Proverbs 21:27

The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination: how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind?

Ver. 27. The sacrifice of the wicked, &c.] See Trapp on " Pro 15:8 "

How much more when he bringeth it, &c.] As Balak and Balaam did. Num 23:1-2 As those that present ex rapine holocaustum, a sacrifice of what they have got by rapine and robbery; and as those likewise that ask good things at God's hand, that they may "consume them upon their lusts." Jam 4:3 Let the wicked bring his sacrifice with never so good an intention, he is an abomination; but if with an evil mind, his dissembled sanctity is double iniquity, as if a man think by observing the Sabbath to take out a license to walk licentiously all the week long; or by praying in a morning to get a dispensation to do evil all day after. I have read of one that would haunt the taverns, theatres, and whore houses at London all day; but he durst not go forth without private prayer in the morning, and then would say at his departure, Now devil do thy worst. a The Circassians are said to divide their life between rapine and repentance. b The Papists, many of them, make account of confessing, as drunkards do of vomiting. When we have sinned, say they, we must confess, and when we have confessed, we must sin again, that we may also confess again, and make work for new indulgences and jubilees. c

a Mr Shepherd's Sincere Convert, p. 232.

b Breerwood, Enquire.

c Sandys's Relat. of West. Religion.