The Sinfulness of Sin
Ralph Venning wrote this treatise in the shadow of the Great Plague of London, arguing that sin is a far deadlier contagion than any physical disease. He works through what sin is, why it is so offensive to God, and the ruin it brings on humanity, before turning to the remedy found in Christ. It matters because it recovers a weighty, unsentimental view of sin that gives the gospel its true urgency.
Based on Sin, the Plague of Plagues (1669), later retitled The Sinfulness of Sin
Puritan quotes
Quotes by Ralph Venning
“Sin, in being contrary to God, is contrary to man, for what crosses God's glory is opposed to man's happiness.”
“Sin is the quintessence of evil; it has made all the evils that there are & is itself worse than all evils it has made. It is so evil that it is impossible to make it good or lovely by all the arts that can be used.”
“None of God's elect die before they are converted.”
“Sin does not please men whether they are full or fasting.”
“To be merciful to [indwelling] sin is to be cruel to yourself.”
“Oh, learn to pity your own soul, for he who sins offends and wrongs God, but also wrongs and destroys his own soul.”
“Sin is anti-will to God's will; it sets itself to oppose preaching, prayer, and all the institutions of God.”
“Confession of sin and repentance gives glory to God (Joshua 7:19) and sin endeavors to obstruct and hinder this.”
“One of the first evidences of man's sinfulness and misery by it, was that he could not endure, but hid himself from the voice and face of God (Genesis 3:8).”
“What is sin but a departure from God? And what is the doom of sinners but departure from God? Depart from us is the cry of sinners to God. Depart from me will be the cry of God to sinners.”
