+I. The radical change sin works in the constitution of the sinner.+ Sin is lawlessness, an outbreak of self-will (1 John iii. 4). It is conscious wrongdoing (James iv. 17). And sin, the prophet says in effect, has a disintegrating, deteriorating, degrading influence upon the man's nature who yields to it. "The strong shall be as _tow." Tow_ is the coarse, broken part of flax or hemp--waste, refuse. Used here in contrast to that which is strong. Used also as pattern of that which is inflammable. 1. _Sin lowers the tone and tenor of our nature._ Man's nature is originally a very high nature. "A little lower than the angels" (Ps. viii. 5); a little lower than _Divinity_ (see Alexander and Thrupp _in loc._). Originally a king with all highest forms of existence grouped around his throne (Ps. viii. 6-8). He falls by sin. How low? To the level of beasts that perish? (Ps. xlix. 20). Lower than that (Isa. i. 3). To level of trees and shrubs? Lower than that. See, that heap of coarse and tangled refuse was a plant once, a living thing. Now it is cut down, dried, dead; choicest parts gone, wasted! _"Tow"_--that is the symbol of the sinful man. The height from which he has fallen measures the degradation incurred. To that which is by nature "tow," it is no degradation to be "tow." But for that which is "strong" to become "tow"--for the highest of God's creations to become as the lowest--this is disgraceful, dreadful. 2. _Sin, depraving and degrading the type and tenor of our nature, enfeebles our powers of resistance to the assaults of external evil._ Sin is weakness as well as wickedness; weakness as the result of wickedness. The "strong" becomes as "tow," becomes _weak._ Hard to tell which is the worse to bear, the paroxysms of remorse, or the paralysis of power which the habit of sin engenders.[1] To feel that when some "temptation comes and calmly states itself before us" we are helplessly a prey to it, is terrible indeed. The first sin of any kind greatly facilitates a second commission of the same;[2] and every repetition increases that facility till the ease of doing it almost amounts to a practical inability to abstain from doing it.[3] Sin gets _dominion_ over us. Men are "sold under sin." 3. _Sin imparts to us an increased susceptibility to evil_--makes us more inflammable. And Satan's "fiery darts" striking, inflame us.[4] Some counsellors advise young people to indulge in a certain measure of sin as a remedy for its enkindling impulses; they call it "sowing their wild oats." A figure is sometimes the best vail for a fact. One would think that "sowing" would of itself suggest reproduction and multiplied reproduction (Gal. vi. 7, 8) If you wish your nature to become hopelessly inflammable, utterly uncontrollable, give way to the indulgence of its hot impulses while you are young.