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Nevertheless now have I asked thee but only of the fire and wind, and of the day through which thou hast passed, and of things from which thou canst not be separated, and yet canst thou give me no answer concerning them."
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He said moreover unto me, "Thine own things, and such as have grown up with thee, canst thou not know;
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how should thy vessel then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest, and the world, being now outwardly corrupted, to understand the corruption that is evident in my sight?"
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Then said I unto him, "It were better that we were not at all than that we should live still in wickedness, and to suffer and not to know why."
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He answered me and said, "I went into a forest in a plain, and the trees took counsel
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and said, `Come, let us go and make war against the sea, that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods.'
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The floods of the sea also in like manner took counsel and said, `Come, let us go up and subdue the woods of the plain, that there also we may make us another country.'
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The thought of the wood was in vain, for the fire came and consumed it.
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The thought of the floods of the sea came likewise to nought, for the sand stood up and stopped them.
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If thou wert judge now between these two, whom wouldest thou begin to justify? Or whom wouldest thou condemn?"
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I answered and said, "Verily it is a foolish thought that they both have devised, for the ground is given unto the wood, and the sea also hath his place to bear his floods."