Readings from Fr. John Furniss

[Shin]

CHAPTER VIII.
THE DEVILS.

1. "THE Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him." 1 Kings xvi. You have an old shoe, good for nothing at all; the sides of it are bursting -- the sole has fallen off. You do not want it any more. You throw it away. Then if anybody passes by that way and sees the old shoe, and picks it up, and wishes to have it, he has the right to have it, for it belongs to nobody, the owner threw it away. When the soul commits a mortal sin God hates it, and casts it away. Ps. lxxxviii. 9 : "Thou hast rejected it." Lam iii. : "Thou hast made him an outcast." Then the devil, when he sees that God is casting away a soul, goes quickly to it and seizes it as a hungry dog would seize a bone. So, '"the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him." 1 Kings xvi. So, when Judas received the body and blood of Christ unworthily, then "Satan entered into him." John xiii. -- It is not one devil only which comes into the soul, but many: "For their name was legion." Luke viii. Yes, O sinner, your soul "has fallen and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit." Apoc. xiii. "Demons and monsters shall meet there, and hairy ones shall cry out to one another." Is. xxxiv. Did you ever see a swarm of bees cluster round the branch of a tree? so the devils cluster round your soul, O sinner! Ps. cxvii. 12 : "They surrounded me like bees." They are in you as a brood of vipers; Matt. viii. When a dead body has been buried in the grave, the flesh is eaten up by worms; so a soul buried in the grave of mortal sin is devoured by the devils. Job xxx. 17 : "They that feed upon thee do not sleep." You would see all this clearly, if God showed you the sight which he showed to the prophet Ezechiel. "Son of man," said God to the prophet Ezechiel, "go in and see the wicked abominations. And I went in, and saw, and behold every form of creeping things and living creatures, the abominations." Ezech. viii. Would you be content to be thrown into a den full of lions, and tigers, and serpents, and adders, and asps, and scorpions, and toads, and spiders, and all kinds of venomous, stinging reptiles? Your soul itself, O sinner, is the den and the hole of the reptiles of hell. For your throat is an open sepulchre to them; Rom iii. There in your soul is that devil who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; Pet. v. It is that same lion of which David said, "Save me, O Lord, lest he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is none to save me." Ps. vii. You, O sinner, did not cry out to God to save you from mortal sin. Therefore, that lion has seized upon you and devours you; Apoc. xii. The great, frightful dragon is in your soul, crushing it like a millstone crushes that which it falls upon. Lam. iii. : "To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land." That devil, exceeding fierce, is in your soul, who made you break in pieces the bonds and fetters of the law of God, and cast his yoke from you; Ps. ii. Those unclean spirits are in your soul, who, with great violence, carried two thousand swine headlong into the sea; Mark v. Poor soul, how swiftly they carry you. And wither do they carry you? To hell. There is in your soul that devil, who, while yet you walked in the ways of the Lord, seized you and threw you down into mortal sin; Mark ix. But see, what is that terrible form which winds and coils itself round and round your soul like ivy winds itself round a tree? O that terrible twisted creature! it is the form of a serpent. But what a serpent! We have heard of huge boa-constrictor serpents, which, from the trees of the forest, throw themselves upon wild beasts, upon elephants, and twisting themselves round and round those beasts, crush them to death. We have heard of rattle-snakes stinging people to death. But that serpent twisted round you, O sinner, is no boa-constrictor, no rattle-snake, it is not a serpent of the earth, but a serpent of hell! Oh, that terrible fierce serpent twined round your soul, how dark and slimy! how its twisted and poisonous folds rise and fall like the waves of the sea! Poor sinner, that serpent has gone round and round your whole soul, and round every faculty of it -- will, memory, and understanding. You exist only within the folds of that serpent. But see, the serpent has raised up its great, fierce, cruel head, and from its dark mouth it shoots out its forked and fiery tongue, hissing at you, biting at you. Jer. viii. 17 : "Behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm, they shall bite you, saith the Lord." See how he breathes into you his poisoned, fiery breath. Job. xli. 12 : "Flame cometh out of his mouth."

But see that sting, that sharp, subtle, penetrating, infernal diabolical sting. That sting is called "the sting of death." 1 Cor. xv. It is not as the sting of the wasp, or the sting of a scorpion, for these stings can sting only the flesh; but that diabolic sting stings the soul. But, thanks be to God, this infernal sting cannot pierce those who have the sign of God; Apoc. ix. But from you, O sinner, the sign of the living God was taken away at the moment of mortal sin, and now that stinging serpent-demon ceases not to thrust his infernal sting into your soul. This serpent is that same subtle serpent which went into Paradise to tempt Eve. But there is another devil in your soul, whose feet are swift to shed blood; Rom. iii. He is the murderer of your soul, hacking and cutting it in pieces. It is that devil who was a murderer from the beginning; John viii. See how "in his wrath he strikes your soul with an incurable wound, and persecutes it in a cruel manner." Is. xiv. But listen! that is that sound -- that word, that diabolical word spoken in your soul, O sinner? Surely that voice has been heard on the earth before. It sounds like the voice of him who once said, "No, you shall not die the death." Yes, it is the voice of the devil who is a liar and the father of lies; John viii. What does he say? He deals deceitfully with his tongue. Ps. v. He devours your soul, he crushes it in pieces, he stings it, he poisons it. Yet he says to you, "No, this cannot be true, because you feel nothing -- you feel no teeth, no stings, no poison." But one thing, O sinner, you forget. You forget that the soul which is in you is a dead soul! Now, tell me, the dead body which is lying in the grave, does it feel the worms that are eating it? The sheep, which has been slain, does it feel the sharp knife of the butcher which cuts it in pieces. The beast which lies dead on the field, does it feel the beaks of the wild birds which tear its flesh away from its bones? Yes, it is quite true that you do not feel these things, and that word "you do not feel" should break your heart, because it reminds you that your soul lives no more, that it is a dead thing cast away.

2. Oh, sinner, there is nobody on the earth who accuses you. There is nobody who cries out that you have committed a mortal sin. It seems as if heaven and earth were silent and your sin forgotten. But there is one who accuses you night and day before God. Apoc. xii. Your accusor is the devil. Would you know how the devil accuses you? There was a certain person who committed a mortal sin. God let one of his saints see what the devil did at that moment. The earth opened by the side of the sinner, and a black devil rose up out of hell. He was one of those devils "who are kept under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgement of the great day." Jude 6. This devil held in his hand, a fiery chain, which he put round and round the dead soul of the sinner, till the whole soul, and every faculty of it, was fast bound with this fiery chain. "They shall keep fast hold of their prey." Is. v. Therefore this devil kept hold of fiery chain, and followed the sinner withersoever he went, although the sinner himself saw nothing and knew it not. He was one of those demons of whom it is said, "He goeth about." 1 Pet. v. If the man walked along the road, this noonday devil, Ps. xc., followed him, holding him by the chain. In his workshop the devil held him by the chain; at his meals the devil was by his side, holding him by the chain; even in the chapel of the devil, who can transform himself into an angel of light, 2 Cor. xi., held the man by the infernal chain. 2 Pet. ii. 4. In the night time the devil, "who walketh about in the dark," Ps. xc. stood at his bedside, holding him fettered with the bonds of darkness. Wisd. xvii. It seemed as if from time to time the devil lifted up his face to heaven and said some prayer to God. What could it be? how could the devil pray? Job i. That Satan, who on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, was also present among them to pray for evil on Job, prayed thus. "O God!" the devil said, "you sentence to the eternal flames of hell those who commit a mortal sin, and thou art a just God, and thy judgements are true and just. O God, that sinner whom thou hast commanded me to bind with the chains of hell has committed a mortal sin, he has not repented, and now he sleeps with that mortal sin in his soul. May this sleep be his last sleep! O God, let thy sentence against this sinner now be executed. Bid me to strike him and kill him, now while he sleeps, and carry his soul down to hell." Poor sinner, the devil is also at this moment at your side, holding you fast bound with his fiery chain, and praying to God night and day that he may carry you to hell. Thus does the devil bind in the chains of hell those who commit a mortal sin, in that bond with which all sinners are tied. Is. xxv.; even as that woman whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, so that she was bent double and could not look upwards. Luke xiii.

Thus, poor sinner, the Lord hath done that which he proposed; he hath fulfilled the word which he commanded in the days of old. Gen. ii. "He hath destroyed and hath not spared, he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee." Lam ii. 7.

CHAPTER IX.
MORTAL SIN WRITTEN IN CHARACTERS OF FIRE.

WHEN you committed that mortal sin, hell below was stirred up, and was in an uproar. Is. xiv. The black Book of Death, with the names of the damned written on its pages was opened; the crash of that terrible book when it was opened was as the sound of thunder. The wicked spirits in hell knew well the meaning of that sound. They knew that some poor creature on the earth had been committing a mortal sin, and that the name of that sinner was about to be written in the Book of Death. Then might be seen millions on millions of wicked spirits with spiteful joy gathering round the terrible book to see whose name it was. Then came the writing in letters of fire; your name, the sin you committed, the day, the hour, the moment of it, the place, the manner. After this came the terrible sentence, that you were from that moment a "child of hell." There was the sentence; and now, O sinner, you only wait the execution of that sentence.

Poor sinner, there is still One who has pity on you, and is sorrowful for you, and he wishes to speak to you. Listen to him.

[Shin]

Well, we're coming to the close of this particular book, only a few more short chapters.

The end of Chapter VIII is particularly memorable...

And so to the first part, I have read of some people experiencing, though they might have attributed it to hallucinations.

I am wondering if this book has quite the same effect in book study as it has when read all at once, as a whole.

[odhiambo]

And so to the first part, I have read of some people experiencing, though they might have attributed it to hallucinations.
I am wondering if this book has quite the same effect in book study as it has when read all at once,

You have read of some people experiencing what?

[Shin]

Well this is rather frightening. . . but I will relate. .

They are in you as a brood of vipers; Matt. viii.

Or to quote from the book, Confession:

"A CERTAIN man used to carry about with him a bag full of poisonous, stinging, deadly serpents. One night he laid the bag of serpents down on the floor. He forgot to fasten it up, and went to bed. During the night all the serpents crept out of the bag. They went and twisted themselves round the man while he was asleep. In the middle of the night the man awoke. He was dreadfully frightened when he found the serpents twisted round his head, and arms, and legs, and feet, and all his body. What was he to do? If he stirred the least, these serpents would bite and sting him. The bite or sting of any one of those serpents was sure to be his death! So he lay as still as if he had been lying in the grave. He called out for somebody to get a pan of warm milk and set it down in the middle of the floor. This was done. The serpents soon smelt the warm milk. First one great serpent untwisted itself from his arm and went to the warm milk. Then another serpent followed, and then another. At last every one of the serpents untwisted itself from the man's body, and he was saved from death!

This man could not get away from the serpents of himself. He was obliged to ask somebody to help him. Every mortal sin is a serpent round the soul. The sinner cannot get away from these serpents of himself. But if he prays to God, God will make these serpents go away."

...

I have read in the past of people, deep into alcohol or drug addiction, complaining of the sensation of being surrounded by snakes. And I believe I quoted in the past.. where is it.. Ah-ha here is the 'Deaths of Sinners and Saints' thread.. more quite frightening stories along with uplifting ones..

And then there are the battles of someone holy too.

[odhiambo]

You are right.
Scarry stuff, phew!
The comparison of mortal sins and deadly serpents really makes one realise how deadly mortal sins are.
Chapter VIII, scared me stiff. I hope and pray that God will keep us all safe.

[Shin]

May the Lord have mercy on us and keep us close. 

[Shin]

CHAPTER X.

THE VOICE OF GOD TO THE SINNER.

POOR sinner! God says to you: I loved you with an everlasting love. Jer. xxxi. I created you, and breathed into your soul the breath of life, and made you to be my child, beautiful as an angel of heaven. Then I could not bear to be absent from you, so I came myself to dwell in your soul, that I might always be with you, and love you, and take care of you. But, behold, there came to me a sorrowful moment; you cast me away from you, you would not have me for your Father any more. Poor sinner! why did you leave me? what was it for? what harm did I ever do to you? I created in your soul a light which should never fail, but you loved to have darkness rather than the light. John iii. I gave you life everlasting that you might live forever, John vi., but you chose to have death rather than life. I gave you peace and joy of heart, Gal. v. and you have chosen rather to have the thorn of anguish fastened in your heart. Ps. xxxi. I gave you the bread of life, and you have brought to me the poison of death -- mortal sin. I so loved you that I gave you my beloved Son, Jesus, and with him I gave you all things, and behold you have treated my sweet Son, Jesus, disgracefully, crucifying him again, trampling under foot his most precious blood, and choosing rather to have the devil for your master. Heb. vi.

O soul! created to my image and likeness, and redeemed by the blood of my Son, Jesus, and sanctified by my Holy Spirit, in what did I offend you that you should do thus to me? Poor soul, remembering the days of old when you were my child, and grieving to see that you are on the road to hell, I come to you now to ask you to return to me; it is not too late -- still there is time, but if you delay longer, perhaps it will be too late. Come back, then, to me, and be my child as you were before, for, as I live, I will not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and lives. Ezech. xxxiii.

[odhiambo]

This chapter X is very touching.
It is a prayer and a very good text for contemplation.
Who can help but take a hard , long look at their life after that?

[Shin]

The truth!

[Shin]

CHAPTER XI.

MORTAL SIN WRITTEN IN CHARACTERS OF BLOOD.

"BALAAM of Bosor had a check of his madness, the dumb beast used to the yoke." 2 Pet. ii. St. Ambrose tells a story about a little dog. The dog was a beautiful creature. It loved its master; it would lick his hand and eat out of it, and follow him where ever he went. It was a faithful dog. In the night time if robbers came to the door, the dog would bark at them; when the robbers heard the dog barking they would say, We had better go away, for the dog is barking, and we shall be found out. One day the master of the dog went out of the house. When he came back his face was covered -- he had a mask on. He opened the door and walked in. The dog did not know him again because his face was covered. So it barked at him, jumped on him, and bit slightly the end of his finger, which began to bleed. Then the master uncovered his face, and the dog, looking up, saw that it had been biting its own master. Great was the sorrow of the little dog when it found that it had been biting its own master. It lay down on the floor with its head on the ground, and began to moan most sorrowfully. Then the master came to it, and patting it on the head, said, Never mind, my poor little dog, you did not mean to bite me; look up at me. But the poor dog did not look up, and it never looked up in its master's face again. The master did every thing he could to take away the distress of the poor dog; he brought it bones to eat, and water to drink; but no -- the poor dog would no more eat or drink. After a while the dog rose up and went down the steps which led to the cellar. When it came into the cellar it threw itself down into a deep hole. For three days and three nights the dog stopped in this hole, neither eating or drinking, but moaning most pitifully. Towards the end of the three days the moans became fainter and fainter, and at last its sorrowful moans were heard no more; the poor creature was dead. And this dog died of a broken heart -- broken with sorrow, because it had accidentally, without meaning it, done a little injury to its master.

O sinner, learn a lesson from the dumb creature. Look up at the cross. On the cross there hangs Jesus Christ, your Master. Come near then, O sinner, come near to the cross, and look up at the face of Jesus Christ your Master. Can you look up at his face and say that you never did him any injury? What? you never did any injury to Jesus Christ! See those sharp thorns which pierce his dying head! See those sharp nails which fasten his wounded hands and feet to the cross! See that blood which runs down, not drop by drop, but in streams from the cross! See, Jesus bows down his head, and he breathes out his last breath -- he is dead! Who as it that did all these injuries to Jesus Christ? O sinner, it is you who did all these cruel injuries to Jesus. Your mortal sin bruised his poor body and made him bleed. Your mortal sin was the hammer which nailed him to the cross "Crucifying again to yourself the Son of God." Heb. vi. Your mortal sin was the great heavy weight which wedged on the dying heart of Jesus, and broke it, and made him die of sorrow. Yes, he was wounded for your iniquities, and bruised for your sins; Is. liii. O sinner, look up again at the face of the dying Jesus! Perhaps you are afraid to look at him. You think that Jesus is angry at you for the injuries you have done him. O sinner, you know not the sweet Jesus. No; he cannot look angry. See, poor sinner, he wants you to look at him, he wants you to see that his last look before he dies is a look of mercy, of compassion, of love for your poor soul. Hearken, poor sinner, Jesus speaks to you.

[Shin]

I think this story about the little dog is very memorable. I know I won't forget it.

O sinner, learn a lesson from the dumb creature. Look up at the cross.

[odhiambo]

I think this story about the little dog is very memorable. I know I won't forget it.

O sinner, learn a lesson from the dumb creature. Look up at the cross.

If the dog was human, I 'd say his heart break was a 'violent' one; it destroyed him.

[Shin]

I hadn't thought of it that way!

[odhiambo]

I hadn't thought of it that way!

I understand, I just wanted to pull your leg 

[martin]

A sincere act of contrition each night before we sleep could prevent us being carried off (like Fr. Furniss said) unexpectedly and unrepentant by the devil for we can never judge as to whether we are in a state of grace at any given time and it could be foolish to presume so. Sometimes I say a few extra acts of contrition and offer it through Our Lady for some poor soul who has been cast off by God that through her intercession the Lord will grant them the grace to repent.

Thanks be to God that even if the preachers don't preach anymore (as Fr. Furniss said) either because of their own sin or the sin of the people, the Lord has still provided a way to hear for those who want to hear by the recorded preachings of His saints.

Lord have mercy on us all and especially all poor souls in mortal sin who are blind as to their condition. Mary, refuge of sinners, pray for us. 

[Shin]

Consider my leg pulled odhiambo!