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Do you not see that this accursed vice Keeps
us forever in beggary? Sin maketh nations
miserable. Do you derive pleasure from it? What pleasure do you derive from blaspheming God? The
pleasure of the damned; and that moment of madness past, what pain and bitterness does it not leave
in your heart? Resolve to rid yourself of this vice in any event. Take care, if you do not abandon
it now, that you will not carry it with you to death, as has happened to so many who have died with
blasphemy in their mouths. But, Father, what can I do when the madness comes upon me? Good God!
and are there no other means of working it off than by blasphemy? Say, cursed be my sins. Mother
of God, assist me, give me patience; your passion, your anger, will pass off quickly, and you
will find yourself in the grace of God after the trial. If you do not act thus, you will find
yourself more afflicted and more lost than before.

3. Theft.

Let us now pass on to the consideration of the third great gate of hell by which so large a portion
of the damned enter; I mean theft. Some, so to speak, adore money as their God, and look upon it
as the object of all their desires. The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold. But the sentence
of condemnation has already been pronounced against such: Nor thieves nor extortioners shall
possess the kingdom of God. It is true that theft is not the most enormous of sins, but St.
Antoninus says that it very much endangers salvation. The reason is because for the remission of
other sins true repentance only is required; but repentance is not enough for the remission of
theft: there must be restitution, and this is made with difficulty. A certain hermit had once the
following vision: he saw Lucifer seated on a throne, and inquiring of one of his demons why he had
been so long

about returning. The latter replied that he had been detained by his endeavors to tempt a
thief not to restore what he had stolen. Let this fool be severely punished, said Lucifer To what
purpose have you spent this time? do you not know that he who has taken the property of another
never restores it? And, in truth, so it is: the property of another becomes to
him who takes it like his own blood; and the pain of suffering one's blood to be drawn for
another is very difficult to endure. We learn it every day from experience: innumerable
thefts take place; how much restitution do you see?

My brethren, see that you take not the property of your neighbor, and if during the past you
have ever failed in this respect; make restitution as soon as possible. If you cannot at once
make full, restitution, do it by degrees. Know that the property of another in your possession will
not only be the means of bringing you to hell, but will make you miserable even in this life.
Thou hast despoiled others, says the prophet, and others shall despoil thee. Because thou
hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of the people shall spoil thee. The
property of another brings with it a curse which will fall upon the entire house of the thief
This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth, . . . and it shall come to the
house of the thief, that is to say (as St. Gregory Nazianzen explains it), that the thief shall
lose not only the stolen property, but his own. The. goods of another are as fire and smoke to
consume' everything that comes in their way.
Remember well, mothers and wives, when,
children or husbands bring home the property
of their neighbor, remember well to chide and
reprove them; not to applaud their action, or even consent to it by silence. Tobias hearing a lamb
bleat in his house, Take heed, said he, lest perhaps it be stolen; restore ye it to its owners.
St. Augustine says that Tobias,

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