be with you when you learn clearly in eternity what God is, and at the same time must hear that you are banished from His sight forever? To be deprived of a good with whose value one is not acquainted is tolerable enough, but to be banished, and that forever, from a Good that one has before his eyes, and knows to be his only happiness, oh, what a bitter parting that is! Painful it is to be deprived even of the smallest thing to which we have a claim, and which belongs to us. The orphan does not feel any pang at not being allowed to deal with his own property as he wills, for he knows that while he is in a state of pupilage that right does not belong to him. But suppose he has reached the age appointed by law which frees him from the guardianship of others, would he not become angry and indignant if any one tried to interfere with his right to deal with his own property as he wills, or if an attempt was made to deprive him of it unjustly? The soul while enclosed in the body is like the young ward, for as long as it is in that state it has no right nor title to see God in heaven; but when it is freed from the trammels of the body and the bonds of life are loosed, oh, what pain, anger, and rage that soul will experience when it sees itself not only hindered from possessing the eternal Good, but also banished, driven away, rejected in such a manner that for all eternity it will never be possible for it to approach that sovereign Good! Unhappy sinner! I say again, how will it be with you when on that day the glory of the children of God, the joys of heaven will be shown to you, and you at the same time will have to hear what God said to Moses after having shown him the promised land from afar: “Thou shalt not pass over to it;”[1] that is not for you; it might have been yours had you wished, but now you can never get there? How will it be with you when you see your God, but at the same time hear from Him the words, “Thou shalt have no part with Me”?[2] How that terrible sentence will thunder in your ears: “Depart from Me”!
Painful shall this separation be to the condemned sinner. What! you will say, from Thee, my God? From Thee, my only End? From Thee, the Author of my being, and my Repose? From Thee, my Father? From Thee, my Brother? From Thee, my Saviour? From Thee, my sovereign Good? Yes; from Me! Away with you! Depart from Me! Alas! must I go away from Thee? Was I not created to possess Thee forever; and must I
