On the one hand, God is that eternal Being . . . in whose sight the very “heavens are not clean.” . . . We, on the other hand—poor blind creatures, here today and gone tomorrow, born in sin, surrounded by sinners, living in constant atmosphere of weakness, infirmity, and imperfection—can form none but the most inadequate conceptions of the hideousness of evil. We have no line to fathom it and no measure by which to gauge it. The blind man can see no difference between a masterpiece of Titan or Raphael and the Queen’s head on a village signboard. The deaf man cannot distinguish between a penny whistle and a cathedral organ. . . .  And man, fallen man, I believe, can have no just idea what a vile thing sin is in the sight of that God whose handiwork is absolutely perfect.

-J. C. Ryle

1816 – 1900