Oh, what and how great will that day be at its coming, beloved brethren, when the Lord shall begin to count up His people, and to recognize the deservings of each one by the inspection of His divine knowledge, to send the guilty to Gehenna, and to set on fire our persecutors with the perpetual burning of penal fire, but to pay to us the reward of our faith and devotion! What will be the glory and how great the joy to be admitted to see God, to be honored to receive with Christ, your Lord God, the joy of eternal salvation and light—to greet Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs—to rejoice with the righteous and the friends of God in the kingdom of Heaven, with the pleasure of immorality given to us—to receive there what neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man! For the apostle announces that we shall receive greater things than anything that we here either do or suffer, saying,
"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come hereafter which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
When that revelation shall come, when that glory of God shall shine upon us, we shall be as happy and joyful, honored with the condescension of God, as they will remain guilty and wretched, who, either as deserters from God or rebels against Him, have done the will of the devil, so that it is necessary for them to be tormented with the devil himself in unquenchable fire.
Letters (Exhortation to the People of Thibaris), 55:10
