written in the book of this law, them will the LORD
bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in
number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because
thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And it shall
come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to
multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish,
and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither
thou goest in to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all
peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known,
thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt
thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot:
but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of
eyes, and pining of soul: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;
and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have none assurance of thy
life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even
thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart
which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the
way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there
ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for
bondwomen: and no man shall buy you.

II

A DISCOURSE ON

IMMORTALITY AND THE COVENANT WITH DEATH

Court not death in the error of your life;
Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.

Because God made not death: neither delighteth he when the living
perish. For he created all things that they might have being; and the
generative powers of the world are healthsome, and there is no poison of
destruction in them, nor hath Hades royal dominion upon earth: for
righteousness is immortal. But ungodly men by their hands and their
words called death unto them; deeming him a friend they consumed away,
and they made a covenant with him because they are worthy to be of his
portion.

For they said within themselves, reasoning not aright: "Short and
sorrowful is our life; and there is no healing when a man cometh to his
end, and none was ever known that gave release from Hades. Because by
mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as thoug