CONTENTS
1. Where is Hell?
2. The Burning Mountain
3. How Far is it to Hell?
4. The Gates Of Hell
5. The First Look Into Hell
6. Fire
7. Darkness
8. Smoke
9. Terrific Noise
10. A River
11. The Smell Of Death
12. The Devil
13. What the Devil does in Hell
14. Judgment
15. A Soul Coming into Hell
16. The Soul Before Satan
17. The Everlasting
Dwelling-place of the Soul
18. The Striking Devil
19. The Mocking Devil
20. A Bed of Fire
21. Worms
22. Fright
23. The Pain of Loss
24. The Dungeons of Hell
25. The Second Dungeon
26. The Third Dungeon
27. The Fourth Dungeon
28. The Fifth
Dungeon
29. The Sixth
Dungeon
30. Hunger
31. No Peace
32. Eternity
33. Tears --
Sand -- Dots
34. What Are
They Doing?
35. Too Late
36. Despair
37. The Vision
of St. Teresa
38. The Vision
in Ven. Bede
I. Where is
Hell?
Ps. Ixii. they shall go into the lower parts of the
earth.
Every little
child knows that God will reward the good in heaven and punish the wicked in
hell. Where, then, is hell? Is hell above or below? Is it on the earth, or in
the earth, or below the earth?
It seems
likely that hell is in the middle of the earth. Almighty God has said that
"He will turn the wicked into the bowels of the earth." Ecclus.
xvii
The Earth
Opening
In the days of
the Jews, there were three very wicked men. Their names were Core, Dathan, and
Abiron. They were very disobedient to the priests. God had made Moses master
over all the people. He told Moses that he was going to punish the wicked men.
Moses went and told the people to come away from the wicked men. The people
came away. Then Moses said to them, "By this you shall know that God has
sent me. If these wicked men die like other men, then do not believe me. But if
the earth opens and swallows them, and they go down alive into hell, then you
shall know that they are wicked."
As soon as
Moses had done speaking, the earth broke open under the feet of the wicked men.
It drew them in with all they had, and they went down alive into hell. Then the
earth closed up over them again. Numb. xvi. The same thing happened another
time, as you'll see.
II. The
Burning Mountain
St. Gregory
says, "There was a very wicked and cruel king. His name was Theodoric. He
lived in a town called Ravenna. At the same time there was a holy Pope called
John, living in Rome. One day this holy Pope went to the town where Theodoric,
the cruel king was living. When Theodoric heard the pope was come, he had him
put in prison. He gave him very little to eat, and was very cruel to him. In a
few days the good pope died in prison. Very soon after Theodoric had killed the
Pope, he killed another good man called Symmachus. Soon after this the cruel king
Theodoric died himself. You'll see how God punished him.
There is a little island called Stromboli, with water all
around it. On this island there is a great mountain. Fire is often seen coming
out of the top of this mountain.
At that time
there was a holy hermit living on the island in a little cell or room. On the
night that cruel king Theodoric died, it happened that the hermit was looking
out his window. He saw three persons near the top of the fiery mountain. They
were persons who were dead. But he had seen them all before. So he knew who
they were. There was Theodoric, the cruel king, who had died that night. The
other two were Pope John and Symmachus, who had been unjustly killed by
Theodoric. He saw that Theodoric was in the middle betwixt the other two. When
they came to that place where the fire was coming out, he saw Theodoric leave
the other two, and go down into the fiery mountain. So, says St. Gregory, those
who had seen the cruel king's injustice saw also his punishment.
III. How
Far is it to Hell?
We know how
far it is to the middle of the earth. It is just four thousand miles. So if
hell is in the middle of the earth, it is four thousand miles to the horrible
prison of hell.
It is time now
to do what St. Augustine bids us. He says: "Let us go down to hell while
we live, that we may not have to go down to hell when we die." If we go
and look at that terrible prison, where those who commit mortal sin are
punished, we shall be afraid to commit mortal sin. If we do not commit mortal
sin, we shall not go to hell.
IV. The
Gates Of Hell
Matt. xvi. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against the Church.
St. Francis of
Rome lived a very holy life. Many times she saw with her eyes her Angel
Guardian at her side. It pleased the Almighty God to let her see many other
wonderful things. Brev Rom. One afternoon the Angel Gabriel came to take her to
see hell. She went with him and saw that terrible place. Let us follow in her
footsteps, that we might see in spirit the wonderful things which she saw. Our
journey is through the deep dark places under the earth. Now we will set off.
We pass through hundreds and hundreds of miles of darkness. Now we are coming
near the terrible place. See, there are the gates of hell! When St. Francis came
to the gates of hell, and she read on them these words, written in letters of
fire: "This is Hell, where there is neither rest, nor consolation, nor
hope." Look, then, at those tremendous gates in front of you. How large
they are. Measure, if you can, the length and breadth, the height and depth of
the terrible gates. Is. v. "Therefore hath hell opened her mouth
without any bound. Their strong ones and their people, and their glorious ones,
go down into it."
See also the
vast thickness, the tremendous strength of those gates. In a prison on earth
there are not, perhaps, more than two or three hundred prisoners. Still the
gates of a prison are made most strong with iron, and with bars, and with
bolts, and with locks, for fear the prisoners should break down the gates and
get away. Do not wonder, then, at the immense strength of the gates of hell. In
hell there are not two hundred or three hundred prisoners only. Millions on
millions are shut up there. They are tormented with the most frightful pains.
These dreadful pains make them furious. Their fury gives them strength, such as
we never saw. We read of a man who had the fury of hell in him. He was so
strong that he could easily break in pieces great chains of iron. Mark v. The
vast
multitudes in hell, strong in their fury and despair, rush
forward like the waves of the sea. They dash themselves up against the gates of
hell to break them in pieces. This is the reason why these gates are so strong.
No hand of man could make such gates. Jesus Christ said that the gates in hell
should not prevail against his Church, because in hell there is nothing
stronger than its gates.
Do you hear
that growling thunder rolling from one end of hell to the other? The gates of
hell are opening.
V. The
First Look Into Hell
When the gates
of hell had been opened, St. Francis, with her angel, went forward. She stood
on the edge of the abyss. She saw a sight so terrible that it cannot be told.
She saw that the size of hell was immense. Neither in height, nor in depth, nor
in length, nor in breadth, could she see any end of it. Is. xxxiv. None shall
ever pass through it. She saw that hell was divided into three immense places.
These three places were at a great distance from one another. There was an
upper hell, and a middle hell, and a lower hell. Wisd. 17. "Night came
upon them from the lowest and deepest hell." She saw that in the upper
hell, the torments were very grevious. In the middle hell they were still more
terrible. In the lowest hell the torments were above all understanding. When
she had looked into this terrible place, her blood was frozen with fright!
VI. Fire
Now look into
hell and see what she saw. Look at the floor of hell. It is red hot like red
hot iron. Streams of burning pitch and sulfur run through it. Is. xxxiv The
floor blazes up to the roof. Look at the walls, the enormous stones are red
hot; sparks of fire are always falling down from them. Lift up your eyes to the
roof of hell; it is like a sheet of blazing fire. Sometimes when you get up on
a winter's morning, you see the country filled with a great thick fog. Hell is
filled with a fog of fire. In some parts of the world torrents of rain come
down which sweep away trees and houses. In hell, torrents, not of rain, but of
fire and brimstone, are rained down. Ps. x. "The Lord shall rain down on
sinners fire and brimstone." Storms of hail stones come down on the earth
and break the windows in pieces. But in hell the hail stones are thunder bolts,
red hot balls of fire. Job xli. God shall send thunder bolts against him. See
that great whirlwind of fire sweeping across hell. Storms of wind shall be the
portion of their cup. Ps. X. Look how floods of fire roll themselves through
hell like the waves of the sea. The wicked are sunk down and buried in the fiery
sea of destruction and perdition. I Tim. vi. You may have seen a house on fire.
But you never saw a house made of fire. Hell is a house made of fire. The fire
of hell burns the devils who are spirits, for it was prepared for them. Matt.
xxv. So it will burn the soul as well as the body. Take a spark out of the
kitchen fire, throw it into the sea, and it will go out. Take a little spark
out of hell, less than a pin-head, throw it into the ocean, it will not go out.
In one moment it would dry up all the waters of the ocean, and set the whole
world ablaze. Wisd. xvi. The fire, above its power, burnt in the midst of
water. Set a house or town on fire. Perhaps the fire may burn for a week, or a
month, but it will go out at last. But the fire of hell will never go out; it
will burn forever. It is unquenchable fire. Mat. iv. St. Teresa says that the
fire on the earth is only a picture of the fire of hell. Fire on earth gives
light. But it is not so in hell. In hell the fire is dark.
VII. Darkness
Is. xxi. Watchman, what of the night? The Watchman
said -- the night cometh.
The Watchman
did not say the nights are coming, but only the night. He said so, because in
hell there is only one night, one eternal night, one everlasting night. The
fire in hell burns, but gives no light. Wisd.ii. No fire could give them light.
No stray sunbeam, no wandering ray of star light ever creeps into the darkness
of hell. All is darkness -- thick, black, heavy, pitchy, aching darkness. It is
not darkness like ours, which is only an image of the darkness to come. Wisd.
xviii. This darkness is thicker than the darkness of the land of Egypt, which
could be touched with the hand. So the wicked in hell will never see light.
Ps.xlviii. This darkness is made worse by the smoke of hell.
VIII. Smoke
Apoc. xvi. The
smoke of their torments shall go up forever and ever. Stop up the chimney where
the fire is burning. In half an hour the room will be full of smoke, so that
you cannot stay there. The great fires of hell have been smoking now for nearly
six thousand years. They will go on smoking forever. There is no chimney to
take this smoke off; there is no wind to blow it away. See those great black,
heavy sulphurous clouds rising up every moment from the dark fires. They rise
up till the roof of hell stops them. The roof drives them back again. Slowly
they go down into the abyss of hell. There they are joined by more dark clouds
of smoke leaving the fires. So hell is filled with sulfur and smoke, in which
no one on earth could breathe or live. How then do they live in hell? In hell
they must live, but they are stifled and choked each moment, as if they were
dying. Now listen!
IX.
Terrific Noise
Exodus xi. There shall be a great cry, such as hath
not been heard before.
You have
heard, perhaps, a horrible scream in the dead of night. You may have heard the
last shriek of a drowning man before he went down into his watery grave. You
may have been shocked in passing a madhouse, to hear the wild shout of a
madman. Your heart may have trembled when you heard the roar of a lion in the
desert, or the hissing of a deadly serpent in the bushes.
But listen now
-- listen to the tremendous, the horrible uproar of millions and millions and
millions of tormented creatures mad with the fury of hell. Oh, the screams of
fear, the groanings of horror, the yells of rage, the cries of pain, the shouts
of agony, the shrieks of despair of millions on millions. There you hear them
roaring like lions, hissing like serpents, howling like dogs, and wailing like
dragons. There you hear the gnashing of teeth and the fearful blasphemies of
the devils. Above all, you hear the roaring of the thunders of God's anger,
which shakes hell to its foundations. But there is another sound!
X. A River
Is. xxii. It is the day of slaughter, and of
treading down, and of weeping to the Lord God of hosts.
There is in
hell a sound like that of many waters. It is as if all the rivers and oceans of
the world were pouring themselves with a great splash down on the floor of
hell. Is it then really the sound of
waters? It is. Are the rivers and oceans of the earth pouring
themselves into hell? No. What is it then? It is the sound of oceans of tears
running from the countless millions of eyes. They cry night and day. They cry
forever and ever. They cry because the sulphurous smoke torments their eyes.
They cry because they are in darkness. They cry because they have lost the
beautiful heaven. They cry because the sharp fire burns them.
Little child,
it is better to cry one tear of repentance now than to cry millions of tears in
hell. But what is that dreadful sickening smell?
XI.The
Smell Of Death
Joel ii. His stench shall ascend, and his
rottenness shall go up.
There are some
diseases so bad, such as cancers and ulcers, that people cannot bear to breathe
the air in the house where they are. There is something worse. It is the smell
of death coming from a dead body lying in the grave. The dead body of Lazarus
had been in the grave only four days. Yet Martha, his sister, could not bear
that it should be taken out again. But what is the smell of death in hell? St.
Bonaventure says that if one single body was taken out of hell and laid on the
earth, in that same moment every living creature on the earth would sicken and
die. Such is the smell of death from one body in hell. What then will be the
smell of death from countless millions and millions of bodies laid in hell like
sheep?
Ps. How will
the horrible smell of all these bodies be, after it has been getting worse and
worse every moment for ten thousand years? Is. ixvi. "They shall go out
and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. They shall
be a loathsome sight to all flesh."
Now let us
enter into hell and see the tremendous torments prepared for the wicked.
XII. The
Devil
Apoc. xx. An angel laid hold on the old serpent,
which is the devil and Satan, and bound him, and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and shut him up.
Our journey
lies across the great sea of fire. We must go on till we come to the middle of
hell. There we shall see the most horrible site that ever was or will be -- the
great devil chained down in the middle of hell. We will set off on our journey.
Now we are coming near the dwelling place of Satan. The darkness gets thicker.
You see a greater number of devils moving about in the thick darkness. They
come to get the orders of their great chief. Already you hear the rattling of
the tremendous chains of the great monster! See! there he is -- the most
horrible and abominable of all monsters, the devil. His size is immense!
Is.viii. He shall fill the length of the land. St. Francis saw him. He was
sitting on a long beam which passed through the middle of hell. His feet went
down into the lowest depths of hell. They rested on the floor of hell. They
were fastened with great, heavy iron chains. These chains were fixed to an immense
ring in the floor. His hands were chained up to the roof. One of his hands was
turned up against heaven, to blaspheme God and the saints who dwell there.
Apoc. xiii. His other hand was stretched out, pointing to the lowest hell. His
tremendous and horrible head was raised up on high, and touched the roof. From
his head came two immense horns. Apoc. xiii. I saw another beast having two
horns. From each horn smaller horns, without number, branched out, which, like
chimneys, sent out fire and smoke. His enormous mouth was wide open. Out of it
there
was running a river of fire, which gave no light, but a most
abominable smell. Job xli. Flame cometh out of his mouth. Round his neck was a
collar of red hot iron. A burning chain tied him round the middle. The
uglinesses of his face was such that no man or devil could bear it. It was the
most deformed, horrible, frightful thing that ever was or will be. His great
fierce eyes were filled with pride and anger, and rage, and spite, and blood,
and fire, and savage cruelty. There was something else in those eyes for which
there is no name, but it made those on whom the devil's eyes were fixed tremble
and shake as if they were dying. One of the saints who saw the devil said she
would rather be burnt for a thousand years than look at the devil for one
moment!
XIII. What
the Devil does in Hell
1.
Temptation.
Job. xli. He beholdeth every high thing, he is king
over all the children of pride.
As the devil
is king of hell, he does two things. First, he gives his orders to the other
devils about tempting people in the world. Without his leave, no one in hell
can stir hand or foot. Millions and millions of devils are always round him,
waiting for his orders. Every day he sends wicked spirits, whose numbers cannot
be counted, into Europe, Asia, Africa, America, into every country, and town,
and village, and house, and to every human creature. He sends them for
temptation and the ruin of souls. He tells each devil whom he must tempt, what
he must do, and when he must come back. St. Francis saw that when these devils
came back, if they had not made people commit sin, they were cruelly beaten.
When a child is tempted, how little it thinks that the temptation has been got
ready in hell, that there is a devil at its side who has brought the
temptation, and this devil is breathing the temptation into its heart, and
trying to make it do what the bad company wants it to do.
XIV. 2 --
Judgment
As the devil
is king of hell, he is also judge. When a soul comes into hell, condemned by
the judgment of God, he executes the judgment. He fixes whereabouts in hell the
soul is to be, how it is to be tormented, and what devils are to torment it. In
a moment you will see his judgment on a soul.
XV. A Soul
Coming into Hell
St. Francis
saw souls coming into hell after they had been condemned by the judgment of
God. They came with letters of fire written on their foreheads. Apoc.xii. He
shall make all, both little and great, have a character on their forehead. On
their foreheads were written the names of the sins for which they had been
condemned in hell. Blaspheming, or impurity, or stealing, or drunkenness, or
not hearing Mass on Sundays, or not going to the Sacraments. As soon as any of
the souls came to the gates of hell, the devils went and seized hold of it. Job
xx. The terrible ones shall go and come down upon him. But what sort of devils
took hold of these souls? The prophet Daniel saw one of them. He says, chapter
vii. "I beheld, in a vision by night, a beast, terrible and wonderful, and
exceeding strong. It had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and
treading down the rest with its teeth. How do the devils take hold of these
souls? As the lions in Babylon took hold of those who were thrown into their
den.
When the
people were thrown over the wall into the den, the lions opened their mouths
and roared,
and caught the people in their mouths and crushed them, even
before they had fallen to the ground. So is a soul received by the devils when
it comes to hell.
XVI. The
Soul Before Satan
The devils
carry away the soul which has just come into hell. They bear it through the
flames. Now they have set it down in front of the great chained monster, to be
judged by him, who has no mercy. Oh, that horrible face of the devil! Oh, the
fright, the shivering, the freezing, the deadly horror of that soul at the
first sight of the great devil. Now the devil opens his mouth. He gives out the
tremendous sentence on the soul. All hear the sentence, and hell rings with
shouts of spiteful joy and mockeries at the unfortunate soul.
XVII. The
Everlasting Dwelling-place of the Soul
As soon as the
sentence is given, the soul is snatched away and hurried to that place which is
to be its home forever and ever! Crowds of hideous devils have met together.
With cries of spiteful joy they receive the soul. Is.xxxiv.Demons and monsters
shall meet. The hairy ones shall cry out to one another. See how these devils
receive the soul in this time of destruction. Ecclus. xxxix. In the time of
destruction, they shall pour out their force. The teeth of serpents and beasts,
and scorpions, the sword taking vengeance on ungodly unto destruction.
Immediately
the soul is thrust by the devils into that prison which is to be its
dwelling-place for ever more. The prison of each soul is different, according
to its sins.
St. Teresa
found herself squeezed into a hole or chest in the wall. Here the walls, which
were most terrible, seemed to close upon her and strangle her. She found her
soul burning in a most horrible fire. It seemed as if someone was always
tearing her soul in pieces, or rather as if the soul was always tearing itself
in pieces. It was impossible to sit or lie down, for there was no room. As soon
as the soul is fixed in its place, it finds two devils, one on each side of it.
They are spirits created for vengeance, and in their fury they lay on grevious
torments. Ecclus. xxxix. St. Francis saw them.One of them is called the
Striking devil, the other the Mocking devil.
XVIII. The
Striking Devil
Prov. xix. Striking hammers are prepared for the
bodies of sinners.
If you want to
know what sort of stroke the devil can give, hear how he struck Job, chapter
ii, "Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a
grevious ulcer from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. Then Job took
a tile and scraped off the corrupt matter, sitting on a dung-hill. Now when
Job's friends heard all the evil that had come upon him, they came to him. For
they had made an appointment to come together and visit and comfort him. And
when they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they did not know him. And crying,
they wept and sprinkled dust on their heads. And they sat down with him on the
ground for seven days and seven nights. And no one spoke a word to him, for
they saw that his grief was very great.
The devil gave
Job one stroke, only one stroke. That one stroke was so terrible that it
covered all his body with sores and ulcers. That one stroke made Job look so
frightful, that his friends did not know
him again. That one stroke was so terrible, that for seven
days and seven nights his friends did not speak a word, but sat crying, and
wondering, and thinking what a terrible stroke the devil can give.
Little child,
if you go to hell there will be a devil at your side to strike you. He will go
on striking you every minute for ever and ever, without ever stopping. The
first stroke will make your body as bad as the body of Job, covered from head
to foot with sores and ulcers. The second stroke will make your body twice as
bad as the body of Job. The third stroke will make your body with three times
as bad as the body of Job. The fourth stroke will make your body four times as
bad as the body of Job. How then will your body be after the devil has been
striking it every moment for a hundred million of years without stopping?
But there was
one good thing for Job. When the devil had struck Job, his friends came to
visit and comfort him, and when they saw him they cried. But when the devil is
striking you in hell, there will be no one to come and visit and comfort you,
and cry with you. Neither father, nor mother, nor brother, nor sister, nor
friend will ever come to cry with you. Lam.i. "Weeping she hath wept in
the night, and the tears are on her cheeks, because there is none to comfort
her amongst all them that were dear to her." Little child, it is a bad
bargain to make with the devil, to commit a mortal sin, and then to be beaten
for ever for it.
XIX. The
Mocking Devil
Hab.ii. Shall they not take up a parable against
him, a dark speech concerning him?
St. Francis
saw that on the other side of the soul there was another devil to mock at and
reproach it. Hear what mockeries he said to it. "Remember," he said,
"remember where you are and where you will be for ever; how short the sin
was, how long the punishment. It is your own fault; when you committed that
mortal sin, you knew how you would be punished. What a good bargain you made to
take the pains of eternity in exchange for the sin of a day, an hour, a moment.
You cry now for your sin, but your crying comes too late. You liked bad
company, you will find bad company enough here. Your father was a drunkard, and
showed you the way to the public-house; he still is a drunkard, look at him
over there drinking red hot fire. You were too idle to go to Mass on Sundays,
be as a idle as you like now, for there is no Mass to go to. You disobeyed your
father, but you dare not disobey him who is your father in hell; look at him,
that great chained monster; disobey him if you dare."
St. Francis
saw that these mockeries put the soul into such dreadful despair of that it
burst out into the most frightful howlings and blasphemies.
But it is time
for us now to see where the sinner has been put -- his everlasting
dwelling-place.
XX. A Bed
of Fire
The sinner
lies chained down on a bed of red-hot blazing fire! When a man, sick of fever,
is lying on even a soft bed, it is unpleasant sometimes to turn round. If the
sick man lies on the same side for a long time, the skin comes off, the flesh
gets raw. How will it be when the body has been lying on the same side on the
scorching, broiling fire for a hundred millions of years! Now look at that body
lying on the bed of fire. All the body is salted with fire. The fire burns
through every bone and every muscle. Every nerve is trembling and quivering
with the sharp fire. The fire rages inside and the
skull, it shoots out through the eyes, it drops out through
the ears, it roars in the throat as it roars up a chimney. So will mortal sin
be punished. Yet there are people in their senses who commit mortal sin!
XXI. Worms
Is. lxvi. The Worm that dieth not. Judith xvi. "He
will give fire and worms into their flesh, that they may burn and feel for
ever."
St. Basil
says, that in hell there are will be worms without number eating the flesh, and
their bites will be unbearable." St. Teresa says that she found the
entrance into hell filled with these venomous insects. If you cannot bear the
sight of ugly vermin and creeping things on the earth, will you be content with
the sight of the venomous things in hell, which are a million times worse? The
bite or the pricking of one insect on the earth sometimes keeps you awake, and
torments you for hours. How will you feel in hell, when millions of them make
their dwelling-place in your mouth, and ears, and eyes, and creep all over you,
and sting you with their deadly stings through all eternity. You will not then
be able to help yourself, or send them away, because you cannot stir hand or
foot. One of the most painful stings in the world is to be much frightened.
XXII.
Fright
Wisd. xvii. "While they thought to lie hid in
their obscure sins, they were horribly afraid and troubled. For neither did the
den which held them keep them from fear. For noises coming down troubled them,
and sad visions appearing to them, affrighted them."
Do you know
what is meant by being frightened out of one's senses? A boy wanted to frighten
two other little boys. In the daytime he took some phosphorus and marked with
it the form of a skeleton on the wall of the room where the little boys always
slept. In the daytime the mark of phosphorus is not seen; in the dark it shines
like fire. The two little boys went to bed, knowing nothing about it. Next
morning they opened the door of the room where the two little boys had been
sleeping. They found one boy sitting on his bed, staring at the wall, out of
his senses. The other little boy was lying dead! This was fright.
You will be
lying helpless in the lonesome darkness of hell. The devils come in the most
frightful shapes on purpose to frighten you. Serpents come and hiss at you.
Wild beasts come and roar at you. Death comes and stares at you. How would you
feel, if at the dark hour of midnight, one that was dead should come to your
bedside and stand over you and mock at you? You hear the most horrible shrieks and
dismal sounds, which you cannot understand. The sinner, frightened out of his
senses at those terrible sights in the darkness of hell, roars out for help,
but there is nobody to come and help him in his fright.
Wisd. xvii. Being scared with the passing of beasts
and hissing of serpents, they died of fear.
The greatest
pain of hell has not yet been told. You shall hear it now.
XXIII. The Pain of Loss
It is easy to
understand the other pains of hell, because there are pains like them on earth.
But it is difficult to understand the pain of loss, because there is nothing
like it on earth. You must know that when a soul has been condemned to hell at
the judgment-seat, God lets it see for a moment something of what it has lost.
It sees the immense happiness it would have had in heaven with God and his
angels and saints. And now it sees that all this blessed happiness is lost --
lost by its own fault, lost for ever, lost without hope! Listen to the painful
cry of a child which has lost its mother! Listened to the wailings of the
people in Ireland when their sister is leaving them to go to America, and
perhaps they will never see her any more. Then you may think what a wailing
there will be when a soul hears these words from God: "Depart from me for
ever." Listen to the shriek of that mad man shut up in the mad-house; he
lost his money, his brain turned, and he became mad. Then you may think how the
soul will shriek when it sees that it has lost heaven. Listen to that splash in
the river. A man threw himself off the bridge; as he was falling down into the
river, he roared out his: "I can bear death, but I cannot bear this
loss." Listen to the tremendous roar at the judgment-seat. The soul dashes
itself from the judgment-seat down into the flames of hell, roaring out:
"I can bear the fire of hell, but I cannot bear the loss of heaven after I
have seen what heaven is." Listen again to the devils in hell, and you
will hear them crying out: "I would gladly burn here for millions of years
if I could only see God for one moment."
Jez. xxiii. In
the latter days you shall understand these things.
Now look at
those little doors all round the walls of hell. They are little rooms or
dungeons where sinners are shut up. We will go and look at some of them.
XXIV. The
Dungeons of Hell
The First
Dungeon - A Dress of Fire
Job xxxvii.
Are not thy garments hot? Come into this room. You see it is very small. But
see, in the midst of it there is a girl, perhaps about eighteen years old. What
a terrible dress she has on -- her dress is made of fire. On her head she wears
a bonnet of fire. It is pressed down close all over her head; it burns her
head; it burns into the skin; it scorches the bone of the skull and makes it
smoke. The red hot fiery heat goes into the brain and melts it. Ezech. xxii. I
will burn you in the fire of my wrath; you shall be melted in the midst thereof
as silver is melted in the fire. You do not, perhaps, like a headache. Think
what a headache that girl must have. But see more. She is wrapped up in flames,
for her frock is fire. If she were on earth she would be burnt to a cinder in a
moment. But she is in hell, where fire burns everything, but burns nothing
away. There she stands burning and scorched; there she will stand for ever
burning and scorched! She counts with her fingers the moments as they pass away
slowly, for each moment seems to her like a hundred years. As she counts the
moments she remembers that she will have to count them for ever and ever.
When that girl
was alive she never thought about God or her soul. She cared only for one
thing; and that was dress! Instead of going to Mass on Sundays, she went about
the town and the parks to show off her dress. She disobeyed her father and
mother by going to dancing-houses and all kinds of bad places to show off her
dress. And now her dress is her punishment. For by what things a man sinneth,
by the same also is he tormented. Wisd. xi.
XXV. The Second Dungeon
The Deep
Pit
Luke xvi. It
came to pass that the rich man also died, and he was buried in the fire of
hell. Think of a coffin, not made of wood, but of fire, solid fire! And now
come into this other room. You see a pit, a deep almost bottomless pit. Look
down it and you will see something red hot and burning. It is a coffin, a red
hot coffin of fire. A certain man is lying, fastened in the inside of that
coffin of fire. You might burst open a coffin made of iron; but that coffin
made of solid fire never can be burst open. There that man lies and will lie
for ever in the firey coffin. It burns him from beneath. The sides of it scorch
him. The heavy burning lid on the top presses down close upon him. The horrible
heat in the inside chokes him; he pants for breath; he cannot breathe; he
cannot bear it; he gets furious. He gathers up his knees and pushes out his
hands against the top of the coffin to burst it open. His knees and hands are
fearfully burnt by the red hot lid. No matter, to be choked is worse. He tries
with all his strength to burst open the coffin. He cannot do it. He has no
strength remaining. He gives it up and sinks down again. Again the horrible
choking. Again he tries; again he sinks down; so he will go on for ever and
ever! This man was very rich. Instead of worshiping God, he worshipped his
money. Morning, noon and night, he thought about nothing but his money. He was
clothed in purple and fine linen. He feasted sumptuously every day. He was
hard-hearted to the poor. He let a poor man die at his door, and would not even
give him the crumbs that fell from his table. When he came into hell the devil
mocked him, saying: What did pride profit you, or what advantage did the
boasting of riches bring you; all those things have passed away like a shadow.
Then the devil's sentence was that since he was so rich in the world, he should
be very poor in hell, and have nothing but a narrow, burning coffin.
XXVI. The
Third Dungeon
The Red Hot
Floor
Look into this
room. What a dreadful place it is! The roof is red hot; the floor is like a
thick sheet of red hot iron. See, on the middle of that red hot floor stands a
girl. She looks about sixteen years old. Her feet are bare, she has neither
shoes nor stockings on her feet; her bare feet stand on the red hot burning
floor. The door of this room has never been opened before since she first set
her foot on the red hot floor. Now she sees that the door is opening. She
rushes forward. She has gone down on her knees on the red hot floor. Listen,
she speaks! She says; "I have been standing with my feet on this red hot
floor for years. Day and night my only standing place has been this red hot
floor. Sleep never came on me for a moment, that I might forget this horrible
burning floor. Look," she says, "at my burnt and bleeding feet. Let
me go off this burning floor for one moment, only for one single, short moment.
Oh, that in the endless eternity of years, I might forget the pain only for one
single, short moment." The devil answers her question: "Do you
ask," he says, "for a moment, for one moment to forget your pain. No,
not for one single moment during the never-ending eternity of years shall you
ever leave this red hot floor!" "Is it so?" the girl asks with a
sigh, that seems to break her heart; "then, at least, let somebody go to
my little brothers and sisters, who are alive, and tell them not to do the bad
things which I did, so they will never have to come and stand on the red hot
floor." The devil answers her again: "Your little brothers and
sisters have the priests to tell them these things. If they will not listen to
the priests, neither would they listen even if somebody should go to them from
the dead."
Oh, that you
could hear the horrible, the fearful scream of that girl when she saw the door
shutting, never to be opened any more. The history of this girl is short. Her
feet first led her into sin, so it is
her feet which, most of all, are tormented. While yet a very
little child, she began to go into bad company. The more she grew up, the more
she went into bad company against the bidding of her parents. She used to walk
around the streets at night, and do very wicked things. She died early. Her
death was brought on by the bad life she led.
XXVII. The
Fourth Dungeon
The Boiling
Kettle
Amos iv. The days shall come when they shall lift
you up on pikes, and what remains of you in boiling pots.
Look into this
little prison. In the middle of it there is a boy, a young man. He is silent;
despair is on him. He stands straight up. His eyes are burning like two burning
coals. Two long flames come out of his ears. His breathing is difficult.
Sometimes he opens his mouth and breath of blazing fire rolls out of it. But
listen! There is a sound just like that of a kettle boiling. Is it really a
kettle which is boiling? No; then what is it? Hear what it is. The blood is
boiling in the scalded veins of that boy. The brain is boiling and bubbling in
his head. The marrow is boiling in his bones! Ask him, put the question to him,
why is he thus tormented? His answer is, that when he was alive, his blood
boiled to do very wicked things, and he did them, and it was for that he went
to dancing-houses, public-houses, and theatres. Ask him, does he think the
punishment greater than he deserves? "No," he says, "my
punishment is not greater than I deserve, it is just. I knew it not so well on
earth, but I know now that it is just. There is a just and a terrible God. He
is terrible to sinners in hell -- but He is just!"
XXVIII. The
Fifth Dungeon
The Red Hot
Oven
Ps. xx. Thou shalt make him as an oven of fire in
the time of thy anger.
You are going
to see again the child about which you read in the Terrible Judgement, that it
was condemned to hell. See! It is a pitiful sight. The little child is in this
red hot oven. Hear how it screams to come out. See how it turns and twists
itself about in the fire. It beats its head against the roof of the oven. It
stamps its little feet on the floor of the oven. You can see on the face of
this little child what you see on the faces of all in hell -- despair,
desperate and horrible! The same law which is for others is also for children.
If children, knowingly and willingly, break God's commandments, they must also
be punished like others. This child committed very bad mortal sins, knowing
well the harm of what it was doing, and knowing that hell would be the
punishment. God was very good to this child. Very likely God saw that this child
would get worse and worse, and would never repent, and so it would have to be
punished much more in hell. So God, in His mercy, called it out of the world in
its early childhood.
The Sixth
Dungeon
A Voice
Listen at this
door. Hear that voice; how sad and sorrowful it sounds. It says: "Oh, I am
lost, I am lost. I am lost when I might have been saved. I am in hell, and I
might have been in heaven. How short my sin,how long the punishment! Besides I
might have repented; I might have told that sin,
but I was ashamed to confess it. Oh, the day on which I was
born, I wish that it had never been. Accursed be that day; but I am lost -lost-
lost for ever-for ever-for ever. The voice dies away, and you hear it no more!
XXIX.
Hunger
The prophet
Isaias, chapter ix., says that hunger will be so horrible, that every one shall
eat the flesh of his own arm.
The
Drunkard
Do you hear
that man roaring out in the middle of hell? How loud his voice is! It rises
above all the groans, and shrieks, and cries, and screams of millions. With a
voice like thunder he roars out: "Oh, a drop of cold water, a drop of cold
water to cool my tongue; my tongue is thirsty, my tongue is burning, my tongue
is red hot. Give me a drop of cold water, only one single drop of cold water to
cool my burning tongue." The devil answers his roar with another roar:
"You fool," he says,"you drunkard, why do you cry out for cold
water to cool your burning tongue; there is no cold water in hell." Still
the drunkard goes on roaring for a drop of cold water. Now the devil lifts up a
scourge of fire to strike him and make him hold his tongue. Then the drunkard
sinks down into a deep pool of fire and brimstone, where he is drowned in
destruction and perdition.
You drunkards,
who on Saturday evenings are in the public-house, and on Sundays away from
Mass; you drunkards, whose children are hungered and in rags, and go neither to
Catechism nor Mass, go down to hell, and listen to your brother drunkard crying
out for a drop of cold water to cool his burning tongue!
XXX. No
Peace
Job x. A land of misery and darkness, where the
shadow of death, and no order but everlasting horror dwelleth.
See those
children in dreadful anger beating their parents. They fly at them; they try to
take life away from those who give them life. "Cursed parents," they
shout,"if you had not given us bad example, we should not now be in
hell." "Accursed father," cries a boy,"it was you that
showed me the way to the public-house." "Accursed mother," cries
a daughter, "it was you who taught me to love the world. You never warned
me when I went into that company which was my ruin." "Cursed
husband," cries that wife, "before I knew you I was good; I obeyed
the laws of God. It was you that led me away from God, and made me break His
laws. Like the devil you ruined my soul, and like the devil I will torment you
for ever and ever."
1 Kings xxv. When
Nabel heard the words of his wife, his heart died within him and he became as a
stone.
Two Vipers
Did you ever
see two deadly vipers fly at each other? Their eyes burn with rage. They shoot
out their poisoned stings. They struggle to give each other the death-blow.
They struggle till they have torn the flesh and blood from each other. You may
see the like of this in hell. See that young man
and young woman -- how changed they are! They loved each
other so much on earth, that for this they broke the laws of God and man. But
now they fight each other like two vipers, and so they will fight for all
eternity.
A Picture
of Hell
There was a
glass which made things look three million times larger than they really are. A
drop of dirty water was looked at through this glass. Millions of frightful
little insects were seen in the water. These insects seemed to be always
fighting, beating and trying to kill each other. They gave themselves no rest.
It was always fighting, beating -- beating, fighting. Sometimes thousands would
throw themselves on other thousands and swallow them up alive. Sometimes they
tore away pieces from each others bodies, which still remained alive, only
looking more frightful than before. Such is hell!
XXXI.
Eternity
Matt. xxv. These shall go into everlasting
punishment.
There is one
thing which could change hell into heaven. An angel of God comes to the gates
of hell and says: "Listen to me, all ye people in hell, for I bring you
good news. You will still burn in hell for almost countless millions of years.
But a day will come, and on that day the pains of hell will be no more! You
will go out of hell." If such a message came, hell would no longer be
hell. Hell would no longer be a house of blasphemy, but a house of prayer and
thanksgiving and joy. But such a message will never come to hell, because God
has said that the punishment of hell shall be everlasting!
The
Question
You say what
is meant by everlasting? It is both easy and difficult to answer this question.
It is easy to say that the pains of hell will last for ever, and never have any
and. It is difficult to answer the question, because our understandings are too
little to understand what is meant by the word ever. We know very well what is
meant by a year, a million of years, a hundred million of years. But for ever
-- eternity -- what is that?
A Measure -
A Bird
We can measure
almost anything. We can measure a field or a road. We can measure the earth. We
can measure how far it is from the earth to the sun. Only one thing there is
which never has been an never will be measured, and that is eternity -- for
ever!
Think of a
great solid iron ball, larger than the heavens and the earth. A bird comes once
in a hundred millions of years and just touches the great iron ball with a
feather of its wing. Think that you have to burn in a fire till the bird has
worn the great iron ball away with its feather. Is this eternity? No.
XXXII.
Tears -- Sand -- Dots
Think that a
man in hell cries only one single tear in ten hundred millions of years. Tell
me, how many millions of years must pass before he fills a little basin with
his tears? How many millions of
years must pass before he cries as many tears as their were
drops of water that the deluge? How many years must pass before he has drowned
the heavens and earth with his tears? Is this eternity? No.
Turn all the
earth into little grains of sand, and fill all the skies and the heavens with
little grains of sand. After each hundred millions of years, one grain of sand
is taken away; oh, what a long, long time it would be before the last grain of
sand was taken away. Is this eternity? No.
After such a
long, long time will God still punish sinners? Yes. Is. ix. After all this his
anger is not turned away, his hand is still stretched out. How long, then, will
the punishment of sinners go on? For ever, and ever, and ever!
XXXIII.
What are they Doing?
Perhaps at
this moment, seven o'clock in the evening, a child is just going into hell.
To-morrow evening at seven o'clock, go and knock at the gates of hell, and ask
what the child is doing. The devils will go and look. Then they will come back
again and say, the child is burning! Go in a week and asked what the child is
doing; you will get the same answer -- it is burning! Go in a year and ask; the
same answer comes --it is burning! Go in a million of years and ask the same
question; the answer is just the same --it is burning! So, if you go for ever
and ever, you will always get the same answer -- it is burning in the fire!
What
O'clock -- The Dismal Sound
Look at that
deep pool of fire and brimstone. See a man has just lifted his head up out of
it. He wants to ask a question. He speaks to a devil who is standing near him.
He says: "What a long, long time it seems since I first came to hell; I
have been sunk down in this deep pool of burning fire. Years and years have
passed away. I kept no count of time. Tell me, then, what o'clock is it?"
"You fool," the devil answers, "why do you ask what o'clock it
is, there is no clock in hell; a clock is to tell the time with. But in hell
time is no more. It is eternity!" Ps. lxxx. There time shall be for ever.
Perhaps on a
dark lonesome night you may have seen something waving backwards and forwards
in the air. The sound of it was sad and mournful and. It frightened you,
although it was but the branch of a tree.
Such a sound
there is in hell. It passes on without stopping from one end of hell to the
other. As it comes sweeping past you hear it. What, then, is this dismal sound?
It is the
sound of eternity -- ever! -- ever!
XXXIV. Too
Late
Let us ask one
of those souls scorched in the flames of hell, to come and kneel before the
Cross and see if its sins can be forgiven, and if it may come out of hell.
"Poor
soul, then burning in the unquenchable fire of hell, come and kneel before the
Cross of Christ, and ask him for pardon."
See now that soul is kneeling before the Cross.
The Prayer
of a Lost Soul
This lost soul
says: "O Christ, I am tormented in this flame. Day and night the tears run
down from my eyes, like torrents. O Christ, you were my Creator; you redeemed
me; you are a merciful God. I come before you to ask if I may go out of this
terrible fire where I am tormented."
The Answer
of Jesus Christ
"Unhappy
soul!" Jesus says, "I have pity for you to, because, indeed, I was
your Creator, and I did not create you for pain but for happiness. I wished you
to be in heaven and not in hell. How could I wish you to be in hell, seeing
what I did to save you from hell? Remember how I came down from heaven to the
very earth to save you from hell. Do you remember how I was mocked and spit
upon, and pierced with thorns; I was nailed to the wood of the cross, and died
in shame and cruel agony. What was all this for? It was for you, to save you
from hell. And if this is not enough, I will tell you, that from all eternity I
was thinking how to save you, and my heart was thirsting to save you. I cared
for your happiness more than for my own, for I left my own happiness in heaven
and went down to the earth to be tormented for your sake. When my Father, who
is in heaven, had seen what I had done for you, he said, 'Surely I will give
that soul all the graces it needs, and a thousand times more than it needs, to
save itself.'
"Then the
days of your life came. You were not made like the beasts of the field. You had
sense and understanding to know that it is right to do good, and wrong to do
evil. Besides, I said to you: ' Do good and you shall be happy for ever in
heaven; but if you do evil you shall be punished for ever in hell.' I wrote
this on your heart. You heard it with your ears thousands of times during your
life. You knew, you felt that what I said was right and just. If on earth a man
deserves punishment who breaks a law of one who is only a man, how much more
does he deserve punishment who breaks the law made by Me, his Creator and his
God.
"Then
you, knowing full well that hell would be the punishment, did evil. You broke
my Commandments. Then I might, in justice, have sent you to hell. But I did
not. I had pity on you; I warned you to repent a. I told you repentance was
easy. Instead of repenting you broke my laws again, and again, and again. You
went on breaking my law. I went on asking, begging of you to repent. In the
anguish of my heart I asked you to save your soul from everlasting punishment.
But you despised all my counsels, you neglected my reprehensions, you treated
me most ungratefully, as you would not have done to any man on the earth. You
seemed to be weary of my kindness. But I, who knew what punishment was coming
upon you, was not weary with trying to save you from it.
"The days
fixed for your life were coming to an end. A thousand times I brought to your
remembrance that death which was coming swiftly. You did not care. The last
moment of your life came and nothing had been done. You had done everything
except the one great thing -- to try to save your soul. If you had only taken a
little of that trouble to save your soul, which you threw away on a thousand
trifling things, your soul would have been saved. Death came. You stood before
my judgment-seat. You were condemned to the eternal punishments of hell. You
confessed that my sentence was just. You could not deny it. And now you come
and ask me to change the everlasting sentence, and let you go out of hell. I
promised eternal happiness to those who do good, punishment in hell to those
who do evil. I must keep my promise -- I cannot break it. It was a mercy that
the punishment of hell was made everlasting. If so many broke my law, knowing
that the punishment would be everlasting, how would it have been if the
punishment had not been everlasting? There
are millions in heaven who would not have been there but for
the everlasting pains of hell. They were wise; they thought on the eternal
years of punishment. You could have done the same if you liked, but you would
not. Besides, even now sin is in your heart as it was when you died. You hate
the punishment but not the sin; your heart is ready to break my law again, and
so it will be for ever.
"Unhappy
soul! You ask now for mercy; but it is too late. If you had asked for mercy
when you were alive, how glad I should have been to be merciful to you. But now
it is too late to ask for mercy. You must go back into everlasting
punishment."
The sinner
knows and feels that a wrong thing would be done if he were set free from
eternal punishment. So he goes back into the flames of hell hopeless and
desperate.
XXXV.
Despair
Jer.xlvi.
There is no cure for thee. Let us look at hell once more before we leave it.
See that man who just asked for mercy and could not get it. He cannot bear the
scorching fire which burns his body through and through. But he must bear it.
On the earth the hungry man looks for bread, and last he gets it. A sick man
looks for his pain to get less, and at last it gets less. The man in hell looks
for the burning to stop -- but it does not stop. Then he begins to think how
long will the horrible burning go on. His thoughts go through millions and
millions of years that cannot be counted. Will the burning stop then? His
understanding tells him, no -- never -- never -- never!
See, in his
agony of despair, he has thrown himself on his knees. He prays, he prays with
his eyes and hands lifted up. O how well he prays; no distraction comes to take
his thoughts off his prayer. To whom does he pray? Does he pray to God? No
prayer ever goes up from hell to God. For there is no tongue that shall confess
to thee, 0 God, in hell! Ps. vi. To whom then does he pray? He prays to Death!
"O, Death," he says, "come and put me out of this horrible pain.
O death, when I was alive, I feared you; I kept away from you. But now, death,
I love you! O death, be kind to me; come and kill me." Does death come?
No; death flies away from him. In those days men shall seek death and shall not
find it. Apoc.ix.
He finds that
his prayer is not heard. He stoops down; he takes up two great handsfull of
fire, he throws the fire down his throat to kill himself. He looks for death
and it cometh not.
The Knife
See that great
strong man. He rushes furiously through hell. As he goes along, he splashes the
fire and sulfur about him with his feet. Those who are in his road fly away in
terror. He bellows out like a mad bull; he says: "Bring me the knife --
bring me the knife." He was a murderer. He killed somebody with a knife.
Now he wants to get the knife and kill himself with it. Sometimes he thrusts
out his hand as if to catch at the knife; but he is deceived. The knife is not
there; he looks for death and it cometh not.
XXXVI. The
Vision of St. Teresa
St. Teresa
writes: "One day when I was praying, it seemed to me that suddenly, in one
moment, I found myself in hell. I did not know how I came there. Only I
understood that our Lord wanted me to see the place which the devil had
prepared for me. I was in hell for a very short time; but if I was
to live for many years I could never forget it.
"The
entrance into hell seemed to me like a long narrow passage or a low dark oven.
The floor was very filthy, and the smell which comes from its was abominable.
Great numbers of venomous insects were creeping about it. At the end of this
passage there was a wall with a kind of hole or cupboard in it. I found myself
all at once squeezed into this place. What I had seen in the narrow passage was
most frightful. Yet it might be called even pleasant compared with the torments
of the place into which I had been squeezed. These torments were so terrible,
that I cannot give any account of the least part of them. I found my soul
burning in such a horrible fire, that I could not make anybody understand it.
During my illnesses, I have felt the most dreadful pains, which the doctors
tell us, can be felt in this world. But all these pains are nothing -- nothing
like the pains I felt in hell. Then there was the horror I felt when I thought
that these pains would never come to an end, but would last for ever. I felt as
if I was always at every moment strangled and choked. It seemed as if some one
was always tearing my soul in pieces, or rather as if my soul was always
tearing itself in pieces. I felt myself always burning, and as if I was being
cut, and broken, and crushed in pieces. In this most frightful place there was
not the least hope of any relief. It was impossible either to sit or lie down,
for there is no room to sit or lie down. The very walls are most frightful, and
seem to close on you and strangle you. There was not the least light there, but
only the thickest and blackest darkness. Yet somehow or other, I know not how,
you see there whatever is dreadful and terrible. God did not allow me to see
more of hell at that time. But afterwards he let me see other much more
frightful torments for particular sins. I could not understand in what manner
these things were seen by me. But I understand that God did me a very great
favor in letting me see those terrible torments from which he had saved me. All
I have read or heard about hell is as different from the real pains of hell as
a picture is different from the thing painted. To be burnt in the fire of this
world is a mere nothing, a trifle if compared with being burnt in hell. It is
now six years since I saw hell. Yet even now I cannot write about it without
feeling my blood frozen with horror. When I think about the pains of hell, all
the pains of this world seem to me not worth thinking about. It seems to me
that we have no reason to complain about the pains of this life. I look upon
its as one of the greatest graces of God to have seen the pains of hell. It
takes away all the fears of the pains of this life. It makes us suffer them
patiently, and thank God in the hope that he will deliver us from the terrible
pains of hell, which will last for ever! Since I had this vision, there are no
pains which it does not seem to me easy to bear, remembering what I saw in
hell. I often wonder I could before read of the pains of hell, and not be frightened
by them, or how I could find pleasure in those things which lead to hell. 'O my
God, be thou for ever blessed. You have shown me that you love me more than I
love myself, by delivering me so often from that frightful prison into which I
was so ready to enter against your will.' The site of hell has made me feel
immense pain when I think of those heretics and bad Catholics who are lost. My
desire to see them saved from these pains is so immense that I would willingly
give a thousand lives, if I had them, to save one of these souls."
A Pair Of
Scales
If you want to
know the weight of some sugar, you get a pair of scales. You put the sugar into
one scale and a weight into the other. If you want to know the badness of
mortal sin, put it into one scale, and pains of hell into another scale. You'll
see that the balance stands equal. A mortal sin of one moment deserves the
everlasting pains of hell.
The Past;
Or, Break The Egg
You only see
the outside of an egg. If you knew that there was some frightful venomous
creature hatching in the egg, you would break it in pieces directly. Mortal sin
is an egg which the devil puts in
your soul, if you let him. You only see the outside of the
devil's egg. In the inside there is the most horrible and abominable monster
that ever was. He who dies with this diabolic egg in his soul, will burn in the
flames of hell for ever and ever.
If you have
committed a mortal sin, you know that the diabolical egg is in your soul. Break
that frightful egg in pieces. Break it before you lay down this book. Break it
before you stir hand or foot; break it this very moment! If you wait till the
next moment you may be in hell the next moment! How must you break this
diabolic egg? Make an act of contrition for your sin. If God sees that your act
of contrition is sincere, he will forgive you directly. But then you must go to
confession as soon as you can and confess it.
An Act of
Contrition -- O my God, I am very sorry that I have sinned against you, because
you are so good, and I will not sin again.
The Future;
Or, The Devil's Trap
Temptation,
especially bad company, is the devils trap, by which he brings you into mortal
sin. Keep away from temptation when you know of it before. Fly away if it comes
when you were not expecting it, and say -- Jesus and Mary, help me!
Remember! if
you die in mortal sin you burn in the flames of hell for all eternity. You
understand this quite well. So if you have the misfortune to go to hell, you
will have no one to blame but your self.
XXXVII. The
Vision in Ven. Bede
"A
certain man," says Ven. Bede, "fell sick and died in the beginning of
the night. Next morning, early, he suddenly came to life again, and sat up. He
told the people what he had seen. 'I was led,' he said, 'into a dark place.
When I came into it, the darkness grew so thick that I could see nothing but
the form of him who led me. I saw a great many balls of black fire rising up
out of a deep pit and falling back again. I saw that there were souls shut up
in these balls of fire. The smell which came out of the pit was unbearable. He
who led me into this place went away. So I stood there in great fright, not
knowing what to do. All at once I heard behind me voices crying and lamenting
most fearfully. I heard other voices mocking and laughing. These voices came
nearer and nearer to me, and grew louder and louder. Then I saw that those who
were laughing and rejoicing were devils. These devils were dragging along with
them souls of men which were howling and lamenting. Amongst them I saw a man
and a woman. The devils dragged these souls down into the pit, I could not hear
their voices so well. After a while, some of these dark spirits came up again
from the flaming pit. They ran forward and came round me. I was terribly
frightened by their flaming eyes, and the stinking fire which came out of their
mouths and nostrils. They seemed as if they would lay hold of me with burning
tongs, which they held in their hands. I looked around me for help. Just then I
saw something like a star shining in the darkness. The light came from him who
had brought me into this place. When he came near, the devils went away. Then
he said: 'That fiery, stinking pit which you saw is the mouth of hell, and
whosoever goes into it shall never come out again. Go back to your body and
live among men again. Examine your actions well, and speak and behave so that
you may be with the blessed in heaven.' When he had said this, on a sudden, I
found myself alive again amongst men."
The End
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