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SERMON X.

THE FOLLY OF MAKING A MOCK AT SIN.

PROV. XIV. 9.

Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

WE are assured by universal experience that sin is of a hardening and stupifying nature. By a long continued custom in sinning, a man may grow so daring and thoughtless as even to take a pride in his evil courses, and may glory in that which ought to be considered as a shame and a reproach. Indeed the minds of some are so perverted that they would deny a man's claim to wisdom, if he should be unwilling to sin with a high hand. Yet Solomon, whose wisdom has been acknowledged during so many ages, was of a different mind, for by him the wicked are always accounted

foolish, and in his language the word fools does not so properly imply weakness of understanding as depravity of heart. Fools, he says, in the words of the Text, make a mock at sin: or, they who make a mock at sin are fools. They who sin without concern, and with a daring effrontery and wantonness, are not to be reckoned among the wise. None but fools can be guilty of such madness. But among the righteous there is favour. They who hate sin, and who make it their chief study to serve God, are under his peculiar favour, and will be blessed by him when the wicked are severely punished. Though they may seem foolish to the thoughtless and profane, they will eventually be found to have acted the wisest part, and as their path now leads them to real happiness, it will end, at the last, in eternal glory. In discoursing further on this subject we will consider, First, what we are to understand by making a mock at sin. Secondly, the folly of doing so. Thirdly, I will endeavour to point out the wisdom of those who dread and avoid sin.

I. What we are to understand by making a mock at sin. Those persons may be considered as making a mock at sin, who transgress the laws of God with careless indifference. Great

numbers, it is to be feared, are involved in this charge. Mankind, in general, entertain but slight and superficial notions respecting their obligations to God, and the duties which they owe to each other. Although they may acknowledge every article of the Creed, and may profess a readiness to obey every injunction of the divine law; yet to judge from their practice, we might conclude, that they had denied the faith, and were become infidels, and had even advanced to that degree of presumption as to say, "Verily "there is no God" that governs the world.' There are some, indeed, who are Atheists, not by an open profession, but by their evil practice; who live "without God in the world" as to any practical and salutary effect, though in words they do not deny him. With regard to many of this description, the name of God is frequently in their mouths, but not with a design to honour and adore it; not to set forth the praises of Him "in whom they live and move and have their being;" it is for no such becoming purpose as this, that the name of their great Creator and Preserver is so perpetually mentioned, but from an evil and profane habit of appealing to Him on the most trifling occasions. How often have the ears of the faithful servants of the most High, been a Psal. xiv. 1. Ephes. ii. 12.

b

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c Acts xvii. 28.

wounded and grieved with the harsh sound of oaths and curses, which are uttered only through a presumptuous and profane custom! Is not this to make a mock at sin? God has threatened to punish those severely who "take his name in vain ;" and yet many are resolved to risk every danger, and even in sport seem to call down the vengeance of God on their own heads.*

Again; God hath said, "Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day." But the conduct of many too plainly shows, that they have no desire to remember the proper and spiritual design of this sacred day. Great numbers spend it, for the most part, not in acts of devotion to God; not in prayer and meditation; not in public worship and in hearing "the words of eternal life;" not in reading the Holy Scriptures at home, nor in "bringing up their children in the nurture and

The Author is happy to acknowledge, that since this Sermon was first written, profane swearing has become less fashionable, even among the lower orders. There are, however, still some remains even of heathenish swearing, such as by Jove, &c. which are very revolting to the ears of pious Christians, as well as the irreverent appeals to each of the Divine Persons in the sacred Trinity. Oaths are still so frequent that we may say, "Because of swearing the land mourneth."

d Exod. xx. 7.-Lev. xix. 12.—Psal. xv. 3.-Matt. v. 33, 34. James v. 12. e Gen. ii. 2, 3.—Exod. xx. 8—11.—Isai. lviii. 13, 14.-Ezek. xx. 12.—Acts xx. 7.-1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 10. f John vi. 68.

admonition of the Lord:"-no; they waste these sacred hours in immoderate sleep; in frivolous and worldly conversation through the course of the day; or in excessive solicitude in caring for the body; and the evenings are too commonly spent in "rioting and drunkenness," and in "making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof."" Now these persons, instead of "accounting the Sabbath a holy day of rest, as an honour" and a privilege, as a day wherein they may worship God “in the beauty of holiness," and may grow in grace, and in a meetness for the heavenly world;instead of regarding it in this light, they consider it the most unpleasant day in the week, unless it be spent in sinful pleasure; as a burden and a weariness, and are glad when it has an end. They indulge sin instead of mortifying it; they despise the means of grace instead of improving them, and they say in their hearts to God, "depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.' Or, if they proceed not to these lengths, they probably conceive their Sundays to be well spent, if they abstain from all grosser acts of sin, and attend on the outward forms of religion, and maintain some order and decency in their Psal. xcvi. 9.

g

Ephes. vi. 4.

h

Rom. xiii. 13, 14.

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Job xxi. 14..

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