“There always was, there is now, and there ever shall be, that by which the first Will begotten from eternity consists; and from the first Will proceeds a second Will.  After these came the world; and from the world came time:  from this, the multitude of men; from the multitude the election of the beloved, from whose oneness of mind the peaceful kingdom of God is constructed.  But the rest, which ought to follow these, you promised to tell me at another time.  After this, when you had explained about the creation of the world, you intimated the decree of God, “which He, of His own good pleasure, announced in the presence of all the first angels,” and which He ordained as an eternal law to all; and how He established two kingdoms,—I mean that of the present time and that of the future,—and appointed times to each, and decreed that a day of judgment should be expected, which He determined, in which a severance is to be made of things and of souls:  so that the wicked indeed shall be consigned to eternal fire for their sins; but those who have lived according to the will of God the Creator, having received a blessing for their good works, effulgent with brightest light, introduced into an eternal abode, and abiding in incorruption, shall receive eternal gifts of ineffable blessings.”

E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH