making aMock at Sin. 339 1 know it will be here pretended, that furely it can be no fuch great Crime to explode and hifsSinoffrhe Stage; nay, it were a proper Means to keep Men from being generally fo wickeo, could we but make Wickednefs more Ridiculoli in them. Bur alas! Vice is now-a-days grown too impudent to be laughed out ofCountenance' · and thofe Methods of a fcurrilous Mockery, which fame plead' for,. as rendri~g Vice ridiculous have, I doubt, only made it the more raking and fpreading, and encouraged otl;ers. to be the more ?penly finful, by reach~ng them to be the more wittily Vile and W1cked. Few wtll be deterred from finmng, wh~nrhey think they fhall but gratifie others, by mak.ing ?rort for them; an~ fl!r up, not theirlndignadonandAhhorrence, huttheirM.trthand Laughter. !Is true, we. . tead that Elijab mock'd the Idolatrous Worfh1ppers.of Baal, and hiS Scoffi and Taums at them were very biting and/izr_c.aftical, and cut them much deeper than they are fa id to cut themfelves: Buc this he did in aferious and zealous reproving of their Sins not in a jocular and fportive Merriment. There are cwo things in Sin Impiety and Folly; we may lawfully enough fcorn the one, while we are fur~ to hate and deteftthe other: And a due Mixture of both thefe together,Scorn and Deteftation,are very fie to e~kindle ourZeal for God, and m~y of~enrimes bea requifite Temper for him who 1s to reprove confident and audacious Smners. But to laugh and fport at othersWickednefs,and to make the Guilt ana Shame of others our Mirch and Recreation,is both unchriftian and inhumane; and we may as well laugh at their Damnation,as at char which will lead them eo it. Thus r~ make a Mock at Sin,is to make our very ·Mocks to be our Sins; and argues us. not only profane, but foolifh; for this is ·co_laugh and rejoyce ac our own Stain and DHhonour, and eo abufe our own Na[Ure, chat Nature which is common to ..us as well as others; that Nature which, were it not dehafed with SinJxenders us but a little lower than the Angels. What a fair and glorious Creature was Man,before S.in debafedand fulliejl hill! ! A Friend to his God, Lord of the Creation, made a little lower thap ~~q 4.ngels, -being akin to them, though of a younger H,oufe,and -meanc;r Extracft ;adprn'd with all bothnatural and divine Perfections, till SiQ defpoil'd him of his Ex~ellency J and made him who was almoft equal to tbe Angtls, Wprfe than ~he very_ Brutts tha) perifh,fottifh and miferahle. A. nd cant! thou laugh and fport thy felf at that which bath ruin'd,and undone thee, as well as others? ThyNatureisblemifh'd and corrupted as much as theirs. When we look abroad in the World,and 6bferve the abominable Wickedneifes that are every where committed, the' Murthers, Uncleannefs, Blafphemies, Drunkennefs, and all thofe Prodigies of Impiety that every where fwarm amon~fiMen; how hy Lying,Stealing,Swcaring,and Hof. 4 . 2 , Committing Adulter], thry hrcak out, unts!Blood touchetb Bkod. What elfe fee we now . in all this,but the woful Effetrs of our own corrupt Nature: Here we fee our felves . unbowelled, and difcover what we our felve:s are, at the price of other Mens Sins; For PS in WattrJ Fact tm[wertth unto Face.J {9 doth the Heart of Man to Mtm. We Prav, 17. have therefore more reafon to lament the Sins and Mifcarriages of others 19. than to make a Sport and Mock at their Wickednefs, fince we o.ur felves are th~ very fameJ and prone enough, without t~e Refiraining Grace of God_J either to imitateJ or exceed them. ~encethenJ Firfl, Confiderwhat an accurfed, horr~d thing it is totemptothers r. u[t. to Stn,only that thou mayeft afterwards make Sport wuh them, and raife a Scent ShtrPs the of Mirth out of the Ruins of their Souls. I wilh this were nOt as Common a Pra- Evil tf dice, as it 1s damnable. See what dreadful Woes God denounceth againfl: fuch 1f:Pting ... by the Prophet: Woe unto him that J)veth hi1 Neighbour Drink; that puttefl thJ Bot~ ~i~s ta tl~ to him, and m~kefl him drunken al[o, that t~ou mayefllook upon his Naket!mfi ; Habak. : . h1s Shame and D1fhonour. Thou art filled w#b Shame, for Glory : Drink thou al- J~, 16. fo, and ltt thy F~~re-skin he ·uncover'd; the Cup of the Lortfs Right Hand /hall he turned unto thee, and JhamifuJ Spewing fh,;/l be on thJ Glory. Hence have the(e Dtvils ( for that Name belongs to them who do his Work) invented all thofe Artifices of Excefs and Drunkennefs, to draw on others to debauch themfelves and their Reafon, that they may have Matter to laugh at their fottilh Actio~ and to boat! how many they have made to fall under the Puitfance of th;ir Riots. . But certainly, if there be an He/IJ as it is certain there is · or if that Hell were ·not made in yain, as it was not; thefe wretched Sinners, can expect nothing Xxx z elfe,
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