F.E. Marsh :: 372. Sin

IT is an axiom in science, that for every effect there must be an adequate cause. Thus sins committed, have their cause in heart corruption. The heart is diseased, therefore the life is wrong (Matt. 15:19). The fountain is foul, therefore the stream is impure (James 3:11). Insanity is enthroned in the mind, therefore madness rules the man’s actions (Eccles. 9:3). As a bad liver paints its owner’s face with a yellow hue, so sin within, is the cause of the black colour in the life of man (Rom. 3:12). As the engine moves the screw which moves the steamer, so sin is the moving cause of all the sinful acts in the life (Rom. 7:15). As when the regulator in the watch is wrongly set, the watch will be wrong; so long as the heart is wrong, the man is wrong (Jer. 17:9). As everything in nature brings forth “after his kind” (Gen. 1:12), so sin, being within (Rom. 7:18), like a smouldering fire, it will burst forth into flame in the life. Heart corruption is the cause of all corruption. As salt in meat, or leaven in meal, will permeate the whole; so sin in the heart gives a heart to sin, which makes it beat in wickedness and rebellion against God.

1. Sin inherited. As the heir in an entailed estate inherits the estate after the decease of his parent, so we have inherited the estate of sinfulness which Adam acquired by his disobedience (Rom. 5:12).
2. Sin colouring. As the negro inherits his black skin from his parents, so we have inherited the black nature of sin (John 3:6; Jeremiah 13:23).
3. Sin transmitted. As the law of heredity proves that the parent’s sin can be transmitted to the child, so the Scriptures declare Adam has passed on to us the evil of sin (Rom. 5:12).
4. Sin tainting. As the insane person owes, very often, his insanity to his ancestors, from whom he received the taint of madness, so the madness of sin has been bequeathed to us (Psalm 14:3).
5. Sin embittering. As it is the nature of a crab-apple tree to transmit its sourness to its fruit, so the sourness of iniquity is an inherited quality (Psalm 51:5).
6. Sin stinging. As it is the nature of a nettle to sting, because it is the fac-simile of its parent, so it is the nature of a sinner to sin (Rom. 8:7)
7. Sin reproducing. As the child is like its parents in the face, so we show our relationship to Adam by our sins (Eph. 2:3).