It is self-love and its offspring self-deception, which shut the gates — Selfishness

"Where all are selfish, the sage is no better than the fool, and only rather more dangerous."

"Chacun chez soi, chacun pour soi."

"Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us."

"We can neither change nor overpower Gods eternal suffrage against selfishness and meanness."

"A man as he goes down in self, goes up in God. It is interesting to trace this in the experience of the apostle Paul, as gathered from his Epistles. In the year of our Lord 59, he is the least of the apostles, and not f1t to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the church of God. In the year of our Lord 64, after four years more of growth in grace, he is "less than the least of all saints." But in the year of our Lord 65, and not long before he was about to receive his crown in heaven, he is "the chief of sinners."

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."