“Questions, that are merely curious and not practical in religion, are unworthy of study and consideration. Yet it may be proper to say that anything to us is infinite, the dimensions of which we cannot gauge, the greatness of which we cannot understand.

In this sense sin is an infinite evil. We cannot set bounds to it. We cannot say, “Thus far it comes and no further.” “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”  And who but God can tell all that is included in that fearful word, death?

Moreover, sin is committed against an infinite God. The ill-desert of any evil deed is to be determined in part by the dignity of the person, against whom it is directed. To strike a brother is wrong; to strike a parent is worse. To strike a fellow-soldier is punishable with chains; to strike a commanding officer is punishable with death.

On this principle the Bible reasons: “If any man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?” I Samuel 2:25.

God is our Maker, Father, Governor, and Judge. He is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. He is the best of all friends, the greatest of all beings, the most bountiful of all benefactors. By ties stronger than death and more lasting than the sun, we are bound to love, fear, honour, and obey Him.

To sin against Him is so impudent, ungrateful and wicked, that no created mind can ever adequately estimate its atrocity; and so it is an infinite evil. If sin had its own way, it would dethrone the Almighty. All rebellion tends to the utter subversion of the government against which it is committed; and all sin is rebellion against the government of God. If men saw their sins aright, they would more highly prize Divine mercy; and if they would have more worthy conceptions of God’s grace, they would have more abasing views of themselves.”

Wm. S. Plumer