fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints" (Wisd. v. 2-5). How it will grieve them to behold those whom they formerly despised so utterly now honoured and beloved by the Angels of God, and conducted by them in glory and triumph to meet Christ. And they who once made such a display of their riches, who despised all their fellow creatures in their arrogant pride, now stand amongst the fallen Angels, poor, miserable, contemned.
When the Angels have escorted all the elect to the valley of Josaphat, they will proceed to drive all the reprobate thither, with the evil spirits that are mingled with them. They will cry with a loud voice: "Away with you, away to judgment! The Judge of the living and the dead commands you to appear before Him."
What a piercing cry of anguish these unhappy creatures will utter ! They will do their utmost to resist the behest of the Angels, but they will struggle in vain; they must obey the command of God s messengers. Together with the evil spirits the damned will be forcibly driven to the place of judgment. What an awful journey! The air is rent with cries of rage. The spirits of darkness, with diabolical malice and cruelty, already vent their spite in tormenting the hapless creatures whom sin has made their victims. Hear the shriek of despair
