The Penn's Grove record., 1894-07-20

$1,000 "AN h@AS - N1N F f
branches and all the orchestras harped and
symbaled and trumpeted to express. "Oh,'
you say. az have so much trouble" Have
you more trouble than Paul had2 What does
he say2 ~''Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
Poor, vet making many rich. Having moth
Ing, yet possessing all things" The merriest
laugh 1 think I have ever heard has been In
The sickroom OF Gods dear children. When
Theodosius was put upon the rack, he suf-
Tered very great torture at the first.
Somebody asked him how he endured all
that pain on the rack. He replied "When
| was first put OF the rack, l suffered a great
deal, but very soon a young man in white
stood by my side, and with a soft and COM
portable handkerchief he wiped the sweat
rom my brow, and my pains wers 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 in
sncampment. If to-day news comes that
our side has had a defeat, and tomorrow
another portion of the tidings comes, say
Ing we have had another defeat, It democrat
lies all the host. But if the news comes OF
victory to-day and victory tomorrow the
whole army is imprisoned for the contest.
Now, in the kingdom OF our Lord Jesus
Christ report fewer defeats tells us the vie.
~sories-victory over sin and death n hell.
Rejoice evermore, and again I say rejoice. |
believe there Is more religion in a laugh
than in a groan. Anybody can groan, but
to laugh in the midst OF Punishment and
persecution and indescrlbable trial, that re-
CURED a David, a Daniel, a Paul, a modern
heroine.
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 at smile. When he makes q
comparison, we all catch it. What is the
laughter of q fool like? He says. at is the
cracking of thorns under a pot" The kets
tie Is swung, a bunch of brambles is put un-
der it, and the torch is applied to 1t, and
there is a great noise, and a big blaze, and a
sputter and q quick extinguishment. Then
1t is darker than it was before. FOOLS laugh-
ter. The most miserable thing on earth Is q
bad mans fun. There they are-ten men In
1 barroom. They have at home wives,
mothers, daughters. The impure Jest starts
1t one corner of the barroom, and crackle.
.rackle, crackle it goes all around. In 500
,uch outlaws there is not one item of happi-
hess. They all feel bemeaned If they have
my conscience left. Have nothing to do
With men or women who tell immoral s%tories.i
, have no confidence either in their Chris
ian character or their morality. ;
So all merriment that springs out OF the
lefects Of other5-caricature Of a lame foot,
or n curved spine, or a blind eye, or a deaf
.ar-will be met with the judgment Of God,
either upon you Cor upon your children.
twenty years ago l knew a man who was
particularly skillful In initiating the lame
ness of n %neighbor. Not long ago a son OF
the skillful mimic had his leg amputated for
The very defect which his father had
nimicked years before. I do not say 1t was
/ judgment Of God. I leave you to make
FOUR own inference. So all merriment born
u dissipation, that which starts at the
OF the drinking restaurant or the
Sineglass In the home circle, the maulltn
the meaningless joke, the saturnalian
gibberish, the paroxysm OF mirth about moth
ng which you sometimes see in the fashion
lble clubroom or the exquisite parlor at
,welve o'clock at night, are the cracking OF
horns under a pot. Such laughter and such
sin end in death. When I was a lad, a book
out entitled, 'Dow juniors Patent
1t made a great stir, a very wide
augh, all over the country, that book did.
It was a caricature ofthe Christian ministry,
md of the word OF God, and OF the day oil
Judgment. oh, we had a great laugh! The
commentary on the whole thing is that the
luthor Of that book died in poverty, shame,
iebauchery, kicked out of society and cursed
II Almighty God. The laughter of such
men Is the echo OF their own d~amnation.
The next laughter that I shall mention as
being In the Bible is the laugh OF Cots con-
iemnation, "He that sitteth in the heavens
Ihall laugh" Again. "The Lord will laugh
1t him" Again, II will laugh at his calam-
ty." With such demonstration will Col
greet every kind OF great sin and wicked.
hess. But men build up v~illainies higher
higher, Good mon almost pity God be-
,ause He i5 so scheme1 against By men.
Suddenly a pin drops out OF the machinery
II wickedness or a secret Is revealed. and
foundation begins to rock. Finally thu
whole thing Is demolished. WHAT is tho
l will tell you what the matter is.
That crash of ruin Is only the reverberation
81 Gods laughter, In the money market
great many fraudulent mon. 4 fraudulent
nan there says, 81 mean to have my mil
He goes to work reckless OF hon.
ssty, and he gets his first 500, 900. H.
gets after awhile his $200, 900. After awhile
ae gets his $500, 900. 'Now," he says, "a
have only one more move to make, and !
,hall have my million" He gathers up al
grand move, he fails and loses all, and hd
has not enough money OF his " left to pay
the cost OF the ear to his home. People can
not understand this spasmodie revulsion,
some said II was a sudden turn In Erie Rail-
way stock. or In Western Union, or IN Ill.
lois Central some said one thing and somn
They all guessed wrong. l will
you what II was. "He that sltteth In the
laughed" A man In New York said
be would be the richest man in the city. He
his honest work as a mechanic and got
INTO the city councils some way and in ten
years stole S15, 000, 900 from the city govern.
nent. Fifteen million dollars! He held the
Legislature of the State of New York in the
grip Of his right hand. Suspicious were
The grand Jury presented indict.
nents. The whole land stood aghast. The
man who expected to put half the city In his
vest pocket goes to Blackwell's Island, goes
10 Ludlow street Jail, breaks prison and goes
across the sea, is rearrested and brought
hack and ngain renandei to Jail. Why
''He that stitch in the heavens laughed"
Rome wasa great empire. She had HoraN
and Virgil among her poets she had Angus.
tus and Constantine among her emperors.
But what mean the defaced Pantheon, AM
The Forum turned into a cattle market, and
the broken walled Coliseum, and the archi.
skeleton OF her great Rqueluctsi
What was that thunder? ooh" you say,
that was the oar OF the battering rams
her walls" No. What was that
"Oh," you say, "that was the tramp
nf hostile legions.' No. The culver and
The roar were the outburst OF o%nnipotcns
from the defled and insultei heav-
ans. Rome defed God, and He laughed her
down. Thebes deaed God, and He laughed
nor uOWUs NlubVeu u6leu GOu, anu no
her down. Babylon defed Col,
and He laughed her down. There is a great
difference between Gods laugh and Ills
,mile. His smile is eternal beatitudo. Ha
Jmiled when David sang, and Miriam clappeI
he cymbals, and Hannah made garments
or her son, and Paul preached, and John
Elndled with apocalyptic vision, and whsn
my mar has anything to do and does 4;
we'll. His smile! Why, 1t is the 18th OF May,
The apple orchards in full bloom ii Is NOM
ng breaking OF a ripping sea it is heaven
It high noon, all the bells beating the mar
Rage peal. Bat His laughtar-nay 1t mover
TALL on usl It is a condemnation for ouf
Iin II Is a wasting away.
We may let the ~satirist laugh at us, and
all our companions may laugh at US, and W.
may be made the target for the morrirlent
Of earth and hell, but God forbid tina We
should ever come to the fulfllment ofths
prophecy against the reiectors OF the trGth,
''I will laugh at your calamity" But, my
all OF us who reject Christ ana the
OF the gospel must come under that
bombardment. God wants US
alto repent. He ~counsels, He coaxes, He
Importunes, and He dies for us. He comes
down out OF heaven. He puts all the worlds
lin on one shoulder, He puts all the worlds
sorrow on the other shoulder, aud then with
hat Alp on one side and that Himalaya on
other He starts up the hill back OF Jeru-
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