p. 10 | Sin Always Defiling

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 29, 1907

Sin Always Defiling

It is a mistake to suppose that one is more likely to become a great saint because he has once been a great sinner. The two conditions have nothing in common. Paul was not great in righteousness because he looked upon himself as “the chief of sinners.” He could say, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Peter was not better because he denied his Lord. The remembrance of sin may stimulate a good man to greater zeal in religion; but it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the remembrance of his evil life, that makes him what he is. Thousands of men have recalled the iniquity of their earlier years, and have not been made any better by it. Neither sin nor the remembrance of sin can make the character pure. “Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine,” was not spoken of the prodigal. The remembrance that a man once smeared himself with filth does not make his complexion any fairer. There is nothing in sin to make anyone’s character beautiful or his life better. Grace and purity do not come from beneath, but from above.—United Presbyterian.