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.