"Sin and vice, is an evil of its own kind, and not to be confused with any other. Who does not feel at once the broad distinction between misfortune and crime, or between disease of the body and corruption of the soul? Sin, vice, is war with the highest power in our own breasts, and in the universe. It makes a being odious and repulsive to himself, and arms against him the principle of virtuous morality in God and in all pure beings. It poisons or dries up the fountains of enjoyment, and adds unspeakable weight to the necessary pains of life. It is not a foreign evil, but a blight and curse in the very center of our being. Its natural associates are fear, shame, and self-torture; and, whilst it robs the present of consolation, it leave the future without hope." 

William Ellery Channing.