O Sorrowful heart of my Redeemer, Who upon the Cross wast afflicted and tormented when beholding my sins, give me, through Thy merits, a living knowledge and grief for my sins. Ah, my Jesus, I am full of wickedness; but Thou art Omnipotent; truly canst Thou fill me with Thy holy love. Therefore in Thee do I trust Thou Who art good and of infinite mercy. I repent, O Sovereign Good, for having offended Thee. Oh, would that I had died, rather than have given Thee this offence. I have been forgetful of Thee, but Thou hast never been forgetful of me. I can see it through that light which Thou dost now grant me. Since, therefore, Thou dost grant me that light, grant me also the strength to be faithful to Thee.
I promise Thee that I would rather die a thousand times, if it were possible so to do, than ever again to turn away from Thee; but I hope alone in Thy help. Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded. In Thee, O my Jesus, do I hope never more to be confounded in sin, and deprived of Thy grace.
Second Point.
Again, the habit of sin hardens the heart. And God allows it to do so, as a punishment for the resistance made against His calls. The Apostle observes, that " therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." (Rom. ix. 18.) S. Augustine explains this passage thus " It is not indeed that God hardens the habitual sinner; He withdraws His grace from him as a punishment for the ingratitude shown towards His graces; and thus does the heart of the sinner remain hard, and like unto stone." " His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone." (Job xli. 24.) Hence it is that when others become affected, and weep when they are told of the rigour of Divine judgment, of the pains of those who are condemned, of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the habitual sinner is quite unmoved. He will speak, and will hear all these things spoken of with indifference, as if they were things in which he had no part; and he will become more hardened in sin, even "as hard as a piece of the nether millstone."
