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BOOK X.

THE SIGHT OF HELL.

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BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

AND YOUNG PERSONS.
BOOK X.

THE SIGHT OF HELL

BY THB

REV. J. FURNISS, C.SS.R,

FERMTSSU SUPERTORUM.

Bttblitt:
JAMES DUFFY AND CO., Ltd.,

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CONTENTS.

— ♦ —

bECTiON " Page

I._Where is Hell— The Earth

Opening .
II. — The Burning Mountain
III.— How far it is to Hell
IV.— The Gates of Hell .
v.— The first Look into Hell
VI.— Fire

VII.— Darkness .
VIII— Smoke
IX.— Terrific Noise
X.— A River .
XL— The Smell of Death
XII.— The Devil .
XIII.— What the Devil does

in Hell— Temptation
XIV.— Judgment .
XV.— A Soul coming into

Hell.
XVI.— The Soul before Satan
XVII.— The everlasting Dwel

ling Place of the Soul
XVIII.— The Striking Devil
XIX.— The Mocking Devil
XX.— A Bed of Fire
XXI.— Worms
XXII.— Fright
XXIII.— The Pain of Loss
XXrV.— The Dungeons of

Hell— The Firs* Dungeon

— A DrM8 Of Fire * . 17

Section Page

XXV. — Second Dungeon—
The Deep Pit . . . 18

XXVI.— Third Dungeon -The
Red-Hot Floor . . 19

XXVII.— Fourth Dungeon—
The Boiling Kettle . . 20

XXVIII.— Fifth Dungeon—
The Red-Hot Oven. Sixth
Dungeon — A Voice . . 21

XXIX.— Hunger, The Drunk-
ard 22

XXX.— No Peace— Two Vi-
pers—A Picture of Hell . 22

XXXL— Eternity— The Ques-
tion— A Measure— A Bird 23

XXXII.— Tears— Sand— Dots 24

XXXIII.— What are they Do-
ing?—What o'clock? —
The Dismal Sound . . 25

XXXIV.— Too Late! — The
Prayer of a Lost Soul—
The Answer of Jesus
Christ . . . . 2i

XXXV.— Despair— The Knife 28

XXXVI.— The Vision of St.
Teresa— A Pair of Scales
—Break the Egg— The
Devil's Trap . . . 29

XXXyil.— The Vision in Ven.

• • ♦ . 32

THE SIGHT OF HELL

I. WHERE IS HBLLT

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 nriddle 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 open, and swallow 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 j^ou will see.

II. THE BURNING MOUNTAIN.

St. Gregory says, " There was a very wicked and cruel
king. His name was The )doric. 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

4r THB SIGHT OF HBLL.

Theodoric heard that 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 the
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
will see how God punished him.

** There is a little island called Stromboli, with water all
round 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 of the 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 Saint
Gregory, *' those who had seen the cruel king's injustice
saw also his punishment."

III. HOW FAR IT IS 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 ttme 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
\o to HelL

IV. THE GATES OF HELL.

Matt. xvi. — " The Gates ofUdl shall not prevail against
the Church.''

THE GATES Of WShh. 8

St. Frances of Home lived a very holy life. Many times
Bhe saw with her eyes her Angel Guardian at her side.
It pleased the Almighty God to let her see many other
wonderful things. — Brev. Bom. 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 may 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 hun-
dreds and hundreds of miles of darkness. Now we are
coming near the terrible place. See, there are the gates
of Hell ! When St. Frances came to the gates of Hell, 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. Isa. v. — "Therefore hath Hell opened her mouth
without any hound. 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 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 those gates are so strong. No hand of man could
make such gates. Jesus Christ said that the Gates of
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 th^ <^ther. The Gates of Hell are opening.

THB SIGHT OF HELL.

V. THE FIRST LOOK INTO HBLL.

When the Gates of Hell had been opened, St. Frances
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. Isa. xxxiv. — ^^ None shall ever pass
through itJ^ She saw that Hell was divided into three
immense places. These three places were at a great dis-
tance from one another. There was an upper Hell, and a
middle Hell, and a lower Hell. Wisd. xvii. — ^^ Night came
upon them from the lowest and deepest HelV* She saw that
in the upper Hell, the torments were very grievous. 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 1

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 sulphur run through it. — Isa. 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 tor-
rents, not of rain, but of fire and brimstone, are rained
down. Ps. X. — " The Lord shall rain down on sinners fire
and brimstone J^ Storms of hailstones come down on the
earth and break the windows in pieces. But in Hell the
hailstones are thunderbolts, red-hot balls of fire. Job. xli.
— *' God shall send thunderbolts against him." See that
great whirlwind of fire sweeping across Hell. ** Storms of
winds shall be the portion of their cup" — Ps. x. Look how
floods of fire roll themselves through Hell like the waves
of the aea. The wicked are sunk down and buried in
that fiery sea of destruction and perdition. — 1 Tim. tI.

DARKNK88. 7

You may have seen a hoioe 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 in a blaze.
Wisd. xvi. — ** Thtfirty above its poioer, 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
for ever. It is unquenchable fire, — Matt. 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 bo in
Hell. In Hell the fire is dark.

VII. — DARKNESS.

Isa. xxi. — ** Watchmany what of the night? The watch-
man 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
power of fire could give them light." No stray sunbeam,
no wandering ray of starlight ever creeps into the dark-
ness 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
for ever and ever"

Stop up that 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

8 THE SIGHT OF HELL.

smoking now for nearly six thousand years. They will go
on smoking for ever. There is no chimney to take this
I 'moke 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
or 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 sulphur 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 he a great cry such as hath
not been heard he/ore."

You have heard, perhaps, a horrible scream in the dead
of night. You may have heard the last shriek of a drown-
ing 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 from
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.

Isa. xxii. — ^* It 18 the day of slaughter and of treading
down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts"

There v. \ii 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.

THB SMBLL OP DEATH. 9

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 down from countless millions of eyes.
They cry night and day. They cry for ever 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 ? Isa. Lxvi. — ** They shall
go out and see the carcasses of the men that have trans-
gressed against Me. They shall be a loathsome sight to
all flesh."

Now let us enter into Hell and seo the tremendous
torments prepared for the wicked.

XII. THE DEVIL.

Apoc. XX. — ** An angel laid hold on the old serpent, which
is the d€vil and Satan, a^^ad bound him, and cast him into
Uu boUonUui pit, and shut him up,**

B

10 THE SIGHT OF HELL.

Our journey lies across that great sea of fire. We must
go on till we come to the middle of Hell. There we shall
see the most horrible sight 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 great number of devils moving about in the
thick darkness. They come to «et the orders of their
great chief. Already you hear fiie rattling of the tre-
mendous chains of the great monster ! See I there he is—
the most horrible e?.d abominable of all monsters, the
devil.

His size is immense! Isa. viii.--**^e %hcdl fill the
length oftht land.** St. Frances 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. — **/ saw another
beast having two /ior/?**." 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 J* Round his neck was a collar of
red-hot iron. A burning chain tied him round the middle.
The ugliness of his face was such, that no man or devil
could bear ^. It was the most deformed, horrible, fright-
ful 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 rd^^r be burnt for a thousand
years than look at the devil tor one moment I

WHAT THB DBVIL DOBS IN HBLL. 11

XIII. WHAT THB DEVIL DOES IN HELL.
]. TEMPTATION.

Job xli. — ** He hehold^h every high thing ^ he is king over
all the children o/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
sendrf wicked spirits, whose numbers cannot be counted,
iuLo 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. Frances
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. Frances saw souls coming into Hell, after they ha^i
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
vn 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 drunken-
ness, or not hearing Mass on Sundays, or not going to ihc

12 THE SIGHT OP HELL.

SacramentSy etc. As soon as any of these souls oame 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, chap. 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 devil 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 terrible face
of the devil ! Oh, the fright, the shivering, the freezing,
the deadly horror of that soul at the first sight of tne
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
for ever and ever ! Crowds of hideous devils have met
together. With cries of spiteful joy they receive the
soul. Isa. 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. — "/w the time of destruction, they shall pour
out their force. T'he teeth of serpentSy and beasts, and
scorpions, the sword taking vengeance on the xtngoily unto
destruetionJ*

TH8 flrrRIKINO DBTIL. IS

Immediately the soul is thrust by the devils into that
prison which is to be its dwelling-place for evermore.
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
some one 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. ** There art spirits created for
vengeance, and in their fury they lay on grievous torments,^*
— Ecclus. xxxix. St. Frances saw them. One of theiri is
called the striking devil, the other the mocking devil.

XVIII. THB STRIKING DEVIL.

Prov. xix. — *' Striking hammers are prepared for tht
bodies of sinners J*

If you want to know what sort of a stroke the devil can
give, hear how he struck Job. Chap. iL — " Satan went
forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with
a grievous 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 to-
gether 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,
Vid wondering, and thinking what a terrible stroke the
devil can give.

littlo child, if you go to Hell, therf> will ho a d<ivil at

14 THE SIGHT OP HELIj.

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
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. Frances saw that on the other side of the soul there
was another devil to mock at and reproach it. Hear
what aiockeries 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 is still a drunkard, look at him over
there drinking red-hot fire. You were too idle to go to
Mass on Sundays, be as idle as you like now, for thert is

A BED OF FIRB. 15

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. Frances saw that these mockeries put the soul into
such dreadful despair that it burst out into the most
frightful bowlings 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 pleasarib 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 fiiC
The fire burns through every bone and evei^ muscle.
Every nerve is trembling and quivering with the sharp
fire. The fire rages inside 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.

Isa. Ixvi. — ** The worm that dieth iiot.** Judith xvl.—
**He will give fire and worms into their flesh, that they
may burn and feel for ever." St. Basil says that ** in Hell
there 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. K 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, 6«id creep all over you, and sting you with their

16 TH» SIGHT OF HBLL.

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 things
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 I 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 bed-
side 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 sighs 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

THE DUNGEONS OF HELL. 17

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 I Listen to the painful cry of
a child which has lost its mother ! Listen 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 the soul hears these words from God: "Depart
from Me for ever." Listen to the shriek of that madman
shut up in the madhouse ; 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
oflf the bridge ; as he was falling down into the river, he
roared out: "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 afttr 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." Jer. xxiii. — ** In the latter days you shall under-
stand these things."

Now look to 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 xxxviii. — ** 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 bums
into the skin ; it scorches the bone of the skull and makes

18 THE SIGHT OP HBLti,

it smoke. The red-hot fiery heat burns 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
melled 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 the earth she would be burnt to a cinder in
a moment. But she is in Hell, where fire burns every-
thing, 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 remem-
bers 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 he is tormented " —
Wisd. xi.

XXV. THE SECOND DUNGEON.
THE DEEP PIT.

Luke xvi. — 'ilt came to pass that the rich man alio died,
and he was buried in the fire of HelV^ 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 bottom-
less, pit. Look di.ivn it and you will see something red-
hot and burning. It is a coffin, a red-hot coffin of fire. A
certain map is lying fastened in the inside of that coffin of
fire. You might burst open a coffin made of iron ; but
that coffin ma'^e of solid fire never can be burst open.
There that man lies and will lie for ever in the fiery
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.

THB THFRD DUNGEON. 19

His knees and hands are fearfully burned 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 worshipping God, he
worshipped his money. Morning, noon, and night, he
thought about nothing but his money. He was olothed
in purple and fine linen. He feasted sumptuously every
day. He was hard-hearted to the poor. He let a poor
maA die at his door, and would not even give him the
crambs 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 hocbsting of riches bring you ? all
those things have parsed away like a shadow," — Wisd. v.
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.

XXVL THE THIRD DUNQBON.
THB BED-HOT FLOOR.

Look into this room. What a dreadful place it is !
The roof is red-hot ; the walls are 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 stand-
ing with my bare 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 this endless eternity of years, I might forget
the pain only for one single moment. " The devil answers
her question: **Do you ask," he says, **for a moment,

20 THB SIQHT OF HBLL.

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 !" "Js it so?" the
girl says 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 about 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.
THB BOILING KETTLE.

Amos iv. — ** The days shall come when they shall lift you
up on pikes y 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 burn-
ing coals. Two long flames come out of his ears. His
breathing is difiicult. 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 c
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

THE FIFTH DUNGEON. 21

him, does he think the punishment greater than he de-
serves ? ** 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. — ** J'hou 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 Judgment^ 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 com-
mandments, they also must 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 it had never
been. Accursed be that day ; but I am lost— lost— lost
for ever — for ever— for ever." The voice dies away, »ad
f ou hMur it no mort 1

22 THB SIGHT OF HBLL.

XXIX. HUNGER.

The prophet Isaias, chap, 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 trngue 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 answera
his roar with another roar: ** You fool," he says, **you
drunkard, why do you cry out for cold water k) 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.^-"-4 land of misery and darkness, where the shadow
of death and no order ^ hut 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 gave them life. ** Cursed paronts," 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 that
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

TWO VIPERS. 28

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
Nahal heard the words of his wife, his heart died within
Aim, and he became as a stone"

TWO VIPERS.

Did you ever see two deadly vipers fly at each other ?
Their eyes burning with rage. They shoot out their
poisoned stings. Tbey 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 and 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 other's bodies, which still remained alive, only look-
ing 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
iiews. You will still burn in Hell for almost countless
millions of 37^ears. 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 a^d j@y. But such a

24 THE SIGHT OF HBLL.

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 an
end. 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 and 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 there were drops of water at 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.

Cover all the earth and all the skies with little dots lik<
these . . . Let every dot stand for a hundred thousand
vdUioxui of years. Is this Eternity ! No.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING 1 25

After such a long, long time will God still punish sinners?
Yes. Isa. ix. — ** After all this His anger is not turned away,
His hand is still stretched oti^" 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 ask 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 — THB 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 into 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. Ixxx. — *' Their 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. 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 ! — never !

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.

26 THB SIGHT OP HELL.

"Poor soul, then burning in the unquenchable fire of
Hell, come and kneel before the Cross of Christ, and asH
Him for pardon."

See now that soul is kneeling before the Cross.

THE PRAYER OF A LOST SOUL.

This lost soul says : *' 0 Christ, I am tormented in this
flame. Day and night the tears run down from my eyes,
like torrents. 0 Christ, you were my Creator ; you re-
deemed me ; you are a merciful God. I come before you to
ask if I may go out of this terrible fire where I am tor-
mented."

THE ANSWER OF JESUS CHRIST.

"Unhappy soul !" Jesus says; "I have pity for you,
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 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 understand-
ing to know that it is right to do good and wrong to do
evil. Besides, I said to you : * Do good and you shall he
happy for ever in Heaven ; hut if you do evil you shall he
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

THB ANSWBR OF JESUS CHRIST. 27

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. I told
you repentance was easy. Instead of repenting you broke
My laws again, and again and again. You went on break-
ing 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. 'Ion stood before My judgment-seat. You
were condenaied 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 ever-
lasting 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 ever-
lasting ? 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, 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

2b THE SIGHT OP HBLL,

late. If you had asked for mercy when you were alive,
how ^lad 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 at 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. 0 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 ! ** 0 Death," he says, ** come and put me
out of this horrible pain. 0 Death, when I was alive I
feared you ; I kept away from you. But now. Death, I love
you. 0 Death, be kind to me ; come and kill me. " Does
Death come ? No ! Death flies away from him. ** hi 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 handsful of fire ; he throws the fire
down his throat to kill himself. *' He looks for death and
it Cometh not." — Job iii. He is on his feet again ; he runs
like a madman towards the walls of Hell. He dashes his
head up against the walls. He hopes that his brains will
be beaten out, and that he will die, and that his torments
will end. ** He looks for death and it cometh not,'^

THB VISION OF ST. TBBBSA. 29

THE ENIFB.

See that great strong man. He rushes furiously through
Hell. As he goes along, he splashes the fire and sulphur
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. Some-
times 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 my-
self 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 came from it was abominable. Great num-
bers 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 com-
pared 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 alwac^s tearing itself in pieces. I

80 THB BIGHT OF HBIiU

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 impos-
sible 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 understood that God did me a
very great favour 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 com-
pared 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 it as one of the greatest graces of God to have seen
the pains of Hell. It takes away all fear 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. * 0 my God, be Thou for ever
Ijlessed. You have shown me that You love me more than
I love myself, by delivering me so often from that fright-
ful prison, into which I was so ready to enter against Your
will.' The sight 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 thege I0ttl«»"

▲ PAIR OF 80ALB8. SI

A PAIR OF S0ALE8.

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 will see that the balance stands equal.
A mortal sin of out 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 xwith 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
diabolic 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. — 0 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 devil's 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 are 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 J^oiiraelf .

32 THE sianr of hell.

XXXVII. THE Vision IN VEN. BBDl.

"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
Bouls 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 burning pit. When they had gone deep 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 dark-
ness. 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."

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