Him we ought to love above all, whom we have known to be the most merciful Redeemer of our souls. His eternal and true power we ought to fear above all, whom we hope will come as the most just Judge. His promises we ought to desire with the whole affection of our heart, who is able to grant eternal life to soul and body. His wrath we ought to fear, who is able to cast soul and body into hell: in whose judgment, without respect of persons, without the influence of powers, masters and servants, kings and soldiers, rich and poor, lowly and lofty shall be judged equally; where whatever servant shall here have held the faith of God in truth shall obtain the eternal kingdom, but the unfaithful master shall be burned with everlasting fire;
where for faithful servants and masters neither life shall be ended nor joy be brought to a close, but for the unfaithful — whether servants or masters — according to the truth of the prophetic word, Their fire shall not be extinguished, and their worm shall not die (Isa. 66:24). For the wicked shall go into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. 4. But let us consider whom the Savior has foretold will go there, namely those to whom He will say: I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; a stranger, and you did not take Me in; sick and in prison, and you did not come to Me (Matt. 25:42-43).
But if he shall be justly cast into eternal fire who did not give bread to Christ hungering in His least ones, what shall he suffer who by the vice of unfaithfulness takes away from himself that very bread which came down from heaven? And if he shall be burned in perpetual flames who did not give a cup of cold water to Christ thirsting in His least ones, what shall that man suffer who, born again of water and the Holy Spirit, permits holy baptism to be repeated upon himself — that which he received once unto salvation and unto the sacrament of holy regeneration?
And if we believe that he is to be subjected to perpetual torments who neglects to receive with charity Christ, a pilgrim in His least ones, into his lodging, what shall he think he will suffer who, shutting the Lord Christ out of the house of his heart, and receiving the devil into himself by utterly blind unfaithfulness, departs from the holy Church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), being circumvented by heretical falsehood? And if he who does not visit the sick servants of Christ and those placed in prison is assigned to everlasting fire, what shall we say is to be repaid to those who violently afflict the servants of God — in whom they persecute the truth of the faith alone — either with the squalor of prisons or with the deportation of exiles?
But in all these things, though the unfaithful rage, God nevertheless supplies help to His own. And while the enemies of the faith desire to corrupt each one either by cunning seduction or by violent compulsion, Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God, grants strength that they may despise the promises of deadly persuasion, and by the strength of divine fear resist human terrors: only let the will not be turned away from God, and it will obtain the reward of faith. For it is the will itself upon which either eternal punishment is inflicted for unfaithfulness, or, when the faith has been preserved, everlasting gladness shall be its reward.