shall be punished with everlasting destruction." (2 Thess. i. 9.) "Every one shall be salted with fire." (S. Mark ix. 48.) As salt preserves things, so the fire of hell, in the very time in which it torments the lost, performs the office of salt, preserving life to them. S. Bernard says, " There the fire consumes, that it may always, preserve."
Now, what madness would it be of any one, who, to obtain one day of pleasure should condemn himself to be shut up in a pit some twenty or thirty years. If hell were to last a hundred years; why do I say a hundred? if it should not last more than two or three years, still it would be great madness for a moment of vile pleasure to condemn oneself to two or three years of burning. But it does not treat of thirty, of a hundred, of a thousand, or of a million years, but of eternity; it is a question of suffering for ever, the same torments, which will never end, never be lightened even for a moment. The saints, therefore, had reason, whilst they were in this life, and even in danger of being condemned, to weep and to tremble. The blessed Isaiah although living in the desert in fasting and penitence, wept, saying, "Alas, unhappy me, for I am not yet delivered from the fire of hell."
Affections and Prayers.
O my God, hadst Thou sent me to hell, as truly many times I have deserved to be sent, and Thou through Thy pity hadst afterwards delivered me from it, how greatly would I have remained indebted to Thee? and from thenceforth what a holy life I should have begun to live? Now that with still greater mercy Thou hast preserved me from falling into it, what shall I do? Shall I turn again and offend and provoke Thee to scorn, in order that Thou mayest properly send me to burn in that prison of Thy rebels, where so many indeed truly burn for less sins than mine? Oh, my Redeemer, so have I acted in time past; instead of serving Thee in the time which Thou hast given me to weep over my sins, I have spent it in still further provoking Thee to anger. I thank Thy infinite goodness that has borne with me so long; if it had not been infinite, how could it ever have so borne with me? I thank Thee for having with
