forever in the flames of hell shall have at least that consolation, and shall see their God and Saviour. Yes, my dear brethren; but what a miserable consolation that will be! for it will last only till they, after having seen and acknowledged the heavenly happiness of God and His saints, shall have to take leave of them forever, accursed, rejected, and swallowed up in the abyss of hell; as we have seen on the first Sunday of Advent. But why do I speak of a consolation that lasts for such a short time? Less unhappy would the damned be if they never for all eternity saw Our Lord and the inhabitants of heaven; or at all events they would be free from a terrible torment if that sight were removed from before their eyes when they take their last miserable farewell, and are hurled down into hell. But no! this sight, etc. Continues as above.
FORTY-FOURTH SERMON.
ON THE JUSTICE AND MERCY OF GOD IN CONDEMNING THE SINNER.
Subject.
In sentencing the sinner to eternal fire God shows, first, His equity and justice towards the dead; secondly, His goodness and mercy, love and kindness towards the living.—Preached on the fifth Sunday in Lent.
Text.
Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato?—John viii. 46.
“Which of you shall convince Me of sin?”
Introduction.
After the last meditations in which we have been representing to our minds the terrible torments of hell, many a one will perhaps say to himself: O my God! what is this I hear? If it is true that the mercy of God is infinite, that the works of His mercy exceed all His other works; if it is true that “His mercy endureth forever,”[1] as the Prophet David repeats five and twenty times in his psalm, how then can it be that God will thunder forth against the sinner for one mortal sin that terrible sentence to everlasting fire and to the torments of hell? Is not that un-
- ↑ Quoniam in æternum misericordia ejus.—Ps. cxxxv. 1.
