In conquering of those enemies that be within, you make a conquest over the devil and hell itself. … And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper, that does always kill where it is not killed.
– Thomas Brooks –
It is not what my sin is in the sight of man that I have to consider; but what it is in thy sight, O thou Holy One! – who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.
– Robert Candlish –
from The Prayer of a Broken Heart: Expository Discourses on Psalm 51, 1873
A godly man does not indulge sin. Though sin is in him, he is troubled at it and would gladly get rid of it. There is as much difference between sin in the wicked and sin in the godly—as between poison being in a serpent and poison being in a man. Poison in a serpent is in its natural place and is delightful—but poison in a man’s body is harmful and he uses antidotes to expel it. So sin in a wicked man is delightful, being in its natural place—but sin in a child of God is burdensome and he uses all means to expel it.
– Thomas Watson –
from The Godly Man’s Picture, 1666
