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 ance of  the  damned! how rigorous  art  thou ! — but, ah ! how fruitless !

2. Never  to  see  God — to  be  burning  in  flames  for ever — the blood  boiling  in  our  veins,  the  marrow  in our  bones— to  be  trampled  on  by  the  devils — to  have all that  is  hideous  for  ever  before  our  eyes — to  have rage, anguish,  and  despair  eternally  rooted  in  our hearts, without  comfort  or  mitigation1. O what a life!

3. These  unhappy  souls  are  full  of  anguish  at having  had  so  many  opportunities  of  salvation,  and for having  neglected  them. The recollection  of  their past pleasure  is  one  of  their  most  sensible  torments. Hut nothing  more  keenly  gnaws  them  than  the impossibility of  forgetting  that  God,  whom,  by  their own fault,  they  have  miserably  forfeited.

[Go down in  spirit  into  hell,  and  inquire  of  the  damned  what  it is  that  has  made  them  fall  into  it. Question them  upon  their present  state,  and  learn  from  them  to  fear  God  and  your  own danger.]

“Which of you  can  dwell  with  devouring,  flames?”— Isaias xxxiii.

“ The impious pass  from  one  punishment  to  another— from  the burnings  of  concupiscence  to  the  dames  of  hell.”-  St. Augustine.

1. Can  the  wrath  of  God  go  farther  than  punishing pleasures,  which  are  so  soon  over,  by  tortures which will  never  have  an  end? To be  miserable while ever  God  is  God!— can  any  misery  be  like  it? Is it  not  enough  that  the  evils  of  the  damned  are extreme? Must they  still,  besides  this,  be  eternal? To be  hurt  by  the  point  of  a pin  is  trifling  in  itself; yet, were  this  pain  to  last  always,  it  would  become insupportable. What shall  it be  then, &c.

2. O Eternity! When a damned  soul  shall  have