I say the character of God is a pledge of our ability to keep from mortal sin. God requires us to be free from mortal sin, and He requires it under the severest penalties, and therefore it must be possible for us. You may say, "God requires us to be free from venial sin too, and yet you have just said we cannot avoid every venial sin." But the case is far different. A venial sin does not separate us from God, and does not receive extreme punishment from Him--nay, those venial sins which even good men commit, and which are only in small part voluntary, are very easily forgiven--but a mortal sin cuts us off entirely from God, and deserves eternal punishment. {110} You know, one mortal sin is enough to damn a man--one single sin of drunkenness, for instance, or impurity; a cherished hatred, a false oath, or an act of grave injustice. One such sin is sufficient to sink a man in hell, and although we know very little in particular of the torments of hell, we have every reason to believe that they are most bitter, and we know that they are eternal. Now can it be thought that a being of justice and goodness, as we know God to be, would inflict so extreme a punishment for an offence which was unavoidable, or could only be avoided with the utmost difficulty? Holy Scripture sends us to an earthly parent for an example of that tenderness and affection which we are to expect from our Heavenly Father. "_If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him_." [Footnote 46] [Footnote 46: St. Matt, vii., 11.]