dated with those loving souls who will praise and love thee for all eternity.
III. Choose, my soul; choose now either an eternal crown in that blessed kingdom, where God will be seen and loved face to face in the company of the saints, of the angels, and of Mary the mother of Jesus; or the prison of hell, where thou must weep and lament for ever, abandoned by God and by all. “ O Lamb of God, that takest away the “ sins of the world, have mercy on us.” O divine Lamb, who, to deliver us from the pains of hell, was pleased to sacrifice thy divine life, by a bitter death upon the cross, have compassion on us; but more particularly on me who have more than others offended thee. I am sorry above every evil for having dishonoured thee by my sins, but I hope on that day to honour thee before men and angels, by proclaiming thy mercies towards me. O Jesus, help me to love thee; I desire thee alone. O Mary, holy queen, protect me in that day.
Meditation Fifty-seventh.
On the intensity of the pains of hell.
I. IN this life when a person suffers, however great his sufferings may be, he may, at least occasionally, obtain some mitigation or repose. A sick man may suffer all the day long the pains of the most cruel disorders; but, when night comes, he may perhaps sleep a little and be somewhat relieved. Not so with the miserable reprobate. For him there is no relief, no repose. He must weep and lament for ever, he must suffer for ever, and suffer torments the most excruciating, without once having throughout all eternity one moment of ease
