“…[It] cannot but be extremely useful to let men see what sin is: how prodigiously vile, how deadly mischievous, and therefore how monstrously ugly and odious a thing sin is. Thus a way may be made: (1) For admiring the free and rich grace of God (2) For believing in our Lord Jesus Christ (3) For vindicating the holy, just and good law of God, and his condemnation of sinners for breaking it (4) For hating sin, and repenting for and from it, thereby taking a holy, just and good revenge on it and ourselves (5) That we may love and serve God at a better rate than we ever did in the little and short time of innocence itself (6) And, lastly, that this black spot may serve to set off the admirable, incomparable and transcendent beauty of holiness.”
--Ralph Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin
