Fools make a mock at sin

Proverbs 14:9 Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

Baptist preacher Joseph Stennett Sr. wrote “Who Laughs at Sin.” In the 4th volume of his Works, it is titled “On Proverbs xiv. 9. Fools make a mock of sin,” and contains 4 stanzas in 10s meter.

Joseph Stennett was born in 1663, the son of Edward Stennett, a Baptist preacher. Joseph was ordained to serve the Seventh-Day Baptist congregation meeting at Pinners Hall circa 1690 where he served until his death in 1713. He frequently preached at other congregations who met on Sundays. After his death, Stennett was buried at the St. Nicholas Churchyard in Harpenden, St Albans District, Hertfordshire, England. His son Joseph Jr. was also a Baptist minister, as well as his grandson, Samuel Stennett (1727–1795). The younger Stennett is well known for the hymns he wrote, such as “As on the cross the Saviour hung,” “How charming is the place,” “Majestic sweetness sits enthroned,” and “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand.”

1. Who laughs at sin, laughs at his maker’s frowns;
Laughs at the sword of vengeance o’er his head;
Laughs at the great redeemer’s tears and wounds,
Who but for sin had never wept or bled.
 
2. Who laughs at sin, laughs at the numerous woes,
That have the guilty world so oft befell;
Laughs at the whole creation’s groans and throws,
At all the spoils of death, and pains of hell.
 
3. Who laughs at sin, laughs at his own disease,
Welcomes approaching torments with his smiles,
Dares at his soul’s expence his fancy please,
Affronts his God, himself of bliss beguiles.
 
4. Who laughs at sin, sports with his guilt and shame,
Laughs at the errors of his senseless mind:
For so absurd a fool there wants a name
Expressive of a folly so refin’d.

The Works of the late Reverend and Learned Mr. Joseph Stennett: Volume 4; Containing his Poems and Letters on Various Subjects, London: 1732, pp. 251-252.

In the recently produced Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Shape Note Edition, No. 211 (Knoxville, TN: Melody Publications, 2020), this hymn is set to the tune Rakestraw by Cuthbert Howard (1856-1927).