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formed his sons-in-law:
Arise! get you out of
this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. Gen. 19:14. But
they would not believe him:
And He seemed to them to speak as it were in jest. They imagined
that he wished to sport with
their fears, by terrifying them with such a threat. But the punishment overtook
them, and they
remained to be the sport of the flames. My brethren, what do we expect? God
warns us that
chastisement hangs over us; let us put a period to our sins, or shall we wait
for God to do it?
Hear, O sinner! what St. Paul says to you: See, then, the severity and
goodness of God towards
them, indeed, that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee the goodness of
God, if
thou abide in goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off
Rom 11:22. Consider, says the Apostle, the justice which the Lord has
exercised towards so many
whom he has punished, and condemned
to hell; towards them, indeed, that
are fallen, the severity. Consider the mercy with which he has treated
you; but towards thee the
goodness of God. You must abandon sin; if you change your ways, avoid
the occasions of sin,
frequent the sacraments, and continue to lead a Christian life, the Lord Will
remit your punishment, if you abide in
goodness; if not, you shall perish, otherwise
thou also shalt be cut off God has already borne with you too long, he
can bear with you no
longer. God is merciful, but he is just withal; he deals mercifully With those
who
fear him; he cannot act thus towards the obstinate.
Such a person laments
when he sees himself punished, and says, why has God deprived me of my
health? why has he taken from me this child, or this parent? Ah, sinner!
what have you said,
exclaims Jeremias, your sins have withholden good things from you Jer.
5:25. It was not the
desire of God to deprive you of any blessing, of any gain, of your son, or your
parent; it would
have been the wish of God to make you happy in all things, but your
sins have not allowed
him. In the book of Job
we read these words: Is it a great matter that God should comfort thee?
but thy wicked
words hinder this. Job 15:11. The Lord would fain console you, but
your blasphemy, your
murmuring, your obscene words, spoken
to the scandal of so many have prevented
him. It is not God, but accursed sin, that renders us miserable and unhappy.
Sin maketh nations
miserable. Prov. 14:34. We are wrong, says Salvian, in complaining
of God when he deals hardly
with us. Oh! how much more hardly do we deal with him, repaying with ingratitude
the favors which
he has bestowed on us!
Sinners imagine that
sin procures them happiness; but it is sin which makes them miserable, and
afflicted in every respect. Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy
God, saith the Lord, in joy and gladness of heart, thou shalt serve thy enemy,
whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in
want of
all things, till He consume thee. Deut. 28:47. Because thou hast
not wished to
serve thy God in the peace which all those taste who serve him, thou shalt serve
thy enemy
in poverty and affliction, until he shall have finished by making thee lose both
soul and
body. David says that the sinner by his crimes digs himself the pit into which
he falls.
He is fallen into the hole he made. Ps. 7:16. Recollect the
prodigal son: he, in order to live
without restraint, and banquet as he pleased, left his father; but then, for
having left his
father, he is reduced to tend swine; reduced to such a degree of misery, that of
the vile food with
which the swine are filled, he has not wherewithal to fill himself: And he
would fain have
filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him.
Luke
15:16. St. Bernardine of Sienna, relates that a certain impious son
dragged his father along the
ground. What happened to him afterwards? One day he was himself dragged by
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