Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/234



1. First, I must consider the pain which the damned suffer when they have a body. For according to the laws of God's justice, " Per qua quis peccat, per hsec et torquetur;" "By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented." And seeing sin entereth by the senses, in them must be its punishment This may be considered running through all the five.

i. The sight will be tormented by beholding their enemies near them, and by suffering horrible visions which the devils will set before them, taking dreadful forms in order to torment them; for they are not able to shut their eyes from seeing them, in chastisement of the sins they committed with this sense.

ii. The hearing will always be hearing blasphemies against Almighty God, maledictions and words most injurious, and other most harsh sounds after the manner of horrible howlings and roarings, without being able to shut their ears, in chastisement of the sins which they committed with them.

iii. The smell will perceive stinking things like brimstone, but above all, the abominable stench which will proceed from the bodies of the damned and from his own body.

iv. The taste in the throat and tongue will taste things exceeding bitter, yea much more bitter than " gall" or " wormwood," with terrible retchings and vomitings of the stomach; and on the other side, it will suffer the hunger of a dog and a raging thirst, "desiring, like the rich covetous man, one little " drop of water,"  which yet will not be granted him in chastisement of his sins of gluttony.

v. The touch throughout the whole body will suffer great torments from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head,