The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-25
LAUGHTER OF. THE BIBLE.
d Sound Not Always of Merriment, but
0fttimes Born of Deepest Gloom.
Sarah's Laugh Typical of Skepticism, and Da-
yid's of Showing Spiritual Exultation-A
Fools Mirth and Gods Condemnation.

So great is the popularity of the preacher at
The BROOKLYN Tabernacle that it Is under ADVISE
ment to build for him church twice as large,
and thereby to make something like adequate ac-
commodation for the people who crowd to hear
him. The Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage's sermon
this morning was OF the subject. Laughter OF
the Bible" The opening hymn was:
Come We that love the LORD,
And let your joys be known;
Join in the song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.
The texts were chosen by che preaeher-
Psalm cxxvi, 2: Then was our mouth filed
with laughter" and Psalm ii, 4: HE that stitch
In the heavens shall laugh" DR.. Talmage said:
Thirty eight times does the Bible make refer
ence To this confguration of the features and
quick expulsion of breath which we call laughter
Sometimes it is born of the sunshine and some
times of the midnight. Sometimes it stirs the
Eympathes of angles and sometimes the each
lnations of devils All healthy people laugh.
Whether it peases the Lord or displeases Him,
that depends upon when We laugh and at what
we laugh Ny theme this morning is the laugh
Ter of the Bible namely: Sarahs laugh. or that
of skeptcism; David's laugh, or that of spiritual
exalation; the fools laugh, or that OF sinful mer-
eiment; God laugh, or that of infinite condemna-
lion; heavens laugh, or that of eternal triumph
Scene--An Oriental tent, the occupants, old
Abraham and Sarah; perhaps wrinkled and de-
crepit. Their three guests are three angels-the
Lord Almighty one of them. In return for the
hospitality shown by the old people, God prom
Ises Sarah that she shall become the ancestress
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sarah laughs in the
face of God; she does not believe It, She ID ar
frighted at what she has done. She denies 1t. She
gays: 81 didn't laugh" Then God retorted with
an emphasis that silenced all disputation: But
thou ddst laugh" My friends, the laugh of
Hkepticism in all ages is only the echo OF Sarahs
laughter God says He will accomplish thing,
r. null RI
iude laugh at the miracles. They say they are
contrary to the laws of nature. What is law
pf nature9 1t is Gods way of doing thing
You ordinarily cross the river by the bridge
Tomorrow you change for one day, and you go
across Wallstreet ferry You made the rule
Have you not the right to change i'll l ordlna'
fily come in at chat door pointing to side en-
trance to the church). Suppose next Sabbath
should come in at the other door 1t is q habit
have. Have I not right to change my habit?
A law of nature is Gods habit-His way of do
ing things. If he makes the law, has He not the
right to change it at any time lie wants to
change it2 Alas for the folly of those who laugh
at God when he says: i will 90 a thing they
responding ''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 uni
Eersities laughs Harvard lauRhs-softly! A
great many of the learned institutions Of the
country, with long rows of professors seated on
the fence between Christianity ard infdelity,
laugh softly They say: 1--WE didn't laugh"
That was Sarah's trick. God thunders from the
heavens But thou ddst laugh"
The garden of Eden was only a fable There
never was any ark built-it was too small to
have two of every kind The pillar of fire by
night was only the Northern lights. The ten
plaques of Egypt only brilliant specimen OF
Sugglery. The sea parted because the wind
blew violently 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 destroy
Ing angel shifting the first born In Egypt, was
only cholera infantum become epidemic. The
outlet of the whale, by positive measurement,
Too small to swallow prophet. The lame, the
dumb, the blind the halt, cured by mere hui
man surgery. The resurrection of Christs
friends o1ly beautiful tabieau; Christ and La
Earus and Mary. and Martha acting their parts
we'll My friends. there is not doctrine or
statement of Gods holy word that has not been
nerided by the skepticism of the day.
take up this book of King James's transla-
tion ] consider it perfect Bible, but here are
skeptics who want it torn to pieces. And now.
with this Bible in my hand, let me tear out all
khose portions which the skepticism of the day
demands shall be torn out. What shall go frsts
b'Well," says some one in the audience, take
put all that about the creation and about the
Erst settlement of the world" Away goes Gen
esis. Now" says some one, 'take out all
that about the miraculous guidance of the child
Hren of Israel in the wilderness Away goes
audience, ''there are things in Deuteronomy and
Kings that are not fit to be read.n Away goes
Deuteronomy and Kings. Now" says some
one, 1.-The book of Job is fable that ought to
says some one. ''those passages in the New
Testament which imply the divinity of Jesus
Christ ought to come out" Away 60 the
evangelist. "Now," says some one. "the Book
of Revelation--preposter ous! 1t represents
man with the moon under his feet and sharp
sword in his hand" Away goes the Book Of
Revelation. Now there few pieces left
What shall we do with them2 ooh" says some
man in the audience, Il don't believe word in
The Bible, from one end to the other" Well. it
Is all gone. Now you have put out the last light
for the nations. Now it is the pitch darkness of
eternal midnight. How do you like it9 But /
think my friends, we had better keep the Bible
o little longer intact 1t has done pretty well
for good many years. Then there are old people
VINO find it comfort TO have it in their laps,
and children like the stories in it. Let us keep
IL for a curiosity, anyhow. If the Bible is to be
thrown out Of the school, and out of the court
room, so that men no more swear by it, and it Is
70 be put In dark corner OF the city library
the Koran on one side and the writings of Con-
Gueius on the other-then let us each one
keep copy for himself, for we might have
trouble, and we would want to be under the de-
fusion OF its consultations; and we might die, and
We would want the delusion of the exalted resi-
dence at Gods right hand which it mentions.
Oh, what an awful thing it is to laugh in Gods
face and hurl his revelation back at Him! After
awhile the day will come when they will say they
did not laugh. Then all the hypercritcisms, ali
che caricatures. and the learned sneers in the
quarterly reviews will be brought.to Judgment
and amid the rocking of everything beneath
and amid the flaming of everything above, God
will thunder: But thou didst laugh" think
the most fascinating laughter at Christianity 1
ever heard was Theodore Parkers He made the
Word of God seem ridiculous, and he laughed at
our holy religion until he came to de- and then
he said: my life has been failure-a failure
domesticsliy for | have no children; failure ,!I
pirate; a failure professionally. because know
but one minister that has adopted my senti-
ments.' For quarter of century he laughed
ct Christianity, and ever since Christianity has
been laughing at him. Now, it is mean thing
30 60 into q mans house and steal his goods but
tell You the most gigantic burglary ever in