torment, and have died violent deaths; and the
impious and the law-breaker hath spent his days here in luxury and
prosperity. But God, who is good and just, hath appointed a day of
resurrection and inquisition, that each soul may receive her own body,
and that the wicked, who received his good things here, may there be
punished for his misdeeds, and that the good, who was here chastised
for his misdeeds, may there inherit his bliss. For, saith the Lord,
'They that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of
life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of doom.'
Then also shall thrones be set, and the Ancient of days and Maker of
all things shall sit as Judge, and there shall be opened books with
records of the deeds and words and thoughts of all of us, and a fiery
stream shall issue, and all hidden things shall be revealed. There can
no advocate, no persuasive words, no false excuse, no mightiness of
riches, no pomp of rank, no lavishment of bribes, avail to pervert
righteous judgement. For he, the uncorrupt and truthful Judge, shall
weigh everything in the balance of justice, every act, word and
thought. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting,
into light unspeakable, rejoicing in the fellowship of the Angels, to
enjoy bliss ineffable, standing in purity before the Holy Trinity. But
they that have done evil, and all the ungodly and sinners, shall go
into everlasting punishment, which is called Gehenna, and outer
darkness, and the worm that dieth not, and the gnashing of teeth, and a
thousand other names of punishment; which meaneth rather--bitterest of
all,--alienation from God, the being cast away from the sweetness of
his presence, the being deprived of that glory which baffleth
description, the being made a spectacle unto the whole creation, and
the being put to shame, and shame that hath no ending. For, after the
passing of that terrible sentence, all things shall abide immutable and
unchangeable. The blissful life of the righteous shall have no close,
neither shall the misery and punishment of sinners find an end:
because, after him, there is no higher Judge, and no defence by
after-works, no time for amendment, no other way for them that are
punished, their vengeance being co-eternal with them.

"Seeing that this is so, what manner of persons ought we to be in all
holy conversation and go