Connecticut western news., 1894-07-19
THEMANWHOLAUGHS
REV. DR. TAlMA6E ON THE LAUGH
 TER OF THE BIBLE.


 amph and tho Laugh of scorn-skepti- { cism, Exultation and Triumph.
 BROOKLYN, July 15.-Eev. Dr. Tal- mage, who is now in Australia on his round the world journey, has selected Rs tho subject for his sermon through the press today Laughter, tho text linen was our mouth filed with laugh- ter, :" and Psalm ii, 1, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.
 Thirty eight times does the Bible make reference to this confguration of the features and quick expulsion of breath which we call laughter. Some times it is born of the sunshine and sometimes the midnight. Sometimes it stirs the sympathy of angels and some times the cachinnation of devils. All healthy people laugh. Whether it pleases the Lord or displeases him, that de- pends upon when we laugh and at what we laugh. My theme today is the laugh ter of the Bible-namely, Sarah laugh, or that of skepticism; David's laugh, or that of spiritual exultation; the fool laugh, or that of sinful merriment; Gods laugh, or that of infinite condem- nation; heavens laugh, or that of eter- nal triumph.
 Various Kinds of Laughter.
 Scene, an oriental tent The occu- pants, old Abraham and Sarah, per haps wrinkled and decrepit. Their three guests are three angels, the Lord Al mighty one of them. In return for the hospitality shown by the old people God promises Sarah that she shall be- come the ancestress of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sarah laughs in the face of God. She does not believe it. She is alright ed at what she has done. She denies it. She says, II did not laugh" Then God retorted with an emphasis that silenced all disputation, "But thou didst laugh. !" My friends, the laugh of skepticism in all ages is only tho echo of Sarah's laughter. God says he will accomplish a thing, and men say 1t cannot be done. A great multitude laugh at the miracles. They say they are contrary to the laws of nature. What is law of nature? It is Gods way of doing thing. You or dinarily cross river at one ferry. To- morrow you change for one day, and you go across another ferry. You made the rule. Have you not the right to change it? You ordinarily come in at that door of tho church. Suppose that next Sabbath you come in at the other door. It is habit you have. Have you not right to change your habit? A law of nature is Gods habit-his way of doing things. If he makes the law. has he not 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. II will do a thing" they responding. You can't t do it. God says that the Bible is true it is all true. Bishop Colenso laughs, Herbert Spencer laughs, Stuart Mill laughs, great German universities laugh, Harvard laughs-softly. A great many of the learned institutions, with long rows of professors seated on the fence between Christianity and infidel- ity, laugh softly. They say, "We didn t laugh ," That was Sarah's trick God thunders from the heavens. But thou didst laughi" The garden of Eden was only fable There never was any ark built, or if @t was built it was too small to have two of every kind. The pillar of fire by night was only the northern lights, the 10 plaques of Egypt only brilliant specimen of jugglery. The sea parted because the wind blew violently great while from one direction. The sun and moon did not put themselves out of the way for Joshua. Jacobs lad, der was only horizontal and picturesque clouds. The destroying angel smiting the frstborn in Egypt was only cholera in- fantum become epidemic, The gullet of the whale. by positive measurement. too small to swallow prophet. The story of the immaculate conception shock to all decency. The lame, the dumb, the blind, the halt, cured by mere hu- man surgery. The resurrection of Christ's friend only beautiful tableau, Christ and Lazarus and Mary and Mar tha acting their parts we'll. My friends, there is not 8 doctrine or statement of Gods holy word that has not been de- rided by the skepticism of the day.
 Skeptics and the Bible.
 I take up this book of King James, translation I consider it a perfect Bible, but here are skeptics who want 1t torn to pieces. And now, with this Bible in my hand, let me tear out all those DOT tions which the skepticism of this day demands shall be torn out. What shall go first? Well" says some one in the audience, take out all that about the creation and about the first settlement of the world'' Away goes Genesis
 Now" says some one, take out all that about the miraculous guidance of the children of Israel in the wilderness D Away goes Exodus. Now" says some one else in the audience, ''there are things in Deuteronomy and Kings that are not fit to be read" Away go Deu- teronomy and the Kings. 'tNow, says some one, .'the book of Job is a fable that ought to come out" Away goes the book of Job. Now" says some one, 'those passages in the New Testa- ment which imply the divinity of Jesus Christ ought to come out. Away go the evangelists Now" says some one,
 'the book of Revelation-how prepos- terousl It represents man with the moon under his feet and sharp sword in his hand" Away goes the book of Revelation. Now there are few pieces left. What shall we do with them: "Oh. says some man in the audience, II don't believe word in the Bible from one end to the other'' We'll, it is all gor4 Now you have put out the last h9l- for the nations. Now it is the pi:oh t.rk,ees of eternal midnight How do yon like it?
 But think. my friends, we had bet ter keep the Bible a little longer intact. It has done pretty we'll for good many years Then there are old people who find it a comfort to have it on their laps, and children like the stories in it. Let us keep it for curiosity anyhow. If the Bible is to be thrown out of the school and out of the courtroom, so that men no more swear by it, and it is to be put in dark corridor of the city li- brary, the Koran OH one side and the AZ e -AI~