Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/119

 way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” On account of the third mercy we ought, with quickness, to run to God. Heb. iv. 11, “Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest” (Vulgate, hasten). To which rest may we, &c.

THERE are two parts of righteousness to which the blessed Peter invites us in these words. The first is the avoiding; of evil, “ Let him eschew evil.” The second is, the delighting in good, “and do good.”

I. On the first head, it is to be noted that evil is chiefly to be avoided for three things. (1) On account of the great bitterness which it induces. (2) On account of the loss which it entails. (3) On account of the punishment to which it leads. Of the first, Jer. ii. 19, “See that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,” &c. Sin induces much bitterness on account of three reasons. (1) Because the Lord is opposed to sin. Deut. xxv. 16, “For all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Deut. xxxi. 17, “ Many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?” (2) Because man by sin is greatly disordered in himself. S. August., Thou hast commanded, 0 Lord, and it is truly so, that every disordered mind is the punishment to itself. Job. vii. 20, “Why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee, so that I am a burden to myself ?” (3) Because every sinner impugns the just judgment of God to every creature. Wis. xvi. 24, “ The creature serving Thee, the Creator, is made fierce against the unjust for their punishment.”

II. On the second head, it is to be noted, that the sinner