Democratic messenger., 1894-07-21
no confidence either in their Christian
character or their morality.

no confidence either in their Christian
character or their morality.
So all merriment that springs out OF
the defects of others-caricature of n
lame foot, or n curved spine, or blind
eye. or deaf ear-will be met with the
Judgment of God. either upon you or
upon your children. Twenty years ago
l knew man who was particularly
skiilful i'll initiating the lameness of q
neighbor. Not long ago u son of the
skillful mimic had his leg amputated
for the very defect which his father had
mimickcd years before. do not say il
was Judgment of God. / leave you to
make your own inference. So all merri-
ment born of dissipation, that which
starts ut the counter of the drinking res
taurant or from the wineglass i'll the
home circle, the maudlin simper, the
meaningless joke. the saturnalian glib
berish, the paroxism of mirth about
nothing which you sometimes see i'll the
fashionable clubroom or the exquisite
parlor at IL O'Clock Mt night, are the
cracking of thorns under n pot. Such
laughter and such sin end in death
When / was lad, book came out en-
titled, "Dow Juniors Patent Sermons. "
1t made II great stir, very wide laugh,
all over the country, that book did. II
was n caricature of the Christian min-
isty, and Of the word of God. and of the
day of Judgment. Oh, we had n great
laugh! The commentary on the whole
thing is that the author of that book
died in poverty, shame, debauchery.
kicked ont of society and cursed of AL
mighty God The laughter of such men
is the echo of their own damnation.
The Laugh of the Almighty.
The next laughter that shall men
tion rs being in the Bible is the laugh
Of Gods condemnation, He that sit
tcih III the heavens shall laugh. Again,
1.-The Lord will laugh at him." Again.
IL will laugh at his calamity" With
such demonstration will God greet ev-
cry kind Of great sin and wickedness.
But men build up villainies higher and
higher. Good men almost pity God be-
cause he is so schemed against by men.
Suddenly pin drops ont Of the machin-
cry of wickedncss or a secret is revealed.
and the foundation begins to rock. Final
" the whole thing is demolished. What
is the matter? | will tell you what the
matter is. That crash of ruin is only
the rcverbcration of Gods laughter. In
the money market there are great
many good men and "a great many fraud
ulent men. A fraudulent man there
says, II mean to have my million. He
goes to work reckless of honesty, and he
gets his first 500, 900. He gets after
awhile his 5000. 900. After awhile he
gets his $500, 900. "Now, he says, i
have only one more move TO make, and
shall have my million" He gathers NJ
all his resources. He makes that one last
grand move, he fails and loses all, and
he has not enough money of his own left
to pay the cost of the car to his home.
People cannot understand this spasmod.
ic rcvulsion. Some said il was sudden
turn III Erie railway stock, or i'll West.
ern Union, or in Illinois Central; some
said one thing and some another. They
all guessed wrong. will tell you what
il was. He that sitteth i'll the heavens
laughed. a man i'll New York said hs
would be the richest man i'll the city.
He left his honest work as mechanic
and got into the city councils some way
and in 10 years stole SIS, 900, 600 from
the city government. Fifteen million
dollars! He held the legislature of the
state of New York in the grip of his
right hand. Suspicious were aroused.
The grand jury presented indictments.
The whole land stood aghast. The mar
who expected to put half the city in hi.
vest pocket goes TO Blackwell's island
goes 10 Ludlow street Jail, breaks priscr
and goes across the sen, is rearresteC
and brought back and again rcmandet
to Jail. Why: "He that sitteth i'll the
heavens laughed.
Rome was a great empire. She haf
Horace and Virgil among her poets
she had Augustus and Constantine
among her emperors. But what meal
the dcfaccd Pantheon. and the Forum
turned into n cattle market, and th'
broken walled Coliseum, and th'
architectural skeleton of her grea
aqueducts? What was that thunder
"Oh." you say, that was the roar o.
the battering rams against her walls. ,
No What was that quiver? "Oh, yoI
say. that was the tramp Of hostile
legions. No. The quiver AMI the roal
We're the outburst of omnipotent laugh
ter from the defied and insulted heay
ems. Rome defied God, and he laughed
her down. Thebes defied God, and III
laughed her down. Ninevch defied God
and he laughed her down. Babylon de
fed God. and he laughed her down
There is great difference between God'i
laugh and his smile. His smile is eter
nal bcatitude. He smiled when Davit
sang, and Miriam clapped the cymbals
and Hannah made garments for hel
son, and Paul preached, and John kin
died with apocalyptic vision, and wheI
any man has anything to do and does il
well. His smile! Why. it is the 5tl
of May. the apple orchards in full bloom
it is morning breaking on arippling sea
it is heaven at high noon. all the bell.
beating the marriage peal. But hi,
laughter-may ii never fall on us. 1t is
condemnation for our sin; il is IA wasting
away.
The Sconcrs at Truth.
We may let the satirist laugh ct us
and all our companions may laugh a
us, and we may be made the target fol
the mcrriment of earth and hell, bu
God forbid that we should ever come t.
the fulfillment of the prophecy agains
the rejectors of the truth, Il will laugl
at your calamity. But, my friends. al
of us who reject Christ and the pardon
of the gospel must come under that tire
mendous bombardment. God wants u:
all to repent. He counsels, he coaxes,
he importunes. and he dies for US. ii,
comes down out of heaven. He puts al
| the worlds sin on one shoulder, he put:
all the worlds sorrow on the Other
shoulder, and then with that Alp Oh
one side and that Himalaya on tn,
other he starts up the hill back Of Jeru