Page:Thefourlastthings.djvu/178

 justice of their doom ; for this cause they begin to despair, and to curse themselves and all that the hand of God has created.

Their despair only augments their sufferings. This we see from the example of our fellow creatures on earth, if they give way to despair. It is impossible to do anything with a man who is in despair; no one can help or console him, no one can comfort him or bring him to reason. He looks like a spectre ; he raves and rages like the very devil himself; he declares he will put an end to his life, that he will drown himself or hang himself; he destroys everything that comes in his way; he curses all men and all things. This the damned do in their despair, and thereby they torture themselves even more than the devils can torture them. They shriek and howl, they curse and swear, they storm and rage; in fact, they behave just as if they were fiends incarnate.

In their fury and spite they attack one another with the fiercest animosity; nay, they endeavour by every possible means to strangle themselves in their frantic despair.

Their efforts are, however, futile. All that they accomplish is to increase their torment, and inflict on themselves fresh pains.

Would that every obdurate sinner would lay this to heart, and take heed, lest one day he become the prey of this eternal despair.