St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-05-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
= Sprine-Tide Theme - "The
Laughter of the Bible"
The Various Phases of CachinnatGry In
diligence, Which are Pleasing or Dis
pleasing to the Lord According to
the Spirit Which Induces It.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in a recent
Sunday morning sermon at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle, took for his subject "The
daughter of the Bible," taking for his
texts the following:
Then was our mouth filled with laughter.
Psalms XVI, 2.
He that sitteth In the heavens shall laugh.
Psalms, ], 4.
DR.. Talmage said:
Thirty eight times does the Bible make
reference to this CONFORMATION of the fea-
lures and quick expulsion of the breath
which we call laughter. Sometimes it is
born of the sunshine and sometimes of the
midnight. Sometimes it stirs the sympa-
thies of angels and sometimes the cachin-
nation of devils. All healthy people laugh.
Whether it pleases the Lord or displeases
Him, that depends upon when we laugh
and at what we laugh. My theme this
morning is the laughter of the Bible, name
ly-Sarah's laugh, or that of skepticism;
David's laugh, or that of spiritual exulta-
sion; the fools laugh, or that of sinful
rnerriment; Gods laugh, or that of in
finite condemnation; Heavens laugh, or
that Of eternal triumph.
Scene: An oriental tent; the occupants,
old Abraham and Sarah, perhaps wrinkled
and decrepit. Their three guests are three
argels-the Lord Almighty one of them.
In return for the hospitality shown by the
old people God promises Sarah that she
shall become the aHcestress of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sarah laughs in the face ct
God; she does not believe it. She is
affrighted at what she has done. She de-
mics it. She says: 81 didn't laugh"
Then God retorted with an emphasis that
silenced all disputation: "But thou didst
laugh" My friends, the laugh of skepti-
cism in all ages is only the echo of Sarah's
laughter. God says he will accomplish
thing, and men say it can not be done. A
great multitude laugh at the miracles.
They say they are contrary to the laws of
nature. What is law of nature? 1t is
Gods way Of doing thing. You ordi-
narily cross the river by the bridge.
Tomorrow you change for one day and
you go across Wall street ferry. You
made the rule. Have you not the right to
change 1t? I ordinarily come in at that
door (pointing to side entrance of the
church,. Suppose next Sabbath should
come in at the other door? 10 is habit
have. Have not right to change my
habit? A law of nature is Gods habit
his way of doing things II he makes the
law has he not right to change it at any
time he wants to change Ii? Alas for the
folly of those who laugh at God when he
says: 81 will do thing" they respond
ing, "You can't do it,"
God says that the Bible is true-it lie all
true. Bishop Coienso laughs, Herbert
Spencer laughs, John Stuart Mill laughs,
great German universities laugh, Harvard
laughs-softly: . great many of the
long rows of professors seated on the fence
between Christianity and infidelity, laugh
softly. They say: "We didn't laugh"
That was Sarah's trick. God thunders
from the heavens: "But thou did ct
laugh"
The Garden Of Eden was only . fable.
There never was any ark built-it was too
small to have two Of every kind. The pill
tar Of. fire by night was only the Northern
lights. The ten plaques of Egypt only
brilliant specimen of jugglery. The sea
parted because the wind blew vio-
aently great while from one
direction. The sun and moon did not put
themselves out Of the way for Joshua.
Jacobs ladder was only horizontal and
picturesque clouds. The destroying angel
shifting the first born in Egypt was only
cholera infantum become epidemic. The
gullet of the whale by positive measures
nent is too small to swallow prophet. The |
lame, the dumb, the blind, the halt, cured |
by mere human surgery. The resurrection
OF Christ's friend only beautiful tablean,
Christ and Lazarus and Mary and Martha |
acting their parts well. My friends, there |
lis not doctrine or statement in Gods |
Holy Word that has not been derided by |
tie skspticism Of the day.
Oh, what an awful thing IL 10 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 hypercriticisms, all the Carl
catures and all the learned sneers in the /
quarterly reviews win be brought to judg- |
nent; and amid the rocking Of everything |
beneath and amid the flaming Of every
thing above, God will thunder: aBut thou |
didst laugh" think the most fascinating |
laughter at Christianity / ever remember
was Theodore Parker's. Hemade the word |
Of God seem ridiculous, and he laughed on
ut our holy religion until he came to die,
and then he said: 'My life has been
failures failure domestically, have no
children; failure socially, for am treat
ed in the streets like 9 pirate; . failure
because know but one min
lster who has adopted my sentiments"
For a quarter Of . century he laughed at
and ever since Christianity
has been laughing at him. Now IL IL /