THE 
 
 SINFUL LAUGH. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. 
 
 Pools make a mock at sin."— Prov. xiv. 9, 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN PORTEOUS, 
 19, MOORE- STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXXI, 
 
THE SINFUL LAUGH 
 
 Mrs. Mason was walking in the 
 garden with some of her children, 
 when her eldest son, George, came 
 up with asmilingcountenance, which 
 made one of his little sisters ask him 
 if he had seen any thing to amuse 
 him ? 
 
 He replied, "I have been greatly 
 amused bv the tricks and contri- 
 vances of Bob, the servant boy, to 
 get out of a scrape. " , 
 
 "What has he done?" said Mrs. 
 Mason . 
 
 w Why, Mamma, he has often 
 been suspected of taking fruit as he 
 passed through the garden; but as 
 he always denied it, and as there 
 
3 
 
 was no proof against him, nothing 
 could convince me of it, till the 
 gardener and I discovered Bob steal- 
 ing some apples and hiding them 
 anions brambles in the hed^e 
 When Bob was asked whether he 
 had not been taking apples from a 
 particular tree in the garden, he 
 stoutly denied it, and desired us to 
 look in his pockets, and in every 
 place about the house and garden in 
 which he could have hidden them. 
 And he spoke with such a steady 
 face, that unless he had been seen to 
 do it, nobody could have thought it. 
 After a great deal of questioning, 
 in which, I think, he told nearly as 
 many lies as could be spoken in the 
 time, he was taken outside the fence, 
 and the apples shown to him. But 
 still he denied it, until the gardener 
 and I told him of ou- having seen it 
 all. I shall never forget the figure 
 that he cut !" and George laughed 
 
4 
 
 again, in which he was joined by the 
 other children. 
 
 Mrs. Mason shook her head, and 
 having reached the end of the walk 
 she seated herself in an arbour, de- 
 siring them all to surround her. 
 " Bob has done a very wicked thing, 
 my dears," said she. 
 
 " Very wicked indeed, Mamma : 
 it is quite shocking to think of it," 
 said one. 
 
 " Yes," added another, " there 
 was both thieving and lying 
 
 "And ingratitude," observed Mrs. 
 Mason," for he has been very kindly 
 treated here, and enjoyed every in- 
 dulgence." 
 
 " Worse than that, if you knew 
 all, Mamma," said George. "He 
 bore false witness, by throwing the 
 blame on an innocent person, and 
 took God's holy name in vain, wish- 
 ing to be punished by Him it h( 
 had done it." I 
 
5 
 
 " How shocking !" cried the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 " George," said his mother, "what 
 is the abominable thing that God 
 hates ?** 
 
 " Sin, Mamma." 
 
 "What caused Adam to lose his 
 happy and holy state? What brought 
 death into the world ? What cru- 
 cified the Lord Jesus, and daily 
 grieves the Holy Spirit?" 
 
 " Sin, sin, is the cause of all," 
 said the children. 
 
 " It is true indeed, my dears ; 
 and now tell me what you could 
 find in this frightful sin to laugh at." 
 
 The children looked, one upon 
 another, and all, at last, on George, 
 who coloured and said, " I did not 
 laugh at the sin, but at the ridicu- 
 lous figure which he made on being 
 found out." 
 
 " This unfortunate boy bore a 
 fair character, " said Mrs. Mason ; 
 
 he was supposed to be honest, 
 
6 
 
 and to fear God: you thought well 
 of him — did you not — as one who, 
 in his humble sphere, wished to 
 serve the Lord, whom you also pro- 
 fess to serve ?" 
 
 gi To be sure I did, Mamma." 
 
 u Well, in an unexpected manner, 
 all this is proved to be a mistake. 
 God is dishonoured, His holy name 
 blasphemed, His sacred law broken, 
 and a soul, of which you hoped that 
 it belonged to Him, proved to be 
 under the power of satan, and in 
 clanger of everlasting death. Is it 
 so ?" 
 
 u Yes, Mamma : I am afraid it 
 is." 
 
 " The angels who never sinned, 
 are represented as rejoicing in hea- 
 ven over one repenting child of 
 Adam. — Are they not?" 
 
 " Yes," said Mary, the eldest girl: 
 "in the fifteenth chapter of Said 
 Luke's gospel, our Lord says so." 
 "And why should they rejoice?" 
 
7 
 
 u I think, Mamma, that you have 
 told us their constant employment 
 and happiness being to praise and 
 glorify the Lord God Almighty, 
 then how very delightful must it be 
 to them to see a soul snatched from 
 the tyranny of satan, and added to 
 the number of those happy spirits, 
 who will join them in their work of 
 praise for ever and ever. ,> 
 
 M Yes," added Catherine, " and 
 we are told that they are ministering 
 spirits, sent forth to minister to 
 them that shall be heirs of salvation. 
 Heb. i. 14. So they must take 
 a great interest in what is going 
 forward below." 
 
 " No doubt, my dear," said her 
 Mamma. " Christ is the object of 
 ■their adoration; for it is written — * 
 ' Let all the angels of God worship 
 Him/ Heb. 18, And in heaven 
 their song is — 1 Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain.' Rev, v. 12. The 
 salvation of souls being the very 
 
8 
 
 object of the mighty work in which 
 that Lamb was slain, it must be the 
 great delight of those holy and lov- 
 ing angels, to see their Lord thus 
 glorified in the saving of a soul. 
 
 " Now tell me, how is satan de- 
 scribed, and what is his employment 
 and desire?" 
 
 The children considered for some 
 time; at last one of them answered, 
 " Your adversary, the devil, as a 
 roaring lion, walketh about, seeking 
 whom he may devour. ,, 1 Peter 
 v. 8. 
 
 " Moses endured, as seeing Him 
 who is invisible," observed Mrs. 
 Mason. " Like David, he set God 
 always before him. Oh! that we 
 had more of that precious faith 
 which looks to things unseen and 
 eternal! My children, you have 
 drawn an awful picture, and a true 
 one, for it is given in the very 
 words of Scripture. First, there is 
 the All-seeing, All-observing, Jeho- 
 
9 
 
 vah, who compasseth our path, and 
 our lying down, and is acquainted 
 with all our ways. Ps. cxxxix. 2. 
 And who says, ' I know the things 
 that come into your mind every one 
 of them/ Ezekiel xi. 5. Then, 
 there are the holy angels, who con- 
 tinually behold His glory, and re- 
 joice in His favour, longing to see 
 us made partakers of the same bles- 
 sedness, and to be sent on messages 
 of love to poor fallen man ; and, 
 lastly, there are the devil and his 
 angels, busily employed in laying 
 snares for our feet, and exulting in 
 every sin committed by us, because 
 it dishonours God. At once the 
 tempter and the accuser, satan, op- 
 poses himself, with all his dreadful 
 power and cunning, to every human 
 being who seeks the kingdom of 
 God. 'The serpent who beguiled 
 Eve by his subtility,' follows each 
 of Eve's children with the same 
 puel intention ; and those whom he 
 
10 
 
 leads to transgress, it is his delight 
 to devour. Oh! what need we have, 
 to help and encourage one another! 
 What cause to watch over ourselves 
 and our brethren — to pray for one 
 another, that we may be healed of 
 this dreadful disease, sin, and to 
 give heed to the beautiful injunction 
 of the Apostle: — 'Brethren, if a 
 man be overtaken in a fault, ye 
 which are spiritual, restore such an 
 one in the spirit of meekness, con- 
 sidering thyself, lest thou also be 
 tempted. Bear ye one another's 
 burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
 Christ. 1 " Gal. vi. 1, 2. 
 
 These words appeared to sink 
 very deeply into the minds of some 
 of the children: George in particu- 
 lar, hung down his head, and ap- 
 peared much distressed. His mo- 
 ther observed it. 
 
 * Does my dear boy see now 
 wherein he has offended P" 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Mamma. I havr 
 
11 
 
 sinned very greatly. I have brought 
 myself into shame, worse than that 
 of the unfortunate liittle boy, Bob, 
 for I know so much better than he 
 does, what is right; and I was bound 
 to set an example to others, that 
 they should not jest at sin, but 
 mourn over it. I was the first to 
 laugh at it, and that encouraged the 
 servants to do the same." 
 
 " And by so doing," said Mrs. 
 Mason, " you taught them to make 
 light of what God abhors : besides, 
 this was the very way in which to 
 harden the offender. Instead of ex- 
 citing humility, it would be sure to 
 rouse his pride, and make him eager 
 to witness in those who made a 
 mock of sin, some transgression 
 that should enable him to triumph 
 over them in turn/ 1 
 
 " The Scripture says, 'Fools make 
 a mock at sin/ M — Prov. xiv. 9, ob- 
 served one of the boys. 
 
 " True, James. And I wish you 
 
12 
 
 had called that Scripture to mind, 
 the other day, when you were so 
 much amused by the reelings of a 
 drunken man in the street.'' 
 
 " Why Mamma, was there any 
 harm in that?" 
 
 " Is not drunkenness a sin?" 
 
 "Yes; but not such a great sin 
 as stealing, or taking God's name in 
 vain." 
 
 " All unrighteousness is sin — all 
 sin is hateful to God, and every im- 
 penitent sinner lies under His curse. 
 It is one of satan's most cunning 
 devices to persuade us that there 
 are distinctions of great and little 
 sins: and another of his contrivances 
 is, to mix up with the crimes of 
 men something that to our weak 
 and wicked nature seems laughable. 
 Who would smile at a barbarous 
 murder? — And, alas! how many 
 there are who will smile to witness 
 the staggering gait of an intoxicated 
 man. Yet, He, who has said/ Thou 
 
13 
 
 shalt do no murder/ has also placed 
 drunkenness next to murder, in the 
 awful list of those things which 
 keep men from the kingdom of 
 God. Gal. v. 21. We call sins 
 great or small, according as they 
 affect the welfare of mankind in ge- 
 neral, and of ourselves in particular, 
 but, ( My thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my 
 ways, saith the Lord. For, as the 
 heavens are higher than the earth, 
 so are my ways higher than your 
 ways, and my thoughts than your 
 thoughts.' Isaiah lv. 8, 9. His 
 thoughts and His ways are alike 
 unsearchable, except as He has re- 
 vealed them to us in his word : but 
 I have shown you from that, how 
 exceedingly hateful to Him is every 
 sort of evil ; and, therefore, how 
 displeasing in His sight must it be, 
 that we dare to make a jest of sin 
 in any shape." 
 
 " I hope that I shall never do so 
 
14 
 
 again/* said George. " It did not 
 occur to me that there could be so 
 much harm in a laugh." 
 
 " No good thing can arise in your 
 mind,'* replied his mother, " but by 
 
 21 : and, 4 Who can bring a clean 
 thing out of an unclean ? — Not 
 one.' Job xiv. 4. If you neglect 
 to pray for the help of Him who 
 alone can enable you to understand, 
 and to remember, and to practise 
 what the Scriptures teach, you must 
 expect to be constantly led away 
 with the error of the wicked. 
 
 '•This boy, of whom you were 
 telling us, has done a very sinful 
 deed, and I shall consult your Papa, 
 when he comes home, how we are 
 to deal with him. It will be our 
 endeavour to set before him the 
 greatness of his sin against God 
 — against his own soul, and against 
 
15 
 
 his fellow-creatures. It may be 
 that repentance will be given unto 
 him, and we shall then know it, by 
 his bringing forth fruits meet for 
 repentance. If not, we must follow 
 David's rule, 1 he that telleth lies 
 shall not tarry in my sight.' Shall 
 we not grieve, that our adversary, 
 the roaring lion, has thus seized a 
 poor wretched straggler from the 
 fold of the good Shepherd ? Shall 
 we not use every means, by prayer, 
 by exhortation, by example, to in- 
 duce him to seek deliverance out of 
 his paw ? And if he be finally de- 
 voured by him, shall we not yet 
 more deeply grieve for it, adoring 
 the grace that makes us to differ, 
 and laying to heart the admonition 
 which says, ' except ye repent, ye 
 shall all likewise perish. ' Come, 
 let us return to the house : first, 
 to pray for this sinful child, and 
 then to counsel him. It would be a 
 dreadful thing, if the Lord should 
 
16 
 
 see cause to address us with that 
 wrathful remonstrance : ' Shouldest 
 thou not have had compassion on 
 thy fellow servant, even as I had 
 pity upon thee ?' " 
 
 My Saviour, shall my laughter rise 
 At that which drew thee from the skies, 
 
 To groan and suffer here — 
 That scourg'd thy tender flesh, and bound 
 Thy bleeding brow with thorns around, 
 
 And drove the cruel spear ? 
 
 Sin wrung the bloody sweat from thee ; 
 Sin nail'd thee to the cursed tree ; 
 
 Sin chok'd thy gasping breath ! 
 My sin, the sin of all my race, 
 Veil ? d thy bright glory in disgrace, 
 
 And bow'd thee unto death ! 
 
 Whene'er transgressors cross my way, 
 Still let me for the sinner pray, 
 
 But be the sin abhorr'd : 
 O teach me from my soul to fling, 
 And tremble at the hateful thing 
 
 That crucifi'd my Lord ! 
 
 THE END