the whole history of any single sin...

Rev. John Brazer uses the "S" words in this continuation of his sermon, "The Great Salvation...

"It rescues us from sin. It furnishes the only sufficient motive of true repentance and reform from a course and habit of sinning, in all its multifold forms. Other influences may come in aid of this, — such, for example, as expediency; reference to the opinions of others; a vague apprehension of consequences; that bodily pain which, like a sort of material conscience, always waits on excess. But these motives, even in all their united strength, are not, of themselves, sufficient to keep the sinner from his sin, as the observation of every day shows. They may serve to dam up some of the streams of sin, or alter their direction, but they have no power to break up or dry up their head-springs in the soul, out of which they flow. And until this is done, nothing is done that is worth doing. And this can only be effectually done through the stern, the searching, the imperative, the all but resistless motives that are brought to bear on the sin-bound soul through the "great salvation."

Again, it rescues us, not only from the prevalence, but from the power, of sin. The power of sin consists mainly in its deceitfulness, in its false shows, in its fair disguises, in its hollow professions, and in its lying arguments. Could we see, as we may suppose angels or higher intelligences do, the whole history of any single sin from its first suggestion to the mind, through its progress in this world to its inevitable results in a retributory state, we should as soon make playthings of serpents' fangs, or slake our thirst at poisoned fountains, as touch the perilous thing. But from these sad, these melancholy delusions, we may find a safe resort in the " great salvation."

Blessings
(Illustration: temperance poster by Nathaniel Currier)