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you, O sinner, that I had forgotten, as you
had done, the outrages you put upon me, and
the graces I dispensed to you? St. Augustine says that God does not hate but loves us, and that he
only hates our sins. He is not wroth with men, says St. Jerome, but with their sins. The saint
says, that by his nature God is inclined to benefit us; and that it is we ourselves who oblige
him to chastise us, and assume the appearance of severity, which he has not of himself. It is
this which David means to express, when he says that the Lord in chastising is like a drunken man
who strikes in his, sleep: And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and He smote
His enemies. Ps. 77:65 Theodoret adds that, as drunkenness is not natural to man, so
chastisement does not naturally belong to God; it is we who force him into that wrath which is not
his by nature.- In Ezech. c. 16. St. Jerome, reflecting on those words which Jesus Christ on the
day of general judgment will address to the reprobate, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting
fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels,  Matth. 25:41, inquires, who has
prepared this fire for sinners? God perhaps. No, because God never created souls for hell, as the
impious Luther taught: this fire has been kindled for sinners by their own sins. He who
sows in sin, shall reap chastisement. He that soweth iniquity, shall reap evil.  Prov. 22:8. When
 the soul commits sin, it voluntarily obliges itself to pay the penalty thereof, and thus condemns
itself to the pains of hell. For you have said, we have entered into a league with death, and we
have made a covenant with hell. -Is. 28:15. Hence St. Ambrose well says, that God has not condemned
any one, but that each one is the author of his own chastisement.  In Luc. c. 8. And the Holy
Ghost says, that the sinner shall be consumed by the hatred which he bears himself; with the rod of
his anger he shall be consumed. - Prov. 22:8. He, says Salvian, who offends God

has' not more cruel enemy than himself, since
he himself has caused the torments which he suffers. God, he continues, does not wish to see us in
affliction, but it is we who draw down sufferings upon ourselves, and by our sins enkindle the
flames in which we are to burn. God punishes us, because we oblige him to punish us.

But I know, you say, the mercies of God are great: no matter how manifold my sins, I have in view a
change of life by and by, and God will have mercy upon me. But no, God desires you not to speak
thus. And say not the mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.
Ecclus. 5:6. And why has the Lord forbidden you to say so? The reason is this, for mercy and
wrath quickly come from Him. Ecclus. 5:7. Yes, it is true, God has patience, God waits for some
sinners; I say some, for there are some whom God does not wait for at all: how many has he not sent
to hell immediately after the first transgression? Others he does wait for, but he will not always
wait for them; he spares them for a certain time and then punishes. The Lord patiently expecteth,
that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fulness of their sins. - 2
Mach. 6:14. Mark well, when the day of judgment shall come: when the day of vengeance shall
arrive, in the fulness of their sins. When the measure of sins which God has determined to pardon
is filled up, he will punish. Then the Lord will have no mercy, and will chastise unremittingly.

The city of Jericho did not fall during the first circuit made by the Ark, it did not fall at the
fifth, or at the sixth, but it fell at last at the seventh. Jos. 6:20. And thus it will happen
with thee, says St. Augustine, "at the seventh circuit made by the Ark the city of vanity will
fall." God has pardoned you your
first sin, your tenth, your seventieth, perhaps

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