Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 13.djvu/465

 righteous. (1) They inherit the kingdom which is prepared for them from the foundation of the world; (2) in this kingdom, city, house of God, the first source of the happiness of these righteous people will be their constant coexistence and cohabitation with God himself and with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the constant participation in the divine glory, as much as that is possible for a creature; (3) living all the time with the Lord in the kingdom of heaven, the righteous will be permitted to behold the Tri-hypostatic One face to face.”

That is, that terrible God who, having created men out of love, torments them for ever.

273. (b) Degrees of the happiness of the righteous:

“The happiness of the righteous in heaven, which is common for all of them, has its degrees, in accordance with the moral dignity of each.” That is proved by Holy Scripture.

274. (c) The eternity of the happiness of the righteous.

The happiness of the righteous is eternal.

275. The moral application of the dogma about the general judgment and retribution. “Oh, if we only thought often and attentively of that great day (Acts ii. 20), the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. ii. 5), with which some day the whole house-management of our salvation will end! If we only presented to ourselves vividly and in detail those endless benefits which are prepared for the righteous in heaven, and those eternal torments which await the sinners in hell! How many incitements we should find for ourselves to abstain from sins and to abide in godliness! So give us all, O Lord, and for ever, the living and undying remembrance of thy future glorious coming, of thy last terrible judgment over us, of thy most just and everlasting retribution for the righteous and for the sinners,—that in its light and in the light of thy grace and aid we may live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present