The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-04-29

ed in the streets like q pirate; O failure
profession ally, because know bat one min
lister who has adopted my sentiments"
For . quarter Of . century he laughed at
Christianity, and ever since Christianity
has been laughing at him: Now, IL is
mean thing to 60 into q mans house and
steal his goods, but, I tell you, the most
gigantic burglary ever invented is the
proposition to steal these treasures Of our
holy religion. The meanest laughter ever
uttered Is the laughter of the skeptic.
The next laughter mentioned In the Bible
is David's laughter, or the laughter Of
spiritual exultation: "Then was our
mouth filed with laughter" He got very
much down sometimes, but ehere are other
chapters where four or Eve times he calls
upon the people to praise and exult. It
was not a mere twitch Of the lips, 1t was q
demonstration that took hold of his whole
physical nature. "Then was our mouth
filled with laughter" Ny friends, this
world win never be converted to God until
Christians cry less and lasgh and sing
more. The horrors are poor bait. IL peo-
pie are TO be persuaded to adopt our holy
religion, it will be because they have made
up their minds 1t is happy religion. They
don't like . morbid Christianity.
know thers are morbid people who enjoy
. funeral. They come early to see the
friends take leave of the corpse, and they
steal a ride to the cemetery; hut all reality
people enjoy a wedding better than they
do a burial. Now, you make the religion
of Christ sepulchra and hssrse-liks and
you make it repulsivs.
say, plant the rose Of Sharon along the
church walks, and eolumbine to Chamber
over the church wall; and have a 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 a right to
feel an untrsmmeled glee. He is promised
everything s to be for the best here, and
he is ON the way to q delight which will
take all the professions with palm
branches, and all the orchestras, harped
and cy inhaled and wumpted, to express.
"Oh," you say, 81 have so nuch trouble !"
Have you more trouble than Paul hadi
What does he sayf "Sorrowful, 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 at simile; when
he makes comparison We all catch it.
What is the laughter Of fool likef He
says: at is the cracking of thorns under
pot" The kettle is swung, bunch of
brambles is put under it, and the torch is
applied to it and there is a great noise and
big blaze and sputter and a 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 sre-ten men in bar
mothers, daughters. The impure jest
starts at one corner OF bar
room and crackle, crackle, crackle it goes
all around In five hundred such guffa ws
there is not one item of happiness. They
all feel bemeaned if 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 then morality.
So, all merriment that springs oat of the
defects of others-caricature of lame foot
or a curved spine of blind eye or a deaf
ear-will be met with the judgments Of
God either upon you or your children.
Twenty years ago in this city l knew a
man who was particularly skillful in imi-
tating the lameness of a neighbor. Not
long ago a son of the skillful mimic had
his leg amputated for the very defect
which his father had mimicked years be-
fore. l do not say it was a judgment of
God; l leave you TO make your own in
ference. So, all merriment born of dissipa-
nat OF at ha fars Of
the drinking restaurant, or from the W BE
glass in the home circle, the maudlin sim
per, the meaningless joke, the saturnslian
gibberish, the paroxysm OF mirth about
nothing that you sometimes see in the
fashionable club-room or in the exquisite
parlor at twelve O'Clock at night,
are the cracking of thorns under .
pot. Such laughter and such sin end in
death. When l was a lad a book came
out, entitled, don Jour's Patent Ser
mons" 1t made great stir, a very wide
laugh, all over the country, that book did.
1t was a 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, sham :, debauch-
cry, kicked out of society an / cursed of
Almighty God. The laughter of such men
is the echo of their own dam n alton.
The next laughter that | shall mention
as being in the Bible is the laugh of Gods
condemnation: "He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh" Again: "The Lord
will laugh at him." Again: ~ will laugh
at his calamity" With such demonstra-
wi nd SNff
sin and wicke1ness. But men build up
villainies higher and higher. Good men
almost pity God because He is so schemsd
against by men. Suddenly pin drops
out of the machinery of wickedness, or a
secret is revealed, and the foundation be-
gins to rock, and finally the whole thing is
demolished. What is the matter? | will
tell you what the matter is. The crash of
ruin is only the rsverberation of Gods
laughter.
On Wall street there are = great many
good men and great many fraudulent
men. A fraudulent man there SAYS II
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, ~ have only one more move to
make and shall have my million" He
gathers up all his resources; he makes
that one last grand move; he fails and
loses all, and he has not enough money
left to pay the cost of the car to his home.
People can not understand this spasmodic
revulsion. Some said it was a sudden
turn in Erie Railway stock or in Western