10. St. Eucherius says that there is no error so great as the neglect of eternal salvation. "Sane supra omnem errorem est dissimulare negotium æternæ salutis." It is an error which surpasses all errors, because it is irremediable. Other mistakes may be repaired: if a person loses property in one way, he may acquire it in another; if he loses a situation, a dignity, he may afterwards recover them; if he even loses his life, provided his soul be saved, all is safe. But he who loses his soul has no means of repairing the loss. The wailing of the damned arises from the thought, that for them the time of salvation is over, and that there is no hope of remedy for their eternal ruin. ”The summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jer. viii. 20.) Hence they weep, and shall inconsolably weep for ever, saying: ”Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us." (Wis. v. 6.) But what will it profit them to know the error they have committed, when it will be too late to repair it?
11. The greatest torment of the damned arises from the thought of having lost their souls, and of having lost them through their own fault. ”Destruction is thy own, O Israel; thy help is only from me." (Osee xiii. 9.) O miserable being! God says to each of the damned; thy perdition is thine own; that is from thyself; by sin thou hast been the cause of thy damnation; for I was ready to save thee if thou hadst wished to attend to thy salvation. St. Teresa used to say, that when a person loses a trifle through negligence, his peace is disturbed by the thought of having lost it through his own fault. O God! what shall be the pain which each of the damned shall feel on entering into hell, at the thought of having lost his soul his all and of having lost them through his own fault!
12. "We must, then, from this day forward, devote all our attention to the salvation of our souls. There is no question, says St. John Chrysostom, of losing some earthly good which we must one day relinquish. But there is question of losing Paradise, and of going to suffer for ever in hell: ”De immortalibus suppliciis, de cœlestis regni amissione res agitur." We must fear and tremble; it is thus we shall be able to secure eternal
