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Amen!” (1.3.718). In so doing, they lose their celestial power and their connectionwith God (1.3.721-2), but prove, like the women, that their exogamous devotion ismore important to them than are their lives.Where, in Cain, love is contrasted with knowledge, in Heaven and Earth, love iscontrasted with prejudice and with dogmatism. This is introduced early, when Anahsays, “I love our God less since his angel loved me /This cannot be of good” (1.1.12-3), and is the major theme of the text. Shortly thereafter, she represents her affectionas an act of heroic transgression: “Great is their love who love in sin and fear”(1.1.67). The first term in that dyad opposes love not merely to dogmatism but toorthodoxy, adopting the ancient trope of the greatness of love being demonstrated bythe degree of opposition which it must overcome, and configuring that opposition asdivine disapprobation.The competition between love and orthodoxy reappears when the angels descend tomeet the women, trailing a rainbow behind them (1.1.149-52). The Genesis floodnarrative ends with the creation of the rainbow as the sign of God’s covenant to neveragain destroy all flesh (Genesis 9:9-17); the appearance of this symbol of hope beinghere attached to the angelic lovers connects their love with salvation, contrasts thewoman-angel relationship with the mortal-deity relationship, and again calls intoquestion God’s own love for creation. If the angels could save part of creation, whydoes God not do so? Why is Heaven and Earth’s God, in Japhet’s words, “theOmnipotent who makes and crushes” (1.3.62)? This, along with the parallels whichcontrast Japhet’s attitude with Noah’s and so place God alongside the Patriarch,brings the righteousness of God into question.While the consistent discourse of many of the parties to the drama, mortal andimmortal, opposes any exogamous relationship, those engaged in such relationshipsare fiercely committed to them. Since the hostility to exogamy is not based upon anyconclusion which is demonstrated as being reasonable within the course of the drama,the value of love and the worth of those admirable individuals who feel love aredirectly contrasted with the prejudice, resulting in its being condemned. Thiscondemnation, in turn, lends weight to the drama’s argument against dogmatism.348