you a few considerations which will enable you to realize in some measure the greatness of the punishment reserved for sin.
Let us first reflect on the almighty power of God, Whose justice will chastise the sinner. God's greatness is apparent in all His works. He is God, not only in Heaven, earth, and sea, but in hell and in every other place. He is God in His wrath and in the justice with which He avenges the outrages offered to His divine majesty. Therefore, He Himself exclaims by the mouth of His prophet: "Will you not, then, fear Me, and will you not repent at My presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over; and the waves thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail; they shall swell, and shall not pass over it."[1] In other words, will you not fear the almighty power of that Arm which controls the elements, which sustains the universe, and which no power can resist? If the works of His mercy excite us to love and praise Him, we have no less reason to fear the greatness of His justice. Hence the prophet Jeremias, though innocent, and even sanctified in his mother's womb, was deeply penetrated with this salutary fear. "Who," he cries out, "shall not fear Thee, O King of nations?"[2] And again: "I sat alone, because Thou hast filled me with threats."[3] Doubtless the prophet knew that these threats were not uttered against him; yet they filled him with terror. The pillars of heaven, we are told,
