sibility of his being hurled into such a terrible fire. Such a fearful evil, if it be true, should certainly act as a restraint on every one, and be an incentive to all to lead good lives for a short time, lest they be cast into that place of torments. But it is a truth revealed by God, who is infallible; a truth that all the faithful have up to this firmly believed; and you do not believe it? And you do not believe it, although you have deserved hell? O wo! I repeat again with Eusebius; wo to those who have to learn by experience what hell is before they believe in it!
Conclusion and thanksgiving for having been so often saved from hell. My dear brethren, you believe, do you not, that there is a hell? Yes, O God! I and all here present hold it as an undoubted truth, and we thank Thee from our hearts for forcing us to serve Thee and thus to gain heaven by threatening us with that hell! And one thing I am specially bound to thank Thee for, and that is, for having had patience with me for such a long time, although I have deserved hell many and many a time by my sins. Even at this moment there are burning in that terrible fire, without distinction, all sorts of people—mighty princes and poor beggars, nobles and common people, tender ladies and coarse peasant girls, masters and servants, superiors and inferiors, clerics and laics, learned and ignorant, old and young, all Christians who have perhaps committed less sin than I; and I am still alive! By those very lost souls Thou hast warned me to live more carefully, so as to escape sharing in their punishment. O my good God! what do I not owe Thee for this? Have I not been senseless and mad to deserve that fire for the sake of some wretched passion or worthless object? In future, O Lord! I will show by my conduct that I fear Thee and Thy threats of hell. Ah, dear Christians! for God’s sake order your lives so that you may not have one day to descend into that eternal fire. The time we have here is very short; let us use it so that we may be eternally happy! And do Thou, O God of mercy! grant that the thought of this fire may sink so deeply into my mind and into the minds of my hearers that it may never be forgotten by us! Grant that in all temptations, in all occupations, in all joys and pleasures, this thought may be present to us; that it maybe our first on awakening in the morning, our last on retiring to bed at night. For as long as we think of hell with a lively faith, it is impossible, as Thou Thyself hast assured us, for us to fall into it. Therefore we must enter on the right way, and, which is the only object Thou hast in view in threatening us with an eternal hell, arrive at the possession of Thyself in everlasting joys. Amen.
