Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/34

 so often  and  so  easily  offended  against  God's  law! It would have  been  just  had  you  been  expelled,  not  as Adam  was,  from  Paradise,  but  from  this  world. You have often  offended  Him,  and  still  He  waits  for  your  repentance. " Delay  not  then  to  be  converted  to  the  Lord, and  defer  it  not  from  day  to  day,  for  His  wrath  shall come  on  a  sudden;  and  in  the  time  of  vengeance  He  will destroy  thee." (Ecclus. v.  8.)

I. God  is  infinitely  just  in  the  infliction  of  punishment, which nevertheless  is  always  (in  the  language  of  divines) below our  deserts,  whilst  His  rewards  are  above  our  merits. Reflect deeply,  then,  on  the  grievousness  of  the  offence, by  considering  the  punishment  due  to  every  sin. Enter, in  imagination,  into  hell,  and  view  the  torments which God  has  prepared  for  even  one  mortal  offence. Contemplate those  fiery  regions — those  torrents  of  sulphur — that  gnawing  of  teeth,  and  hear  those  shrill  accents of  furious  agony  and  settled  despair  which  the  reprobate souls  continually  utter. Remember they  are  to endure  forever. And "which  of  you,"  exclaims  the  prophet, "shall dwell  with  everlasting  burnings?" (Is. xxxiii.  14.)

II. What a  folly  it  would  be  to  offend  a  sovereign,  by whom  you  knew  you  would  be  cruelly  tormented  on  the rack in  consequence  of  your  offence! How much  greater folly is  it  to  displease  God,  "who  can  destroy  both  body and  soul  in  hell"! (Matt. x.  28.)  And  if  so  great  a  punishment be  due  to  one  mortal  sin,  though  that  is  below  its deserts, what  an  excess  of  torments  is  due  to  your  numerous transgressions! Look back  on  the  days  of  your youth, and  reflect  what  would  have  become  of  you  if God  had  called  you  from  life  on  such  and  such  occa-