Here is, 1. Sin exceedingly sinful: It is as laughter to a fool to do
mischief; it is as natural to him, and as pleasant, as it is to a man
to laugh. Wickedness is his Isaac (that is the word here); it is his
delight, his darling, and that in which he pleases himself. He makes a
laughing matter of sin. When he is warned not to sin, from the
consideration of the law of God and the revelation of his wrath against
sin, he makes a jest of the admonition, and laughs at the shaking of
the spear; when he has sinned, instead of sorrowing for it, he boasts
of it, ridicules reproofs, and laughs away the convictions of his own
conscience, ch. xiv. 9. 2. Wisdom exceedingly wise, for it carries
along with it the evidence of its own excellency; it may be predicated
of itself, and this is encomium enough; you need say no more in praise
of a man of understanding than this, "He is an understanding man; he
has wisdom; he is so wise as not to do mischief, or if he has, through
oversight, offended, he is so wise as not to make a jest of it." Or, to
pronounce wisdom wise indeed, read it thus: As it is a sport to a fool
to do mischief, so it is to a man of understanding to have wisdom and
to show it. Besides the future recompence, a good man has as much
present pleasure in the restraints and exercises of religion as sinners
can pretend to in the liberties and enjoyments of sin, and much more,
and much better.