The consequences of sin in Christian preaching highlight the inevitable destruction and alienation that follow disobedience to God’s law. Sin leads to ruin not only spiritually but also in practical life, as selfishness, greed, and wrong choices bring harm and loss (Galatians 6:7-8; Romans 6:23). Illustrations often use images of ruin, reaping a whirlwind, and the collapse of prosperity to convey these truths.
Sin leads people to death, symbolized by a graveyard key found in taverns of sin.
There is said to be a church which is very attractive to tourists. The graveyard of the church is always kept locked, but on a gate is the following notice, "The key to the graveyard is to be found in the tavern." A great army of men and women daily find in the taverns or lounges the key that opens the way for them into the graveyard.
Greed leads to exhausting pursuit of gain that results only in death and a grave.
Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, had a deep insight into human nature. In one of his books he speaks of a Russian peasant who was told that he could have all the land he could measure by walking in one day, from sunrise to sunset. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must be back at his starting point. The man envisioned great holdings. Early in the morning he began walking; but as he realized that every foot of land on which he stepped belonged to him, he began to run at a feverish pace. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must have returned to his starting point. His greed was so great, however, that more than half his time had elapsed before he turned back. He had to run at top speed to beat the setting sun. It was a real struggle. If he were not at the appointed place, he would lose all. He finally made it. But even as his foot touched the starting point, he fell dead from exhaustion. All that he gained in the end was sufficient land for his dead body-six feet of earth. That was his final inheritance.
Excessive desire for success and riches can lead to destruction and loss.
A philosopher said: "I was walking in a garden when I saw a tree whose branches were so loaded with fruit that they bowed down to the earth. Some of them broke under the heavy weight. 'Poor tree!' I thought. 'Here's one who was destroyed by the overabundance of his success.' " He continued his walk and saw a shepherd at whose feet lay a dead sheep. A wild dog had killed it. All the other sheep had run into the fold and were safe. They had managed to get through a hole in the fence. But the sheep that was killed couldn't get through because it was too fat, and the dog jumped on it. And the philosopher thought, "Another life destroyed by an overabundance of blessings." The philosopher went on until he met a man hobbling along on two wooden legs with the aid of two canes. "Tell me, sir, how did you lose your legs?" asked the philosopher. "I'll tell you. In my youth I served in the army. Some of my fellow soldiers and I attacked the enemy and put them to flight. Then we began helping ourselves to the loot. My comrades just grabbed a few things and left quickly. But I wanted to take as much as I could carry. Meanwhile the enemy overtook us. My friends escaped, but I was so heavily loaded down I couldn't run fast, and I was wounded. I escaped with my life, but I lost my legs." "Indeed," said the philosopher, "success, riches and greed can all equally destroy."
Choosing pleasure over wisdom leads to destructive consequences and alienation from God.
You may have read about the war of Troy, but do you know how it was supposed to have started? It was the judgment and choice of Paris that were responsible for it. Beautiful Thetis was getting married to Pileas, the King of the Myrmidons. During their wedding ceremony, says the legend, the golden apple of dispute was given to the most beautiful woman. There were three that sought the prize: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. According to the command of Zeus, Paris, the shepherd of Troy, had to choose which of these three was the most beautiful. Hera represented power, Athena wisdom, and Aphrodite pleasure. Paris chose Aphrodite, the goddess of pleasure, and because of this the war of Troy was declared with all its resultant suffering and unhappiness. Because Paris chose pleasure, he brought destruction upon himself and others. This is what many of us choose also, and we suffer alienation from God.
Better to suffer hell without sin than to enter heaven with sin.
These are the words of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died at the beginning of the twelfth century: "If I should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pain of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one, I would rather be thrust into hell without sin than go into heaven with sin."
Ignoring wise warnings leads to ruin and destruction.
Many years ago a man named Simpson built a house on the Canford Cliffs, near Bournemouth, England. Friends and neighbors tried to warn him he had chosen a site too near the edge of the cliff, that landslides frequently occurred along the coast, and the very weight of the house would precipitate such a catastrophe. But Mr. Simpson wouldn't listen. He built a very beautiful house there and for a time all went well. Then the inevitable happened, and the ominous warnings all came true. All that remains of his house is a heap of ruins on the beach known as "Simpson's Folly."
Selfishness harms both others and oneself, causing ruin.
A farmer inherited a rice field. The first year, the water covered his land so well that he had an abundant harvest. In fact, it even overflowed into his neighbor's field, making it fertile also. But he began to fret because his neighbor's field became as productive as his own. He decided that the water was part of his inheritance and belonged exclusively to him, so he cut it off from his neighbor's field the next year. The result? His own field was flooded and his crop ruined.
Rejecting God leads to widespread dishonesty and societal collapse due to lost trust.
A news documentary on TV claimed that 91 percent of the United States' students in colleges, universities and graduate schools cheat on exams and tests in order to graduate. This is what happens when God is rejected and atheism is accepted. Atheism will bring down our civilization. Civilization is based on mutual trust. Cheating is lying. It is stealing that which is not yours. What confidence do you have in your doctors when you realize that nine out of ten are not really qualified because they stole information they did not know in order to graduate? How honest do you expect the billing to be when nine out of ten of them lied to get through college? If he cheated the college, how do you know he will not cheat you? How does society survive when you lose trust in 91 percent of college graduates? The same is true of lawyers, politicians, and store keepers. Stores will post one price at the shelf and charge a higher price at the cash register. Customers seldom catch it because the little bars flash across the computer too fast. When it is caught, there is a quick apology, the figure is changed and it is blamed on "computer error." But the "computer error" is not corrected. We remember when a man was as good as his word. A handshake over a deal was as dependable as a legal document. A man would rather die than lie or cheat. Neighbors who did not go to church, prided themselves in their own integrity. Christian standards formed the basis of society even among those who did not profess to be Christians.
Sin leaves deep scars that distort and destroy what was once pure and good.
When Leonardo da Vinci was a young artist during the Renaissance in Italy, he is reported to have painted a beautiful portrait of a young child who appeared in the picture as an angel. The artist was so pleased with the work that he kept it in his studio where he could gaze upon it. Often, it is said, looking at that picture would comfort his soul in sorrow or tranquilize his heart in anger. Much later in life, after many years had passed, he was doing another picture. For this canvas he needed the portrait of a man whose countenance would personify evil. Long and diligently he searched for a model and at last found one. The features had been so scarred by sin that the portrait was the exact opposite of that of the child. Then an amazing thing happened. The model told the artist that he had been the child whose picture still hung in the studio. This crime-hardened man with dissipation written across his countenance had been the angelic-appearing child who had personified all that was good. The Invasion of Evil Over wide areas of the United States, carpenter bees begin swarming around the roofs and eaves of houses when spring arrives looking for edible wood in which to nest. The bees make a small hole in the wood and lay their eggs. Though the initial hole is small, over time more and more of the inner wood is eaten away. Even though the surface of the wood looks good, enough carpenter bees can eat away the strength of the supporting timbers of a home and eventually destroy it. The home owner must guard against such attacks. Similarly, the Christian must guard against the attacks of sin which bore within, seeking a foothold in one's life. Just as the carpenter bees multiply and feed on the wood, sin multiplies and feeds on the soul. It is better to keep the sin out in the first place than to root it out after it invades. The Cost of Compromise Winter was coming on and a hunter went out into the forest to shoot a bear out of which he planned to make a warm coat. By and by he saw a big bear coming toward him and raised his gun and took aim. "Wait," said the bear, "why do you want to shoot me?" "Because I am cold," said the hunter, "and I need a coat." "But I am hungry," the bear replied, "so maybe if we just talk this over a little, we could come to a compromise." So the hunter sat down beside the bear and began to talk over the pros and cons. In the end, the hunter was well enveloped with the bear's fur, and the bear had eaten his dinner. We always lose out when we try to compromise with sin. It will consume us in the end.
Sin promises much but always delivers less, costing more than it seems worth.
A fellow decided to rob a convenience store clerk. The robber had a neat plan to give the clerk a $10 bill, get her to open her cash drawer to make change, and then grab all the money. The plan worked! He got everything in her cash drawer-total $4.34-and left the clerk with his $10. He went in the hole to the tune of $5.66! The undeniable truth is that sin never gives what it promises. It always returns less than the sinner invests in self-esteem, integrity, and spiritual security. Want proof? Adam and Eve were promised freedom, wisdom and life by Satan, only to be led to commit spiritual suicide. Sensuous Samson fell in love with a woman who did not love God, and he paid with his eyesight, freedom and life. Ananias and Sapphira were going to get credit for being generous and wound up being buried for being liars. In each of these cases, sin promised something it could never deliver. The same thing is still happening in our world today. Adolescents are led to see God, their parents, and their teachers as enemies and wind up in rebellion's deep pit. People date and marry without taking into account that the spiritual element is the critical part of a relationship. Some church members hide behind masks and fool themselves and their friends, but not God. Sin costs too much. You have to sell your soul to have whatever pretty trinkets it offers you for the moment. Then you have to face a time of bitter reckoning. You have to "pay the piper." Yet whatever had been promised to you as a reward has already gone up in a puff of smoke or has slipped through your fingers. And Judgment Day is coming! The basic lure of sin is the promise of quick gain, without regard to long-term consequences. Truth and holiness work differently. With total honesty about the difficult demands at hand, the God who cannot lie promises to reward you down the line. Obedience, purity, integrity, repentance, denial-these are hard words and demanding deeds. But what lies at the end is invaluable! Sin never delivers. Christ never fails. So don't get robbed while trying to pull a fast one on God.
Underestimating sin's power leads to defeat and destruction.
Sin is nothing to play with. It has the strength to defeat you if you get too close to it with excessive confidence in your own strength. A well-to-do man advertised for a chauffeur. Three applicants came. His first question was, "How close to the edge of a cliff can you drive without going over?" One man said, "A yard." Another said, "A foot." The third said, "I always try to keep as far away as possible." The third man got the job. He who underestimates the strength of an enemy is in danger of defeat.
Pursuing wealth and neglecting faith leads to loss, broken relationships, and spiritual ruin.
Several years ago a farmer increased his farm holding from 300 acres to 9,000 acres. Everyone was proud of him and glad to see him prosper. He had a lovely family-two boys and a girl, and one of the sweetest wives in the world. He was a leader in the church and the family was very faithful. Needless to say, he became very wealthy. Life was good. As the responsibilities of the farm increased, his involvement with the church decreased. Over time the entire family became so involved with the farm and the wealth that they all became unfaithful and placed the church on low priority in their lives. The father died and the children fought over the land, lost it, and spent all the inheritance. Today, they have very little to do with each other and have gone through several difficult personal problems. Their mother died in poverty and loneliness. What good does it to do gain the whole world and yet lose your soul and those of your loved ones? What can the world give in place of the soul? The Christian's Riches In CHRIST we have- A LOVE that can never be fathomed; A LIFE that can never die; A RIGHTEOUSNESS that can never be tarnished; A PEACE that can never be understood; A REST that can never be disturbed; A JOY that can never be diminished; A HOPE that can never be disappointed; A GLORY that can never be clouded; A HAPPINESS that can never be interrupted; A LIGHT that can never be darkened; A STRENGTH that can never be enfeebled; A BEAUTY that can never be marred; A PURITY that can never be defiled; A WISDOM that can never be baffled; RESOURCES that can never be exhausted.
Like a hen trapped by a lizard, alcohol ensnares and destroys those who indulge it.
“Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Proverbs 23:31-32
Sometime ago, a friend of mine, an evangelist, and his wife, living in Southern California, were watching a flock of chickens at feeding time, when they noticed one hen that seemed to be attempting to swallow a large lizard. She was fluttering wildly about and a lot of the other hens were cackling loudly as they gathered about her. Going over to see what was taking place, they found that while the hen had evidently pecked at the lizard, the slimy, twisting creature had turned about and had the hen by the throat and would have choked her to death had not my friends intervened.
How like that lizard is the alcoholic cup! One begins to toy with cocktails, or other spiritous liquors, only to find that at the last the drink habit becomes so strong it masters the one who thought he could drink or let it alone as he pleased. Can any folly be greater than that of deliberately starting something which one knows he may have no power to stop, and yet he is fully aware that the matter in question may mean his moral, physical, and spiritual ruin?
Yet how many there are who think it an evidence of weakness to refuse to touch alcoholic beverages, and consider it a mark of good fellowship and even manliness to drink with the crowd and so win the approval of careless worldlings, who have no fear of God or of consequences in their hearts. These glory in leading others to follow their evil example and are never better pleased than when they can point to some poor, foolish youth who has begun to tread the downward path at their behest. Recognizing the fact that nothing that is physically harmful can ever be morally right, consecrated, Christian young manhood and young womanhood must stand firmly against all such wickedness.
Removing God and His Word from a nation leads to societal chaos and bloodshed.
A good many years ago there was a convention held in France, and those who held it wanted to get the country to deny God, to burn the Bible, wanted to say that men passed away like a dog and a dumb animal. What was the result! Not long since, that country was filled with blood. Did you ever think what would take place if we could vote the Bible and the ministers of the gospel and God out from among the people? My friends, the country would be deluged with blood. Your life and mine would not be safe in this City to-night. We could not walk through these streets with safety. We don't know how much we owe God and the influence of His gospel among even ungodly men.
Sin leads to devastating personal and family consequences, including loss and death.
There was a man whom I knew who was an inveterate drinker. He had a wife and children. He thought he could stop whenever he felt inclined, but he went the ways of most moderate drinkers. I had not been gone more than three years, and when I returned I found that that mother had gone down to her grave with a broken heart, and that man was the murderer of the wife of his bosom. Those children have all been taken away from him, and he is now walking up and down those streets homeless. But four years ago he had a beautiful and a happy home with his wife and children around him. They are gone; probably he will never see them again. Perhaps he has come in here to-night. If he has, I ask him: Is not the way of the transgressor hard?
Sowing sin brings inevitable retribution, even affecting one's own family tragically.
Look at that rum-seller. When we talk to him he laughs at us. He tells you there is no hell, no future--there is no retribution. I've got one man in my mind now who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood. Mothers and fathers went to him and begged him not to sell their children liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor, and he was going to sell liquor to everyone who came. The saloon was a blot upon the place as dark as hell. But the man had a father's heart. He had a son. He didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't remember that whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. My friends, they generally reap what they sow. It may not come soon, but the retribution will come. If you ruin other men's sons some other man will ruin yours. Bear in mind God is a God of equity; God is a God of justice. He is not going to allow you to ruin men and then escape yourself. If we go against his laws we suffer. Time rolled on and that young man became a slave to drink, and his life became such a burden to him that he put a revolver to his head and blew his brains out. The father lived a few years, but his life was as bitter as gall, and then went down to his grave in sorrow. Ah, my friends, it is hard to kick against the pricks.
A young man’s sin leads to prison and his family’s disappearance upon his return.
I remember in the north of England a prominent citizen told a sad case that happened there in the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne. It was about a young boy. He was very young. He was an only child. The father and mother thought everything of him and did all they could for him. But he fell into bad ways. He took up with evil characters, and finally got to running with thieves. He didn't let his parents know about it. By and by the gang he was with broke into the house, and he with them. Yes, he had to do it all. They stopped outside of the building, while he crept in and started to rob the till. He was caught in the act, taken into court, tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He worked on and on in the convict's cell, till at last his term was out. And at once he started for home. And when he came back to the town he started down the street where his father and mother used to live. He went to the house and rapped. A stranger came to the door and stared him in the face. "No, there's no such person lives here, and where your parents are I don't know," was the only welcome he received. Then he turned through the gate, and went down the street, asking even the children that he met about his folks, where they were living, and if they were well. But everybody looked blank. Ten years rolled by and though that seemed perhaps a short time, how many changes had taken place! There where he was born and brought up he was now an alien, and unknown even in the old haunts. But at last he found a couple of townsmen that remembered his father and mother, but they told him the old house had been deserted long years ago, that he had been gone but a few months before his father was confined to his house; and very soon after died broken-hearted, and that his mother had gone out of her mind. He went to the mad-house where his mother was, and went up to her and said, "Mother, mother, don't you know me? I am your son." But she raved and slapped him on the face and shrieked, "You're not my son," and then raved again and tore her hair. He left the asylum more dead than alive, so completely broken-hearted that he died in a few months. Yes the fruit was long growing, but at the last it ripened to the harvest like a whirlwind.
Small sins are still rebellion against God and must be taken seriously.
" There is as much felony in coining pence, as shillings and pounds." The principle is the same, whatever the value of the coin may be: the prerogative of the Crown is trenched upon by the counterfeiter, even if he only imitates and utters the smallest coin of the realm. He has set the royal sign to his base metal, and the small money-value of his coinage is no excuse for his offence. Any one sin wilfully indulged and persevered in is quite sufficient to prove a man to be a traitor to his God. Though he may neither commit murder nor adultery—which would be like counterfeiting the larger coins, he may be as surely a felon in the sight of heaven if he deliberately utters falsehood, or indulges pride—which some think as lightly of as if they were but the counterfeits of pence. The spirit of rebellion is the same whatever be the manner of displaying it. A giant may look out through a very small window, and so may great obstinacy of rebellion manifest itself in a little act of wilfulness. How careful should this consideration make us! How earnestly should we watch against what are thought to be minor offences. The egg of mischief is smaller than that of a midge; a world of evil lurks in a drop of rebellion. Lord, keep us from pence transgressions and then we shall not commit the pound offences.
Past sins can cause lasting trouble, so avoid sinning early in life.
"Old bruises may trouble us long after, upon every change of weather, and new afflictions revive the sense of old sins." We know one who broke his arm in his youth, and though it was well set, and soundly healed, yet before a rough season the bones cry out bitterly; and even so, though early vice may be forsaken, and heartily repented of, and the mind may be savingly renewed, yet the old habits will be a lifelong trouble and injury. The sins of our youth will give us many a twist fifty years after they have been forgiven. How happy, then, are those who are preserved from the ways of ungodliness, and brought to Jesus in the days of their youth, for they thus escape a thousand regrets. It is well to have a broken bone skilfully set, but far better never to have had it broken. The fall of Adam has battered and bruised us all most sadly; it is a superfluity of naughtiness that we should incur further damage by our own personal falls. The aches and pains of age are more than sufficient when every limb is sound, and recklessly to add the anguish of fractures and dislocations would be folly indeed. Young man, do not run up bills which your riper years will find it hard to pay; do not eat to-day forbidden morsels, which may breed you sorrow long after their sweetness has been forgotten.
Small sins harden the heart, leading to greater sins and loss of conscience sensitivity.
"Take heed of giving way to sin. The heart that was easily troubled before, when once it is inured to sin, loseth all its sensi liveness and tenderness, and what seemed intolerable at first grows into a delight. Alipius, St. Austin's friend, first abhorred the bloody spectacles of the gladiators, but gave himself leave, through the importunity of friends, to be present for once. He would not so much as open his eyes at first; but at length, when the people shouted, he gave himself liberty to see, and then not only beheld the spectacles with delight, but drew others to behold what himself once loathed." The story has had its counterpart in thousands of instances. Men who shuddered at the sight of a dead bird have, by familiarity with cruelty, come to commit murder without compunction. Those who sipped half-a-glass of wine have come to drink by the gallon. Staunch Protestants have given way to some little form and ceremony, and become more Popish than the Romanists themselves. There is no safety if we venture an inch over the boundary line; indeed, little allowances are more dangerous than greater compliances, since conscience does not receive a wound, and yet the man is undone, and falls by little and little. Come, my soul, leave sin altogether. Do not give Sodom so much as a look, nor take from it so much as a thread. Do not set a foot within her doors, for God abhors the abode of sin, and would have his people refrain their foot from it.
Small sins can be as deadly as great ones; little faults can ruin the soul.
"Not only do great sins ruin the soul, but lesser faults will do the same. Dallying with temptation leads to sad consequences. Caesar was killed with bodkins." A dagger aimed at the heart will give as deadly a wound as a huge two-handed sword, and a little sin unrepented of will be as fatal as a gross transgression. Brutus and Cassius and the rest of the conspirators could not have more surely ended Caesar's life with spears than they did with daggers. Death can hide in a drop, and ride in a breath of air. Our greatest dangers lie hidden in little things. Milton represents thousands of evil spirits as crowded into one hall; and truly the least sin may be a very Pandemonium, in which a host of evils may be concealed,—a populous hive of mischiefs, each one storing death. Believer, though thou be a little Caesar in thine own sphere, beware of the bodkins of thine enemies. Watch and pray, lest thou fall by little and little. Lord, save me from sins which call themselves little.
Playing with sin leads to inevitable harm and spiritual destruction.
"If we play about the cockatrice's hole, no wonder we are bitten." An old proverb advises us not to play with edged tools lest we cut our fingers. It is a sin to trifle with sin. If we must play, we had better find harmless toys: that evil which caused Christ a bloody sweat is no fit theme for any man's sport. Playing with wickedness is a hazardous game. Sooner or later, if we pluck the lion of sin by the beard, it will arouse itself, and we shall be torn in pieces. This is true of indulgence in strong drink: "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." It is equally true of all other forms of evil, especially of the lusts of the flesh. Lewd words soon lead to foul deeds. Yet such is the folly of men that they run dreadful risks in sheer wantonness, as though asps and cobras were fine playmates, and devils rare merry-makers. "Lord, keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."
A drunkard's tragic crime leads him to vow never to touch intoxicants again.
"I took the pledge," said an old man, "at the foot of the gallows, when I saw a young man hung. The sheriff took out his watch, and said, 'If you have any thing to say, speak now, for you have only five minutes to live.' The young man burst into tears, and said, 'I have to die! I had only one little brother; he had beautiful blue eyes and flaxen hair; and I loved him. But one day I got drunk, and, coming home, found him gathering berries in the garden, and I became angry without cause, and killed him with one blow with a rake. Drink has done it: it has ruined me! I have but one word more to say: Never! NEVER! NEVER! touch any thing that can intoxicate!"
A deadly fight over a toy top shows how anger can lead to tragic consequences.
Two boys, named Augustus and Eugene, were playing top. They had but one top, which they spun alternately. At length they began to contend and grow angry. Eugene said, "It is my turn to whirl the top." Augustus said, "You lie." They seized each other in a great rage; and, in the scuffle, Eugene took a sharp knife from his pocket, and stabbed Augustus, so that he died in a few moments. One lost his life, the other became a murderer, merely to determine whose turn it was to spin a top!
Greed can lead to deadly consequences, as shown by servants killed by a tiger.
A servant of an Indian rajah was ordered to keep away from a cave near the rajah's residence, and to keep all others away. The servant began to consider the probable reason of his having been forbidden to enter the cave. He made up his mind that his master must have great treasure hid there, and resolved to get it. Taking a fellow-servant with him to secure the coveted prize, they rolled away the stone at the mouth of the cave, when a tremendous tiger sprang upon them, and tore them to pieces.
Well-intended benevolence led to African slavery, showing unintended sinful consequences.
Bartholomew Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, was celebrated for his benevolence. As he beheld the natives driven to hard tasks in the West India Islands, he pitied them, and devised a means of relieving them by substituting Africans to do their work. His suggestions were accepted by the authorities; and African slavery was established to curse the world.
Boasting of delayed repentance brings regret at death's approach.
The cabin-boy of the lost steamer "Seabird" was in a Sunday school. He had often been pleaded with to give his heart to the Saviour; but he had rejected him even with scoffing. "I will repent," said he, "next day after never." It may be, when death was sure in the fast approaching flames, or under the hungry waves, that that impious boast came to him with an awful pang.
A man's sins follow him and will confront him at the day of judgment.
A young man's character was such as to excite universal disapprobation. He could no longer resist the pressure of public sentiment. He disposed of his property, and attempted to resume business in a distant part of the country; but his character, or, rather, his reputation, had gone before him. Men regarded him with suspicion. He was unable to secure the confidence and countenance necessary to success. In this case, his sins went before him to his new place of residence. The sins of men go before them still further. They go before them to the judgment, and will be ready to meet them there. What a fearful meeting! how impossible to escape from their accusing and consequences! It is related of a prisoner, that after he had toiled for months in constructing a mine from his dungeon, by means of which he hoped to escape, when at last he broke ground, and let in the light of day, which he had so fondly hoped to enjoy, the first object he saw was an armed jailer waiting to arrest him! That jailer struck far less dismay and despair to the heart of the prisoner than meeting with his sins will strike to the heart of the sinner at the day of judgment. Dr. Jeffers.
God's just penalties for sin would bring misery if He dealt with us as strictly as men do.
As many worldly men deal with their debtors, who will hardly let slip an hour of the day, but will take advantage and forfeiture of their bonds and obligations without any more delay; even so, if God should deal as precisely with us in taking advantage of the bonds and forfeitures and penalties whereinto we daily fall by the breach of his commandments, then our estate would be most miserable. Cavedray.
Breaking even one commandment voids righteousness and leads to eternal damnation.
If one man bestow upon another house or land, or some such thing, and, in consideration thereof, bindeth him to fulfil many conditions, whereof if he break the least the gift is void; even so we may not marvel when we hear, that, by the breaking of one point of one commandment, we fail of perfect righteousness, and are made the heirs of everlasting damnation. Cavedray.
Consequences of actions often exceed the apparent magnitude of their causes.
As the dimensions of the tree are not always proportioned to the size of the seed, so the consequences of things are not proportionate to the apparent magnitude of those events which have produced them. Thus the American Revolution, from which little was expected, produced much; but the French Revolution, from which much was expected, produced little.
— Colton
Bad counsel in youth can poison the entire course of a person's life.
As Hypanis, a river in Scythia, has a marvellous sweetness until a little bitter spring, which Herodotus calls Erampes, mingles with it, and gives it a wonderful bitterness; so evil counsel given to children and youth will imbitter the whole stream of their lives. Cawdray.
Ill counsel caused Israel's division, marked by youthfulness and violence.
The kingdom of Israel was first rent and broken by ill counsel; upon which counsel there are set for our instruction the two marks whereby bad counsel is forever best discerned, — that it was young counsel for the persons, and violent counsel for the matter.
— Lord Bacon
Covetousness causes dissatisfaction and robs one of true spiritual and physical nourishment.
The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus up to the chin in water, and yet thirsty. Like a chemist, he turns every thing into silver, — what he should wear, and what he should eat, — and so robs back and belly of warmth, of sustenance. The covetous give more heed to the priests of Janus, than to the apostles of Jesus. His looks to his entering guests are like Diana's image in Chios, which frowned with a lowering countenance on all that came into the temple, but looked blithe and smiled on them that departed. As the dog in Æsop's fable lost the real flesh for the shadow of it, so the covetous man casts away the true riches for the love of the shadowy. T. Adams.
Covetousness is madness that harms oneself and others by hoarding beyond need.
Damasippus the stoic, in Horace, proves that all mortal men dote by fits, — some one way, some another; but that covetous men are madder than the rest: and he that shall truly look into their estates and examine their symptoms shall find no better of them but that they are all fools, as Nabal was. For what greater folly can there be, or madness, than to macerate himself when he need not? And when, as Cyprian notes, "he may be freed from his burden, and eased of his pains, will go on still, his wealth increasing, when he hath enough, to get more to live beside himself;" to starve his genius, keep back from his wife and children; neither letting them nor friends use or enjoy that which is theirs by right, and which they much need perhaps; like a hog, or dog in the manger, he doth only keep it, because it shall do nobody else good, hurting himself and others; and for a little momentary pelf, damn his own soul? They are commonly sad and etric by nature, as Ahab's spirit was, because he could not get Naboth's vineyard. R. Burton.
Covetous people live in fear and misery, anxiously guarding their wealth.
Lucian, in that pleasant and witty dialogue called Gallus, brings in Mycillus the cobbler disputing with his cock, sometimes Pythagoras; where, after much speech pro and con. to prove the happiness of a mean estate, and the discontents of a rich man, Pythagoras' cock in the end, to illustrate by examples that which he had said, brings him to Gryphon the usurer's house at midnight, and after that to Euerates; whom they found both awake, casting up their accounts, and telling of their money, lean, dry, pale, and anxious, still suspecting lest somebody should make a hole through the wall, and so get in; or, if a rat or mouse did but stir, starting upon a sudden, and running to the door to see whether all were fast. Plautus, in his Aulularia, makes old Euelio commanding. Staphyla his wife to shut the doors fast, and the fire to be put out, lest anybody should make that an errand to come to his house. When he washed his hands, he was loath to fling away the foul water, complaining that he was undone because the smoke got out of his roof. And as he went from home, seeing a crow scratch upon the muck-hill, returned in haste, taking it for malum omen, an ill sign, his money was digged up; with many such. He that will but observe their actions shall find these and many such passages not feigned for sport, but really performed, verified, indeed, by such covetous and miserable wretches, and that it is mere madness to live like a wretch, and die rich. R. Burton.
A covetous rich man does no good with his wealth while alive, only after death.
It is a common saying, that a hog is good for nothing while he is alive: not good for use, as the horse; nor to draw, as the ox; nor to clothe, as the sheep; nor to give milk, as the cow; nor to keep the house, as the dog; but only for the slaughter. So a covetous rich man, just like a hog, doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth; but, when he is dead, his riches come to be disposed of. Spencer.
Covetousness leads to foolish, anxious labor that ends in self-destruction.
If you should see a man that had a large pond of water, yet living in continual thirst, not suffering himself to drink half a draught for fear of lessening his pond; if you should see him wasting his time and strength in fetching more water to his pond, always thirsty, yet always carrying a bucket of water in his hand, watching early and late to catch the drops of rain, gaping after every cloud, and running greedily into every mire and mud in hopes of water, and always studying how to make every ditch empty itself into the pond; if you should see him grow gray in these anxious labors, and at last end a careful, thirsty life by falling into his own pond, — would you not say that such a one was not only the author of his own disquiet, but was foolish enough to be reckoned among madmen? But, foolish and absurd as this character is, it does not represent half the follies and absurd disquiets of the covetous man. Law.
Covetous rich men devour others like whales swallowing smaller fish.
"Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea?" "Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones. I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale: he plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful. Such whales have I heard on the land, who never leave gaping, till they've swallowed the whole parish, — church, steeple, bells, and all."
— Shakespeare
Covetous men hoard wealth but neglect their own basic needs.
As the ass that earrieth meat for his master's belly, and clothes for his back, yet himself doth feed upon grass, and contenteth himself with one hair-skin; even so the covetous man, whose chests are stuffed with money and his wardrobe with apparel, can hardly afford his belly a good meal's meat, or cover his back with a good coat. Cawdray.
Covetousness is insatiable and leads to sorrow and eternal death.
Like as an infected member of a man vexed with an itch is always clawing and rubbing, even so the covetous mind is restless in gathering together. As fire is never satisfied with wood, nor the earth with water, nor the grave with dead carcasses, nor hell with its prey; so the covetous is never satisfied with money. As the fish swallowing the hook, together with the bait, is taken and killed; so the covetous with their gold get many sorrows which entangle them in death everlasting. Cawdray.
Most adult criminals begin their sinful path between ages eight and sixteen.
Of all the adult male criminals in London, not two in a hundred have entered upon a course of crime who have lived an honest life up to the age of twenty: almost all who enter upon a course of crime do so between the ages of eight and sixteen. End of Shaftesbury.
Criminals' mutual betrayal leads to their mutual destruction.
Unreliability of Three German robbers, having acquired a valuable booty, agreed to divide the spoil, and to retire from so dangerous a vocation. When the day arrived which they had appointed for that purpose, one of them was despatched to a neighboring town to purchase provisions for their last carousal. The other two secretly agreed to murder him on his return, that each might come in for half of the plunder, instead of one-third. They did so. But the murdered man was a closer calculator than his assassins; for he had previously poisoned part of the provisions, in order that he might appropriate the whole of the spoil to himself. The triumvirate of worthies were found dead together. Percy.
Early cruelty leads to a life forsaken by God and eventual ruin.
There was a lad strolling through the fields with his sister. They found a nest of rabbits. The sister was charmed with the nest itself, and with its living occupants; but the lad seized them, mimicking their squeaks and their struggles. In vain his sister wept and entreated: he flung them up into the air, and shouted as each fell dead upon the stones. Ten years after, that sister sat weeping again by that boy's side. He was in chains, sentenced to be hung for shooting a farmer whilst poaching: they were waiting for the awful procession to knock at the cell-door. "Sister," he said, "do you remember the nest of rabbits ten years ago, how you begged and prayed, and I ridiculed? I verily believe, that, from that day, God forsook me, and left me to follow my own inclinations. If I had yielded to your tears then, you and I would not be weeping these bitter tears now."
— W. J. Bolton
Dancing led to fatal exhaustion, illustrating poor preparation for death.
At a dancing-party, given at the residence of Mr. Scott, near Avoca, Ala., recently, the participants became much heated and exhausted by dancing nearly all of a warm night. In this condition they started for home. The weather changed, producing alarming results on their excited systems. Of those who engaged in the dance, two died the next morning, seven died a little later, and all suffered more or less. This is only one of many instances of the fatal result of dancing. Many a young lady rests in an untimely grave through this cause. But it is a poor preparation for death.
Small debts or sins can collectively bind and enslave a person completely.
Gulliver was pinned down to the earth by pygmies only as long as his thumb, but there were thousands of them; and he was bound down, finger by finger, with a rope no larger than a hair, and each rope of itself he could have taken and broken on the instant: but, altogether, they bound him fast, until he begged for mercy. So is it with debt or any evil habit.
Sin's corruption is like being forced to bear death's stench until life is destroyed.
The Romans sometimes compelled a captive to be joined face to face with a dead body, and to bear it about until the horrible effluvia destroyed the life of the living victim. Virgil, speaking of Mignatius, describes the punishment,—
"The living and the dead at his command Were coupled face to face, and hand to hand; Till choked with stench, in loathed embraces tied, The lingering wretches pined away and died."
Disobedience leaves lasting scars and diminishes a person's capacity for virtue.
"Let the sickles alone," said a farmer to his son, who was left in the field while the reapers went to dinner. James obeyed his father for a time; but at length he grew lonesome, and took up a sickle "just to look at it." He then felt its edge, and then thought he would cut "one handful." In so doing, he cut his little finger, inflicting a wound which rendered the middle joint useless for the rest of his life. When it was healed, an ugly scar and a stiff finger were lasting moments of his disobedience. Disobedience to his heavenly Father leaves a scar on the sinner's soul, and lessens his capacity for virtue.
Lack of firm obedience training can lead to a life of sin and eventual punishment.
A young man was chained to a fellow-convict, and was about to leave his native country and heartbroken mother, probably forever. When a child, he was allowed to have his own way. When his mother ought to have firmly but kindly enforced obedience, she foolishly yielded to his whims. The effect of this unwise home-training became yearly more apparent. When sent to school, he was idle, and would not learn. He soon began to play truant. His mother scolded the master for punishing her headstrong boy. With bad companions, he was soon found robbing orchards and cruelly treating dumb animals. His career was from bad to worse. At last, for a highway robbery, he was convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude.
Drunkenness combined with water caused a man's death by freezing in his body.
John Tatsou, an Indian, a native of Lyme in Connecticut, being found dead on a winter's morning, not far from a tavern where he had been drinking freely of spirituous liquors the evening before, the Indians immediately assembled a jury of their own tribe, who, after examining the body, unanimously agreed, "that the said Tatsou's death was occasioned by the freezing of a large quantity of water in his body, that had been imprudently mixed with the rum he drank."
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