The Bossier banner., 1894-08-30

aud ence, II don't believe word in
the Bible, from one end to the other"
Well, it is all gone. Now you have put
out the last light for the nations. Now
it is the pitch darkness of eternal mid
night. How do you like it?
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 mere
twitch of the lips; it was demonstra-
tion that took hold of the whole phys
ical 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 mind it is happy
religion. They don't like a morbid
Christianity. 1 know there are moral
people who enjoy a funeral. They
come early to see the friends take
| leave of the corpse; and they steal a
ride to the cemetery; but all healthy
people enjoy wedding better
than they do a burial. Now, you
take the religion of Christ
sepulchral and hearselike, and you
make it repulslve. l say, plant the
rose of Sharon along the church walks,
and columbine to Chamber over the
church wall: and have smile on your
| lip, and have the mouth filed with
T! holy laughter. There is no man in the
world, except the Christian, that has
the right to feel an untrammeled glee.
! 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 simile; when he makes comparison
we all catch it. What is laughter of a
fool like? He says: sit is the crack
] ng of thorns under pot" The ket-
tie is swung, a bunch of brambles is
put under it, and the torch is applied
to it, and there is great noise, and a
] big blaze, and sputter and
a quick extinguishment. Then it
is darker than it was be-
fore. Fools laughter. The most mis-
erable thing on earth is a bad mans
| fun. There they are-ten men in a bar
room; they have at home wives, moth
ers, daughters. The impure jest starts
at one corner of the bar room, and
crackle, cracble, crackle, it goes all
! Tn
there is not one item of happiness.
They all feel berleaned, if they have
any conscience left. Have moth
ing to do with men or women who
tell immoral stories. have no conf
dence either in their Christian char
acter or their morality. So, all merri-
ment that spring up out of the defects
of fothers-caricature of lame foot, or
a curved spine, or a blind eye, or deaf
ear-will be met with the Judgment of
God, either upon you, or upon your
children. Twenty years ago knew a
man who was particularly skillful in
initiating the ]ameness of a neighbor.
Not long ago, the son of the skillful
mimic had his leg amputated for the
very defect which his father had MIN
licked years before. l do not say il
was a judgment of God; 1 leave
you to make your own inference
The next laughter that / shall men
tion as being in the Bible, is the laugh
of Gods condemnation; 'tHe that sit
teth in the Heavens shall laugh
Again: THE Lord will laugh at him.
Again: II will laugh at his calamity.
With such demonstration will Goo
meet every kind of great sin and wick
edness. But men build up villanies
higher and higher. Good mer
almost pity God, because He j.
so schemed against by men. Sud
denly pin drops out of the
machinery of wickedness, or secre
is revealed, and the foundation begins
to rock; finally, the whole thing il
demolished. What is the matter?
will tell you what the matter is: Tha
crash of ruin is only the reverberatiol
of Gods laughter. In the money mar
let there are a great many good men
and great many fraudulent men.
, fraudulent man there says: Il meal
to have my millions" He goes to worl
reckless of honesty, and he gets hi
first one hundred thousand dollars
, He gets after awhile his two hundreI
, thousand dollars. After awhile h
[ gets his FIVE hundred thousan,
dollars. Now" he says, II hav
only one more move to make, and
, shall have my million" He gather
/ up all his resources; he makes that on
5 last grand move, he falls and loses all
} and he has not enough money of hi
) own left to pay the cost of the car t
t Lis home. People can not understan
this spasmodio revulsion. Some sal
) it was sudden turn in Erie rai1wa
: stock, or in Western Union, or in Illinoi
5 Central; some said on thing and som
/ another. They all guessed wrong.
: will tell you what it was: III
/ that sitteth in the heaven
/ laughed A man in New Yor
t said he would be the riches
7 man in the city. He left his homes
, work as a mechanic, and got into tn
t city councils some way, and in tie
{ years stole SIS, 900, 900 from the cit
: government. Fifteen million dollar
, | He held the legislature of the state