Page 164 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

the shining raiment of the blessed spirits; ever to cry out
of the abyss of fire to God for an instant, a single instant,
of respite from such awful agony, never to receive, even for
an instant, God’s pardon; ever to suffer, never to enjoy; ever
to be damned, never to be saved; ever, never; ever, never. O,
what a dreadful punishment! An eternity of endless agony,
of endless bodily and spiritual torment, without one ray of
hope, without one moment of cessation, of agony limitless
in intensity, of torment infinitely varied, of torture that sus-
tains eternally that which it eternally devours, of anguish
that everlastingly preys upon the spirit while it racks the
flesh, an eternity, every instant of which is itself an eternity
of woe. Such is the terrible punishment decreed for those
who die in mortal sin by an almighty and a just God.
—Yes, a just God! Men, reasoning always as men, are
astonished that God should mete out an everlasting and in-
finite punishment in the fires of hell for a single grievous
sin. They reason thus because, blinded by the gross illusion
of the flesh and the darkness of human understanding, they
are unable to comprehend the hideous malice of mortal sin.
They reason thus because they are unable to comprehend
that even venial sin is of such a foul and hideous nature that
even if the omnipotent Creator could end all the evil and
misery in the world, the wars, the diseases, the robberies,
the crimes, the deaths, the murders, on condition that he
allowed a single venial sin to pass unpunished, a single ve-
nial sin, a lie, an angry look, a moment of wilful sloth, He,
the great omnipotent God could not do so because sin, be
it in thought or deed, is a transgression of His law and God

164 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man