Chapter XXXIV.—Great is the Reward of Good Works with God.  Joined Together in Harmony, Let Us Implore that Reward from Him.

The good servant171    Or, “labourer.” receives the bread of his labour with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face.  It is requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-doing; for of Him are all things.  And thus He forewarns us:  “Behold, the Lord [cometh], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work.”172    Isa. xl. 10, lxii. 11; Rev. xxii. 12.  He exhorts us, therefore,173    I. πιστεύοντας (believing). with our whole heart to attend to this,174    The text here seems to be corrupt.  Some translate, “He warns us with all His heart to this end, that,” etc. that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work.  Let our boasting and our confidence be in Him.  Let us submit ourselves to His will.  Let us consider the whole multitude of His angels, how they stand ever ready to minister to His will.  For the Scripture saith, “Ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him, and thousands of thousands ministered unto Him,175    Dan. vii. 10. and cried, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the Lord of Sabaoth; the whole creation176    I. γῆ (earth). is full of His glory.”177    Isa. vi. 3.  And let us therefore, conscientiously gathering together in harmony, cry to Him earnestly, as with one mouth, that we may be made partakers of His great and glorious promises.  For [the Scripture] saith, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for178    I. ἀγαπῶσιν (love). Him.”179    1 Cor. ii. 9.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Λ∆’. Ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἐργάτης μετὰ παρρησίας λαμβάνει τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ ἔργου αὐτοῦ· ὁ νωθρὸς καὶ παρειμένος οὐκ ἀντοφθαλμεῖ τῷ ἐργοπαρέκτῃ αὐτοῦ. ∆έον οὖν ἐστὶν προθύμους ἡμᾶς εἶναι εἰς ἀγαθοποιΐαν· ἐξ αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστιν τὰ πάντα. Προλέγει γὰρ ἡμῖν· «Ἰδοὺ ὁ κύριος, καὶ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, ἀποδοῦναι ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ.» Προτρέπεται οὖν ἡμᾶς πιστεύοντας ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας ἐπ' αὐτῷ μὴ ἀργοὺς μηδὲ παρειμένους εἶναι ἐπὶ πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν. Τὸ καύχημα ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ παρρησία ἔστω ἐν αὐτῷ· ὑποτασσώμεθα τῷ θελήματι αὐτοῦ· κατανοήσωμεν τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ, πῶς τῷ θελήματι αὐτοῦ λειτουργοῦσιν παρεστῶτες. Λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· «Μύριαι μυριάδες παρειστήκεισαν αὐτῷ, καὶ χίλιαι χιλιάδες ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐκέκραγον· Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν, ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συναχθέντες τῇ συνειδήσει, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος βοήσωμεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκτενῶς εἰς τὸ μετόχους ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἐνδόξων ἐπαγγελιῶν αὐτοῦ. Λέγει γάρ· «Ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ὅσα ἡτοί μασεν τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν αὐτόν.»