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| The Time Occupied by the Reckoning.
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9. The Time Occupied by the Reckoning.
And these things will take place whenever that happens
which is written in Daniel, “The books were opened and the
judgment was set;”6096
for a record, as it
were, is made of all things that have been spoken and done and thought,
and by divine power every hidden thing of ours shall be manifested, and
everything that is covered shall be revealed,6097
in
order that when any one is found who has not “given diligence to
be freed from the adversary,” he may go in succession through the
hands of the magistrate, and the
judge, and the attendant into the prison, until he pays the very last
mite;6098
but when one has given diligence to be freed
from him and owes nothing to any one, and already has made the pound
ten pounds or five pounds, or doubled the five talents, or made the two
four, he may obtain the due recompense, entering into the joy of his
Lord, either being set over all His possessions,6099
or hearing the word, “Have thou
authority over ten cities,”6100
or “Have
thou authority over five cities.”6101
| 6101 Luke xix. 19. In chap. 12 Origen
reads: Be thou also over five cities—as W. & H., and
comments on the difference of the reward. The mss. are therefore in error here. | But we think that these things are
spoken of as if they required a long period of time, in order that an
account may be made by us of the whole times of the earthly life, so
that we might suppose that when the king makes a reckoning with each
one of his many servants the matter would require so vast a period of
time, until these things come to an end which have existed from the
beginning of the world down to the consummation of the age, not of one
age, but of many ages. But the truth is not so; for when God
wished all at once to rekindle in the memories of all everything that
had been done by each one throughout the whole time, in order that each
might become conscious of his own doings whether good or bad, He would
do it by His ineffable power. For it is not with God as with us;
for if we wish to call some things to remembrance, we require
sufficient time for the detailed account of what has been said by us,
and to bring to our remembrance the things which we wish to remember;
but if He wished to call to our memory the things which have been done
in this life, in order that becoming conscious of what we have done we
may apprehend for what we are punished or honoured, He could do
so. But if any one disbelieves the swiftness of the power of God
in regard to these matters, he has not yet had a true conception of the
God who made the universe, who did not require times to make the vast
creation of heaven and earth and the things in them; for, though He may
seem to have made these things in six days, there is need of
understanding to comprehend in what sense the words “in six
days” are said, on account of this, “This is the book of
the generation of heaven and earth,”6102
etc. Therefore it may be boldly affirmed that the season of the
expected judgment does not require times, but as the resurrection is
said to take place “in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye,”6103
so I think will the
judgment also be.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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