Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-07-16

laps, aud 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 Ii
brary, the Koran OH one side and the
writings of Confucius On the other, then
let US each one keep a copy for himself,
Cor 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 cx-
alted 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 judg
ment, and amid the rocking of every
thing beneath and amid the flaming Of
everything above God will thunder,
.'sBut thou didst laugh!'' I think the
most fascinating laugher at Christian
ity I ever remember was a 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
failure-a failure domestically. I have
no children A failure socially, for l
am treated in the streets like pirate
A failure professionally because I 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 nghter.'' 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 mere
twitch Of the lips-it was demonstra-
ton that took hold of his whole physical
nature. ''Then was our mouth filed
with laughter. - My friends, this world
will never be converted to God until
Christians cry less and laugh and sing
more The horrors are a 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 ride to the GENE
terry, but all healthy people enjoy
wedding be -0r than they do a burial.
Now, you make the religion of Christ
sepulchral and hearselike, and you
make it repulsive. I 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. ooh" you say, II have SO
much trouble" Have you more trouble
than Paul had? What does he say?
"Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor,
yet nal - many rich. Having Meth
ing, yet assessing all things The
merriest laugh I 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 OH the rack. He replied:
"When I was first put on the rack, l
suffered a 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. It
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 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 evermore, and
again say rejoice. I believe there is
more religion in laugh than in groan.
Anybody can groan, but to laugh in the
midst of Punishment and persecution
and indescribable trial, that required a
David, a Daniel, Paul, modern hero
inc.
The Laugh OF a Fool.