The Sin We Refuse to Surrender by J. A. L. Derby

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 9, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 47.

The Sin We Refuse to Surrender

By J. A. L. Derby

How often a quickened zeal and an increased punctiliousness are only the atonement we attempt to make for some little sin we are not willing to surrender! But in that shred of a sin is concealed the devil’s grappling-hook, and he is more than satisfied. Yes, go to church, sing, speak, pray, do missionary work, read your Bible much — Satan himself will gladly keep you sweet-tempered, patient, refined, and zealous of good works, provided he can only persuade you that your pet little sin is of no consequence. To be a lost sinner, one need not be a monster like Nero. Hell is no farther from heaven’s gate than it is from the slums.

J. A. L. Derby.