9:17 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. 9:18 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. 9:19 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. 9:20 So I considered the world, and, behold, there was peril because of the devices that were come into it. 9:21 And I saw, and spared it greatly, and have kept me a grape of the cluster, and a plant of a great people. 9:22 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. 9:23 Nevertheless, if thou wilt cease yet seven days more, (but thou shalt not fast in them, 9:24 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;) 9:25 And pray unto the Highest continually, then will I come and talk with thee. 9:26 So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me. 9:27 After seven days I sat upon the grass, and my heart was vexed within me, like as before: 9:28 And I opened my mouth, and began to talk before the most High, and said, 9:29 O Lord, thou that shewest thyself unto us, thou wast shewed unto our fathers in the wilderness, in a place where no man treadeth, in a barren place, when they came out of Egypt. 9:30 And thou spakest saying, Hear me, O Israel; and mark my words, thou seed of Jacob. 9:31 For, behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you, and ye shall be honoured in it for ever. 9:32 But our fathers, which 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; 9:33 Yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them. 9:34 And, lo, it is a custom, when the ground hath received seed, or the sea a ship, or any vessel meat or drink, that, that being perished wherein it was sown or cast into, 9:35 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. 9:36 For we that have received the law perish by sin, and our heart also which received it 9:37 Notwithstanding the law perisheth not, but remaineth in his force.