Page:Thefourlastthings.djvu/175

 but eternity cannot end, for nothing can be taken from it.

How terrible is this thought ! It is indeed appalling when one attempts to realize it.

The damned would be joyful, they would give God thanks, if they could hope, after millions and millions of years of torment, to be at last released from their misery.

But there is no hope at all of their final release from the pains of Hell. No one who thinks seriously of this can fail to be awestruck and horrified. O God, how terrible Thou art ! How great is Thy severity! How canst Thou, the Father of mercies, see these unhappy creatures condemned to such punishments forever and ever, how canst Thou hear unmoved their despairing cries!

All this teaches us how grievous every mortal sin must be, since Thou, the all-merciful God, canst sentence the sinner to eternal damnation for one mortal sin. O Christian, I beseech thee, in the name of all that is holy, do not sin so lightly, do not think so little of mortal sin, see how dreadful is the chastisement inflicted upon the unfortunate sinners. It may perhaps appear scarcely credible to thee that God, whose mercies are infinite, could possibly inflict upon one of His frail creatures a never-ending punishment for one single mortal sin.

Yet so it is; and it is even true that a man who has led a pious life will, if before his death he should have the unspeakable