owed up in
victory. O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?'
For then the power of death is utterly annulled and destroyed, no
longer working in us, but for the future there is given unto men
immortality and incorruption for evermore.

"Beyond all question, therefore, there shall be a resurrection of the
dead, and this we believe undoubtingly. Moreover we know that there
shall be rewards and punishments for the deeds done in our life-time,
on the dreadful day of Christ's coming, 'wherein the heavens shall be
dissolved in fire and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,' as
saith one of the inspired clerks of God; 'nevertheless we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth.' For that there
shall be rewards and punishments for men's works, and that absolutely
nothing, good or bad, shall be overlooked, but that there is reserved a
requital for words, deeds and thoughts, is plain. The Lord saith,
'Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of
cold water only, in the name of a disciple, he shall in no wise lose
his reward.' And again he saith, 'When the Son of man shall come in
his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then before him shall be
gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep
on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say
unto them on his right hand, 'Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was
anhungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I
was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was
sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.'
Wherefore saith he this, except he count the kind acts we do unto the
needy as done unto himself? And in another place he saith, 'Whosoever
shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father
which is in heaven.'

"Lo, by all these examples and many more he proveth that the rewards of
good works are certain and sure. Further, that punishments are in
store for the bad, he foretold by parables strange and wonderful, which
he, the Well of Wisdom most wisely put forth. At one time he brought
into his tale a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine
linen, and fared sumptuously every day, but who was so niggardly and
pitiless toward t