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I answered: "How then do we find that Abraham first interceded for the people of Sodom; and Moses for our ancestors who sinned in the desert;
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and Joshua, who came after him, for Israel, in the days of Achan;
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and Samuel in the days of Saul; and David for the plague; and Solomon for those in the sanctuary;
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and Elijah for those who received the rain, and for a dead person that he might live;
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and Hezekiah for the people in the days of Sennacherib, and many for many people?
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If, therefore, the just prayed for the wicked when corruption had increased and injustice had multiplied, why won't it be the same then?"
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He answered me: "The present world isn't the end. Glory does not continuously remain in it, and so those who were able prayed for the weak.
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But the Judgment Day will be the end of this time and the beginning of the future, endless time in which decay is no more,
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indulgence is undone, unbelief is cut off, but justice is fully grown, and truth arisen.
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Therefore, no one will then be able to have mercy on someone who has been condemned in the judgment, nor to overwhelm one who has conquered."
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I answered: "This is my first and last word: It would have been better if the earth hadn't brought forth Adam, or when it had brought him forth, that it had forced him not to sin.