St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-19
Skepticism, Spiritual Exultation,
Sinfulness, Condemnation, Eter-
nal Triumph I'm Laughter.
Those Who Weep on Earth May Be
Comforted in the Merriment
OF Future Life.
Dr. TaImage,s sermon.


expulsion OF breath which we call laughter.
Sometimes ii is born of the sunshine, and
sometimes the midnight. Sometimes II
stirs the sympatheS of angels, and some
times the ordinations of devils. AL
healthy people laugh. Whether il pleases
the Lord, or displeases Him that depends
upon when We laugh aud atwhat we laugh.
My theme this morning is the laughter OF
the Bible, namely: SaTah's laugh. or that
OF skepticiSm. Dayids laugh. or that OF
spiritual eXultation; the FOOLS laugh, OF
that Of sinful merriment; Gods laugh, OF
that Of infinite condemnation; Heavens
laugh. or that of etenal triumph. Scene:
An Oriental tent: the occupants old
Abraham and Sarah, perhaps wrinkled
and decrepit. Their three guests are three
angels-the Lord Almighty one of them.
In return for the hospitality shown by the
old people, God promises Sarah that she
shall become the anceStreSs OF the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sarah laughs in the face of
God; she does not believe it, She is
affrighted at what she has done. She
denies it. She says: II didn't laugh. {"
Then God retorted with an emphasis that
silenced all disputation: But thou didst
laugh" My friends, the
LAUGH OF sREPTICIsM
in all ages is only the echo OF Sarah's laugh
ter. God says He will accomplish thing,
and men say It cannot be done. a great
multitude laugh at the miracles. They say
they are contrary to the laws of nature.
| What is a law of nature? 1t is Gods way
Of doing thing. You ordinarily 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 10 change it? l ordinarily come
in at that door lpOinting to side entrance
of the church.) Suppose next Sabbath l
should come in at the other door? 1t is a
habit have. Have not right to change
my habit? A law or nature is Gods habit
his way of doing things. If He makes
the law. has He not the right TO change it
at any time he wants to change it? Alas
for the folly of those who laugh at God
when he says: Il will do thing" they re-
spending, You can't do it," God saws that
the Bible is true-it is all true. Bishop
COlenso laughs; Herbert Spencer laughs;
John Stuart Mill laughs; great German uni
versities laugh; Harvard laughs-softly a
great many OF the learned institutions of
this country, with long rows of professors
seated on the fence between Christianity
and infdelity, laugh softly. They say:
1--WE didn't laugh" That was Sarah's trick
God thunders from the heavens: But thou
didst laugh" The garden OF Eden was only
fable. There never was any ark built
il was too small to have two of every kind.
The pillar OF fire by night was only
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
The ten plaques of Egypt only brilliant
specimen of jugglery. The sea parted be-
cause the wind blew violently great while
from one direction. The sun and moon did
not put themselves out of the way for
Joshua. Jacobs ladder was only horizon
tai and picturesque clouds. The DESTROYING
angel shifting the first born in Egypt was
only cholera infantum become epidemic
The gullet OF whale by positive measure
ment is too small to swallow a prophet.
The lame. tie dumb. the blind, the halt,
cured by mere human surgery. The resUS-
rection of Christ's friend only a beautiful
tableau; Christ and Lazarus and Mary and
Martha acting their part well My friends,
there is not doctrine or statement of Gods
holy word that has not been derided by the
skepticism OF the day.
On, what an awful thing it Is to laugh in
Gods face and hurl his revelations back at
HimI After awhile the day will come
when they will say they did not laugh.
Then all the hypercriticisms, all the carica-
lures and all the learned sneers in the quar-
terly reviews will be brought to judgment;
and amid the rocking
OF EVERYTHING BENEATH,
and amid the flaming Of everything above,
God will thunder: But thou didst laugh. -
j think the most fascinating laughter at
Christianity ever remember was Theodore
Parker's. He made the word of God seem
ridiculous and he laughed on at our holy
religion until he came to die, and then he
said: MY life has been failure-a fail
ure domeStically. have no children; a
failure socially. for l am treated IN the
streets like pirate; a failure profession
ally, because know but onS minister that
has adopted my sentiments. For q quarter
of a century he laughed at Christianity,
and ever since Christianity has been laugh
ing at him. Now. it is mean thing to 90
into mans house and steal his goods; but
l tell you the most gigantic burglary ever
invented is the proposition TO steal these
treasures OF your holy religion. The mean
est laughter ever uttered is the laughter of
the skeptic. The next laughter mentioned
i'm 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 there
are other chapters where for four or five
times he calls upon the people to praise and
eXult. 1t was not a mere twitch OF the lips,
il was a demonstration that took hold of
his
WHOLE PHYSICAL NATURE,
Then was oar mouth filled with laughter"
Ny friends, this world will never be con.
verted to God until Christians cry less and
laugh and sing more. The horrors are a
poor bait. III people are to be persuaded to
adopt our holy religion, il will be because
they have made mp their minds IL is a
happy religion. They don't like morbid
Christianity. l know there are morbid
people who enjoy a funeral. They come
early 20 see the friends take leave of the
corpse. and they steal ride to the ceme-
terry; but all healthy people enjoy we'd
ding better than they do burial. Now.
you make the religion of Christ sepulchral
and hearse-like and you make it repulsive.
Oh, rejoice evermOre! You know how it is
in the arIny-an army in encampment. IL
to- day news comes that our side has had a
defeat, it demOraliZes all the host. But IL
the news comes of victory to-day and vic
tory tomorrow, the whole army is impas-
stoned for the contest. Now. in the king
don of our Lord Jesus Christ report fewer
defeats; tell us the vietories-victory over
sin and death and hell. Rejoice eyermore.
and again say rejoice. believe there is
more
RELIGION IN A LAUGH
than In a gruan. Anybody can groan, but
TO laugh in the midst of Punishment and
persecution and Undesirable trial, that re-
quires David, Daniel, Paul. a modern
heroine. The next laughter mentioned in
the Bible that shall speak of Is the fools
laughter. or the expression of sinful merri-
ment. Solomon was very quick at smile;