,
and hast dispersed thy onlie one in manie: 29 and they haue troden vpon
it, which gainesayd thy couenants, and which beleued not thy
testamentes. 30 And if hating thou hatest thy people, it ought to be
chastised with thy handes. 31 And it came to passe, when I had spoken
the wordes, and the Angel was sent to me, that came to me before the
night past, 32 and he sayd to me: Heare me, and I wil instruct thee:
and harken to me, and I wil adde before thee. 33 And I sayd: Speake my
Lord. And he sayd to me: Thou art become excedingly in excesse of minde
for Israel: hast thou loued it more then him that made it? 34 And I
sayd to him: No Lord, but for sorow I haue spoken, for my veynes
torment me euerie houre, to apprehend the pathe of the Highest, and to
search part of his iudgement. 35 And he sayd to me: Thou canst not. And
I sayd: Why Lord? To what was I borne, or why was not my mothers wombe
my graue, that I might not see the labour of Iacob, & the wearines of
the stocke of Israel? 36 And he sayd to me: Number me the thinges that
are not yet come, and gather me the dispersed droppes, and make me the
withered flowers grene againe, 37 and open me the shut cellars, & bring
me forth the blastes inclosed in them, shew me the image of a voice:
and then wil I shew thee the labour that thou desirest to see. 38 And I
sayd: Lord Dominatour, for who is there that can know these thinges,
but he that hath not his habitation with men? 39 And I am vnwise, and
how can I speake of these thinges, which thou hast asked me? 40 And he
sayd to me: As thou canst not doe one of these thiges, which haue bene
sayd: so canst thou not finde my iudgement, or in the end the charitie,
which I haue promised to the people. 41 And I sayd: But behold Lord
thou art nigh to them that are nere the end: and what shal they doe
that haue bene before me, or we, or they after vs? 42 And he sayd to
me: I wil resemble my iudgement to a crowne. As there shal not be
slacknes of the last, so neither swiftnes of the former. 43 And I
answered, and sayd: Couldst thou not make them that haue bene, and that
are, and that shal be, at once, that thou mayst shew thy iudgement the
quicker? 44 And he answered me, and sayd: The creature can not hasten
aboue the Creatour, nor the world sustayne them that are to be created
in it, at once. 45 And I sayd: As thou didst say to thy seruant, that
quickening thou didst quicken the creature created by thee at once, and
the creature susteined it: it may now also beare them present at once.
46 And he sayd to me: Aske the matrice of a woman, & thou shalt say to
it: And if thou bring forth children, why by times? Aske it therfore,
that it geue ten at once. 47 And I sayd, it can not verily: but
according to time. 48 And he sayd to me: And I haue geuen a matrice to
the earth for them, that are sowen vpon it by time. 49 For as the
infant bringeth not forth the thinges that perteyne to the aged, so
haue I disposed the world created of me. 50 And I asked, and sayd:
Wheras thou hast now geuen me a way, I wil speake before thee: for our
mother, of whom thou toldest me, yet she is yong: now draweth nigh to
old age. 51 And he answered me, and sayd: Aske her that beareth
children, and she wil tel thee. 52 For thou shalt say to her: Why are
not they whom thou hast brought forth, now like to them that were
before thee, but lesse of stature? 53 And she also wil say vnto thee:
They that are borne in the youth of streingth are of one sort, and they
of an other, that are borne about the time of old age, when the matrice
fayleth. 54 Consider therfore thou also, that you are of lesse stature,
then they that were before you: 55 and they that are after you, of
lesser then you, as it were creatures now waxing old, and past the
strength of youth. 56 And I sayd: I besech thee Lord, if I haue found
grace before thine eyes, shew vnto thy seruant, by whom thou doest
visite thy creature.