Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-07-20
The Laugh of n Fool.

The next laughter mentioned III lho
Bible that I shall speak of is the fool
laughter, or the expression OF sinful
merriment. Solomon was very quick at
smile When he makes a comparison,
we all catch it. What is the laughter OF
a fool like? He says, 1T is the crac-
king of thorns under a pot. " The kettle
is swung, bunch Of brambles is put
under it. and the torch is applied to it,
and there is a great noise, and big
blaze. and sputter, and quick extin-
enlistment. Then it is darker than 1t
was before. FOOLS laughter. The most
miserable thing on earth is bad man S
fun. There they are--l0 men in bar
room. They have at home wives, moth
ers. daughters. The impure Jest starts
at one corner of the barroom, and crac-
kle. crackle, crackle it goes all around
In 500 such outlaws there is not one
item Of happiness. They all feel be-
meaned if they have any conscience
left. Have nothing to do with men or
women who tell immoral stories | have
no confidence either in their Christian
character or their morality.
So all merriment that springs out Of
the defects of Others-caricature Of a
lame foot, or o curved spine, or blind
eve. or a deaf ear-will be met with the
Judgment Of God, either upon you or
upon your children. Twenty years ago
1 knew a man who was particularly
skillful in initiating the lameness Of q
neighbor. Not long ago a son OF the
skillful mimic had his leg amputated
for the very defect which his father had
mimicIed years before. do not say it
was a Judgment of God. l leave you to
make your own inference. So all merTi'
ment born Of dissipation, that which
starts at the counter Of the drinking res
taurant or from the wineglass In the
homo circle, the maudlin simper, the
meaningless Joke, the saturnalian glib
berish. the paroxism Of mirth about
nothing which you sometimes see in the
fashionable clubrOom or the exquisite
parlor at - o'clock at night, are the
cracking Of thorns under pot Such
laughter and such sin end in death.
When / was a lad, a book came out en-
titled, "Dow Juniors Patent Sermons "
It made a great stir, very wide laugh,
all over the country, that book did II
was a caricature Of the Christian min
isty. and of the word Of God, and Of the
day of Judgment Oh, we had great
taught The commentary ON the whole
thing is that the author Of that book
died in poverty, shame, debauchery,
kicked out of society and cursed Of Al
mighty God The laughter Of such men
is the echo of their own damnation-
The Laugh of tho Almighty.
The next laughter that ! shall men
ton as being in the Bible is the laugh
of Gods condemnation, HE that sit
teth in the heavens shall laugh" Again,
"The Lord will laugh at him. " Again,
81 will laugh at his calamity" With
such demonstration will God greet ev-
cry kind of great sin and wickednesa
But men build up villainies higher and
higher. Good men almost pity God be-
cause he is 80 schemed against by men.
Suddenly pin drops out Of the machin'
cry Of wickedness or a secret Is revealed,
and the foundation begins to rock Final
" the whole thing is demolished What
is the matter? l will tell you what the
matter is. That crash Of ruin Is only
the reverberation Of Gods laughter. In
the money market there are . great
many good men and great many fraud,
ulent men. A fraudulent man there
says, IT mean to have my million. :" He
goes to work reckless Of honesty, and he
gets his first 800, 600. He gets after
awhile his $780, 900. After awhile he
gets hi. $500, 900. Now he srys' !