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He answered me then and said, "Measure thou the time diligently in itself; and when thou seest that part of the signs have passed which I have told thee before,
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then shalt thou understand that it is the very same time wherein the Highest will begin to visit the world which He made.
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Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world,
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then shalt thou well understand that the Most High spoke of those things from the days that were before thee, even from the beginning.
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For as all that is made in the world hath a beginning and an end, and the end is manifest,
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even so the times also of the Highest have plain beginnings in wonders and powerful works, and endings in effects and signs.
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And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his works and by faith, whereby ye have believed,
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shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see My salvation in My land and within My borders; for I have sanctified them for Me from the beginning.
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Then shall they be in a pitiful state who now have abused My ways, and they that have cast them away despitefully shall dwell in torments.
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For such as in their life have received benefits and have not known Me,
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and they that have loathed My law while they had yet liberty, and, when as yet a place of repentance was open unto them, understood not but despised it,
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the same must know it after death by pain.
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And therefore be thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punished, and when; but inquire how the righteous shall be saved, whose the world is, and for whom the world is created."
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Then answered I and said,
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"I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also hereafter: that there be many more of those who perish than of those who shall be saved,
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as a wave is greater than a drop."
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And He answered me, saying, "As the field is, so is also the seed; as the flowers be, such are the colors 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.
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And now when I prepared the world, which was not yet made, even for them to dwell in that now live, no man spoke against Me.
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For then every one obeyed; but now the manners of them that are created in this world that is made are corrupted by a perpetual seed and, by a law which is unsearchable, destroy themselves.
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So I considered the world, and behold, there was peril because of the devices that had come into it.
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And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept Me a grape of the cluster, and a plant of a great people.
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Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain, and let My grape be kept, and my plant; for with great labor have I made it perfect.
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Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more; but thou shalt not fast in them,
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but go into a field of flowers where no house is built, and eat only the flowers of the field; taste no flesh, drink no wine, but eat flowers only,
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and pray unto the Highest continually; then will I come and talk with thee."
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So I went my way into the field which is called Ardat, as He commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and ate of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me.
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After seven days I sat upon the grass, and my heart was vexed within me, as before.
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And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the Most High and said,
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"O Lord, Thou that showest Thyself unto us, Thou wast shown unto our fathers in the wilderness in a place where no man treadeth, in a barren place, when they came out of Egypt.
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And Thou spokest saying, `Hear Me, O Israel; and mark My words, thou seed of Jacob.
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For behold, I sow My law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and ye shall be honored in it for ever.'
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But our fathers who received the law kept it not, and observed not Thy ordinances; and though the fruit of Thy law did not perish--neither could it, for it was Thine--
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yet those who received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.
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And lo, it is a custom: when the ground hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, having perished wherein it was sown or cast into,
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that thing also, which was sown or cast therein or received, doth perish and remaineth not with us; but with us it hath not happened so.
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For we who have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also which received it.
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Notwithstanding, the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force."
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And when I spoke these things in my heart, I looked back with mine eyes, and upon the right side I saw a woman; and behold, she mourned and wept with a loud voice, and was much grieved at heart, and her clothes were rent, and she had ashes upon her head.
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Then let I my thoughts go that were in me, and turned unto her
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and said unto her "Why weepest thou? Why art thou so grieved in thy mind?"
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And she said unto me, "Sir, let me alone, that I may bewail myself and add unto my sorrow, for I am sore vexed in my mind and brought very low."
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And I said unto her, "What aileth thee? Tell me."
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She said unto me, "I, thy servant, have been barren and had no child, though I had a husband thirty years.
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And those thirty years I did nothing else day and night and every hour but make my prayer to the Highest.
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After thirty years God heard me, thine handmaid, looked upon my misery, considered my trouble, and gave me a son. And I was very glad for him, so was my husband also and all my neighbors; and we gave great honor unto the Almighty.
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And I nourished him with great travail.
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So when he grew up and came to the time that he should have a wife, I made a feast.