Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/495

 Nature's God  Himself  would  be  false,  for  God  has promised to  render  to  every  man  according  to  his works; to  reward  the  virtuous  and  to  punish  the wicked. But what  do  I  see? I look  around  me  and I see  a  world  of  saints  and  sinners — the  saints  living in  poverty  and  wretchedness  all  their  lives,  the sinners affluent  and  happy. Oh, surely  virtue  does not always  get  its  reward  nor  vice  its  punishment  in this  world;  and  so  God's  words  would  be  false  and His justice  a  mere  mockery,  were  there  no  hereafter of happiness  for  the  good  and  of  misery  for  the wicked. If my  soul  is  to  die  with  my  body,  religion is a  humbug,  laws  do  not  bind;  I  can  plunder  and outrage and  kill  and  give  free  play  to  all  the  worst inclinations of  my  nature;  for  if  there  is  no  hereafter why not  enjoy  this  life  to  the  full? Why fear  man? Why fear  God? Believers have  ever  held  the  doctrine of  a  hereafter,  and  unbelievers,  while  denying it with  the  lips,  have  confessed  it  in  their  lives  and in their  inmost  souls. Even the  poor  untutored savage laid  him  down  to  die  with  a  prayer  on  his  lips, and a  firm  hope  in  his  heart  of  waking  in  the  happy hunting-grounds. Yes, my  soul,  I  feel  that  I  possess thee,  and  that  thou  canst  never  die;  that  thou art not  made  of  perishable  matter,  like  my  body,  but art a  pure  spirit;  that  of  thine  own  nature  thou  art immortal, and  that  God  will  never  annihilate  thee; that, as  He  has  promised,  He  will  render  to  thee  in the  last  day  according  to  thy  deeds;  reward  thee,  if good,  with  eternal  happiness,  and  condemn  thee,  if wicked,  to  the  everlasting  pains  of  hell.