Chapter 7 _{35 And the work shall follow, and the reward shall be shewed, and the good deeds shall be of force, and wicked deeds shall bear no rule.36 Then said I, Abraham prayed first for the Sodomites, and Moses for the fathers that sinned in the wilderness:37 And Jesus after him for Israel in the time of Achan:38 And Samuel and David for the destruction: and Solomon for them that should come to the sanctuary:39 And Helias for those that received rain; and for the dead, that he might live:40 And Ezechias for the people in the time of Sennacherib: and many for many.41 Even so now, seeing corruption is grown up, and wickedness increased, and the righteous have prayed for the ungodly: wherefore shall it not be so now also?42 He answered me, and said, This present life is not the end where much glory doth abide; therefore have they prayed for the weak.43 But the day of doom shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality for to come, wherein corruption is past,44 Intemperance is at an end, infidelity is cut off, righteousness is grown, and truth is sprung up.45 Then shall no man be able to save him that is destroyed, nor to oppress him that hath gotten the victory.46 I answered then and said, This is my first and last saying, that it had been better not to have given the earth unto Adam: or else, when it was given him, to have restrained him from sinning.47 For what profit is it for men now in this present time to live in heaviness, and after death to look for punishment?48 O thou Adam, what hast thou done? for though it was thou that sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee.49 For what profit is it unto us, if there be promised us an immortal time, whereas we have done the works that bring death?50 And that there is promised us an everlasting hope, whereas ourselves being most wicked are made vain?51 And that there are laid up for us dwellings of health and safety, whereas we have lived wickedly?52 And that the glory of the most High is kept to defend them which have led a wary life, whereas we have walked in the most wicked ways of all?53 And that there should be shewed a paradise, whose fruit endureth for ever, wherein is security and medicine, since we shall not enter into it?54 (For we have walked in unpleasant places.)55 And that the faces of them which have used abstinence shall shine above the stars, whereas our faces shall be blacker than darkness?56 For while we lived and committed iniquity, we considered not that we should begin to suffer for it after death.57 Then answered he me, and said, This is the condition of the battle, which man that is born upon the earth shall fight;}