News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-13
THE SUNDAY PULPIT.
RaY DR. Talmage ON Laughter.

"All healthy people laugh" said DR..
Talmage in the Brooklyn Tabernacle
Sunday morning. There are two texts
chosen, Psalms cxxiv., I'd verse: 'Then
was our mouth filled with laughter,
and Psalms IL, 4th verse: "He that sit
teth in the heavens shall laugh"
Sometimes, continued DR.. Talmage,
''it's more religious to laugh than to
groan. Anyone can groan, but it takes
a David, Paul, or a1.modern heroine to
laugh in the midst of persecution l
propose to speak of Gods laugh. 1t is
Heavens eternal triumph. 1t is an awful
thing for us to laugh back in the face of
God and say that he cannot or will not
do what He has said He would do.
Some of our universities, with long rows
of persons seated ON the fence between
Christianity and infidelity, laugh softly.
But they say they didn't laugh, and
God with awful emphasis says: But
thou didst laugh They say the mir
acles are nonsense that Jacobs ladder
was only horizontal and picturesque
clouds; the Red Sea couldn't help but
part, because there was a high wind;
shifting the first born of Egypt was only
a great case of cholera infantum; the
guIlet of whale by positive measure
ment was too small for him to have
swallowed a prophet; the resurrection
of Christ was nothing but tableaux;
Christ, Mary and Martha only played
their parts we'll"
1.-The greatest gigantic burglary" re-
sumed the preacher, ''is to take away
mans Bible, his only consolation, his
pillow in death, and to give him abso
lutely nothing as substitute. The hor-
rors make a poor bait to fish with. l
know people who are so morbid that
they actually enjoy funeral. They go
early to see the friends, and then they
actually steal ride in the coach to the
cemetry."
Dr. Talmage then defined the laugh
of fool. Solomon when asked what it
was had replied: "It is a cracking of
thorns under pot"
1.-THE most miserable thing on earth
is bad mans fun, said the preacher.
''In barroom bad joke at one end of
the room will cause 'guffaw' along tho
line of men gathered there. Men and
women are no better than their CONVEX
sation. l have heard that impure jokes
and stories are laughed at in womanly
circles. Beware of the man or woman
who laughs at impure jokes"
The laugh of Gods indignation was
then illustrated in dramatic manner by
DR.. Talmage.
"Here's a man." said he, "who is
building up his villainies. After awhile
the pin will come out of the wheel of
his wickedness. The crash of the ruin
will be but the reverberation of the
laugh of Gods indignation Wall street
is a good place. No better men are
here, and no worse men are there. A
BAD man says, want million dollars.
must have it, no matter how. He gets
$500, 600, then risks it all to gain the
other $500, 900, and loses. What's the
natter2 Oh, there's a great stir in
Eriel They all guess, and guess wron~.
He that sitteth in the heavens laughed
Years ago a chairmaker made up his
mind to get rich. He secured position
If trust in New York. In ten years he
stole fifteen millions from the city gov
,rnment. He held the Legislature of
New York in his right hand. The PEG
Die grew suspicious That man who ex-
oected to put half New York in his vest
pocket was put in Ludlow Street Jail, |
hen on Blackwell's Island. He escaped |
o Europe, was recaptured, and came
pack to die in cell. Why2 He that
itteth in the heavens laughed ~