News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1894-07-19


laps, and children like the stories in it
Let Us keep il for a curiosity anyhow.
If the Bible is TO be thrown out Of the
school and out of the courtroom, so that
Taen no more swear by it, and it is to
be put in a dark corridor of the city Ii
brary, the Koran on one side and the
writings of Confucius ON the other, then
let US each one keep a copy for himself,
for we might have trouble, and we
would want to be under the delusions of
its consultations, and we might die, and
we would want the delusion of the ex-
allied residence of Gods right hand,
which it mentions. Oh, what an awful
thing it is 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 caricatures
and all the learned sneers in the quar-
terly reviews will be brought to ludg
ment, and amid the rocking of every
thing beneath and amid the flaming Of
everything above God will thunder,
"But thou didst Taught" l think the
most fascinating Laughter at Christian
ity / ever remember was man in New
England. 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 a
failure-a failure domestically. l have
no children. A failure socially, for /
am treated in the streets like pirate
A failure professionally because know
but one minister that has adopted my
sentiments. " For quarter of CEN
fury he laughed at Christianity, and
ever since Christianity has been laugh
ing at him. Now, it is mean thing to
go into mans house and steal his
goods, but tell you the most gigantic
burglary ever invented is the proposition
to steal these treasuers of our holy re-
ligion. The meanest laughter ever ut
tered is the laugh of the skeptic.
David's Laugh.
The next laughter mentioned in the
Bible is David's laughter, or the express
sion of spiritual exultation. "Then was
our mouth filled 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-it was a demoustra-
ton that took hold of his whole physical
nature. ''Then was our mouth filled
with laughter. My friends, this world
will never be converted to God until
Christians cry less and laugh and sing
more. The horrors are poor bait. If
people are to be persuaded to adopt our
holy religion, it will be because they
have made up their minds it is happy
religion. They don't like a morbid
Christianity. know there are morbid
people who enjoy funeral. They come
early to see the friends take leave Of the
corpse, and they steal a ride to the ceme-
terry, but all healthy people enjoy a
wedding better than they do a 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 laugh
ter. There is no man in the world, ex-
cept the Christian, that has the right to
feel an untrammeled glee. He is prom
ised everything is to be for the best
here, and he is ON the way to delight
which will take all the professions with
palm branches and all the orchestras
harped and cymbaled and trumpeted to
express. "Oh," you say, 81 have so
much trouble. " Have you more trouble
than Paul had? What does he say?
"Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor,
yet making many rich. Having moth
ing, yet possessing all things" The
merriest laugh think have ever heard
has been in the sickroom of Gods dear
children. When Theodosius 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 l was first put ON the rack,
suffered great deal, but very soon a
young man in white stood by my side,
and with soft and comfortable hand
kerchief he wiped the sweat from my
brow, and my pains were relieved. 1t
was a punishment for me to get from
the rack, because when the pain was all
gone the angel was gone" Oh, rejoice
evermore! You know how it is in the
army-an army i'll encampment. If to-
day news comes that our side has had
defeat, and tomorrow another portion
of the tidings comes saying we have
had another defeat, it demoralizes all
the host. But if the news comes of vic
tory today and victory tomorrow the
whole army is impassioned for the con-
test. Now, in the kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ report fewer defeats tells
us the victories-victory over sin and
death and hell Rejoice overmore, and
again say rejoice l Relieve there is
more religion in laugh than in groan.
Anybody can groan, but to laugh III the
midst Of Punishment and persecution
and indescribable trial, that required q
David, Daniel, Paul, a modern hero
inc.
The Laugh of Fool.
The next laughter mentioned in the
Bible that shall speak of is the FOOLS
laughter, or the expression of sinful
merriment. Solomon was very quick al
simile. When he makes a comparison,
we all catch it, What is the laughter Of
a fool like? He says, "It is the crac-