Worse than devilish!
(Ralph Venning, "The Plague of Plagues!" 1669)
"Fools mock at sin!" Proverbs 14:9
Those who mock at sin, are worse than fools and madmen!
Tell them, as Lot told his sons-in-law of the danger and judgments which hang over their head - and, as with Lot, you seem to them as one who jokes. Genesis 19:14. They laugh at it, as if God were not in earnest when He threatens sinners - and as if those who preach against sin were deranged.
"To do evil, is like sport to a fool!" Proverbs 10:23. There are some who sport themselves on their way to Hell - as if sin were but a recreation! What fools are they - who laugh at their own folly and destruction! It is a devilish nature in us, to mock at the calamity of others - but to laugh at our own calamity, seems to be worse than devilish!
There are many, too many, who mourn under affliction - yet laugh over their sins! They sigh and weep when they feel any burden on their body - but make merry at that which destroys their soul! Can anything be more mad than this - to laugh, mock and make sport at that which eternally wrongs and damns their own souls!
The wicked laugh over their sin now. But if they do not repent - then they will weep forever in Hell over it!
Holiness is the beauty of earth and Heaven - without which we cannot live well on earth, nor shall ever live in Heaven. Certainly those who jeer and scoff at holiness, will be turned into Hell.