illustrated; and what was right, enforced. See a man who knew of no
other God but the incestuous Jupiter, the lascivious Venus, taught
that he must appear before Him, in whose presence the seraphim veil
their faces, and the heavens are not clean. Behold a man, whose
notions were confused concerning the state of souls after death,
apprized that God shall judge the world in righteousness. See a man
who saw described the smoke, the fire, the chains of darkness, the
outer darkness, the lake of fire and brimstone; and who saw them
delineated by one animated by the Spirit of God. What consternation
must have been excited by these terrific truths!

This we are incapable adequately of comprehending. We must surmount
the insensibility acquired by custom. It is but too true that our
hearts--instead of being imprest by these truths, in proportion to
their discussion--become more obdurate. We hear them without alarm,
having so frequently heard them before. But if, like Felix, we had
been brought up in the darkness of paganism, and if another Paul had
come and opened our eyes, and unveiled those sacred terrors, how
exceedingly should we have feared! This was the case with Felix. He
perceived the bandage which conceals the sight of futurity drop in a
moment. He heard St. Paul, that herald of grace and ambassador to the
Gentiles, he heard him reason on temperance and a judgment to come.
His soul was amazed; his heart trembled; his knees smote one against
another.

Amazing effects, my brethren, of conscience! Evident argument of the
vanity of those gods whom idolatry adorns after it has given them
form! Jupiter and Mercury, it is true, had their altars in the temples
of the heathens; but the God of heaven and earth has His tribunal in
the heart: and, while idolatry presents its incense to sacrilegious