Stokes (ed.), Ériu 2 (1905) pp. 96–162 — translated into modern British English. The surviving sections are translated; gaps in the OCR capture are marked.

¹ In principio fecit Deus caelum et terram et reliqua — “In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the rest.”

The High King of the world — mightier than every king, loftier than every power, fiercer than every dragon, gentler than every child, brighter than suns, holier than every elder, more vengeful than men, more loving than every mother — it was God’s Only Son who brought tidings of this story to the many peoples of the world, both of the form and the making of the universe. For it was not known what form or fashion any thing had that is seen in the world — God alone knew; for it was “a head in a bag” and a “dwelling in a dark house” to Adam’s race, since it was not known before what form the world had or who made it — until these tidings came from heaven for the unlocking of everyone’s sense and understanding, that they might perceive and find the way of life and salvation for souls.

² For everything was exceeding dark to the eyes of Adam’s race, save that they used to see the courses of the stars — the moon and the sun and the other stars — going round each day without ceasing for ever. They used to see also the springs and rivers of the world that ceased not to gush for ever in every season. They used to see the earth’s withering, and the sleep and gloom of the light and of the fruits at winter’s coming. They used to see the world’s resurrection with its heat and its light, with its blossoms and its fruits at summer’s rising again.

³ They knew not who made them all the while, until these tidings of the fashioning of the world with its forms and its ministries came — as God had disclosed them. For all this was exceeding dark until the knowledge of these tidings, when the Evernew Tongue opened — speaking from the clouds of heaven above the gathering of Mount Sion.

For there had gathered the first assembly of the world — all that were from the mountains of Abien as far as the shore of the Red Sea, and from the Dead Sea to the isles of Sabarn. And the number of the congregation was five bishops and four thousand three hundred and thirty, and nine kings and sixty and nine hundred and four thousand and fifty thousand of the kings of the world.

*[Sections 4–12 missing from the capture — the opening dialogue and the first questions to the Tongue.]

¹³ The whole world arose with Him: for the nature of all the elements was in the Body which Jesus received. For had the Lord not suffered for Adam’s race, and had He not risen after death, the whole world would have gone to ruin with Adam’s race at the coming of the Doom; and neither sea nor land would have been re-created; but the heavens would have flamed as far as the third heaven. Only in the three heavens of the noble kingdom would no burning have endured. There would have been neither land nor kindred of living nor dead in the world — only hell with heaven — had the Lord not come to redeem them. All would have perished in that wise without renewal.

¹⁴ “It is for this I have come,” said Philip, “to you — to tell you these tidings; for it is blind and dark for you to discern the form of the world as it was ordained of old.” “Good then,” said the sages of the Hebrews, “tell us of the countless wonders that have come to pass therein — for it is blind for us unless it be plainly shown us.”

¹⁵ It was heard that the Evernew Tongue spoke in the angelic tongue, saying: Le unde fodea tabo abelia albe fab — which in Latin is: in principio fecit Deus caelum et terram (“In the beginning God made heaven and earth”); and it said: Amebile bane bea fabne fa libera salese tribila trbon ale siboma Yuan. The whole of its recounting through the Hebrew tongue is related there. There was no ordering of the shining places. There was no earth with its mountains and its peoples, no sea with its isles, no hell with its pains, before the elements came to be. There were no circuits past the heavens, no clouds for the watering of the earth, no comets, no scattering of storms. There were no lands on which things might descend; there was no rain nor snow. There were no lakes nor flashings of wind nor thunder. There was no sun’s course, no moon’s changes, no variation of stars. There were no sea-monsters. There was no sea for them to swim. There were no streams nor flocks nor beasts nor birds nor dragons nor serpents.

*[Sections 16–20 missing — the void before creation and the framing of the first matter.]

²¹ The Evernew Tongue answered: “There was,” said it, “in the fruitful circuit of the world’s matter: cold and heat, light and dark, heavy and light, wet and dry, high and low, bitter and mild, strong and weak — and angel and pillar of fire.”

²² “All these were, then,” said it, “in the dense, round, multiform mass which was made of the world’s matter; and it is there the stuff of hell was stored — for hell was not made at once, until the archangel forsook his allegiance and deserted the King’s law who had made him, with the countless host of the angels. And until then,” said it, “hell was not made; but its stuff was stored away in the round, multiform mass from which the world was cast forth with all its kindreds that exist in the world. And had the angels remained in the nature in which they were made and in the angelic beauty, the stuff of hell would have been turned into a bright, shining kingdom like the kingdom of the holy angels.”

²³ This then is the work which God began to do on the first day in creating the world — though it is written: qui vivit in aeternum creavit omnia simul (“He who lives for ever created all things at once”).

²⁴ Artibilon alma sea sabne e belota flules elbie limbe lasfania lire — which in Latin is: Fecit quoque Deus firmamentum inter aquas, et divisit aquas quae erant super firmamentum ab his quae erant sub firmamento (“God also made the firmament between the waters, and divided the waters that were above the firmament from those that were under the firmament”).

²⁵ “God made, then,” said it, “on the second day, the wall of the seven heavens round about with their heavenly floods. For the Lord knew that when He had made the world there would come a man who would transgress His command — therefore the veil of heaven was set against the faces and eyes of men, lest they should see the expanse of heaven and the royal seat of God.”

²⁶ The Hebrew multitudes asked: “Tell us the hidden natures and the mysteries of the seven heavens and the five zones which encircle the heavens.”

²⁷ The Evernew Tongue answered: “The seven heavens, then, compass the world. The first heaven, bright, cloudless, nearest to you — from it come the moon and the scattering of stars. The second heaven…

*[Sections 28–33 missing — the remaining heavens described.]

…cried around the glen. The glass-green, melodious Salt sea around the earth on every side moves flood and ebb and dries its fruits. There is also the third flood — the fiery sea. From the heavens are let down nine winds, and there awakens out of their slumber a melody of four hundred and seventy, which sing their song after being roused from their sleep. It thunders like thunder out of its wave-voice. It has not ceased its flood since the world’s beginning, and it is only full on the Lord’s Day. On Sunday it is put into its sleep — the thunder of the winds being roused by God’s coming from heaven and by the choir-singing of the angels above it.”

³⁴ “There are also many kinds of seas besides these about the earth’s sides on every hand. A red sea, first, with a multitude of precious stones, with the glitter of blood, with ordained colours, between the land of Egypt and the land of India. A white sandy sea with the colour of snow, in the north about the isles of Sabarn — the strength of its flood reaches so that its waves disperse as far as the clouds’ lofty course. A black waveless sea, beneath the colour of the stag-beetle — no ship that reaches it escapes, save one thing alone, by the lightness of its course and the strength of its wind; and wars of monsters are found therein.”

³⁵ “There is also a sea that melts in the ocean(?) south of the isle of Ebia: its flood rises high at springtide and its ebb falls at midwinter. Half a year it is at flood; its other half at ebb for ever. Its monsters and its sea-beasts sleep in the season that takes the ebb, and are cast into gloom and sleep. They wake and rejoice at the flood, and cause the springs and rivers and streams of the world — through the glens they go till they come after a while.”

³⁶ “There are also seventy-two kinds,” said it, “of various-formed springs on earth. The spring of Ebia, first — its many hues change for the season of every day for ever: snow’s colour on it from sunrise to tierce; the colour of green with the serpent’s many hues from tierce to noon; it casts itself into the colour of blood from noon to evening. No mouth that tastes it finds mockery or derision of men in life.”

³⁷ “The spring of Assian in the land of Libya causes fertility to women who are barren before.”

³⁸ “The spring of Presens in the land of Dard — it rages at folk of kin-slaying and idol-worship and every iniquity. No mouth that tastes it is seized by anger or cursing; nor does it speak from then on until its lips die in sorrow and grief.”

³⁹ “The spring of Sion in the land of the Hebrews here — it has never run dry for want of filling; it always fills to the full on Sunday. It shines at night like the sun’s radiance. Stone and utterance are what its many hues show from one hour to another. Nothing in the world of wine’s sweetness or honey’s taste is found there. It ceases not its flood. Its stream has never been seen to fail. Everyone who tastes it — grief comes not near his mind, and he has not been afraid of death.” [Another recension has: “Another spring is on Mount Sion, and it is never seen save in flood-tide from the world’s beginning till Doom; and that water is always in it save on Sunday alone.”]

⁴⁰ “There is a stream of water also that flows through the isle of the living — it rises against every flood so that it rings round about it, and none escapes from it.”

⁴¹ “Four golden streams in the glens of Mount Nabuan — with the taste of wine, with the red hue of blood, with the bitterness of sea-salt, with sands of gold.”

⁴² “The stream of Alien in the isles of Thebe — it thunders like thunder for ever on the night on which the world’s Saviour was born in the land of the Hebrews, and as you heard tonight on the night when Christ rose from the dead. Three hundred and sixty-five kinds of music it is that thunder there. Every man who has seen it near him has not spoken again any night from from there. It is shown from heaven that it thunders.”

⁴³ “There are also,” said it, “four kinds of precious stones in the same stream, with the hue and likeness of men.”

⁴⁴ “The stone Adamant in the land of India — though it be taken into winds and frosts and snow, it finds no cold thereby. Though it be cast on fires and brands, there is no heat in it. Though it be struck with axes and hammers, nothing breaks off from it; but the blood of the lamb with the offering — nothing resists that. Every king who has carried it on his palm before going to battle has been victorious ever.”

⁴⁵ “The stone of Hibia in the land of Hab — it kindles in the dark of night like a candle of fire. It pours out every poison that is in the vessel in which it is found into the vessel before it. Whatever serpent crawls over it dies at once.”

⁴⁶ “The stone Istien in the land of Libya — it is found in the brains of dragons after their death. It heats the pools and the marsh-lakes in which it is for twenty miles around. It shines against water and thunders like thunder in winter. It thunders in spring like the wind.”

⁴⁷ “The stone Fanes in the land of Aulol in the stream of Dara. There are seen in it the forms of twelve stars and the moon’s wheel and the sun’s circle of fire in its side. In the bodies of the dragons that lie under the sea it is found for ever. No man in whose hand it is — nothing escapes from him, nor does he speak falsehood. It is not fitting to carry it into the house in which is a man of kin-slaying or idol-worship. At the hour of every morning it hums a sweet music, like that which is found under heaven.”

⁴⁸ The sages of the Hebrews and the multitude asked: “We pray you that you show us the various kinds of trees which in the creation of the world were planted by God.”

⁴⁹ The Evernew Tongue answered: “It is right for you,” said it, “to ask that — for there are four trees of them whose souls and senses are like the life of angels.”

⁵⁰ “The tree of Sames, first, at the meeting of Jor and Dan — it bears three fruits every year: a pale-green fruit is its first fruit, red the middle one, bright the last. When its first fruit is ripe, then another grows out of its blossoms. No sick man who tastes that fruit but he is made whole. No leaf has fallen from it since it was made. No man with blemish or disease who has come under its shade has failed of his healing.”

⁵¹ “The tree of Life in Adam’s paradise — no mouth that has tasted its fruit has died thereafter; and it is because of that tree that Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise — for had they tasted the fruit of that tree, death would not have touched them at any time, but they would have lived for ever. Twelve fruits it bears every year — a precious fruit every month. A journey of seven days’ travel is the scent of Paradise, and its shade overspreads.”

⁵² “The tree of Alab in the isles of Sab — its manner is like a man’s form. The blossom it bears destroys every sickness and every poison. A journey of seven days’ travel is its scent and its sweet odour from its blossoms before one reaches it. Precious stones gleam among its fruits. It destroys anger and envy from every part whose juice touches it.”

⁵³ “The great tree of Nathaben in the land of the Hebrews, in the south of Mount Sion here — not far from you, in the south of the mountain it is. The sons of men have never found its like since the world’s beginning, save for one day alone, when a tree was taken to crucify Christ — so that from its branches was taken the beam of the Cross by which the world was healed.”

⁵⁴ “Seven fruits it bears and seven blossoms that change every year. No man who tastes its fruit has ever had sickness or sorrow; but if he should eat it before death he would not pass in pain — save a sleep in slumber. Nothing on earth of honey or oil or wine could match the likeness of its taste. The beauty of moon and sun and the shining of stars shine from its blossoms. Seventy-two kinds of music its great tree and its blossoms sing at the coming of the wind since the world’s beginning. Three hundred and sixty-five birds with the beauty of snow, with golden wings, with shining eyes, sing many songs so that men’s ears know them not.”

⁵⁵ The sages of the Hebrews said: “O Lord, though we dare not, there is an abundance of what is told us that is hard to believe.”

⁵⁶ It was heard that the Evernew Tongue said: Adza feble abia alttrian afen alpula nistien erolmea leam — that is, “A patient thing,” said it, “is the heart that can tell of the King of heaven — how He poured out the world in the manner of every hour into the depths of pains, after every one — for his ignorance and insults and enmities — who lets every man’s tongue loose in his face.”

⁵⁷ “Though it should not be told,” said it, “it would be harder to believe the blessed whale that the sea cast on the shore of Caphas on the night of Christ’s birth in the land of the Hebrews. Streams of wine trickled out of its lips before its death. The folk of the isle looked upon it and thought it was a mountain or a high isle that had settled on the strand. A stream poured from its mouth as though it were a vessel; and mead out of its lips at its deadness — three hundred and fifty horns of shining silver out of its head eastward. Six ells it was that covered its form on the strand of Caphas. Those horns held fifty and a hundred each: they remain today in the city where you are,” said it. “It would not be harder to believe these tidings than to believe and understand that sign.”

⁵⁸ “The bird of great size named Hiruath in the land of India. So great is its form that the shadow of its wing, when it spreads them, reaches a journey of three days by sea or land. It hovers on wings and hunts the sea-monsters in the sea. Mountains of sand and sun are the eggs that are laid after brooding. A vessel with sails and oars is made of one-half of that egg after its breaking; seventy-five hundred men with their weapons and provisions is what it carries over the sea. And a great part of the host that is in this assembly here — it is on one-half of that egg that they came over the Red Sea. Do not you show unbelief toward God as to how He works His marvels, like a child in a dark house.”

⁵⁹ Then there arose a young man of the tribe of Judah out of the assembly from the east — the son of Habes, son of Gomer, son of Sala, son of Judas — and he said: “It is no lie, then,” said he, “O tree with birds — Iscariot betrayed his Lord, the son of malediction.” There rose the golden-winged birds with their songs — this man spoke: “There is with me a thing that has come to pass. Why indeed was the great tree hidden in the middle of the plain before all eyes?”

⁶⁰ It turned northward before the host in the first watch, in the south of Mount Sion — and they saw a fiery cloud. That cloud parted before their eyes, and they saw the great tree with its precious fruits: its blossoms shone like the sun. And thereupon they heard the choir of the golden, shining birds out of the many tongues and of the many-coloured flower-garlands, to the music of the winds.

⁶¹ Then the sinful eyes could not endure to look upon the holy precious things. Their eyes broke in their heads. And again a second time a blast of fiery wind came to them so that it went into their breasts and their faces, making them as black as a beetle’s back; and it cast him half-dead back into the middle of the assembly. And he said: Eut falia faste, eut falia faste, eut falia faste, maria fablea nelise nam — that is: “A crooked unbelieving form has befallen me”; and he said: “Hard are the pains that help me and that are prepared for me. Wailing is the bright thing I have seen, for it avails not.” And thereupon he was put dead upon the earth.

⁶² Then all the hosts of the assembly rose, and they repented; and this is what they said: “O my holy Lord! Your mercy is manifest, and we beseech You for the stuff for which we have come — that You visit not the reproach of Your wrath upon our unbelief. We have seen wonders, but our eyes were blind to the wonder we knew not.”

⁶³ It was heard that the Evernew Tongue said: Va itho ad nacul lenesteca tibon talafi ata asfa bibo limbia flaune — that is: “You of the kinships — both sons and daughters and mothers and fathers — though you be under the sword and though you be under floods, then eat you together into one flesh. For it is seven times better that that sin be forgiven than that one should utter a word of ignorance against God and unbelief toward Him and His creatures and His marvels. For if a word of ignorance against God and unbelief toward His creatures and toward the Trinity and toward the wonders God has wrought — there is not in heaven or on earth a conversion of repentance that can heal it, but to be in sorrow unceasing in the depths of pains.”

⁶⁴ The sages of the Hebrews asked, saying: “Show us what you have said.” It was heard that the Evernew Tongue said: Alea fas uide uala nistien alme ama faus elobt reba — that is: “God made on the fourth day seventy-two kinds of the shining stars of heaven, with the sun’s circle of fire — the twelve plains under the sides of the earth for the use of every night: the circuit whereby the fiery sea approaches, and the circuit whereby the hosts of angels fitting and greet after the brightening of the night.”

⁶⁵ The sages of the Hebrews asked: “Tell us those twelve plains which are under the earth’s sides, where the sun shines for the use of every night — for it is blind for us to know it.”

⁶⁶ The Evernew Tongue answered them: “This is where the sun goes every evening.”

⁶⁷ “First it goes upon its foreign-streamed course past the border of the flood.”

⁶⁸ “Then it goes over the high sea of fire that burns and the red river-streams around the red peoples.”

⁶⁹ “Then it shines into the mouths of the children in the pleasant plains who send their cry to heaven out of dread of the dead monster — the many mouths of hosts under the southern waves.”

⁷⁰ “Then it goes from a mountain with streams of fire that traverse the torrid plains with hosts accompanying them.”

⁷¹ “Then it goes over the wall of the great monster against which the four…”

⁷² “Then it goes past the dreadful, many-trooped rampart that has closed round the hells of the north.”

⁷³ “Then it goes into the black glens with the ever-flowing streams.”

⁷⁴ “Then it goes over the wall of the monster that shakes the many seas about the sides of dry strands on every hand.”

⁷⁵ “Then it goes into the fiery mountain that was ordained for fire.”

⁷⁶ “Then it goes over the many thousands who fall into the dead sleep.”

⁷⁷ “Then it goes into the mournful, tearful plain with the dragons bound beneath the mist.”

⁷⁸ “Then it goes over the flocks of the birds that sing the many songs in the glens of the blossoms.”

⁷⁹ “Then it goes over the bright plains with the blossoms of wine — its glens shine.”

⁸⁰ “Then it goes past Adam’s Paradise and rises from there in the east in the morning.”

*[Sections 81–91 missing — the birds of paradise.]

…“for the hand of God is upon it, and it is safe for them. They are cast into gloom of deadness in the winter’s cold and frost, and wake at springtide. They sing in their sleeps a lofty, gentle music like the thunder of wind.”

⁹² “The birds of Abuaid in the isles between the east of Africa and heaven. No colour on earth like the beauty that shines from their wings; and no feather has fallen from their wings nor down since the world’s beginning, and neither their number nor their count has increased. The scent and sweet odour of their blossoms, and the taste of the seven wine-streams that traverse the bright plain — that is what has fed them since the world’s beginning. They cease not their choir-singing of music, and they weary not until midnight with the high chant of the angels out of the cloud.”

⁹³ “Then the three companies of birds divide — that is, seventy-two birds of twenty thousand in each company. At midnight the first company takes up its cry, and they sing praise to God through music, and they recount to the countless wonders of the secret stars which even the angels of heaven know not.”

⁹⁴ “Then the middle company rises with the threefold music for the praise of the wonders the Lord has wrought from the beginning of the world to Doom.”

⁹⁵ “The last company comes at the end of the night. It recounts with the high tenor of sevenfold music the thunders that shall come upon the world with the terror of Doom; and after that it recounts the seventieth division of the pains with the number that shall deserve them, and tells of the twenty-seven seats of the bright places in the heavens with everyone that shall deserve them.”

⁹⁶ Et direstr alba sibe alea alib me lis — that is: “Had Adam’s race heard the music of those birds, it would not be in joy or delight that they would part from hearing them — but in sobbing and wailing and grief they would die of weeping.”

⁹⁷ Efi lia lasten ferosa filera leus dissta nimbile nue bua faune znzorza tebne — that is, Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et ad similitudinem nostram, et praesit piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et bestis universae terrae (“Let us make man in our image and likeness, and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and the beasts of all the earth”).

Now there are of the Lord’s powers of governance twenty-four forms upon Adam’s race after transgression.

⁹⁸ “First the isle of Ebia, six feet — each of its forms is let forth in length. They wake not from their sleep save through the roaring of the sea, or the cry of battle and hosts, or the sound of music. When they rise from their slumber their eyes shine like the sparkling of a star. They cause in the seas where they are their beasts and their sea-monsters to be cast on land for their feeding.”

⁹⁹ “The fair bright-flaming people in the isles of Odaib. Flakes of fire come out of their mouths in the fury of anger. Their eyes shine like candles of fire at night. Their hair and their bodies shine like snow cast abroad into whiteness. Fish out of the many seas, without cooking, without boiling — that is what feeds them.”

¹⁰⁰ “The people of Ithier north of Mount Caucasus. Their mouths are in their breasts; four eyes in their backs. Cold and heat are in their bodies so that no other kindred endures them.”

¹⁰¹ “Other bright people in the lands of Asser. Lovelier than every kindred the sight of their faces. So sweet is their speech that the sound of their hosts is sweeter than music.”

¹⁰² “The people of south India — their forms are weak. What crawls of them goes only the length of five fists.”

¹⁰³ “A female race there is in the mountains of Armenia — bigger than other men’s are their forms. They bear only daughters for ever. Their wrath and their prowess are the harder than men’s in going to battle. They rise from their sleep at midnight; they open blasts of fire out of their mouths; they reach their beards to their navels. Gold they wear; every burning that is found in their right fists is from their birth for ever.”

*[Sections 104–109 missing — more monstrous races; the beginning of the description of hell’s pains.]

¹¹⁰ Elestia tibon ituria tamne ito firbia fuan. “He knows not,” said it, “which of them is the more — what is of the sands under the seas there, or what is of the kindreds of beasts for the cutting-off of souls in hell.”

¹¹¹ “So great is the horror of the reproach in the pains that they cannot speak God’s name there for grief and lamentation at the greatness of the pains and their multitude.”

¹¹² “So great is the fire and the burning and the heat — all the floods that are in the world, between clouds and streams and rivers and seas about the world, though they were poured into the glen of the pains, would not quench it; for it is God’s wrath that burns in the hells.”

¹¹³ “So great is the cold there — were a blast of such cold cast upon a pipe’s hole in the world, all the birds in the air and the beasts under the seas and every living soul on earth would die.”

¹¹⁴ “So great is the fire’s heat — were any of it cast on a pipe’s mouth, all the floods that are on the world would dry up; all the souls there would burn, till the earth round about caught fire.”

¹¹⁵ “So great is the darkness — were any of it cast into the world, to the size of a man’s pupil, all the birds of the air and men and beasts on earth would see neither light nor brightness till death.”

¹¹⁶ “So great is the stench in the lochs of the pains — one drop of it set in the world’s midriff, all the souls found in the world, between sea and land and air, would die.”

¹¹⁷ “So great is the hunger and the thirst there — were one hour of it cast into the world, all that is in the world between beast and man and bird would die in one hour of hunger and thirst.”

¹¹⁸ “So great is the terror there upon the souls before the pains — were one blast of such terror to come into the world…”

*[Sections 119–123 missing — the remaining signs of doom’s approach.]

¹²⁴ “The rising and the noise of the seven fiery winds of the world’s side: the hinges of heaven shaken with sound and coming of thunder and lightning from every quarter.”

¹²⁵ “The thunder-fall of the three hundred and seventy-five first stars out of heaven.”

¹²⁶ “The turning of the moon into the colour of blood. The failing of the sun’s light.”

¹²⁷ “There shall be of the host of heaven on that day — so that it shall not be possible for anyone to reckon or to count their number, save God alone.”

¹²⁸ “The felling of the forests and the mountains with fiery blast on every side.”

¹²⁹ “The screaming of the beasts and all the souls of the earth.”

¹³⁰ “The hurling down of fire in every land.”

¹³¹ “The shrieking of the birds in the air upon the fiery streams.”

¹³² “The roaring of the sea-monsters and the fishes in the seas at the draining of the salt waters and at the kindling of the fire.”

¹³³ “The quaking of the hinges of heaven, and the cry and choir of the souls coming to meet their bodies out of the earth.”

¹³⁴ “The lamentation and cry of the sinners as they hail the Lord they forsook — and their cry is ‘a cry to the waste’; their repentance is too late.”

¹³⁵ “The cry of the hell-dwellers as the souls are driven to meet the assembly, when judgement is brought upon every one according to his deserts.”

¹³⁶ “The conflagration of the seven heavens as they are cast down by winds of fire.”

¹³⁷ “The shaking of the earth as it is cast down on high and headlong.”

¹³⁸ “The lamentation and cry of the demons and of the sinners’ souls as hell is closed upon them to the end of Doom.”

¹³⁹ The sages of the Hebrews asked at what time — by day or night — the world was made or shall be destroyed, and when the Lord arose from the dead.

¹⁴⁰ The Evernew Tongue answered: “At midnight, indeed,” said it, “the Lord arose, and at midnight the world was made; and at midnight the circuit was made that was stuff for the world; and at midnight the Enemy was banished from heaven — the Devil; and at midnight man’s form was made in Paradise.”

¹⁴¹ “At midnight Cain wrought the first kin-slaying that was wrought in the world.”

¹⁴² “At midnight the streams of fire were cast upon the five cities over which a sea of fire is poured for ever.”

¹⁴³ “At midnight the Flood began to pour upon the world.”

¹⁴⁴ “At midnight the passover of the Lamb was celebrated in Rameses in Egypt.”

¹⁴⁵ “At midnight God’s people went through the Red Sea and Pharaoh was drowned with his hosts.”

¹⁴⁶ “At midnight Babylon was overcome.”

¹⁴⁷ “At midnight the Saviour of the world was born in Bethlehem of Judah. And at midnight He was crucified for Adam’s sin with his race — for there was a darkness of night from tierce to noon over the world.”

¹⁴⁸ “At midnight a flock of angels went over the isles of Sab and scattered… over the world.”

¹⁴⁹ “At midnight the Lord went to harry hell, and He loosed the souls out of the captivity and the fetter in which they were, and bound the Enemy and the Destroyer of the elements and the Devourer and the Tempter and the ancient Thief — the Devil — in the depths of hell.”

¹⁵⁰ “At midnight, then, the stuff of the world was ordained. At midnight it shall be dissolved.”

¹⁵¹ Now the Lord who arose from the dead on this night of Easter — His power and His might and His majesty and His works and His ministry over the elements from the beginning of the world to the end of Doom are beyond telling. For all that is of beasts under seas, and of birds of the air, and of cattle and beasts and men on earth, and of angels in heaven and demons in hell — though they should begin from the world’s beginning, they could not tell the seventh part of God’s works before Doom.

¹⁵² “So great is the horror of His wrath — first, that were His mind shaken with His household’s treachery, the dwellers on earth could not endure that wrath. For if He should show His face in wrath, the heavens would be let loose upon the earth and the seas round the world would dry up. The earth would be utterly destroyed so that nothing would stand there. The kingdom of heaven and of angels would be cast into gloom, that no place would show them forth. Hell would be so enlarged that its pains would be harder than they now are sevenfold. For it is God’s wrath that burns in the hells.”

¹⁵³ “What should be more wondrous of things than the Infant’s sleeping between the Virgin’s hands — the trembling on the elements and on all the angels and on the heavens and on the dwellers on earth with their inhabitants and on the sea-monsters in the seas and on the hell-dwellers, for dread of His power and for refuge that they might not perish.”

¹⁵⁴ “So great is the beauty and splendour of His face — that if all the souls in hell could look upon the brightness of His face, they would not reckon the toil or the pain or the torment of hell. So holy is His form — everyone who could look on His face would not thereafter quarrel.”

¹⁵⁵ “So great is the beauty and light of His face when the nine ranks of heaven shine — and each angel of them is seven times brighter than the sun — and the souls of the saints shine in the same likeness; and when the sun shall be seven times brighter than now, the light of the face of the King who made every element shall shine over them all — so that angels and stars of heaven and souls of the saints shall be overtopped by the Lord’s light, as the sun’s light overtops the other stars.”

¹⁵⁶ “So great is the fullness of His power — though all the angels of heaven and demons of hell and men on earth and beasts and monsters under the seas should all speak to God at once, and though each of them spoke a different tongue, it were easy for God to answer every one of them in his own peculiar tongue and in his own nature at the same hour.”

¹⁵⁷ “So great is the beauty of the Lord’s form — that if it were revealed and cast into the hells, the hells would be turned into bright places and into the radiance of the kingdom like the heavenly realm.”

¹⁵⁸ “So great is the beauty and brightness of His face — it shall be told to every pure soul: if God should lift them one step out of the hellish dwelling in payment of their desire, every pain upon the souls would be harder to bear than the pains of hell — namely, the withdrawal from God’s face and the eternal parting from beholding God’s face.”

¹⁵⁹ “As the Lord is beyond telling, so is His kingdom and His fair life beyond telling, as He is. The sweetness of its music; the joy of its faces; the beauty of its forms; the splendour and the flaming of the host; the purity of its converse; the innocence of its souls — where no sound of wrath or envy or grief or toil is heard.”

¹⁶⁰ “Blessed, then, is he who shall be called to that kingdom, when the Lord shall say to them: Venite, benedicti Patris mei, possidete regnum quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi — ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the world’s beginning. Where the sun’s light shall not be wanting, nor the moon’s, nor the stars’ — but the Lord shall be their light, for He is the fount of light. Where there shall be health; where the seas’ tranquillity; where great peace; where unassailable charity; where life perennial; where old age shall not appear; where joy shall be received; where the senses shall be made plain; where abundant, sweet paradise; where the splendour of angels; where the whiteness of justice; where the royal palm; where golden rivers; where the sweet praising of angels and the assembly of all the saints; where the heavenly Jerusalem; where there is no sorrow nor sadness after joy, but everlasting gladness; where the good has not failed, does not fail, and never shall fail.’”

¹⁶¹ “What should be more wondrous to a man than that kingdom — where poverty or nakedness or hunger or thirst shall not be seen; where no one shall put forth his desire or his envy for clothing or food; but to be at the great ordained feast for ever in the presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; where the three lights are that cannot be told — the light of the King who gives the kingdom; the light of the saints to whom it is given; the light of the kingdom that is given there.”

¹⁶² “May we all reach that kingdom! may we merit it! may we dwell in it! in saecula saeculorum. Amen!”

¹⁶³ The Evernew Tongue said to the people of the Hebrews: “Perilous is the company you have with God; and turn, O wretched ones, from your fellowship, while the body and soul are yet in pledge — before you be in the prisons of the burning of the pains. For the true God, perfect and excellent, who has made the wonders we have spoken and the many kinds of creatures — between man and bird and beast and cattle; and who guides the seven heavens and the whole world, between air and earth and fire and water; and He who drove out Lucifer with his legions of angels through his pride and his boasting; and He who saved Adam with his children from hell; and mighty Christ who saved Moses’s people out of Egypt, and David from Goliath, and Joseph from the prison; and He who saved all the confessors and prophets and bishops and martyrs and confessors and holy women from the pains and from the hand of the Pharisees and the Jews who held them captive — O wretched ones,” said it, “there is no reckoning of the King’s wonders and many kinds over the world.”

¹⁶⁴ The Evernew Tongue was speaking continually to the people of the Hebrews through the day; and it seemed to them all that no hour of the day had passed in that time, so sweet was it to them to be listening to it. For the sweetness of its speech was such that it was as though every word it uttered to them were the song of a hundred angels.

¹⁶⁵ The Evernew Tongue said to them then: “My teaching has been given to you — I have been sent to you from Christ.” The peoples of the Hebrews said: “We give glory to God for listening to you,” said they. The Evernew Tongue said: “Though all the tongues of the world were at it, they could not compass the greatness of the Creator’s goodness; and do not you, O wretched men, set yourselves to comprehend the power of the High King.”

¹⁶⁶ Then the Evernew Tongue bade them farewell; and the peoples of the Hebrews went to their cities with exceeding gladness and great joy; and everything that had been said to them was written down by them. And that was the teaching which the Evernew Tongue gave at the beginning of the faith. Finit.

Editor’s Additional Notes (Stokes) #

§ 7. A sign of the Judgement — For the fifteen signs of Doomsday, see Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, part I, fo. 1281. The third is: “the beasts of the sea give a great cry, and they are heard in the heavenly city.”

§ 17. Nine ranks of angels — They are, according to pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: Thrones, Seraphim, Cherubim; Dominions, Authorities, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.

§ 27. The seven heavens — In the Liber Flavus Fergusiorum they are called: 1. Air, 2. Ether, 3. Olympus, 4. Firmamentum, 5. Caelum igneum, 6. Caelum angelorum, 7. Sedes Trinitatis.

§ 50. At the meeting of Jor and Dan — These wells were, according to St Jerome, the two sources of the river Jordan.

§ 57. On the eve of Christ’s Nativity — This was the fourteenth wonder that then took place: “a whale which the Tyrrhene sea cast upon the shore of Marahen, and a burst of three streams out of its mouth — a stream of milk, a stream of oil, and a stream of wine; and there were fifty horns upon it, and the drink of a hundred and fifty warriors in each of these horns.” (Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, Part I.)

§ 120. Abundance of sulphurous fire — cf. “þær bið swefle fyr”, Solomon and Saturn, ed. Kemble, p. 84.

§ 142. The five cities — See Genesis xiv. 2. But Zoar or Bela was spared.