Sin Piles Dynamite in the Soul's Dark Cellar

Isaiah's prophecy against Judah's idolatry unveils a principle far more universal: sin does not merely break external laws—it manufactures internal destruction. Maclaren identifies three movements in this fatal process. First, sin withers. Like an unirrigated garden in the burning East, the soul grows barren. Not merely gross transgressions, but any godless living—habitual unveracity, neglect of duty, the besetting sin indulged in secret—kills "pure desires and innocent susceptibilities."…