14
Then answered I and said,
15
I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also hereafter, that there be many more of them which perish, than of them which shall be saved:
16
Like as a wave is greater than a drop.
17
And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so is also the seed; as the flowers be, such are the colours also; such as the workman is, such also is the work; and as the husbandman is himself, so is his husbandry also: for it was the time of the world.
18
And now when I prepared the world, which was not yet made, even for them to dwell in that now live, no man spake against me.
19
For then every one obeyed: but now the manners of them which are created in this world that is made are corrupted by a perpetual seed, and by a law which is unsearchable rid themselves.
20
So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril because of the devices that were come into it.
21
And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of the cluster, and a plant of a great people.
22
Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain; and let my grape be kept, and my plant; for with great labour have I made it perfect.
23
Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but thou shalt not fast in them,
24
But go into a field of flowers, where no house is builded, and eat only the flowers of the field; taste no flesh, drink no wine, but eat flowers only;)