Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/141

 shouts back  'eternity.'"  Ah,  no!  the  greatest  torments of  this  life,  how  horrible  soever  they  may seem,  bear  no  kind  of  proportion  to  the  tortures  of hell.  Christ  our  Lord  described  hell  in  these words:  "Depart  from  Me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting fire,"  but  only  a  God  could  express  so  much in  so  few  words.  In  them  He  tells  us  there  are  three kinds  of  torments  in  hell;  first,  the  pain  of  the senses;  secondly,  the  pain  of  the  loss  of  God — "  Depart  from  Me,"  and  thirdly,  and  worst  of  all,  the fact  that  these  pains  are  eternal — everlasting.  "  In what  things  soever  a  man  shall  have  sinned,  in  these also shall  he  be  punished."  Hence,  I  will  be  tortured in  every  one  of  my  five  senses.  These  eyes,  through which  the  devil  so  often  gained  admission  to  my soul — so  eager  for  filthy  and  adulterous  sights,  so baneful,  probably,  to  my  neighbor's  salvation — ah, what  horrid  things  will  these  eyes  then  see!  Were I  to  find  myself  alone  in  a  cemetery  at  midnight  and there  to  be  confronted  by  a  grim  spectre — a  living skeleton  half  hidden,  only,  in  its  snowy  shroud — what would  be  my  terror!  Now,  if  the  devil  is  so  frightful in  human  shape,  what  must  he  be  in  his  own native  ugliness?  If  so  unpleasant  to  look  at  here  on earth,  what  will  he  be  when  I  see  him  at  home  in hell?  The  lost  souls,  too,  what  a  shocking  sight they  will  present  and  that,  too,  in  the  dim  light  of hell,  for  the  hell-fire  gives  not  light  enough  to  comfort the  eye,  but  only  enough  to  reveal  to  it  everything that  may  torment  it. Oh, if  I  am  ever  to  go to  hell,  it  is  small  comfort  for  me  to  reflect  I  will