By Martin Knapp

            Sin is a double disease. It pollutes the soul and also poisons the outer life. It converts the heart into a den of vile passions and the exterior life into a panorama of dark deeds. It's twofold nature is clearly declared in God's word. (See Ps. 51; Zech. 13:1; 1 John 1:9, and kindred Scriptures.)

      On these and like texts we base the following diagram which shows the light of the Word on the subject at a glance:

      THE DOUBLE DISEASE -- I. Actual transgressions. Rom. 3:23. Wrong deeds. Rom. 3:10-18. Wrong life. Gal. 6:8. Bad fruits. Rom. 7:5; Gal. 5:19-21. Evil waters. Jas. 3:10, 11. Guilt. Rom. 3:19. Death. Rom. 5:12. Eternal punishment. Matt. 25:46.

      II. Inbred sin. Rom. 6:6, and 7:19-24. Wrong tempers. 1 Cor. 3:1- 4. Wrong state. 1 Cor. 2:14. Bad tree. Matt. 3:10; 7:18. Evil fountain. James 3:12; Matt. 5:19. Pollution. Ps. 51:5; 2 Cor. 7:1. Sickness. Isa. 1:5; Luke 5:31. Debars from heaven. Heb. 12:14; Rev. 21:27.

      THE DOUBLE CURE. -- I. Conversion. Matt. 18:3. Pardon. Isa. 55:7. Adoption. 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. Life. John 3:36. Witness. Rom. 8:16.

      II. Entire sanctification. 1 Thess. 5:23. Complete cleansing. 1 John 1:9. Perfect love. 1 John 4:18. Witness. Heb. 10:14, 15.

      THE DOUBLE CONDITIONS:-- I. Repentance. Luke 13:3. Sorrow for sin. Matt. 5:4. Giving up sin. Isa. 1:16. Confession. Prov. 28:13. Appropriating faith. John 3:16.

      II. Consecration. Rom. 12:1. Death to sin. Rom. 6:6. Yielding to God. Rom. 6:13. Appropriating faith. Heb. 4 3.

      In the above and like Scriptures actual transgressions and soul defilement are treated as two distinct phases of man's fall.

      The first refers to what men do, the second to what they are.

      The first to outward acts, the second to an inner state. The first life defilement, the second heart defilement. The first a result of the second, the second the cause of the first.

      The first is like eruptions on the outside, the second the scrofulous soul disease, deeper than muscles, bones, marrow, or nerves, in the very center of the soul life.

      The cure and conditions are mentioned here in connection with the disease, and will be more fully noticed in future chapters.

      The twofold nature of the disease makes the Double Cure an imperative necessity.

      The sinner is like a drowning leper. The leper needs a double work:

            (1) To be rescued from a Watery grave; (2) To be cured of his disease. When a life preserver will cure the leprosy it will be time to discard the double disease, the double conditions, and the Double Cure.

      The sinner is like a diseased criminal about to be hung for his crime -- he needs the Double Cure of pardon and healing.

            When a governor's reprieve will cure the consumption, or doctor's prescription secure a pardon, it will be time to overlook this double work of grace. Until then with the sacred bard shall we not continue to sing:

      "Be of sin the Double Cure,
      Save from guilt and make us pure."