The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-04-30

professionally, because know bat one min-
lister who has adopted ny seatiments.' y
For Z quarter Of . century he laughed at
Chrstianity, and ever since Christianity
has been laughing st him. Now, Il ID
. mean thing to 90 into mans hose aad
steal his goods, but, I tell you, the most
gigantic burglary ever invented Il the
proposition to steal these treasures Of our
holy religion. The heanest laughter ever
uttered IL the laughter Of the skeptie.
The next laughter mentioned in the Bibls
II David's laughter, Or the laughter 81
spiritual oxidation: "Then was our
mouth hlled with laughter" He got very
much down sometimes, but there are other
chapters where four o. i've times he ealls
upon the people TO praise and exult. Il
was not . mere twitch Of Tie lips, Il was .
demonstration that took hold of his whole
physical nature. "Then was our mouth
filled with laughter" Ny friends, this
world will never be converted to God until
Christians cry Lees and laugh and sing
more. The horrors are poor bait. II peo-
pie are TO BE- persuaded to adopt our holy
religion, 1t will be because they have made
up their minds II h happy religion They
don't like . morbid Christianity. I
know thefs ere morbid people who enjoy
. funeral. They come early to see the
friends take leave Of the corpse, and they
steal . ride t. the cemetery; but an healthy
people enjoy . wedding better than they
do q burial. Now, you make the religion
Of Christ sepulehral and hearss-like and
YOU make it repulsiye.
Isay, plant the rose Of Sharon along the
church walks, and eolumbine to Chamber
over the church wall; and have q smile on
the lip, and have the mouth filed with
holy water. There is NO man in the wor Id
except the Christian that has q right to
feel an untrsmmeled glse. He il promised
everything Il to he for the best ere, and
he is on the way to . delight which will
take an the professions with palm
branches, and all the orchestras, harped
and cy inhaled and trumpted, to express.
"Oh," you say, 81 have so Much trouble ?"
Have you more trouble than Paul had:
What does he say! aSorrowful, yet al
ways rejoicing. Poor, yet making many
rich. Having nothing, yet possessing all
things"
The next laughter mentioned in the Bible
that shall speak of, Is the fools laughter,
or the expression of sinful merriment.
Solomon was very quick ct simile; when
he makes . comparison We All catch it.
What is the laughter Of . fool like: He
says: ut is the cracking Of thorns under
pot" The kettle is swung, a bunch of
brambles is put under it, and the torch is
applied to it and there is great noise and
q big blaze and a sputter and q quick ex.
tinguishment; then it is darker than it was
before. FOOLS laughter. The most mis-
cradle thing on earth is . bad mans fun.
There they are-ten men In . bar
room; they have at home wives,
mothers, daughters. The impure jest
starts at one corner Of bar
room and crackle, crackle, cfackis it goes
all around. In five hundred such guffa VS.
there is not one item Of happiness. They
all feel bemeaned II they have any con-
science left. Have nothing to do with men
or women who tell immoral stories. have
no confidence either in their Christian
character or their morality.
So, all merriment that springs out of the
defects Of others-caricature of lame foot
or . curved spine of blind eye or . deaf
ear-will be met with the judgments Of
God either upon you or your children.
Twenty years ago in this city knew .
man who was particularly skillful in imi-
Eating the lameRsss Of q neighbor. Not
long ago son Of the skillful mimic had
his leg amputsted for the very defect
which his father had mimicked years be.
fore. do not say it was a judgment Of
God; leave you 10 make your own in
ference. So, all merriment horn Of dissipa =
tion, that which starts at the counters of
the drinking restaurant, or from the wine
glass in the home circle, the maudlin SIM
per, the meaningless joke, the saturnalian
gibberish, the paroxysm Of mirth about
nothing that you sometimes see in the
fashionable club-roow or in the exquisite
parlor at twelve O'Clock at night,
are the cracking Of thorRs under .
pot. Such laughter aad such sin end in
death. When was lad q book came
out, entitled, "Don Jeur's Patent Ser
MONS" It made great stir, a very wide
laugh, all over the country, that book did.
1t was q caricature Of the Christian minis.
try, and Of the word of God and of the
Day Of Judgment. Oh, We had . great
laugh! The commentary on the whole
thing is that not long ago the author Of
that book died in poverty, shame, debauch-
cry, kicked out Of society and cursed Of
God. The laughter Of such men
is the echo of their own dam nation.
The next laughter that shah mention
as being in the Bible is the laugh Of Gods
condemnation: ''He that stitch in the
heavens shall laugh" Again: ''The Lord
will laugh at him." Again: ~ viii laugh
at his calamity" With such demonstra-
tion will God greet every kind Of great
sin and wickednsss. But men build UP
viliainies higher and higher. Good mon
almost pity God because He is 80 schemed
against by men. Suddenly pin drops
out Of the machinery of wickedness, or .
secret Il revealed, and the foundation be-
gins to rock, and finally the whole thing Is
What is the natter will
tell you what the matter il. The crash OF
ruin il only the rsverberation OF Gods
laughter.
On Wall street there arc . great many
good men AID q great many fraudulent
men. A fraudulent man there SAYS: IL
mean to have my million" He goes to
work, reckless Of honesty, and he gets his
first one hundred thousand dollars. He
gets after awhile his two hundred thou.
sand dollars. After awhile he gets his
five hundred thousand dollars. "Now,"
he says, 81 have only ono more move to
make and shah have my million" He
that one last grand move; he fails and
loses all, and he has not enough money
left to pay the cost Of the ear to his home.
People can not understand this spasmOdic
revulsion. Some said Il was . sudden