saw themselves miserably perishing without any one to help them, and recollected how truly God had warned them beforehand by Noe, as well with words and earnest exhortations as with the blows of the hammer that rang in their ears for a hundred years, while the ark was in course of construction; but they neglected and laughed at all those warnings! Remember the sons-in-law of Lot. How painful their regret must have been when they saw the fire fall from heaven and burn the inhabitants of Sodom, and recollected, while they themselves were being consumed, how Lot had warned them a little before, and begged of them to leave the city with him in order to save their lives; but instead of profiting by his exhortations, they only laughed at and ridiculed them! All these people, when it was too late, were obliged to cry out, We might easily have avoided the danger; but through our own fault and mere wantonness we did not wish to do so!
Such is the case with the damned, for they might have been happy had they wished. But what is the seven years’ famine of Egypt compared to the eternal hunger and thirst of the damned? What is the temporal destruction caused by the deluge compared to eternal ruin? What the devouring fire of Sodom compared to the raging but not consuming flames among the demons? What is the supply of corn that the Egyptians might have had, if they had wished, or the preservation of temporal, mortal life that men might easily have secured, had they so desired, during the flood and the destruction of Sodom, compared to the ineffable joys of heaven, that the reprobates in hell might have had if they had wished? This is the bitter thought, the agonizing remorse that tortures the lost soul on its first entry into hell, and will continue to torment it for all eternity: I was able, but was unwilling! Eternal fire, and everything that is terrible in thee. I could easily have escaped thee, but did not wish! Elect children of God! I might have been with you, but I did not wish! Priceless joys of heaven, it lay in my power to gain you, but I did not wish to have you! God of all happiness! I might have possessed Thee forever, but I did not wish it. I could have done all this, I cannot deny it, for who could have prevented me? Otherwise there must have been something wanting in God, inasmuch as He did not desire my salvation; or else the necessary means were not given me to save my soul; or else the demons and wicked men prevented me; or time and opportunity were wanting me to use the means provided. But none of these impediments stood in my way.
