The Four Principal Gates of Hell – St. Alphonsus

“Amongst the other vices, there are four which send most souls to hell, and on this earth bring upon men the scourges of God; and these four are, HATRED, BLASPHEMY, THEFT, and IMPURITY.”

Excerpts from Nine Discourses for times of Calamity, Fourth Discourse – The Four Principal Gates of Hell. by St. Alphonsus Liguori.

Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat [Mt. 7:13]. Hell has then different gates, but these gates stand on our earth. Her gates are sunk into the ground [Lam. 2: 9]. These are the vices by which men offend God, and draw down upon themselves chastisements and eternal death. Amongst the other vices, there are four which send most souls to hell, and on this earth bring upon men the scourges of God; and these four are, HATRED, BLASPHEMY, THEFT, and IMPURITY. Behold, the four gates by which the greater number of souls enter hell; and it is of these four that I mean to speak in order that you may amend and cure yourselves of these four vices, otherwise God will cure you of them, but by your own destruction.

HATRED. The first gate of hell is hatred. As paradise is the kingdom of love, so hell is the kingdom of hatred. Father, says such a person, I am grateful to and love my friends, but I cannot endure him who does me an injury. Hear what I say to you says Jesus Christ; hear my law, which is a law of love: Love your enemies. I wish, that you, my disciples, should love even your enemies. Do good to them that hate you; you must do good to them that wish you ill, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you; if you can do nothing else, you must pray for them who persecute you, and then you shall be the children of God your father: that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven. [Mt. 5: 44-45.]

St. Augustine then is right in saying that it is by love alone a child of God is known from a child of the devil. Thus have the saints always done; they have loved their enemies. Such may indeed be called the children of God. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven [Lk. 6;37]. “By forgiving others,” says St. John Chrysostom, “you earn pardon for yourself.” But he, on the contrary, who will have vengeance, how can he hope for pardon for his sins? Such a person, in saying the “Our Father,” condemns himself when he says: “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” But how, says St. Augustine, how can he who will not forgive his enemy, according to the command of God, have the face to ask pardon from God for his offenses. But, be assured, that you shall be judged without mercy if you show not mercy to your neighbor. For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy [Ja. 2:13].

If then, my brethren, you wish to have revenge, bid adieu to paradise; Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them in due time [Deut. 22:35]. 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 offense, 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.

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 Siena 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. What punishment, says St. Augustine, will suffice to chastise so horrid a crime? We should not wonder, says Pope Julius III., that the scourges of God do not cease while such a crime exists among us.

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 [Is. 1:4]. Oh, if there were always found some one to do what St. John Chrysostom advises: “Strike his mouth, and sanctify thereby thy hand.” 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. What is the language of the damned?—blasphemy. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and wounds [Apoc. 16:11]. What do you gain, my brethren, by these your blasphemies? you gain no honor by them. Blasphemers are abhorred even by their blasphemous companions.

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.

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 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 [Ps.103:12]. The sentence of condemnation has already been pronounced against such: nor thieves . . . nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God [1 Cor. 6:10]. 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. 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. 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 [Zach. 5:3]. 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. Some persons take the property of their neighbor, and then are fain to quiet their consciences by alms-deeds. Christ, says St. John Chrysostom, will not be fed with the plunder of others. The sins of this kind, committed by the great, are acts of injustice, injuries that they inflict upon others, and taking from the poor of what is their due. These are descriptions of theft which require perfect restitution, and a restitution most difficult of all to make, and most likely to be the cause of one’s damnation.

IMPURITY We have now, lastly, to speak of the fourth gate of hell, which is impurity, and it is by this gate that the greater number of the damned enter. Some will say that it is a trifling sin. Is it a trifling sin? It is a mortal sin. St. Antoninus writes, that such is the nauseousness of this sin; that the devils themselves cannot endure it. The impure say, moreover, God has compassion on us who are subject to this vice, because he knows that we are flesh. But you must know that the most horrible chastisements with which God has ever visited the earth have been drawn down by this vice. St. Jerome says that this is the only sin of which we read that it caused God to repent him of having made man. It repented Him that had made man; . . . for all flesh had corrupted its way [Gen. 6: 6 – 12]. Wherefore it is, St. Jerome says that there is no sin which God punishes so rigorously, even upon earth, as this. He once sent fire from heaven upon five cities, and consumed all their inhabitants for this sin. Principally on account of this sin did God destroy mankind, with the exception of eight persons, by the deluge. You say, God has compassion upon men subject to this sin. But it is this sin that sends most men to hell. St. Remigius says, that the greater number of the damned are in hell through this vice.

It is to be remarked, moreover, that this sin brings with it innumerable others: enmities, thefts, and, more especially, sacrilegious confessions and Communions, by reason of the shame which will not allow these impurities to be disclosed in confession. And let us remark herein passing, that it is sacrilege above all things, that brings upon us sickness and death; for, says the Apostle, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself not discerning the body of the Lord; and then he adds: therefore are many infirm and weak among you [1 Cor. 11:29-30]. And St. John Chrysostom, in explanation of that passage, says that St. Paul speaks of persons who were chastised with bodily infirmities, because they received the sacrament with a guilty conscience.

My brethren, should you ever have been sunk in this vice, I do not bid you be disheartened, but arise at once from this foul and infernal pit; beg of God forthwith to give you light, and stretch out his hand to you. The first thing that you have to do is to break with the occasion of sin: without that, preaching and tears and resolutions and confessions, all are lost. Remove the occasions, and then constantly recommend yourself to God, and to Mary the mother of purity. No matter how grievously you may be tempted, do not be discouraged by the temptation; at once call to your aid Jesus and Mary, pronouncing their sacred names. These blessed names have the virtue of making the devil fly, and stifling that hellish flame within you. If the devil persists in tempting you, persevere in calling upon Jesus and Mary, and certainly you shall not fall. In order to rid yourself of your evil habits, undertake some special devotion to our Lady; begin to fast in her honor upon Saturdays; contrive to visit her image every day, and beg of her to obtain for you deliverance from that vice. Every morning immediately after rising, never omit saying three “Hail Marys” in honor of her purity and do the same when going to bed; and above all things, as I have said, when the temptation is most troublesome, call quickly upon Jesus and Mary. Beware, brother, if you do not be converted now, you may never be converted. (Act of contrition.)

Excerpts from Nine Discourses for times of Calamity, Fourth Discourse – The Four Principal Gates of Hell, by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church, Founder of the Redemptorist Order.

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