The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1886-05-05
T1LMAGE's SERMON.
A Spring-Tide Theme - "The
Laughter of the Bible"
The Various Phases OF Cachinpatory In
duIgence, which are Pleasing or Dis
pleasing to the Lord According to
the Spirit which Induces It.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in a recent
Sunday morning sermon at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle, took for his subject "The
daughter OF the Bible," taking for his
texts the following: i
Then WAS our mouth nlled with laughter
Psalms, XVI, T.
He that sitteth In the heav ems shall laugh.
Psalms, 1, 4.
DIR. Talmage said:
Thirty eight times does the Bible make
reference to this confguration Of the fea-
lures and quick expulsion Of the breath
which we call laughter. Sometimes it is
born Of the sunshine and sometimes Of the
midnight. Sometimes II stirs the sympa.
thies Of angels and sometimes the cacbin-
nation Of devils. All healthy people laugh.
whether It plesses the Lord or displeases
Him, that depends upon when we laugh
and at what wo laugh. Ny theme this
morning Is the laughter Of the Bible, nsme-
ly--Sarah's laugh, or that OF skepticism;
David's laugh, or that OF spiritual exults-
tion; the FOOLS laugh, or that Of sinful
merimont; Gods laugh, or that Of In
finite condemnation; Heavens laugh, or
that Of stsrnsl triumph.
Scene. An oriental tent; The occupants,
old Abraham and Sarah, perhaps wrinkled
and dscrepit. Their three guests are three
angsls-the Lord Almighty one Of them.
In return for the Hospitality shown BY the
old people God promises Sarah that she
shall become the Aucsstress Of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sarah laughs in the face Of
God; she does not believe IL. sAe 10
afrightsd as what she hss dose. She de-
nies Il. She says: ~ didAt laugh"
Then God retorted with an emphasis that
silenced all dsputation: "But thou didst
laugh" My friends, the laugh Of skepa-
cism In all ages is only the echo Of Sarah's
laughter. God says he will accomplish a
thing, and men say IL can not be done. A
great multitude laugh at the miracles.
They say they are contrary to the laws Of
nature. What Is a law of nature, II is
Gods way Of doing thing. You ordi-
nariiy cross the river by the bridge.
Tomorrow you change for one day and
you 70 across Wall street ferry, You
made the rule. Have you not the right to
change itP l ordinarily come in at that
door (pointing to a side entrance Of the
church). Suppose next Sabbath l should
come in at the other doori II Is habit
have. Have not right to change my
habiti A law Of nature Ia Gods habit
his way Of doing things. II he makes the
law has he not q right to change it at any
time he wants to change itS Alas for the
folly OF those who laugh at God when he
says: 81 will do thing" they respond
ing, "You can't do It,"
God says that the Bible is true--it Is all
true. Bishop Colenso laughs, Herbert
Spencer laughs, John Stuart Mill laughs,
great German universities laugh, Harvard
laughs-softly, q great many of the
learned institutions Of this country, with
long rows OF professors seated on the fence
between Christianity and in6delity, laugh
softly. They say: ave didn't laugh"
That WAS Sarah's trick. God thunders
from the heavens: "Bst thou did st
laugh"
The Garden Of Eden was only = fable.
There never was any ark built-it was too
small TO have two Of every kind. The pill
lar OF fire by night was only the Northern
lights. The ten plaques Of Egypt only a
brilliant specimen OF jugglery. The sea
parted because the wind blew vio-
lently . great while from one
direction. The sun aud moon did not put
themselves out OF the way for Joshua.
Jacobs ladder was only horizontal and
picturesque clouds. The destroying angel
shifting the first born In Egypt was only
cholera infantun become epidemic. The
gullet OF the whale by positive measure
ment is too small to swallow prophet The
lame, the dumb, the blind, the halt, cured
by mere human surgery. The resurrection
OF Christ's friend only beautiful tableAu,
Christ and Lazarus and Mary and Martha
acting their parts well. My friends, there
Is not a doctrine or statement In God,
Holy Word that has not been deridej by
the skepticism of the day.
Oh, what an awful thing 10 Is To laugh Ia
Gods face and burl his revelation back a
himi After awhile the day will com,
whs~ they win say they did not laugh
Then all the hypercritcisms, all the carl
eatures and all the learned sneers In th,
quarterly reviews will be brought to judg
ment; and amid the rocking of everything
beneath and amid the flaming Of every
thing above, God will thunder; "But tho,
didst lnuRh.D 1 think the most fnscinati
laughter at Christianity I ever remembe,
wa, Theodore Pnrker,s. He made the word
of f,od seem ridioulous. and he laughed OF
at our holy religion until he came 10 die
and than be said, "My life has been
failuro-a failura domesticallv. I have N,
cbildrsn. a faiIurs socially. Tor am treat
|