Sin

“ How shall the distrust that sin creates, the hardness that sin forms, the despair and helplessness that sin induces, the dreadful indifference which is its expression,—how shall they be removed? How shall the unfaith which the mystery, the suffering, the evil of the world induce be overcome? Being a sinner I do not dare, and being ignorant I do not believe, to come. ”

“ What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack? ”

“ I think I ought to confess sin the moment I see it to be sin; whether I am in company, or in study, or even preaching, the soul ought to cast a glance of abhorrence at the sin. If I go on with the duty, leaving the sin unconfessed, I go on with a burdened conscience, and add sin to sin. ”

“ I have said sin, because sin, only, is offense in the eyes of the gods. But sin and error are one in the unpardoning eye of nature. Thus, if thou dost err, though in all innocence, though the gods absolve thee, thou wilt reap the bitter harvest of thy misguided sowing, one day—thou or thy children after thee. The doom is spoken, and however tardy, must fall—and the offense is never expiated. There is nothing more relentless than consequence. ”

“ But sin is a root-fact of the life of man. It is the office of the spiritual teacher to pluck out sin; to pierce the heart with a recognition of the enormity of sin, and of its far-reaching consequences; to stir the seared conscience, rouse the apathetic life, thrill the spiritual imagination, and to quicken the heart to better love and to nobler dreams. ”

“ I am deeply sorry for all my sins, for those I committed to-day, and for those of my whole life, because thereby I offended Thy supreme and most loving goodness. Pardon me for the sake of Jesus, Thy Son, who shed His most precious blood on the cross for our sins. With the help of Thy grace, I firmly resolve to amend my life, and rather to die than again offend Thee by a mortal sin. ”

“ But while we contemplate this sorrowful picture, let us not forget that sin alone is responsible for the torments of Jesus, and the sorrow of His Mother. Let us awaken within us a deep sense of contrition, and a heartfelt horror of our own sins; and let us make a firm resolution never again to commit a wilful sin! ”

“ In sin was I conceived and born, in sin have I lived, in sin do I yet live, so long as I carry with me this sinful flesh and blood, and my sins are continually before Thee. Thou seest in me a thousand times more, yea, and a thousand times greater sin than I myself am able to see, know and feel. O Lord, enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified. Have mercy upon me for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, my Lord and Saviour, and through Thy great mercy, which is greater than the sins of all men, [063] blot out my transgressions. ”

“ Oh, dear friends, if—not as a theological term, but as a clinging, personal fact—we realise what sin against God is, what must necessarily come from it, what aggravations His gentleness, His graciousness, His constant beneficence cause, how facilely we do the evil thing and then wipe our lips and say, 'We have done no harm,' we should be more familiar than we are with the depths of this experience of mourning for sin. ”

“ And so must it ever be; however ingeniously you may disguise sin, however you may conceal it from yourself, and persuade yourself to believe that you are not doing wrong, sin must show itself ultimately in its true colours, and your ingenious disguises will not shield it from its doom:—"The wages of sin is Death." ”

“ With this conviction of the sin remaining in our hearts, there is joined a clear conviction of the sin remaining in our lives, still cleaving to all our words and actions. In the best of these we now discern a mixture of evil, either in the spirit, the matter or the manner of them: something that could not endure the righteous judgment of God, were he extreme to mark what is done amiss. ”

“ Say, what might be the cause, that mercy heaves
The dust of sin above the starry sky,
And lets it not in dust and ashes fly?
Could Justice be of sin so over-wooed,
Or so great ill because of so great good,
That, bloody man to save, man’s Saviour shed his blood.
Giles Fletcher.
O, thou great Power! in whom we move,
By whom we live, to whom we die,
Behold me through thy beams of love,
Whilst on this couch of tears I lie,
And cleanse my sordid soul within
By thy Christ’s blood, the bath of sin. ”

“ For sin is no longer that root of bitterness, that selfishness, which has poisoned the universe, and poisons the hearts of each one of us—that deadly thing which betrays Christ, and which divides us from the Father; sin becomes the violation of an arbitrary rule, drawing after it the endurance of an arbitrary and infinite penalty. ”

“ Is an act that is wrong for one man necessarily a sin if committed by another? Are men's tendencies to sin due to their inheritance or to impulses which they share in common with brutes, or to influences that come from their environment? In the light of this discussion formulate your own definition of sin.
Is the final test of sin a man's consciousness of guilt, or the ultimate effect of his act upon himself, or upon society? ”

“ Sin, sin is what is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Sin, disobedience to God, transgression of God's law, has placed the seal of death upon every living human body in the world; and sin has stamped the seal of death upon every unsaved soul in hell. ”

“ Learn ye from the Book of God, that so far from this being the truth, your sins are a grief to him, a burden and a load to him, till, like a cart that is overloaded with sheaves, so is he weighed down with human guilt.
This will be very clear if we meditate for a moment upon what sin is, and what sin does. Sin is the great spoiler of all God's works. Sin turned an archangel into an archfiend, and angels of light into spirits of evil. Sin looked on Eden and withered all its flowers. Ere sin had come the Creator said of the new-made earth, "It is very good" ”

“ We commit sin, from mere hatred of sin! We serve the devil, out of pure zeal of God! It is merely in order to punish the wicked, that we run into this wickedness. So do “the passions (as one speaks) all justify themselves,” and palm sin upon us, under the veil of holiness.
5. But is there no way to avoid the snare? Unquestionably there is. Our blessed Lord has marked out a plain way for his followers, in the words above recited. None who warily and steadily walks in this path, will ever fall into evil-speaking. ”

“ Your heart, little child, is full of sin. You think of what is not right, and then you wish it, and that is sin.... Ah, what shall sinners do when the last day comes upon them? What will they think when God shall punish them forever? ”

“ What a monster of ingratitude, then, is sin in a Christian!
Q. 15. How does the malice of sin appear from its effects on our souls in this life?
A. The effects which sin produces in our souls are many, and miserable indeed, showing to a demonstration the horrid malignancy of that fatal poison which causes them. To understand them properly, we must consider, (i.) That a soul in the state of grace is beautiful, like an angel, and a delightful object in the eyes of God and of His saints. ”

“ You’re not a Catholic, you see, and you don’t feel as we feel about it. To sin once, twice, three times, till seventy times seven, I care not how often⁠—⁠that is simply to sin: and if we repent in our hearts⁠—⁠God is faithful and just⁠—⁠the Church absolves us. ”

“ The world was fair and bright till sin entered it; all its wretchedness is the result of sin. Man was pure and happy till sin entered; his foulness and broken-heartedness are the result of sin. The Bible looks at this terrible fact of sin, and fails to find a single word large enough to describe it in all its many aspects of horror. ”

“ Sin will hinder from glorying in the cross of Christ, Omitting little truths against light may breed guilt in the conscience, as well as committing the greatest sins against light. If thou hast been taken out of the belly of hell into Christ’s bosom, and made to sit among princes in the household of God, oh how shouldst thou live as a pattern of mercy ? ”

“ In every mortal sin, then, there are these two enormous evils - to wit, the turning away from God, Who is infinitely good, and the very fountain of goodness and life, and the embracing in His stead the monster sin, by the allurements of some deceitful appearance of an imaginary happiness, justly compared to a broken cistern that can hold no water, but only filth and mud. ”

“ CONCLUSION.—Let us, therefore, be very cautious of adding sin to sin, that grace may abound, but rather fly from it as from the face of a serpent. We know not what is the number of our days determined by God, and we know not what is the number of our sins beyond which there is no forgiveness. ”

“ And they would have taught you that Sin is the debasing of Human Nature, as being a Derivation from that Purity, Rectitude, and Holiness, in which God created us, and that Virtue and Religion, and walking by the Laws of God, were altogether preferable to the Ways of Sin and Satan ”

“ Here are such clear discoveries of the vileness of sin, of its direct opposition to a holy God, and his most holy will, of its woful soul-damning effects, as may convince the most profane and stout-hearted carnalist, and awake him out of his soul-destroying sleep of security and presumption. ”

“ Better for him that each sin of his life had brought its sure, swift penalty along with it. There was purification in punishment. Not "Forgive us our sins," but "Smite us for our iniquities" should be the prayer of a man to a most just God. ”

“ But what is the truth most appropriate for producing the conviction of sin in the human breast? "Preach the Ten Commandments in all their stern and uncompromising 'shalts' and 'shalt-nots,'" cries one. "Read out the descriptions given in Scripture of the evil things that lurk in the heart of man as filthy things in darksome caves," says another. "Show men the results of sin, take them to the edge of the bottomless pit," insists a third. But not one of these is the chosen weapon of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ Would we know the nature of sin and the malignity of it? It is the perverting of that which is right; it is a most unjust unreasonable thing; it is the rebellion of the creature against the Creator, the usurped dominion of the flesh over the spirit, and a contradiction to the eternal rules and reasons of good and evil. It is perverting the right ways of the Lord (Acts xiii. 10) , and therefore the ways of sin are called crooked ways, Ps. cxxv. 5. Would we know what is to be got by sin? It profiteth us not. The works of darkness are unfruitful works. ”

“ How great our guilt has been!
Foolish and vain were all our thoughts,
And all our lives were sin.
2 But O, my soul, for ever praise,
For ever love his Name,
Who turns thy feet from dangerous ways
Of folly, sin, and shame.]
3 ['Tis not by works of righteousness
Which our own hands have done;
But we are sav'd by sovereign grace
Abounding thro' his Son.]
4 'Tis from the mercy of our God
That all our hopes begin;
'Tis by the water and the blood
Our souls are wash'd from sin.
5 'Tis thro' the purchase of his death, ”

“ Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe more boldly still (‘esto peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide’) ; and rejoice in Christ, Who is the conqueror of sin, death and the world; we must sin as long as we are what we are. ”

“ "Sin, sin! To rid myself of boredom by committing a crime, to break up monotony by deceiving. To sin in order to be a new person, another person. To hate life worse than it hated me. To sin so as not to die. ”

“ After I had been in this furnace some weeks, in which I felt as others do in similar cases, much grief, anger, rebellion, and discontent, but not quite without a spirit of prayer that I might be favored with the very gracious visits of the Saviour, and a sense of God’s approbation in my own soul, though despised by others, I entreated the Lord to shew me the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as well as I could bear it; for I am convinced no man could ever behold sin in all its malignity—none but the God-Man could bear that—yet I desired to see sin as most abominable in God’s sight. ”

“ ALSO God shewed that sin shall be no shame to man, but worship. For right as to every sin is answering a pain by truth, right so for every sin, to the same soul is given a bliss by love: right as diverse sins are punished with diverse pains according as they be grievous, right so shall they be rewarded with diverse joys in Heaven according as they have been painful and sorrowful to the soul in earth. ”

“ But if you could enumerate each sinful thought, word, and action committed during the past year and during your past life, there is something in you worse than sins, and that is sin itself, the evil heart, the wrong mind, out of which sins proceed; for the corrupt tree is worse than any definite quantity of fruit which it has produced; the ever-flowing bitter fountain is worse than any definite quantity of water which has come from it. But whatever you have been or done in time past, what do you intend to be and to do now? Is it your intention to continue in sin? ”

“ Subtlety in the contrivance of sin, wisdom to do evil, a heart that designs and a head that devises wicked imaginations, that is acquainted with the depths of Satan and knows how to carry on a covetous, envious, revengeful plot, most effectually. The more there is of craft and management in sin the more it is an abomination to God. 5. Vigour and diligence in the prosecution of sin— feet that are swift in running to mischief, as if they were afraid of losing time or were impatient of delay in a thing they are so greedy of. ”

“ All sin may be summed up in one word—disobedience—non serviam. It was the sin of the Angels, it was the sin of our first parents and it is at the root of every sin that has ever been committed. God says: Thou shalt not, the sinner says: I will. God says: Do this and thou shalt live; the sinner says: I will not, I would rather die. Sin is man's will in opposition to God's Will. This thought simplifies the subject and makes it easier for me to call up the sins of my life and look at them. ”