Sin in Christian preaching is the moral failure that separates humanity from God, often depicted as hidden corruption, deception, or a deep-rooted habit that defiles the heart and life (Romans 3:23). Illustrations use images like worms in apples, hidden dust revealed by light, and deceptive snakes to show sin's pervasive and destructive nature requiring Christ's forgiveness to bridge the separation (Isaiah 59:2).
Sin deceives us into craving it until it destroys us from within like a hidden blade.
Paul Harvey tells how an Eskimo kills a wolf. He coats his knife blade with blood and lets it freeze. Then he adds another coat of blood and then another. As each coat freezes he adds another smear of blood until the blade is hidden deep within a substantial thickness of frozen blood.
Then he buries the knife-blade up-in the frozen tundra. The wolf catches the scent of fresh blood and begins to lick it. He licks it more and more feverishly until the blade is bare. Then he keeps on licking harder and harder. Because of the cold he never notices the pain of the blade on his tongue. His craving for the taste of blood is so great that he does not realize his thirst is being satisfied by his own blood. He licks the blade till he bleeds to death, swallowing his own life.
That is the way the devil works on us. He gives us a taste of sin, knowing we will crave more. We go deeper and deeper in satisfying our desires. We never notice the blade inside till it is too late. Only when we are dying do we realize we have swallowed our own life in sin.
Sin progresses gradually and deceptively, so resist temptation early and completely.
Sin is deceitful (Hebrews 3:13). Sin's progression is one of its characteristics it seeks to conceal.
The "blessed man" of Psalm 1 (1) walketh not, (2) standeth not, and (3) sitteth not. Observe the progression. That Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and did not immediately move there, is illustrative of the progressiveness of sin.
Eve (1) heard the devil's lie, (2) believed the lie, and (3) obeyed it. Sin is progressive. The prodigal son gradually went to the far country, which illustrates sin's progression.
Peter (1) first deserted the Lord, (2) later fraternized with the enemy, (3) then, denied the Lord, (4) afterwards committed perjury, and (5) finally, he cursed and blasphemed. Sin was progressive in his case.
Be not deceived, for sin is still progressive. Social drinking can easily lead to alcoholism.
Dancing has been the first step in many cases leading to an ultimate destruction of one's virtue.
Missing the mid-week service can lead to missing the Sunday night service, then Sunday morning Bible school, then the Sunday morning worship service-yea, to complete apostasy.
Envy can grow into hatred, and hatred can grow into murder. Be not deceived. Sin is deceptive. It grows. It is progressive. Therefore, resist every temptation, choosing the way of escape always provided (1 Corinthians 10:13). Give none occasion to sin. Abstain from every appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Nip sin in the bud! Otherwise, it will grow! "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit that they may add sin to sin" (Isaiah 30:1).
Softening sin's name makes it more dangerous, like mislabeled poison.
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman told of a distinguished Methodist minister of Australia who preached on sin. One of his church officers came afterward to talk with him in his study. He said to the minister: "Dr. Howard, we don't want you to talk so plainly about sin, because if our boys and girls hear you talking so much about sin, they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin." The minister took down a small bottle of strychnine that was marked "Poison." He said, "I see what you want me to do. You want me to change the label, such as 'Essence of Peppermint.' Don't you see what would happen? The milder you make the label, the more dangerous you make the poison."
Sin is only counted when there is a law to break.
What makes sin sinful? I remember when I was in the army I was brought before my commanding officer because while I was on night duty I had opened a telegram I wasn't supposed to. Nobody had told me this. I thought it was part of my duty to open it and to communicate its contents to the officer on duty. I ended my defense with the words of Paul, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans 5:13). I was not punished. They saw the reasonableness of my contention that one cannot break a law that does not exist.
Pleasures often hide the deepest sins, like serpents beneath beautiful plants.
Spurgeon was right when he said, "Where the most beautiful cacti grow, there the venomous serpents are to be found at the root of every plant." And it is so with sin. Your fairest pleasures will harbor your grossest sins. Not Welcomed
It is only natural when you are eagerly expecting someone to welcome him with open arms. Just imagine the disappointment of a father returning to his family from the war to find that he is not recognized. All along the family has been praying and waiting for his return, yet when he arrives he is not welcomed. There could be no greater shock to a father than that. A welcome by one's own family is the instinctive hope of all. "He came unto His own and his own received Him not."
Indulgence in appetite leads to downfall, as shown by Adam and Noah.
Thomas Manton says on indulging: "There were but two common parents of all mankind, Adam the Protoplast (the first created), and Noah the Restorer, and both failed due to appetite, the one fell by eating, and the other by drinking." A Lost Inheritance
The son of a rich father forsook his fine home for a life of crime and immorality, bringing disgrace to his family and causing his father many years of deep sorrow. One day he learned of his father's death and decided to return home at once. He wanted to be present at the reading of the will to see if he had been left anything. He thought possibly his father out of kindness had bequeathed him something. Together, with other members of the family, he assembled at the lawyer's office to listen to the reading of the will. The first part of it was a long recital of his son's sins. Father had set them down carefully, one by one, expressing the grief of heart which he had borne for so many years. The son became more and more restless as he heard that sad story of his evil doings. He began to fidget and fuss in his seat, obviously disgusted with the whole proceedings. Finally, he could stand it no longer and grabbed his hat, rose to his feet, stomped out of the room, and slammed the door behind him. But he left too soon. For the second part of the will said that his father had left him $25,000. He could not subsequently be located and thus never got the money for the simple reason that he declined to hear about the sins which he refused to confess. He lost his inheritance.
Sin traps and enslaves like an iron chain, despite warnings and denial.
An overladen coal barge stood in the river. A sailor reported to the captain that the water was gaining upon the vessel, but the captain drove him away with scoffing. Twice, thrice the warning was repeated, but each time it went unheeded. At last the barge began to give evidence of sinking. The captain ordered the men to the boats. As they took their places, he said, "See, I told you there was plenty of time." Then he took out his knife to cut the cable to the barge. He fell back with a cry of horror; the cable was an iron chain. A Sinner Who Didn't Think
A young man once said to a preacher, "I do not think I am a sinner." Then the preacher asked him if he would be willing for his mother or sister to know all he had done, said or thought, all his motives and all his desires. After a moment the young man said, "No, indeed, I certainly would not like to have them known-not for all the world.
Slander wounds deeply; controlling the tongue is a vital Christian lesson taught in James 3.
There's no doubt that slander hurts. There's only a single letter's difference between "words" and "swords." Slanders are like flies; they light upon our sores where they know they will hurt the most. Sir Francis Bacon expressed a profound truth when he said, "The worthiest persons are frequently attacked by slanders, as we generally find it to be the best fruit which the birds will peck at." The Lesson of the Tongue
Socrates of Constantinople, an early church historian, tells of an ignorant man who came to him asking him to teach him a Psalm or some part of Scripture. Socrates began to read to him the 39th Psalm, "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." As soon as he had read the first verse, Pambo, for that was his name, shut the book and took his leave saying that he would go learn that point first. His instructor waited and waited for him, but he did not come back. Finally, one day Socrates met Pambo accidentally and asked where he had been. Pambo said he was still learning that first lesson about the tongue. Forty-nine years later when someone else asked him why he did not learn anything else from the Scriptures, his reply was the same. Is it then any wonder that James takes almost the whole third chapter to discuss this all-important part of the body?
Learning when to hold and how to use the tongue is essential for Christian speech.
Once a young man came to that great philosopher Socrates to be instructed in oratory. The moment the young man was introduced he began to talk, and there was an incessant stream for some time. When Socrates could get in a word, he said, "Young man, I will have to charge you a double fee." "A double fee, why is that?" The old sage replied, "I will have to teach you two lessons. First, how to hold your tongue, and then how to use it." What an art for all of us to learn, especially for Christians. A Forked Tongue
This is told of a Christian man whose most intimate friends could not find out anything about his religious affiliations. One day a friend of his, on being told that he belonged to the church, exclaimed, "Why, I have known him intimately for some years, but I never dreamed he was a Christian!" He could not possibly conceive how the mouth that spoke so violently and indecently of his fellow men could be opened in church to praise and bless God. A Lie Is Forever
A little girl come to her mother, saying, "Which is worse, Mama, to tell a lie or to steal?" The mother replied that both were so sinful she could not tell which was worse. "Well, Mama," replied the little one, "I've been thinking a good deal about it, and I think it's so much worse to lie than steal." "Why, my child?" asked the mother. "Well, you see, Mama, it's like this," said the little girl, "If you steal a thing, you can take it back, unless you've eaten it, and if you've eaten it, you can pay for it; but a lie is forever."
The tongue can cause great unrighteousness; knowing when to speak and stop is crucial.
I shall never forget going on a picnic with my schoolmates and my uncle who was the teacher. We were playing with a little ball, and it got caught in the top of a tree. The teacher was angry about it and wanted to know who threw it there. Because my uncle was the teacher, they all ganged up on me as the culprit. The result was that my uncle broke quite a good-sized stick on my back punishing me. That was punishment unrighteously administered because of a lie. Thus, this expression, "a world of iniquity" in James 3:6, actually means that both a great amount and a great variety of unrighteousness is caused by the evil use of the tongue. The Steps and Stops
Once, when Dr. Pierson was in George Mueller's study, he took a glance into his Bible. As he was leafing through it he came to Psalms 37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by Jehovah." He noticed that George Mueller had written by the side of it in the margin, "and the stops!" If our tongues know when to go and when to stop, then our whole bodies, our whole personalities, will know when to move and when to stop. If we don't have God's bridle, these tongues of ours will keep going incessantly. Now we need the steps and the stops, too! If it were not for the bridle, the rider would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to stop the horse. Why does the horse stop? Because the bits in the bridle hurt his tongue. It is so with God in His dealings with us. We are moving so fast in the wrong direction, toward our own goal and destruction, that God has to pull hard on the bridle to cause us to stop. A Tongue's Soliloquy
I am your tongue! I am an important fellow. The Bible mentions me about 215 times (Proverbs 18:21; Proverbs 21:23, etc.). When I speak kind, thoughtful and true words, there is happiness; when I speak mean, untrue, angry or complaining words, there is trouble.
Rumors spread quickly and harmfully; controlling speech prevents damage and personal harm.
There is nothing as effective as a bunch of facts to spoil a good rumor.
There is a new magazine on the market named Rumor because it spreads so quickly and easily.
It is easier to float a rumor than to sink one.
A lot of people seem to have "rumortism."
All rumors should be fitted with girdles to keep them from spreading.
Whenever we fan the flames of a rumor, we are likely to get burned ourselves.
A groundless rumor often covers a lot of ground.
We still cannot understand how rumors without a leg to stand on get around so fast.
Covetousness fuels other sins and is destructive whether master or servant.
"Covetousness may be entertained as a servant, where it is not entertained as a master—entertained as a servant to provide oil and fuel to make other sins burn." Where avarice is the absolute master, the man is a miser; but even he is not more truly miserable than the man whose gainings only furnish opportunity for indulging in vice. Such persons are greedy that they may become guilty. Their money buys them the means of their own destruction, and they are eager after it. Winning and saving with them are but means for profligacy, and therefore they think themselves fine liberal fellows, and despise the penurious habits of the miser. Yet in what respects are they better than he? Their example is certainly far more injurious to the commonwealth, and their motive is not one whit better. Selfishness is the mainspring of action in each case; the difference lies in the means selected and not in the end proposed. Both seek their own gratification, the one by damming up the river, and the other by drowning the country with its floods. Let the profligate judge for himself whether he is one grain better than the greediest skinflint whom he so much ridicules. Lord, help us to live for thee and not for self, and both in giving and in spending may thy glory be our only aim.
Half-hearted struggles with sin fail; true hatred of sin must be constant and Spirit-wrought.
"Many a time a brabble falleth out between a man and his lusts; but he delayeth, and all cometh to nothing. In a heat we bid a naughty servant begone; but he lingereth, and before the next morning all is cool and quiet, and he is again in favour." Ungodly men have their quarrels with their favourite sins on various accounts; but these are like children's pets with one another, soon over, because they come of passion, and not from principle. An unholy person will fall out with sin because it has injured his health or his credit, or has brought him into difficulties with his neighbours; but when these temporary results are ended he falls in love again with the same iniquity. Thus we have seen the drunkard loathing his excess when his eyes were red, and his head was aching; but ere the sun went down the quarrel was ended, and he and Bacchus were rolling in the gutter together. Our enmity to sin should be based upon sound knowledge and solid reason, and be wrought in us by the Spirit of God, and then it will lead us to join in solemn league with the Lord who hath war with Amalek throughout all generations. We must have no peace with sin; nay, not with the least sin. Our hate of evil must be as everlasting as the love of God. Of old, converted Israelites cast their idols to the moles and to the bats—away from sight with the moles, away from light with the bats. Our detestation must lead us to put sin among the dead and the forgotten. So far from ever entering into amity with it, we must regard it as a dead and corrupted thing, forever abandoned to silence and the worm. As heaven and hell will never unite, so must it be plain that a saint and sin will never come together on any terms whatever. Lord, I pray thee keep me ever in desperate earnest in my war with sin. Forbid that I should trifle in this conflict, or grow cold in it. Let me be bound to never-ending warfare with my own sin, and never may I be pacified till Christ has utterly crushed the foe. Like thy servant David, I would hate every false way.
Sin is a destructive, unwelcome guest that burns and consumes the soul.
"Sin is an ill guest, for it always sets its lodging on fire." Entertained within the human breast, and cherished and fondled, it makes its host no return but an evil one. It places the burning coals of evil desire within the soul with evident intent to fire the whole man with fierce passions. Let these passions be suffered to rage, and the flame will burn even to the lowest hell. Who would not shut his door on such a guest? Or if he be known to be lurking within, who would not drag him out? How foolish are those who find delight in such an enemy, and treat him with more care than their best friend!
Atheism is the ultimate theft against God, denying His existence and authority.
Atheism is the highest theft against God, because it would steal from him not sua, sed se (his goods, but himself), proceeding further than "Deus hæc non curat," to "Deus non est,"— than to say "God will not regard it;" but "there is no God to regard it." These offer not only a wicked hand to their own conscience to scrape out the deep-engraven and indelible characters of the Divinity there, but a sacrilegious hand to heaven, as if they would empty it of Deity, and pull Jehovah out of his throne, and make him a non ens. T. Adams.
The dragon symbolizes sin and idolatry, defeated by Christianity's triumph.
The dragon is the emblem of sin in general, and of idolatry in particular. The dragon slain is the triumph of Christianity over heathenism. The scriptured phrase, "jaws of hell," the painters have literally rendered by the huge jaws of a dragon, wide open, and emitting flames, into which the souls of sinners are tumbled headlong.
Drunken boasting reveals false pride and weakness despite outward claims of greatness.
Du Chaillu, in his journey to Ashango Land, called upon the king at Anniambie, and found him drunk, as usual. "Indeed," says the traveller, "he was too tipsy to stand on his legs: nevertheless he was bullying and boasting in a loud tone of voice. I had not been in his place long, before he ordered another calabash full of palm-wine, and drank about a half-gallon of it. This finished him up for the day: he fell back into the arms of his loving wives, ejaculating many times, "I am a big king! I am a big king!" The voice soon became inaudible, and he fell asleep.
Historical examples show envy leading to destructive actions, including murder and punishment.
The infatuated Caligula slew his brother because he was a beautiful young man. Mutius, a citizen of
Rome, was noted to be of such an envious and malevolent disposition, that Publius, one day, observing him to be very sad, said, "Either some great evil has happened to Mutius, or some great good to another." "Dionysius the tyrant," says Plutarch, "out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician, because he could sing, and Plato the philosopher, because he could dispute, better than himself." Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis because he could draw a stronger bow than himself or any of his party.
Those who do wrong always find excuses to avoid responsibility.
He that does amiss never lacks excuse. Any excuse will serve when one has not a mind to do a thing. — Italian. — The archer that shoots ill has a lie ready. — Spanish. — He that excuses himself accuses himself. — French. — A bad workman always complains of his tools. "Who can help sickness?" quoth the drunken wife, when she lay in the gutter. English.
A cat’s excuse to eat a bat shows how people justify their wrong actions.
A cat, having been once taken in a net, promised a rat which had released him, never more to eat either rats or mice. It happened, one day, that he caught a bat in a barn. Master Grimalkin was at first puzzled; out he was not puzzled very long. "I dare not eat you as a mouse," said he; "but I will devour you as a bird." With this conscientious distinction, he made a good dinner of it.
Indolence entices and destroys strength through seductive pleasures that ruin hope and purpose.
Thomson wrote a poem by this title. He locates the castle in a dreamy land, where every sense is steeped in the most luxurious though enervating delights. The lord of the castle was a powerful enchanter, who, by his arts, enticed thoughtless travellers within the gate, that he might destroy their strength and ruin their hopes by a ceaseless round of voluptuous pleasures.
Presumption starts small but grows into a widespread sinful habit harboring many evils.
This is the nature and quality of presumption, — much like what our Saviour says of the mustard-seed, which, at first, is the least of all seeds, but, being grown up, is greater than all herbs, so that the birds of the air lodge in the branches of it. In like manner, presumption first sows itself in a thought, the least of all sins for the matter of it; but from thence shooting up into a custom and an habitual practice, it grows mighty and wide, opens its arms, and spreads out its branches for every unclean bird, every sinful action and abomination, to come and lodge and rest upon.
— Dr. South
Sharing in wrongdoing makes one as guilty as the one who initiates the sin.
The dog that starts the hare is as good as the one that catches it. He who holds the ladder is as bad as the burglar. — German. — He sins as much who holds the sack as he who puts into it. — French. — Lie for him, and he'll swear for you. — English. — One hand washes the other. — Greek. — Asinus asinus fricit. — Latin.
The dragon and serpent symbolize the pervasive and universal nature of sin.
The dragon is the first great symbol of sin, and, with numerous variations, runs through mythology and art. The serpent is also a frequent emblem. A snake, winding his scaly length round and round a globe, represents the universality of sin.
The first sin brought pain to earth, robbed heaven, and started eternal suffering in hell.
The first sin, that is still running like currents of fire through all the ramifications of humanity; the first sin, that has made the earth heave, surge, groan, and travail together in pain, — robbed heaven of some of its brightest ornaments, built the great state-prison of hell, kindled its first fires, and awakened groans that never end.
— Dr. Beaumont
Sin grows like a twisted rope, each act binding the sinner closer to ruin.
As a rope is twined from many threads, so is sin very rarely single; but one grows out of another; and often the new is committed to cover or excuse the old. Wicked suggestions are the first threads, the cherishing of these with satisfaction the second, the sinful purpose the third; the execution of it then twists the cord, and perseverance in it binds the sinner to his ruin. Gotthold.
Sin enters gradually like a camel into a room, eventually taking over completely.
The Arabs have a fable of a miller, who was one day awakened by having the nose of a camel thrust into the window of a room where he was sleeping. "It is very cold out here," said the camel: "I only want to get my nose in." The miller granted his request. After a while, the camel asked that he might get his neck in; then his fire feet; and so, little by little, crowded in his whole body. The miller found his companion troublesome; for the room was not large enough for both. When he complained to the camel, he received for answer, "If you do not like it, you may leave: as for myself, I shall stay where I am."
It is better to suffer hell than to willfully sin against God.
I preach and think that it is more bitter to sin against Christ than to suffer the torments of hell.—Chrysostom.—If hell were on one side, and sin on the other, I would rather leap into hell than willingly sin against my God.—Anselm.
Indulging in sin invites demonic influence and spiritual corruption.
He that allows himself in any sin, or useth any unnatural dalliance with any vice, does nothing else, in reality, than entertain an incubus demon: he prostitutes a wanton soul, and forces it to commit lewdness with the Devil itself.
— John Smith
Inner sinful thoughts reveal true character even if outward acts are hidden.
If a man covets, he steals. If a man has murderous hate, he murders. If a man broods dishonest thoughts, he is a knave. If a man harbors sharp and bitter jealousies, envies, hatreds, though he never express them by his tongue, or shape them by his hand, they are there. There are many good-seeming men, who, if all their day's thoughts and feelings were to be suddenly developed into acts visible to the eye, would run from themselves, as men in earthquakes run from the fiery gapings of the ground and sulphurous cracks that open the way to the uncooled centre of perdition. Beecher.
Even after suffering, unregenerate sinners would still love and return to sin.
If it were possible for those who have been for ages in hell to return to the earth (and not to be regenerated), I firmly believe, that, notwithstanding all they have suffered for sin, they would still love it, and return to the practice of it. Ryland.
Satan disguises sin with a virtuous appearance to hide its true nature.
It is said of Alcibiades, that he embroidered a curtain with lions and eagles, the most stately of beasts and birds, that he might the more closely hide the picture that was under, full of owls and satyrs, the most sadly remarkable of other creatures. Thus Satan embroiders the curtain with the image of virtue, that he may easily hide the foul picture of sin that is under it. Spencer.
Sin’s pleasures are deceptive, initially pleasant but ultimately harmful and destructive.
The Persian king gave Themistocles a goodly pension, assigning Magnesia, with the revenue of fifty talents, for his bread, Lampsacum for his wine, and Myo for his meat; but all the while he fed high and drank deep he was infinitely afflicted, and every thing went cross to his undertaking, and he could not bring his ends about to betray his country; and, at last, he mingled poison with his wine, and drank it off, having first entreated his friends to steal for him a private grave in his own country. Such are the pleasures of the most pompous and flattering of sins: their meat and drink are good and pleasant at first, and it is plenteous and criminal, but its employment is base; it is so against a man's interest, and against what is and ought to be dearest to him, that he cannot persuade his better parts to consent, but must fight against them and all their arguments. Bp: Taylor.
Presuming on sin’s limits leads to destruction, like a diver lost chasing a false prize.
There is a Grecian fable of a diver who boasted of his skill to bring up treasures from the sea. To test his power, the people threw many a silver cup and many a golden coin into deep water; all of which he brought to the surface with triumph. But one day a disguised fiend threw a tinsel crown into a whirlpool, and challenged the confident diver to bring it up; promising him, if he succeeded, the power to wear it, and to transmit it to his children. Down he sprung after the bauble; but the Nereids of the sea, hearing the clangor of the crown when it fell upon their grottos, closed around him as he was grasping the prize, and held him fast till he perished. The most daring may dare once too often.
Slander is a destructive fire that ruins both good and bad alike.
The tongue of the slanderer is a devouring fire, which tarnishes whatever it touches; which exercises its fury on the good grain equally as on the chaff, on the profane as on the sacred; which, wherever it passes, leaves only desolation and ruin; digs even into the bowels of the earth, and fixes itself on things the most hidden; turns into vile ashes what only a moment before had appeared to us so precious and brilliant; acts with more violence and danger than ever in the time when it was apparently smothered up and almost extinct; which blackens what it cannot consume, and sometimes sparkles and delights before it destroys.
— Massillon
Even the best people are often targets of envious slander.
The worthiest persons are frequently attacked by slanders, as we generally find that to be the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at. Bacon.
Slander thrives only when people listen and give it a place to grow.
Calumny would soon starve and die of itself, if nobody took it in, and gave it lodging. — Leighton. — There would not be so many open mouths if there were not so many open ears. — Bishop Hall.
Sin enslaves people more than any earthly bondage, but God's service brings true liberty.
Moral. James H. on his death-bed thus addressed his son, "There is no slavery like sin, and no liberty like God's service." Was not the dethroned monarch right? What think you of the fetters of bad habits? What think you of the chains of indulged lust? The drunkard who cannot resist the craving for the wine,—know you a more thorough captive? The covetous man, who toils night and day for wealth,—what is he but a slave? The sensual man, the ambitious man, the worldly man, those who, in spite of the remonstrances of conscience, cannot break away from inthement,—what are they, if not the subjects of a tyranny than which there is none sterner, and none more degrading?
Boasting of language skills is worthless without purity of speech and character.
A thoughtless, conceited young man was boasting of the number of languages he knew. In French, he was a completo Parisian; Spanish and Portuguese were as familiar to him as his old gloves. In Italy, he had passed for a native. Now and then he popped out an oath, swearing that he thought he knew almost all languages. An elderly man, who had listened attentively to his address, suddenly stopped him by asking him if he were at all acquainted with "the language of Canaan." Cope.
Tale-bearers betray trust by secretly spreading others' faults and secrets.
In the common form of a prying disposition, the tale-bearer incurs the penalty of no one trusting him with a secret, except for publication. In this case, they use him for a live advertisement, like the bill-carriers in the streets, with whom he only differs in the fact that they carry their bills openly, and "above board;" and he secretly, and like a spaniel, between his teeth. Every social circle has some such amateur gazette, who lives, like a soldier's dog, on the bits and scraps he picks up in the barracks, and whose office it is to fetch and carry for every man in the regiment. Thus it is no such honorable pest, nor half so innocent, as its animal prototype. The poor dog, at least wags no man's tail but his own; but the biped tale-bearer is a mischievous wag with other people's. J. B. Owen.
Hidden malice like a worm destroys the peace and health of a community.
A vine or a rose-tree may as well flourish when there is a secret worm lurking and gnawing at the root of them, as the peace of those societies thrive that have such concealed plagues wrapped up in their hearts and bowels. Dr. South.
Some men's natures are so deeply wicked that decency costs them more than saintliness.
I have seen men who, I thought, ought to have a whole conversion for each one of their faculties. Their natures were so unmitigatedly wicked, that it cost more for them to be decent than it would for other men to be saints. Bercher.
Cruel amusements often lead to danger and sorrow, illustrating sin’s consequences.
BAITING.—Improper and cruel amusements are often attended with danger; and the end of such mirth is heaviness. Some years
### 117. CRUELTY AND BE!
A child insightfully answers that sin is the only thing not received from God.
At a missionary station among the Hottentots, the question was proposed, "Do we possess any thing that we have not received of God?" A little girl of five years old immediately answered,
"Yes, sir, sin."
Sin curses life, causing sorrow, death, and broken relationships with God and others.
O sin! how hast thou cursed us! Thou hast thrown up a barrier between ourselves and God. With thy chilling breath, thou hast extinguished the light of our household joys; thou hast unstrung our harp, and filled the air with discordant cries; thou hast unsheathed the sword, and bathed it in human blood; thou hast dug every grave in the bosom of the fair earth; but for thee, we should not have known the name of widow or orphan, tear and sigh, sorrow and death; but for thee, our hearts had been untorn by a pang, and our joy pure as the ecstasies of heaven.
— Dr. J. Parker
Sin brings curses inwardly, outwardly, and eternally, separating from God's presence forever.
Look outward, and behold a curse in the creature, — vanity, emptiness, vexation, disappointments, every creature armed with a sting to revenge its Maker's quarrel. Look inward, and behold a curse in the conscience, — accusing, witnessing, condemning, hailing to the tribunal of vengeance; first defiling with the allowance, and after terrifying with the remembrance, of sin. Look upward, and behold a curse in the heavens, — the wrath of God revealed from thence upon all unrighteousness. Look downward, and behold a curse in the earth, — death ready to put a period to all the pleasures of sin, and like a trap-door to let down into hell, where nothing of sin will remain but the worm and the fire. Look into the Scripture, and see the curse there described, — an everlasting banishment from the glory of God's presence, an everlasting destruction by the glory of his power. Lp. Reynolds.
No matter how secure, sin within will overthrow all defenses and ruin a life.
When Nicephorus Phoeas had built a strong wall about his palace for his own security, in the night-time, he heard a voice crying to him, "O emperor! though thou build thy wall as high as the clouds, yet, if sin be within, it will overthrow all."
Sin harms the soul as breaking glass harms the hand, causing punishment and injury.
We might illustrate the evil of sin by the following comparison: "Suppose I were going along a street, and were to dash my hand through a large pane of glass, what harm would I receive?"—"You would be punished for breaking the glass."—"Would that be all the harm I should receive?"—"Your hand would be cut by the glass."—"Yes; and so it is with sin. If you break God's laws, you shall be punished for breaking them; and your soul is hurt by the very act of breaking them." J. Inglis.
God sometimes allows sinners to have their desires, which then become their curse.
How often does it happen in the history of these wilful sinners of the flesh, that, after a while, all things seem to smile upon them and prosper them according to their heart's desires! Are they mad for gold?—gold seems to roll in upon them. Are they mad for pleasure?—their seductive arts are successful, and victims come readily to their lure. Are they mad for drink?—those around them, kindred, friends, cease to strive with them, and give it up as hopeless. Shame, too, abandons them: they may wallow in beer or gin, nobody cares. It is very wonderful to see how often, if a man is bent on an end which is not God's end, God gives it him, and it becomes his curse. God does not curse us. He leaves us to ourselves: that is curse enough; and from that curse what arm can save us! We will have it, and we shall have it. We leap through all the barriers which he has raised around us to limit us; yea, though they be rings of blazing fire, we will through them and indulge our lust; and, in a moment, he sweeps them all out of our path: perhaps roses spring to beguile where flames so lately flamed to warn. J. B. Brown.
Sin initially seems harmless but ultimately masters and destroys the sinner like a stormy sea.
When the morning sun is bright, and the summer breezes gently blowing from the shore, the little river-boat is enticed from the harbor to start on her trip of pleasure on the clear, calm sea. All Nature seems to enlist in her service. The fair wind fills her sails, the favorable tide rolls onward in her course, the parted sea makes way for her to glide swiftly and merrily on her happy voyage; but having thus been her servants, and carried her whither she would, these soon become her masters, and carry her whither she would not. The breeze that swelled her sails has become a storm, and rends them; the waves that quietly rippled for her pleasure now rise in fury, and dash over her for her destruction; and the vessel which rode in the morning as a queen upon the waters sinks before night comes on, the slave of those very winds and waves which had beguiled her to use them as her servants. So it is with sin.
— Morse
