A Fool's Sport
‘.’ It is as sport to a fool to do mischief.” — i. 23.
“Fools make a mock at sin.” — xiv. 9.
MOSTLY sport this! We are wont to wonder at the stupid despot who set fire to his capital that he might see the blaze; but there are many greater fools in the world than he. The fire that Nero kindled in Imperial Rome was soon put out; the flame which sin for sport lights up can never be quenched. “Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever” (Jer. xvii. 4).
To do mischief is one evil; to make sport of the mischief which you have done is another and a worse. A swearer frequently pours out a volume of filth and blasphemy in a fit of exuberant mirthfulness. “The Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain.” To be held guilty by the Judge of men in that day, is a heavy price for a moment’s mirth. Besides offending the Divine Majesty, an oath offends also the little ones for whom our Father specially cares. The sounds fall upon a tender conscience like drops of scalding fire upon the flesh. The fool pays dear for his mirth, when he incurs on account of it the anger of the orphan’s Almighty Friend. Another species of mischief often done in sport is to make a neighbour drunk by practising upon the inexperience of the young, or the depraved tastes of the aged. We have all seen some instances of this amusement, and heard of more. This is wickedness of the very worst kind. The crime of a robber who maims your body, is venial in comparison of his who by stealth lays a paralysis at once upon your soul within, and your limbs without. We sometimes helar of those who deal in strong drink giving it for money to children, until the children are laid helpless in the gutter: to do this for gain is a great crime, but to do it for sport is a greater. I cannot find a name for the man who deliberately makes amusement for himself by defacing God’s image from a brother’s soul. If any of these occupy the position, they have certainly forfeited the character of gentlemen: they are destitute alike of godliness and manliness: brutal would be an improper designation; devilish is the most suitable that language can supply.
There is not so much of this in our day as thert was in the past generation. Of late there has been some faithfulness and earnestness in dragging these abominations to the light; and the light these deeds of darkness cannot bear.
Perhaps the arrow would more readily find a joint in the harness to penetrate by, if I should name some sins that seem really lighter, and more fit for sport. Some people tell lies to children, with the view of enjoying a laugh at their credulity. This is to make a mock at sin, and they are fools who do it. The tendency in a child to believe whatever it is told, is of God for good: it is lovely: it seems a shadow of primeval innocence glancing by. We should reverence a child’s simplicity. Touch it only with truth. Be not the first to quench that lovely trustfulness, by lies.
It is emphatically the part of a fool to mock at sin. God counted it serious when, to deliver us from its power, he covenanted to give his Son to die. Christ counted it serious when he suffered for it. All holy beings stand in awe before it. Angels unfallen look on in wonder, and converted men who have been delivered from it, fear it with an exceeding great fear. Only the victims who are under its benumbing power, and exposed to its eternal curse, can make light of sin.
The laugh is a symptom of cowardice, rather than of courage. It is not in the power of a human being to laugh at sin, if he look in its face. The mirth of these mockers is a violent effort to shut their eyes or turn round. Sin is not a suitable subject of sport. He who mocks at it, expecting thereby to gain a character for courage, is a coward who dares not to confront its issues, and hysterically strives to stifle his fear.
To mock at sin now, is the way to the place of eternal weeping. They who weep for sin now, will rejoice in a Saviour yet. Blessed are they that so mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Those who make a mock at sin are obliged also to mock at holiness. This is the law of their condition; “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” To laugh at sin and to laugh at holiness are two sides of one thing; they cannot be separated. Those who make mirth of goodness persuade themselves that they are only getting amusement from the weakness of a brother: let them beware; if that in a Christian which affords you sport be a feature of his Redeemer’s likeness, He whose likeness it is, is looking on, and will require it. Let the merry-makers see to it, when they are raising a laugh at the softness of a Christian, lest they be really scorning the gentleness of Christ, reflected in the mirror of a disciple’s life-course. God is not mocked.
When Jesus looked down from the brow of Olivet upon a city full of sinning men, he wept. He is wise, and knows what is suitable to the case. He sees the end from the beginning. None who look unto Jesus can mock at sin; the Redeemer’s tears would quench profane mirth.