Book I, Part 1, Chapter 10. Of the tenth Motive that obliges us to the Love of Virtue, which is, the fourth of the four last Things, that is, the Pains of Hell

1. Any, the least part of this great reward we have now spoken of, should be more than sufficient to inflame our hearts with the love of virtue. But if, to the fulness of that glory which is reserved for the just, we further add, the severity of those torments that are prepared for the wicked, what an effect should this have on us, especially there being no middle state between these two ! The wdcked man cannot comfort himself Dy saying, " All that can come of my living wickedly is, that I shall never enjoy God ; as for the rest, I expect neither happiness nor misery." The sinful man shall not escape thus. One of these two opposite conditions must be his lot: he must either reign with God for all eternity, or burn for ever with the devils in hell. These are the two baskets the Lord in a vision showed the prophet Jeremiah, before the gates of the temple (Jerem. xxiv. 1, 2), one of which had very good figs, and the other very naughty ones, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. God's design by this was to let his prophet know that there were two sorts of persons, the one, objects of his mercy, the other of his justice. The first cannot be in a more happy condition, nor the latter in a more miserable ; because the happiness of the first consists in seeing God, the perfection of all goodness, while the misery of the other is to be deprived of his sight, the greatest misfortune that can possibly befall poor man.

• This truth, well considered, would make those men, who sin so unconcernedly, sensible what a weight they voluntarily lay on themselves. They who get their living by carrying of burdens, observe first what they carry, and lift it up a little, to see if it is not too heavy for them ; and will you, who are brought up amidst the delights and charms of sin, let your sensual desires draw you away so far, in opposition to the will of God, as to oblige you to carry the heavy burden of sin, without any hope of ease or rest, and all this for the enjoyment of a base, infamous pleasure ? Try first its weight, that is, consider the punishment attending it, that you may see whether you are able to bear it. That you may the better conceive how painful this torment is, and how weighty a burden you lay on your shoulders, as often as you sin, I will propose to you the following considerations i\ and though I have treated of this matter elsewhere, yet I cannot pass it over without saying something on it again in this place, though quite different from what I have said before ; for the subject is so copious, there is no exhausting it.

2. Consider first the immense greatness of God, who is to punish sin. He is God in all his works, that is, great and wonderful in them all, not only in heaven, earth and sea, but even in hell, and in all other places. Now if this Lord is God, and shows himself God in all his actions, he will certainly appear so no less in his wrath, in his justice, and in the punishment he inflicts on sin. This is what he means, when he says, by the prophet Jeremiah, Fear ye not me ? Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it, and though the waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it ? Jerem. v. 22. As if he had said more plainly, Is it not highly requisite that ye should fear the strength of that arm, which has wrought so great a miracle ; which will be neither less powerful nor less wonderful in the punishment it inflicts, than in all its other works ? So that we have as much reason to fear him infinitely, on the account of the miseries he can reduce us to, as we have to praise him for the favors he has bestowed on us. It was this that made the same prophet, though innocent and sanctified in his mother's womb, to tremble, when he said, Who will not fear thee, 0 King of nations, for glory appertains to thee? Jer. x. 7. And in another place, I sate alone, because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with commination ; ch. xv. 17. The holy prophet knew very well, that these threats did not touch him ; yet, for all this, they were so dreadful as to make him tremble. Therefore, it is with reason we say, the pillars of heaven shake before the majesty of God, and the powers and principalities all tremble in his presence ; not that they are in doubt of their own happiness, but because they are in continual admiration of his infinite majesty. If these pure spirits are not free from fear, what apprehension should sinners, and such as despise God's commandments, be in, as being the persons on whom he will thunder out the dreadful effects of his vengeance ! This is, without doubt, one of the chief reasons, which ought to stir up in our souls a fear of this punishment, as St. John plainly shows us in the Apocalypse (ch. xviii. 8), where, speaking of the punishments which God will inflict, he says, Babylon's- plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire ; because God is strong wKo shall judge her. And St. Paul, who very well knew his great strength, says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; Heb. x. 31. It is no dreadful thing to fall into the hands of men, because they are not so strong but that a man may break from them, nor have they power enough to thrust a soul headlong into hell. Our Saviour, for this reason, said to his disciples, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. Fear him who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him. Luke xii. 4, 5. These are the hands the apostle says it is terrible to fall into. Those persons were surely very sensible of the force of these hands, who cried out, in the book of Ecclesiasticus (ch. ii. 22), Unless we do penance we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men. All this plainly makes it appear, that as God is great in his power, in his authority, and in all his works, so will he be in his anger, in his justice and in punishing the wicked.

3. This will be still more evident, if we but consider the greatness of the divine justice which inflicts this punishment ; and we may see more of it, in those dreadful examples we have in the Holy Scriptures. How remarkably did God punish Dathan and Abiron (Num. xvi.) with all their accomplices, by making the earth to open and swallow them alive, and by sinking them down into hell for rebelling against their superiors ! Who ever heard of any threats or curses like those that are to be read in Deuteronomy, against the transgressors of the law ? These are some of those many dreadful comminations : I will send armies of enemies against you, says God, which shall besiege your cities, and shall hring you into such straits, that the tender and delicate woman among you, which would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground, for delicateness and tenderness, shall devour the afterbirth, with the blood and the rest of the uncleanness that flows from her. She shall eat them, for want of all things, secretly in the siege. Dent, xxviii. 50, 52, 55, 56, 57. These are, indeed, most terrible punishments ; and yet neither are these, nor any others whatsoever, that man can suffer in this life, any more than a mere shadow, or a faint resemblance, in comparison of those which are reserved for the next. Then will be the time that the divine justice shall signalize itself against those who have here despised his mercy. If, therefore, the shadow and the resemblance be so frightful, what shall we think of the substance and original? And if the chalice of the Lord be so unpalatable now, when there is water mixed with it, and when the severity of justice is lessened so much by the mildness of mercy, how bitter must the potion be, when we shall be forced to drink it off without any mixture at all ! and when those persons who would not accept God's mercy shall feel nothing but the effects of his judgments ! And yet these torments, though so great, are all infinitely less than what our sins deserve.

4. Besides the consideration of the greatness of God's justice, another way to make us understand the rigor of these punishments he will inflict, is to reflect on the effects of his mercy, on which sinners so much presume. For what greater subject of astonishment can we have, than to see a God taking human flesh on him, and suffering in his body all the torments and disgraces which he underwent, even to the dying on the cross? What greater mercy could he show, than thus to humble himself, to carry the burden of ail our sins, that he might thereby ease us of their weight, and to offer up his most precious blood for the salvation of those very wretches who shed it ? Now, as the works of the divine mercy are wonderful in themselves, so will the effects of God's justice be. For since God is equal in all his attributes, because all that is in him is God, it follows, that his justice is no less in itself than his mercy is ; and as, by the thickness of one arm, we may judge how big the other is, so may we know how great the arm of God's justice, by that of his mercy, since they are both equal.

If God, when he was pleased to make known his mercy to the world, performed such wonderful and almost incredible things, that the same world looked on them as folly, what do you think he will do at his second coming, which is the time designed for manifesting the severity of his justice ? especially since every sin that is committed in the world gives him a new occasion to exercise it ; whereas he never had any motive to mercy but that same mercy itself; there being nothing at all, in human nature, that deserves his favor : but as for bis justice, he will have as many reasons to execute its utmost rigor, as there have been crimes committed by mankind. Judge by that how terrible it must be.

5. St. Bernard, in one of his sermons on the coming of our Saviour, has explained this very well, in these words : " As our Lord, at his first coming into the world, showed himself very merciful and easy in forgiving, so, at his seeond, he will show himself as rigid and severe in punishing ; and as there is no one but may be reconciled to his favor now, it will be impossible for any one to obtain it then ; because he is as infinite in his justice as he is in his mercy, and can punish with as much rigor as he pardons with mildness. His mercy, it is true, has the first place, provided our behavior has not been such as may provoke the severity of his justice." These words give us to understand, that the greatness of God's mercy is the standard whereby we may guess at his justice. The same doctrine is held forth to us by t*he royal prophet, saying, Our God is the God from whom cometh salvation; God is the Lord, by whom toe escape death. God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness. Ps. lxviii. 20, 21. This shows how kind and merciful God is to those who return to him, and how severe against hardened and obstinate sinners.

6. Another proof of this we have, in the extraordinary patience with which God bears, not only the world in general, but every sinner in particular. How many do we daily see, who, from the very first moment they came to the use of reason till their latter days, have been employed in nothing but sin, without ever regarding God's promises or threats, his mercies or his commands, or any other thing that tended to their conversion? And yet this sovereign goodness has been all the while expecting them with patience, without cutting off one minute of their unhappy lives, and has not ceased to make use of several means to bring them to repentance, but all to no purpose. What therefore, will he do, when, after having exhausted this long patience, his anger, which has been so long a time gathering in the repository of his justice, shall overflow the banks which kept it in? With how much force and violence will it rush in on them ! This is what the apostle meant, when he said, Knowest thou not, 0 man, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance ? But according to thy hardness, and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works. Rom. h. 4, 5, 6.

What can he mean by treasurest up to thyself wrath, but as they who hoard up riches daily, heap gold on gold, and silver on silver, for the increasing of their stock ; so God daily adds to the treasure of his anger, in proportion to the number of the sinner's crimes ? Were a man to be altogether employed for fifty or sixty years together, in heaping up treasures, so as not to let one day or hour pass without making some addition to it, what a mighty sum would he find at the end of that time ! How miserable, then, must your condition be, since you scarce suffer one moment of your life to slip without adding something to the treasure of God's wrath, which is every minute increased by the number of your sins! For though nothing else were to be put in but the immodest glances of your eyes, the malicious and vicious desires of your heart, and the oaths and scandalous words that come from your mouth, these alone would suffice to fill a whole wrorld. Then, if so many other enormous crimes as you are daily guilty of, be added to these, what a treasure of wrath and vengeance shall you have heaped against yourself at the end of so many years!

7. If, besides all this, we make a serious reflection on the ingratitude and malice of the wicked, it will, in a great measure, show us with what severity and rigor this punishment is to be inflicted. To pass a true judgment on this matter, we should consider, on one side, how merciful God has dealt with men, what he did and said for them whilst he was here on earth, and how much he suffered for them, what dispositions and means he has found for their leading a virtuous life, how much he has pardoned or seemed not to take notice of, the benefits he has done them, the evils he has delivered them from, with infinite other graces he is always bestowing on them. Let us consider, on the other hand, how forgetful men have been of God, their ingratitude, their treasons, their infidelities, their blasphemies, the contempt they have had of both him and his commandments, which has been carried so far, that they have trampled him under foot, not only for a trivial interest, but very often for nothing, and out of mere malice ; nay, they are come to such a degree of impudence, that the laws of God are the frequent matter of their pleasantry, ridicule and impiety. What do you think those persons who have despised so high a majesty can expect, those who, as the apostle says (Heb. x. 29), have trodden under foot the Son of God, and have esteemed the blood of the covenant unclean, with which he was sanctified, but to be punished and tormented on that day, wTherein they must render an account of themselves, according to the affronts and injuries they have offered ? For, God being a most equitable judge, that is to say, such a one as will punish the offender proportionably to the offence given, and being, besides, the party offended, how great must the torments be, which the soul and body of the criminal, delivered up to his justice, shall suffer, since they are to equal the grievances of the crimes by which the divine Majesty has been affronted ! And if it was necessary that the Son of God should shed his blood to satisfy for those sins which had been committed against him (the merits of the person supplying what might be wanting to the rigor of the punishment), what must follow when this satisfaction is to be made by no other way but by the severity of the punishment, without any consideration of the person at all ?

8. If, as we have seen, the quality of the Judge ought to make us so much afraid, what should that of the executioner do ? For the sentence which God shall pass against a soul is to be put in execution by the devil, and what favor can be expected from so cruel an enemy? That you may conceive something of his fury and malice, consider how he dealt with holy Job, when God had delivered him into his power. What cruelty and violence did he not exercise on this righteous man, without the least show of tenderness or pity? He sent the Sabeans to drive away his oxen and asses; his sheep and his servants he destroyed by fire; he overthrew all his houses, he killed his children, he covered his body all over with sores and ulcers, leaving him no part of those vast riches he possessed before but a dunghill to sit on, and a tile to scrape off the corruption that ran from his sores. And, to add to his sorrow, he left him a wicked wife, and such friends as it had been more humanity to destroy than spare; for they, with their tongues, pierced and tormented his heart more cruelly than the worms that preyed on his flesh. Thus he behaved himself towards Job. But what was it he did, or rather what was it he left undone, against the Saviour of the world, in that dreadful night, when he was delivered up to the power of darkness? It is more than can be comprised in a few words. If, then, this enemy of mankind, and all his accomplices, are so inhuman, so bloody, such enemies to mankind, and so powerful to do harm, what will become of you, miserable creature, when you shall be delivered up into their hands, with a full and absolute authority, to execute on you all the cruelties they shall be able to invent? And this not for a day, or for a night, nor for a year only, or for an age, but for all eternity. Do you think these merciless devils, when they have you in their clutches, will use you kindly ? O ! how dark and dismal will that unhappy day be, when you shall be delivered up to the power of these ravenous wolves, these savage beasts!

9. But that you may the better conceive what usage is to be expected at their hands, I will here set clown a notable example, out of St. Gregory's Dialogues; L. 4. c. 33. He tells us, "That there was a religious man in one of his monasteries, no riper in virtue than in years, who was ready to die of a very violent sickness. The brothers being all met together, according to their custom, to assist him in this his dangerous passage, and kneeling about his bed to pray for him, the dying man cried out to then 'Begone, begone, fathers, and leave me a prey to this dragon, that he may swallow me up, for my head is already in his fiery jaws, and he presses me with his scales, which are like the teeth of a saw, so that I am in most insupportable torment. I desire you, therefore, to quit the room, and leave me to him, for not the sinner's guide. S5 being able to make an end of me whilst you are heie, he puts me to so much greater pain.' The religious advised him to take courage, and make the sign of the cross : i How shall I do it,' says he, ' when the dragon has so twisted his tail about my hands and feet, that I am not able to stir ?' They, not at all disheartened at this, renewed their prayers with much greater fervor than before, and seconding them with sighs and tears, obtained of the Father of mercies his deliverance from this violent agony, which left him so astonished and confounded, that he afterwards lived so virtuous a life as to put him out of all danger of seeing himself reduced to such circumstances again."

10. These are the wicked spirits which St. John describes in his Revelation, under the most frightful forms we are able to conceive. " I saw," says he, " a star fall from heaven upon the earth, and there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit ; and the smoke of the pit arose as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air was darkened with the smoke of the pit. And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads : and it was given to them that they should not kill them; but that they should torment them five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle : and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold ; and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women : and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breast-plates as breast-plates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like to scorpions, and there were stings in their tails." Apoc. ix. 1 — 10. Thus far are the words of St. John. Now what was the design of the Holy Ghost in showing us the greatness of these torments under such terrible representations and figures ? What other design could he have, but to let us know, by these dreadful forms, how great the wrath of the Lord will be, what the instruments of his justice, what punishments are to fall on sinners, and what power our enemies are like to have, that the dread or these things might deter us from offending God? For what star was it that fell from heaven, and had the key of the bottomless pit delivered to it, but that bright angel, who was flung headlong out of heaven into hell, and to whose power the kingdom of darkness was committed? And what were these locusts, so fierce and so well armed, but the devils his accomplices, and the ministers of his rage ? What were these green things, which they were commanded not to hurt, but the just, who nourish by being watered with the heavenly dew of grace, and thus bring forth the fruits of eternal life ? Who are those that have not the seal of God stamped on them, but such as are destitute of his Spirit, the true and infallible mark of his servants and of the sheep of his flock ? It is against these unhappy wretches the divine justice has raised such forces, that they may be tormented, both in this life and in the next, by those very devils whose service they have preferred, before that of their Creator, as the Egyptians once were by the flies and gnats, which they adored. Add to all this, how dreadful it will be to behold, in this sad place, those hideous and frightful monsters, this devouring dragon, and this writhing serpent. What a horrible sight must it be to see this huge and monstrous behemoth, which is said in the book of Job, to erect his tail like a cedar, to drink up whole rivers, and to devour mountains.

11. A thorough consideration of all these things is sufficient to make us understand what torments the wicked are to suffer. For who can imagine, from what has been said, but that these pains must be very great ? What can a man expect from the greatness of God himself ; from the greatness of his justice in punishing sin ; from the greatness of his patience in bearing with sinners ; from the infinite multitude of favors and graces by which he has endeavored to invite and draw them to himself; from the greatness of the hatred he bears to sin, which deserves to be infinitely hated, because it offends an infinite Majesty ; and from the greatness of our enemy's cruelty and fury ? What can we, I say, expect from all these things, which are so great, but that sin should meet with a most severe and terrible punishment ? If, therefore, so severe a punishment is ordained for sin, and no doubt can be made of it, since faith testifies this truth, how can they, who pretend to own and believe it, be so insensible of the heavy weight every sin they commit throws on them, when, by giving way to but one offence, they bring themselves into the danger of incurring a penalty, which on so many accounts appears so terrible?

§ I. Of the duration of these Torments. — 12. But though all these considerations are sufficient, without any further addition, to make us tremble, we shall have much more reason to be afraid, if we do but reflect with ourselves on the duration of the pai mentioned. For if, after several thousands of years, there shouL be any limits set, or any ease given to these sufferings, it would be some kind of comfort to the wicked : but what shall I say of their eternity, which has no bounds, but will last as long as God himself ? This eternity is such, that, as a great doctor tells us, should one of the damned, at the end of every thousand years, shed but one tear, he would sooner overflow the world than find any end to his miseries. Can any thing, then, be more terrible ? This is certainly so great an evil, that, though all the pains of heh were no sharper than the prick of a pin, considering they were to continue for ever, man ought to undergo all the torments of this world to avoid them. O ! that this eternity, this terrible word for ever were deeply imprinted in your heart ! how great would be the benefit you would reap by it! We read of a certain vain and worldly-minded man, who, considering seriously one day on this eternity of torments, was frightened with the duration of them into this reflection : No man in the world in his right senses would be confined to a bed of roses and violets for the space of thirty or forty years, though he were at this price to purchase the empire of the whole earth. If so, said he to himself, what a madman must he be, that will, for things of much less value, run the hazard of lying infinite ages on a bed of fire and flames ! This thought alone wrought him up to such and so immediate a change of life, that he became a great saint and a worthy prelate of the church. What will those nice and effeminate persons say to this, whvjse whole night's sleep is disturbed and broken if a fly be but buzzing in their chamber? What will they say, when they shall be stretched out on a bed of fire, and surrounded on all sides with sulphurous flames, not for one short summer's night, but for all eternity ? These are the persons to whom the prophet Isaias (ch. xxxiii. 14) put this question : Who among you can dwell with the devouring fire ? Who am,ong you can dwell with everlasting burnings ? Who can be able to bear such a scorching heat as this for so long a time ? O foolish and senseless men ! lulled into a lethargic sleep by the charms of this old deceiver of mankind ! Can any thing be more unreasonable than to see men so busily providing for this mortal and corruptible life, and at the same time to have no greater concern for the things which regard eternity ? If we are blind to this mistake, what will our eyes be open to ? What will we be afraid of, if we have no apprehension of this misery ? or what shall we ever provide against, if not against a matter of such importance ?

13. Since all this is so undeniably true, why will we not resolve to walk in the way of virtue, though ever so painful, that we may avoid those punishments we are threatened with, if we take the contrary way ? Should God leave it to any man's choice, either to be tormented with the gout or tooth-ache, in such a violent manner, as not to have any hopes of ease either day or night, or else to turn Carthusian or barefoot Carmelite, and undergo all the austerities those religious men are obliged to, it is not to be imagined any man would be so stupid as not to choose either of these two states, though on the bare motive of self-love, rather than suffer such torture for so long a time. Why then do not we accept of so easy a penance to avoid such lasting torments, since the pains of hell are so much more insufferable, of so much longer continuance, and God requires so much less of us than the life of a Carthusian or Carmelite ? Why do we refuse to undergo so little pain, when by it we may escape so long and so rigorous a punishment ? Can any man be guilty of greater folly than this is? But the punishment of it shall be, that since man would not, by short penance done here, redeem himself from so much misery, he shall do penance in hell for all eternity, without reaping any benefit by it. The fiery furnace which Nabuchodonosor commanded to be kindled in Babylon is a type hereof (Dan. hi. 4?) ; for though the flames mounted forty-nine cubits, they could never reach to fifty, the number of years appointed for solemnizing the Jewish jubilee ; to signify to us, that though the flames of this eternal furnace of Babylon, which is hell, are continually casting forth a most violent heat, and put those souls which are thrown into them to most exquisite pains and torments, yet they shall never obtain for them the grace and remission of the year of jubilee. O unprofitable pains ! O fruitless tears ! O penance so much the more rigorous, as it is accompanied with perpetual despair ! How small a part of all those evils you are now forced to sufier might have obtained you a pardon, if you would but willingly have undergone it in this life ! How easily might we prevent our falling into such miseries with but a little pains and trouble ! Let our eyes, then, melt into fountains of tears, and let our hearts break forth into continual sighs without intermission. For this, says the prophet, I wail and howl ; I will go stripped and naked ; I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the ostriches ; for her ivound is desperate; Mich. i. 8.

14. If men had never been told these truths, or if they had not looked on them as infallible, we should not wonder to see them fall into that supine negligence they are subject to. But have we not a deal of reason to be astonished, when those very persons who hold what we have" here asserted as an article of faith, and know that, as our Saviour has said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, bat not my word ; that is to say, it shall infallibly have its effect, live so inexcusably careless and unconcerned ? Tell me now, O man, blind in body, but blinder more in soul and understanding, what pleasure can you find in all the advantages and riches of the world to counterbalance the hazard of your eternal salvation? "If," says St. Jerome, "you were as wise as Solomon, as beautiful as Absalom, as strong as Samson, as old as Enoch, as rich as Croesus, and as powerful as Csesar, what good would all this do you, if, when you die, the worms should prey upon your body, and the devils seize on your soul to torment it, as they do the rich glutton's, for all eternity ?"

Thus much for the first part of the exhortation to virtue. We will treat now of the extraordinary favors which are promised it even in this life.

THE

SINNER'S GUIDE.