The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-25
they do burial Now, you make the religion
Of Christ sepuchral and hearse-like and you
make it repulsiye

they do q burial Now, you make the religion
of Christ sepulchral and hearselike and you
make it repulsive
/ say, plant the rose Of Sharon along the
church walks. and columbine to Chamber over
the church wall; and have smile on the lip.
and have the mouth filled with holy laughter
There is no man in the world except the Chris
tan that has right to feel an untrammeled
glee. He is promised everything is to be for the
best here, and he is on the way to a delight
which will take all the professions with palm
branches, and all the orchestras, harped, and
cymbaed, and trumpeted. to express 'Oh,"
you say, Il have so much troubled! Have you
more trouble than Paul hadl What does he
say? ''Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor,
yet making many rich. Having nothing, yet
possessing all things" The merriest laugh L
Gods dear children. When Theodosus was put
upon the rack he suffered very great torture at
the first Somebody asked him how he endured
all that pain on the rack. He replied; when
was first put upon the rack, suffered great
deal; but very soon young man in white stood
by my side, and with soft and comfortable
handkerchief he wiped the sweat from my brow
and my pains were relieved. 1t was punish
ment for me to get from the rack, because when
the pain was all gone the angel was gone" Oh,
rejoice evermore. Zou know how 1t is in the
Army-An army in encampment If to-day news
comes that our side has had defeat It democrat
ICES all the host. But il the news comes OF vic
tory to-day and victory tomorrow, the whole
army is impassioned for the contest. Now, In
| the kingdom Of Lord Jesus Christ. report
fewer defeats; tell US the victories-victory over
| sin, and death, and hell. Rejoice evermore, and
| again say rejoice. believe there is more re-
| igon in a laugh than in groan. Anybody can
| groan, but to laugh In the midst of Punishment
| and persecution and indescribable trial. that re-
quires David Daniel, Paul. modern hero
ine.
The next laughter mentioned in the Bible that
shall speak of is the FOOLS laughter. or the ex-
preston of sinful merrimenE Solomon was
very quick at smile; when he makes compari-
son we all catch it. What is the laughter of a
fool ikea He says: sit is the cracking of thorns
under pot" The kettle is swung, bunch of
brambles is put under it, and the torch is applied
to 1t. and there is a great noise and big blaze
and splutter, and quick extinguishment then
it is darker than it was before. Fools laughter
The most miserable thing on earth Is bad mans
fun. There they are-ten men In q barroom
They have at homo wives mothers daughters
The impure Jest starts ut one corner of the bar
| room and crackle, crackle, crackle it goes all
| around In five hundred such outlaws there is
not one item of happiness They all feel be-
| meaned If they have any conscience left. Have
nothing to do with men or women who tell i'm
moral stories. have no confidence either in
their Christian character or their morality
So all merriment that springs out of the de-
fects OF others-caricature of lame foot, or a
| curved spine, or 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. knew man who was particularly
skillful in initiating the lameness of a neighbor
| Not long ago son of the skllful mimic had his
| leg amputated for the very defect which his
father had mimcked years before. I do not say
| it was judgment of God l leave you to make
| your own inference. So, all merriment born Of
dissipation, that which starts at the counters of
the drinking restaurant, or from the wine glass
III the home circle, the maudlin shipper, the
| meaningless joke. the saturnalian gibberish the
| paroxysm Of mirth about nothing that you
| sometimes see in the fashionable ciubroom or
in the exquisite parlor at IL o'clock at night,
| are the cracking of thorns under a pot
| Such laughter and such sin end in
| death. When was a lad book came out en-
| titled, 'Don Jours Patent Sermons 1t made
a great stir. very wide laugh all over the coun-
| try that book did. 1t was caricature OF the
| Christian ministry and of the word of God and
| The commentary on the whole thing Is that not
long ago the author of that book died in poverty,
shame, debauchery. kicked out of society and
cursed of Almighty God. The laughter of such
men is the echo of their own damnation.
The next laughter shall 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:
II will laugh at his calamity" With
such demonstration will God greet every kind of
great sin and wickedness. But men build up
villainies higher and higher. Good men almost
pity God because he is 80 schemed against by
men. Suddenly pin drops out of the machin-
cry Of wickedness, or a secret is revealed, and
the foundation begins 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 reverberation of Gods laughter
On Wall street there are great many good
| men. and great many fraudulent men. A
fraudulent man there says Il mean to have
my million" He goes to work reckless of hon
esty and he gets his first one hundred thousand
dollars. He gets after awhile his two hundred
thousand dollars. After awhile he gets his Ave
hundred thousand dollars "Now," he says II
have only one more move to make and shall
have million" He gathers In 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 revulson. Some
said 1t was sudden turn Ia the Erie railway
stock, or in Western Union, or in Illinois Cen
trail; some said it was Jay Gould; some said It
was one Spectator, some said 1t was another.
They all guessed wrong. / will tell you what
it was: He that stitch in the heavens"
laughed
man in New York said he would be the rich
est man in the city. He left his honest work Of
chair-making and got into the city councils some
way and in ten years stole SIS, 000, 900 from the
city government. Fifteen million doilars He
held the LEGISLATURE of the State Of New York in
the grip of his right hand. Suspicious were
aroused. The grand jury presented indictments
The whole land stood aghast. The man who ex
pected to put half the city in his vest pocket
goes to Blackwels island goes to Ludlow street
Jail, breaks prison and goes the sea, is
arrested and brought back and again remanGed
to Jail and died there. Why9 HE that stitch
in the heavens" laughed.
Rome was great empire she had Horace and
Virgil among her poets, she had Augustus and
Constantine among her emperors. But what
mean the defaced Pantheon and the forum
turned into cattle-market, and the broken
walled coliseum, and the architectural skeleton
of her great aqueduct2 What was that thunder2
"Oh." you say, ''that the roar of the bat
tering-rams against her walls" No. What
was that quiverl "Oh," you say, "that was the
tramp of hostile legions." No. The CULVER and
the roar were the outburst Of Omnipotent
laughter from the deied and insulted heavens.
Rome defed God, and He laughed her down.
Thebes defied God, and He laughed her down.
Babylon defed God. and He laughed her down.
Thara ia Craat diffaronca hatwann God'c