Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/297

 shed tears  enough  to  make  up  all  the  rivers  and  seas in the  world,  did  he  shed  but  one  teat  in  every hundred years,  he  shall  not  be  more  advanced,  after so many  millions  of  ages,  than  if  he  had  only  just begun to  suffer. He must  begin  again  as  if  he  had as yet  suffered  nothing; and,  when  he  shall  have begun, as  often  as  there  are  grains  of  sand  on  the sea-shore, atoms  in  the  air,  or  leaves  on  the  trees, he shall  still  be  as  far  off  from  the  end  of  his  sufferings as  ever.

The damned  must  not  only  suffer  during eternity, but  suffer  every  moment  an  eternity  entire. Eternity is  always  present  to  them — it  enters  into their punishment; their  mind  is  incessantly  struck with the  endless  duration  of  their  torments. O cruel thought! O deplorable condition ! — to rage  for  an eternity! to bum  for  an  eternity! Ah, that  we could  conceive  this  as  those  damned  souls  conceive  it.

[Make an Act  of  Faith  upon  the  duration  of  the  punishment  which the justice  of  God  indicts  for  mortal  sin. We must  at  least  believe what we  are  not  able  to  conceive. It is  a great  misfortune  for  a Christian  not  to  be  persuaded  of  this  eternity  but  by  his  own  sad experience.]

"Those who do  not  obey  the  Gospel  shall  suffer  eternal  punishment." — 2 Thes, i.

"Momentary is that  which  delights,  eternal  is  that  which tortures." — St. Chrysostom.

1. Heaven,  thou  glorious  state — no  heart  can conceive, no  tongue  can  describe  what  thou  art! Exemption from  all  that  is  evil — assemblage  of  all that is  good — purchased  with  the  blood  of  Jesus — and more  than  man  can  desire.

2. To  see  God  clearly,  and  as  he  is  in  his  glory; to love  God  without  measure; to  possess  God  without ever  fearing  to  lose  him; to  be  happy  in  the felicity of  God  himself — such  is  the  object  of  my