It is the surest proof of man’s natural enmity against God that he dares to impute
falsehood to one who is truth itself. AP36
We have in our time heard great talk about discovering pure, unsophisticated tribes,
beautiful in native innocence, untainted with the vices of civilization; but it has
turned out to be all talk. TN315
Who can understand the number of his errors? The mightiest mind could not count
the sins of a single day. As the multitude of sparks from a furnace, so innumerable
are the iniquities of one day. We might sooner tell the grains of sand on the
sea-shore, than the iniquities of one man’s life. A life most purged and pure is still as
full of sin as the sea is full of salt. And who is he that can weigh the salt of the sea, or
can detect it as it mingles with every fluid particle? But if he could do this, he could
not tell how vast an amount of evil saturates our entire life, and how innumerable
are those deeds, and thoughts, and words of disobedience, which have cast us out
from the presence of God, and caused him to abhor the creatures which his own
hands have made. 299.102
The fact is, that man is a reeking mass of corruption. His whole soul is by nature so
debased and so depraved, that no description which can be given of him even by
inspired tongues can fully tell how base and vile a thing he is. 299.104
If we would run in the way of God’s commands, then sin has lamed us; if we would
grasp God’s promises, evil has paralysed us; if we would see into the mysteries of
grace, guilt has blinded us; if we would hear the voice of God, transgression has
smitten us with deafness; and if our voices would swell the song of cherubim and
seraphim, alas, the plague of our heart within has made us dumb. 618.134
Our prayers have stains in them, our faith is mixed with unbelief, our repentance is
not so tender as it should be, our communion is distant and interrupted. We cannot
pray without sinning, and there is filth even in our tears. 618.135
In the best prayer that was ever offered by the holiest man that ever lived, there was
enough of sin to render it a polluted thing if the Lord had looked upon it by itself. 1051.278
My friend, you, who are so fair to look upon when you look in the glass of your own
self-adulation, if you could see yourself as God sees you, would discover that you are
leprous from head to foot; your sins are abundant and loathsome, though you
perceive them not. 1145.678
He who cannot find water in the sea is not more foolish than the man who cannot
perceive sin in his members. As the salt flavours every drop of the Atlantic, so does
sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if
you cannot detect it you are deceived. 1241.365
There is no beast in wolf, or lion, or serpent that is so brutish as the beast in man.
Did I not tell you last Sabbath day that whereas, according to the Levitical law, he
that touched a dead animal was unclean till the evening, he who touched a dead man
was unclean seven days, for a man is a seven times more polluting creature than any
of the beasts of the field when his animal nature rules him. 1482.373
A very hell of corruption lies within the best saint; and if the grace of God did not
restrain it, he would soon be found among the chief of sinners. 1639.33
If any man could see his own heart as it is by nature, he would be driven mad: the
sight of our disease is not to be borne unless we also see the remedy. 2097.411
No man’s reason would survive a full sight of his own inner self. 2134.153
The creature that has done nothing right, but everything that is wrong, still believes
in himself. 2305.197
No, sir, you are even worse in heart than you ever were in life, because there are
many things that restrain you from revealing your naked self to those who only see
your outward life. 2932.197
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