Page:The Way Of Salvation- Meditations For Every Day Of The Year (IA TheWayOfSalvation1836).pdf/37

 practise virtue, and to make amends for the evil which they had done; and never will it be concealed from them that there is no longer the least hope of remedy. They will call to mind the lights which they received from God, his many loving calls, bis offers of pardon, all despised; and they will see that all is now at an end, and that nothing remains for them, but to suffer and to despair for all eternity. O Jesus, thy blood, thy sufferings and death are my trust and hope. Alas! suffer me not to fall into hell, there to curse for ever even the blessings which thou hast bestowed upon me.

II. The souls in hell will be tormented in their understandings, by thinking continually of heaven, which they have wilfully lost through their own fault. The immense felicity enjoyed by the blessed in the abode of delights, will be for ever before their eyes; and this will render their life of dreadful suffering, which they must drag on for ever in the prison of despair and woe, still more tormenting. Had I then died, my Redeemer, when I was in sin, I should now have had no hope of ever enjoying thee in heaven! Thou gavest me life that I might gain heaven, and how have I lost heaven for something worse than nothing, by losing thy grace! I love thee, O God, and I am sorry for having offended thee, and I hope, through the merits of thy passion, to come to love thee for ever in heaven.

III. The souls in hell will be tormented in their with, by being denied, every thing which they desire, and by having every punishment inflicted upon them which they do not desire. They will never have any thing which they wish for, but every thing which they abhor. They will long to rid themselves of their torments and to find peace; but there will be no peace for them, they will be forced to dwell in the midst of their torments for