State Of The Soul In Hell--
Difference Between It And That Of The Soul In Purgatory--
Reflections Upon Those Who Neglect The Affairs Of Salvation.
It is, then, clear that the perverse will of man in revolt
against the will of God constitutes sin, and that the guilt of
sin cannot be effaced from the soul while it is under the
dominion of that evil will.
Now, the souls in hell departed this life with a perverse will;
consequently, their guilt has not been washed away, and now
cannot be, because death has rendered their will unchangeable.
The soul is for ever fixed in a state of good or evil, according
to the disposition of the will at the moment of death. Wherefore
it is written: _Ubi te invenero_, that is to say, Wherever I
find thee at the hour of death--with a will to sin or to repent
of sin--_ibi te judicabo_, there will I judge thee; and from
this judgment there is no appeal, because, all freedom of choice
ceasing with life, the soul must remain unalterably fixed in the
state in which death finds it.
The souls in hell are guilty to an infinite degree, being found
with a sinful will at the moment of death. Their pain is not so
great as they merit, but it will never end.
As for the souls in purgatory, they only endure pain. Guilt was
effaced before death by a true sorrow for having offended the
divine goodness. This pain is finite, and the time of its
duration is constantly diminishing.
O misery transcending all other woes, and so much the greater
because the blindness of man takes no precaution against it!
The torments of the damned, we have said, are not infinite in
their rigor. The great goodness of God extends a ray of mercy
even to hell. A man expiring in a state of deadly sin merits a
punishment infinite in duration and in intensity. God, in his
justice, could have inflicted on the damned torments far greater
than they have to endure; but while he has rendered them infinite
as to their duration, he has limited their intensity.
Oh! how dangerous is voluntary sin; for repentance is difficult,
and, unrepented of, the guilt of sin remains, and will remain as
long as man retains his affection for past sins or has the will
to commit them anew.