§56. Search then, the Scriptures, if you can, and so fill up this sketch. Learn to look for the Second Advent and Judgment.

Let this, then, Christ-loving man, be our offering to you, just for a rudimentary sketch and outline, in a short compass, of the faith of Christ and of His Divine appearing to usward. But you, taking occasion by this, if you light upon the text of the Scriptures, by genuinely applying your mind to them, will learn from them more completely and clearly the exact detail of what we have said. 2. For they were spoken and written by God, through men who spoke of God. But we impart of what we have learned from inspired teachers who have been conversant with them, who have also become martyrs for the deity of Christ, to your zeal for learning, in turn. 3. And you will also learn about His second glorious and truly divine appearing to us, when no longer in lowliness, but in His own glory,—no longer in humble guise, but in His own magnificence,—He is to come, no more to suffer, but thenceforth to render to all the fruit of His own Cross, that is, the resurrection and incorruption; and no longer to be judged, but to judge all, by what each has done in the body, whether good or evil; where there is laid up for the good the kingdom of heaven, but for them that have done evil everlasting fire and outer darkness. 4. For thus the Lord Himself also says: “Henceforth157    Matt. xxvi. 64. ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father.” 5. And for this very reason there is also a word of the Saviour to prepare us for that day, in these words: “Be158    Cf. Matt. xxiv. 42; Marc. xiii. 35. ye ready and watch, for He cometh at an hour ye know not.” For, according to the blessed Paul: “We159    2 Cor. v. 10; cf. Rom. xiv. 10. must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive according as he hath done in the body, whether it be good or bad.”

Ταῦτα μέν σοι παρ' ἡμῶν δι' ὀλίγων, ὅσον πρὸς στοιχείωσιν καὶ χαρακτῆρα τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν πίστεως καὶ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιφανείας, ἀνατεθείσθω, ὦ φιλόχριστε ἄνθρωπε, σὺ δὲ τὴν πρόφασιν ἐκ τούτων λαβών, εἰ ἐντυγχάνοις τοῖς τῶν γραφῶν γράμμασι, γνησίως αὐτοῖς ἐφιστάνων τὸν νοῦν, γνώσῃ παρ' αὐτῶν τελειότερον μὲν καὶ τρανότερον τῶν λεχθέντων τὴν ἀκρίβειαν. Ἐκεῖναι μὲν γὰρ διὰ θεολόγων ἀνδρῶν παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐλαλή-θησαν καὶ ἐγράφησαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ παρὰ τῶν αὐταῖς ἐντυγ-χανόντων θεολόγων διδασκάλων, οἳ καὶ μάρτυρες τῆς Χριστοῦ θεότητος γεγόνασι, μαθόντες μεταδίδομεν καὶ τῇ σῇ φιλομαθείᾳ. Γνώσῃ δὲ καὶ τὴν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ πάλιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔνδοξον καὶ θείαν ἀληθῶς ἐπιφάνειαν, ὅτε οὐκ ἔτι μετ' εὐτελείας, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ δόξῃ· ὅτε οὐκ ἔτι μετὰ ταπεινότητος, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ μεγαλειότητι· ὅτε οὐκ ἔτι παθεῖν, ἀλλὰ λοιπὸν τοῦ ἰδίου σταυροῦ τὸν καρπὸν ἀποδοῦναι πᾶσιν ἔρχεται, φημὶ δὴ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν· καὶ οὐκ ἔτι μὲν κρίνεται, κρινεῖ δὲ τοὺς πάντας, πρὸς ἃ ἕκαστος ἔπραξε διὰ τοῦ σώματος, εἴτε ἀγαθά, εἴτε φαῦλα· ἔνθα τοῖς μὲν ἀγαθοῖς ἀπόκειται βασιλεία οὐρανῶν, τοῖς δὲ τὰ φαῦλα πράξασι, πῦρ αἰώνιον καὶ σκότος ἐξώτερον. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριός φησι· “Λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπ' ἄρτι ὄψεσθε τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καθήμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρός.” ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ σωτήριός ἐστι λόγος εὐτρεπίζων ἡμᾶς εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ λέγων· “Γίνεσθε ἕτοιμοι καὶ γρηγορεῖτε, ὅτι ᾗ οὐκ οἴδατε ὥρᾳ ἔρχεται.” Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον, “τοὺς πάντας ἡμᾶς παραστῆναι δεῖ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος, πρὸς ἃ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθόν, εἴτε φαῦλον”.