Quotes about Sin

The wary fiend stood on the brink of hell, pondering his voyage

So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed In serpent, inmate bad! and toward Eve Addressed his way: not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear, Circular base of rising folds, that towered Fold above fold, a surging maze! his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes; With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape And lovely; never since of serpent-kind Lovelier…

So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, And in clear dream, and solemn vision Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, Till oft converse with heavenly habitants Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind, And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, Till all be made immortal

So having said, he thus to Eve in few: Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done? To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abasht repli'd. The Serpent me beguil'd and I did eate.

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, That all was lost.

They themselves ordained their Fall. The first sort by their own suggestion fell Self-tempted, self-depraved.

For Death from Sin no power can separate

Th' invention all admir'd, and each, how hee   To be th' inventer miss'd, so easie it seemd   Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought   Impossible: yet haply of thy Race   In future dayes, if Malice should abound,   Some one intent on mischief, or inspir'd   With dev'lish machination might devise   Like instrument to plague the Sons of men   For sin, on warr and mutual slaughter bent.

One fatal tree there stands of knowledge call'd Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know? Can it be death? And do they only stand By ignorance? Is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith?

He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

To mortify a sin is not utterly to kill, root it out, and destroy it, that it should have no more hold at all nor residence in our hearts. It is true this is that which is aimed at; but this is not in this life to be accomplished.

A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit.