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dred of his victim; tormented with remorse of
conscience, and condemned to hell?
And let us further know, my brethren, that revenge and the desire of revenge are alike enormous, are
the same sin. Should we at any
time receive an offence, what are we to do?
When our passion begins to rise, we must
have recourse to God, and to the most holy
Mary, who will help us; and obtain strength
for us to forgive. We should then endeavor to say: Lord, for the love of Thee I forgive the
injury that has been done me, and do Thou in Thy mercy forgive me all the injuries I have done
Thee.

2. Blasphemy.

Let us pass on to the second gate of hell, which is blasphemy. Some, when things go wrong with
them, do not attack man, but endeavor to wreak their vengeance upon God himself by blasphemy. Know,
my brethren, what manner of sin blasphemy is. A certain author says: "Every sin, compared with
blasphemy, is light;" and first of all, St. John Chrysostom says, there is nothing worse than
blasphemy. Other sins, says St. Bernard, are committed through frailty, but this only through
malice. With reason, then, does St. Bernardine of Sienna call blasphemy a diabolical sin,
because the blasphemer, like a
demon, attacks God himself. He is worse than
those who crucified Jesus Christ, because they did not know him to be God; but he who
blasphemes knows him to be God, and insults him face to face. He is worse than the dogs, because
dogs do not bite their masters, who
feed them, but the blasphemer outrages God, who is at that very moment bestowing favors
on him. What punishment, says St. Augustine, will suffice to chastise so horrid a crime? We
should not wonder, says Julius III, that
the scourges of God do not cease while such a
crime exists among us.
Lorino cites the following fact: We read in

the preface to the Pragmatic Sanction in France, that King Robert, when praying for the peace of
the kingdom, was answered by the crucifix that the kingdom never should have had peace if he had
not eradicated blasphemy. The Lord threatens to destroy the kingdom in which this accursed vice
reigns. They have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel  your land is desolate 
it shall be desolate.

Oh, if there were always found some one to do what St. John Chrysostom advises: "Strike
his mouth, and sanctify thereby thy hand." The mouth of the accursed blasphemer should be struck,
and he should then be stoned, as the old law commanded: And he that blasphemeth the name of the
Lord, dying let him die: all the multitude shall stone him. But it would be better if that were
done which St. Louis, King of France, put in force: he commanded by edict that every blasphemer
should be branded on the mouth with an iron. A certain nobleman having blasphemed, many persons
besought the, king not to inflict that punishment upon him; but St. Louis insisted upon its
infliction in every instance; and some taxing him with excessive cruelty on that account, he
replied that he would suffer his own mouth to be burned sooner than allow such an outrage to be put
upon God in his kingdom.

Tell me, blasphemer, of what country are. you? Allow me to tell you, you belong to hell. St. Peter
was known in the house of Caiphas for a Galilean by his speech. Surely thou also art one of them,
it was said to him, for even thy speech doth discover thee. What is the language of the
damned? blasphemy. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and wounds.
What do you gain, my brethren, by these your blasphemies? you gain no honor by them.
Blasphemers are abhorred even by their blasphemous companions. Do you gain any temporal
advantage?

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