[1] As where punishment is there was sin; so where sin is there
will be, there must be, punishment. "If thou dost ill,"
saith God to Cain, "sin lies at thy door" (Gen. iv. 7).
_Sin,_ that is _punishment_ for sin; they are so
inseparable, that one word implies both; for the doing ill
is the sin, that is within doors; but the suffering ill is
the punishment, and that lies like a fierce mastiff at the
door, and is ready to fly in our throat when we look forth,
and, if it do not then seize upon us, yet it dogs us at the
heels; and will be sure to fasten upon us at our greatest
disadvantage: _Tum gravior cùm tarda venit, &c._ Joseph's
brethren had done heinously ill: what becomes of their sin?
It makes no noise, but follows them slily and silently in
the wilderness: It follows them home to their father's
house; it follows them into Egypt. All this while there is
no news of it; but when it found them cooped up three days
in Pharaoh's ward, now it bays at them, and flies in their
faces. "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in
that we saw the anguish of his soul," &c. (Gen. xlii. 21).
What should I instance in that, whereof not Scripture, not
books, but the whole world, is full--the inevitable
sequences of sin and punishment? Neither can it be
otherwise "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
saith Abraham. _Right,_ is to give every one his due: wages
is due to work; now "the wages of sin is death:" So then,
it stands upon no less ground than very necessary and
essential justice to God, that where wickedness hath led
the way, there punishment must follow.--_Hall,_ 1574-1656.
[2] There may be a forsaking of a particular sin that has been
delightful and predominant without sincerity towards God,
for another lust may have got possession of the heart, and
take the throne. There is an alternate succession of
appetites in the corrupt nature, according to the change of
men's temper or interests in the world. As seeds sown in
that order in a garden, that 'tis always full of a
succession of fruits and herbs in season; so original sin
that is sown in our nature is productive of divers lusts,
some in the spring, others in the summer of our age, some
in the autumn, others in the winter. Sensual lusts flourish
in youth, but when mature age has cooled these desires,
worldly lusts succeed; in old age there is no relish for
sensuality, but covetousness reigns imperiously. Now he
that expels one sin and entertains another continues in a
state of sin; 'tis but exchanging one familiar for another;
or, to borrow the prophet's expression, "'Tis as one should
fly from a lion, and meet with a bear that will as
certainly devour him."--_Salter._
[3] Thou dost not hate sin if thou only hatest some one sin.
All iniquity will be distasteful in thy sight if God the
Holy Spirit has really made them to loathe iniquity. If it
say to a person, "I will not receive you into my house when
you come dressed in such a coat;" but if I open the door to
him when he has on another suit which is more respectable,
it is evident that my objection was not to the person, but
to his clothes. If a man will not cheat when the
transaction is open to the world, but will do so in a more
secret way, or in a kind of adulteration which is winked at
in the trade, the man does not hate cheating, he only hates
that kind of it which is sure to be found out; he likes the
thing itself very well. Some sinners, they say they hate
sin. Not at all; sin in its essence is pleasing enough, it
is only a glaring shape of it which they
dislike.--_Spurgeon._
If we would realise the full force of the term "hatred of
evil," as it ought to exist in all, as it would exist in a
perfectly righteous man, we shall do well to consider how
sensitive we are to natural evil in its every form to pain
and suffering and misfortune. How delicately is the
physical frame of man constructed, and how keenly is that
slightest derangement in any part of it felt! A little mote
in the eye, hardly discernible by the eye of another, the
swelling of a small gland, the deposit of a small grain of
sand, what agonies may these slight causes inflict! That
fine filament of nerves of feeling spread like a wonderful
network of gossamer over the whole surface of the body, how
exquisitely susceptible is it! A trifling burn, or scald,
or incision, how does it cause the member affected to be
drawn back suddenly, and the patient to cry out! Now there
can be no question that if man were in a perfectly moral
state, moral evil would affect his mind as sensibly and in
as lively a manner--would, in short, be as much of an
affliction to him, as pain is to his physical frame. He
would shrink and snatch himself away, as sin came near to
his consciousness, the first entrance of it into his
imagination would wound and arouse his moral sensibilities,
and make him positively unhappy.--_Goulburn._
[4] The worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression,
forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of life, bad and
dismal as such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are
the small continuous vices which root underground and
honeycomb the soul. Many a man who thinks himself a
Christian is in more danger from the daily commission, for
example, of small pieces of sharp practice in his business,
than ever was David at his worst. White ants pick a carcase
clean sooner than a lion will.--_Maclaren._
[5] As an eagle, though she enjoy her wings and beak, is wholly
prisoner if she be held but by one talon, so are we, though
we could be delivered of all habit of sin, in bondage
still, if vanity hold us but by a silken thread.--_Donne,_
1573-1631.
Ships, when the tide rises and sets strongly in any
direction, sometimes turn and seem as if they would go out
upon it. But they only head that way, and move from side to
side, swaying and swinging without moving on at all. There
seems to be nothing to hinder them from sailing and
floating out to sea; but there is something. Down under the
water a great anchor lies buried in the mud. The ship
cannot escape. The anchor holds her. And thus are men
holden by the cords of their own sins. They go about trying
to discover some way to be forgiven, but yet keep good
friends with the devil that is in them.--_Beecher._
[6] Thou hast laid down the commission of an evil, but hast
thou taken up thy known duty? He is a bad husbandman that
drains his ground, and then neither sows nor plants it.
It's all one if it had been under water as drained and not
improved. What if thou cease to do evil (if it were
possible) and thou learn'st not to do well? 'Tis not thy
fields being clear of weeds, but fruitful in corn, pays the
rent, and brings thee in thy profit; nor thy not being
drunk, unclean, or any other sin, but thy being holy,
gracious, thy having faith unfeigned, pure love, and the
other graces which will prove thee sound, and bring in
evidence for thy interest in Christ, and through Him of
heaven.--_Gurnell,_ 1617-1679.