Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/179

 the wicked. (1) The army of angels: “ The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire,” S. Matt. xiii. 49, 50. (2) The army of saints: “The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of His people and the princes thereof,” Isa. iii. 14. (3) The army of all created things: “ He will arm the creature for the revenge of His enemies .... And the whole world shall fight with Him against the unwise,” Wisd. v. 18-21.

II. On the second head it is to be noted, that God will destroy the wicked in a three-fold way. (1) Quickly, because there will be swift destruction to them: “The Lord shall send against thee in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things,” Deut. xxviii. 48. “When they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,” 1 Thess. v. 3. (2) Universally, because no evil one will be able to escape: “ Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from Thee,” Ps. lxxiii. 27. “ They were given in marriage until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained down fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all,” S. Luke xvii. 27-29. (3) Eternally : “ Fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell,” S. Matt. x. 28.

III. On the third head it is to be noted, that God will destroy the reprobate for their perverse wickedness: “ He will miserably destroy those wicked men,” S. Matt. xxi. 41. “ Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing,” Ps. v. 6. “And destroyed those murderers.” Three sins are noted here—sin of the heart in maliciousness; sin of the mouth in lying ; sin of the deed in murder. For all who sin, whether in heart, or word, or deed, unless they repent, will be punished by God in eternity, and will be led to the day of wrath. From which may the Lord Almighty deliver us. Amen.