Sinful Joy

Bad joy hath this grand evil in it—it strips God of all. No evil carries the heart so totally from God, as evil joy: it carries away the heart, and every heartstring. "The soul, and all that is within," as that full expression of David is;—the soul, and all within; the body, and all without; every sinew and nerve, are set intensely awry, when joy is awry. A man is very heartily wicked, very totally wicked, every faculty, every sinew, stretch themselves to sin, when sinful in joy. There are many sacrifices to the devil, but none sacrifices so bountifully to the devil as joy does, when corrupt. She sacrifices all in general, all in particular, all the man—all the joints, nerves, and sinew of the man—to the utmost; all the blood, all the spirits in the blood, all the spirits generally throughout the whole state, doth bad joy set a dancing after the devil:—so that God hath nothing left him in this man.--Anon