Mortal Sin. — V. Its Evil Consequences.
I. Every one naturally avoids what is injurious. Now there is nothing in the world so destructive as sin; hence Solomon says, " Sin maketh nations miserable (Prov. xiv. 34), " and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things." (Eccles. ix. 18.) Reflect deeply, then, on the consequences of mortal sin in this life. 1. It obscures the understanding, and by false reasoning withdraws it from the truth. 2. It alienates the will from the supreme and sovereign good, and attaches it to fictitious good, creating at the same time a disgust for spiritual things.
3. It subjects and enslaves reason to animal appetite.
4. It depraves all the senses. 5. It deprives man of the friendship and protection of God. 6. It robs him of habitual grace and all the ornaments of virtue, and from a child of God converts him into a slave of the devil — from an object of delight into an object of detestation.
II. In the next life, 1. Mortal sin deprives man of the vision of God, and of those joys " eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive." (1 Cor. ii. 9.) 2. It excludes him from the blessed company of Saints and angels forever. 3. It introduces him into indescribable torments, without hope of redemption. 4. It subjects him forever to the tyranny of the devil, his most cruel enemy, and associates him with the reprobate souls.
III. Add to all these considerations the reflection that every sinner tramples under foot the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed for our transgressions; converts the gifts of God into arms against Him; and, in as much as he can, attempts the destruction of God Himself, and saddens the angels and Saints of God. Lastly, he injures
