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acquired. And for their eternal chastisement this
shadow of the beatific vision which they have be-
held will remain imprinted in their memory forever.

The Will Is Set on Evil

Let us now discuss the condition of the will of the damned. St. Thomas remarks that the will of
the damned, insofar as it is a natural faculty, cannot but be good, since it does not proceed from
themselves but from God, who is the Author of nature; the damned have, however, vitiated it by
their malice. But when we consider the will of the damned in its use, it cannot but be evil for it
is completely opposed to the will of God and obstinate in evil.
But whence does this obstinacy in evil proceed? Sylvius, in a very clear explanation, says that the
obstinacy of the damned results from the nature itself of their state. For, since the damned now
find themselves at the terminus of their existence and deprived of all divine assistance, God, by a
Just judgment, abandons them to the evil which they ha e voluntarily chosen and in which they have
wished to end their life. It is natural for everything, once it has reached its terminus to
rest in it, unless it be moved by some external power. Now, the damned have terminated their
lives with the depraved will in which they have died, and God has resolved to leave them to the
evil which they have chosen. Just as the blessed can never possess an evil will, because
they are