14. And I answered and said,
15. I have said before, and now do speak, and will speak it also hereafter, that there be more of them which perish, than of the which will be saved:
16. like as a wave is greater than a drop.
17. And he answered me, saying, Like as the field is, so also the seed; and as the flowers be, such are the colors also; and such as the work is, such also is the judgement thereon; and as is the husbandman, so is his threshing floor also. For there was a time in the world,
18. even then when I was preparing for them that now live, before the world was made for them to dwell in; and then no man spoke against me,
19. for there was not any: but now they which are created in this world that is prepared, both with a table that fails not, and a law which is unsearchable, are corrupted in their manners.
20. So I considered my world, and, behold, it was destroyed, and my earth, and, behold, it was in peril, because of the devices that were come into it.
21. And I saw, and spared them, but not greatly, and saved me a grape out of a cluster, and a plant out of a great forest.
22. Let the multitude perish then, which was born in vain; and let my grape be saved, and my plant; for with great labor have I made them perfect.
23. Nevertheless if you will cease yet seven days more, (howbeit you shall not fast in them,
24. but shall go into a field of flowers, where no house is builded, and eat only of the flowers of the field; and you shall taste no flesh, and shall drink no wine, but shall eat flowers only;)