Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/164

 I. On the first head it is to be noted, that the proud perversely exalt themselves in three ways. (1) By foolishly lifting themselves up against God: “ He runneth upon Him [God], even on His neck, upon the thick bosses of His bucklers: because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks,” Job. xv. 26, 27. And again : “ If thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth,” Id. 13. “The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually,” Ps. lxxiv. 23. (2) By foolishly pleasing themselves: “ God therefore being forsaken, man seeks to exist for himself, that is to please himself. He does not now become absolutely nothing, but he approaches to nothingness; whence the proud, according to the Holy Scriptures, are called by another name, the ‘ self-pleasers’ (Authades),” S. August., City of God, xiv. 13. (3) By arrogantly preferring themselves before others: “ The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor,” Ps. x. 2. S. Augustine asks, What is pride, except it be the desire of a false exaltation? Of these three: “Why doth thine heart carry thee away?” By lifting thee up: behold the first. “And what do thine eyes wink at?” By pleasing thyself, “ that thou turned thy spirit against God:” behold the third. Job xv. 12, 13.

II. On the second head it is to be noted, that the proud are punished in a three-fold manner. (1) Because they are cast down from their pride: “ The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually,” Ps. lxxiv. 23. (2) Because they are confounded in the sight of all men: “Therefore will I change their glory into shame,” Hos. iv. 7. “ All that forsake Thee shall be ashamed,” Jer. xvii. 13. Again : “They shall be greatly ashamed. . . . their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten,” Jer. xx. 11. “Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel,” Hos. x. 6. (3) They will be punished eternally : “ How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire,” Rev. xviii. 7, 8. “ Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one