Therefore, my children, learn to know and shun sin; for because of sin souls are damned forever.
_What sin is, and whereby sin became sin; and what are and will be the wages of sin, before God, or God’s punishment of sinners hereafter._
What sin is, is clearly shown by the holy Scriptures. The prophet Samuel said to Saul, when the latter had transgressed the commandment of the Lord: Disobedience is as the sin (mark, sin) of witchcraft. 1 Sam. 15:23. John says: All unrighteousness is sin. 1 John 5:17. James says: To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Jas. 4:17. (Mark what sin is). Paul says: Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Rom. 14:23.
From this and the like, my children, learn to know sin; as Paul says: By the law is the knowledge of sin. I had not known sin but by the law. The law causes sin to become exceeding sinful; for when it says: Thou shalt not covet, sin takes occasion, and works in us all manner of concupiscence. Rom. 3:20; 7:7,13. From this we also perceive, whereby sin became sin, namely, by the command and prohibition of God.
Every one who transgresses the things which God has commanded, commits sin, and it is also called sin, and punished as sin, fully and abundantly, in both Testaments. The tree of knowledge was not unclean for Adam, except through the commandment; his transgression was also called sin. As regards the punishment for this sin, read Gen. 3:14. The heathen daughters and wives were not unclean for the Jews, save through the commandment of God, who would not have it. Concerning the punishment, read Judg. 3; Num. 25. The sanctuary, or ark of God, which was certainly clean, was not unclean for any tribe, to touch or bear it, except through the commandment. Num. 4:17. The gods of the heathen were not unclean for Israel, save through the prohibition and proscription of God, also the commandment and the punishment. 1 Kings 15.
Behold, thus you can perceive whereby sin becomes sin, namely, through the commandment, and the transgressing of the commandment; for where no commandment is, there is no sin, for without the law sin was dead. Rom. 4:15; 7:8. For sin, or sinful action was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Rom. 5:13.
Now, dear children, as soon as you know sin, learn to shun it as you shun fire; for if you approach sin, it will embrace you; but the stings and wounds thereof cannot be healed. Sir. 21:2,3.
Therefore, learn now to understand further, what proceeds from sin, and what are the wages of sin, for these are damnation and death. Rom. 6:23. It is enmity against God, because it is not subject to the law of God. Rom. 8:7. Hence hear further the terrible, relentless and awful punishment of God upon sin and sinners, which has ever taken place and will yet take place. Take heed, my dear children, I counsel you, as much as you value your souls, to this special, eternal punishment of sin and sinners. Thus says the Lord: I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. Who among you, he says, will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? The day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day. Is. 42:14,23; 13:9; 34:8, etc.