Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-07-27
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ''Laughter"

i6lu ia luo uSdFcuS Sudll luuSu Il ottlLI
H., 4.
Thirty-eight times does the Bible make
reference to this confguration Of the fea-
lures and quick expulsion OF breath which
we call laughter. Sometimes it is born of
the sunshine and sometimes the midnight.
Sometimes il stirs the sympathy of angels
and sometimes the cachinnation of devils.
All healthy people laugh. Whether 1t
pleases the Lord or displeases Him, that de-
pends upon when we laugh and at what we
laugh My theme to-day is the laughter of
the Bible-namely, Sarah's laugh, or that of
skepticism David's laugh, or that of spirit
ual exultation the FOOLS laugh, or that of
sinful merriment; Coils laugh, that of
infinite condemnation heavens laugh, or
that of eternal triumph
Scene, an oriental tent The occupants,
old Abraham and Sarah, perhaps wrinkled
aud decrept. Their three guests are three
angels, the Lord Almighty one of them. In
return for the hospitality shown by the old
people God promises Sarah that she shalt
| become the ancestress Of the Lori Jesus
| Christ. Sarah laughs in the face of God.
! She does not believe it. She is affrighted ut
| what she has done. She denies it. She
! says, 81 did not laugh TheG God retorted
! with an emphasis that silenced all disputa-
| t!on, "But thou didst laugh" My friends,
the laugh Of skepticsm IN all ages is only
| the echo of Sarah's laughter. God says He
| will accomplish thing, and men say it can
| p
| miracles. They say they are contrary to the
! laws OF nature. What is law of naturef
| 1t IS Gods way of doing thing. You or
| d1nariIy cross n river at ono ferry. To-mor-
| row you change for one day. and you go
| across another ferry. You made the rule.
| Have you not the right to change it? You
| ordinarily come in at that door Oft the church.
| Suppose that next Sabbath you come in at
| the other door. 1t is a habit you have. Have
| you not right TO change your habit2 A
| law Of q G01'S hnt,it-HiC Of
| doing things. If He makes tho law. has He
| not a right to change it at any time He wants
! to changeit?
Alas for the folly of those who laugh at
God when He says, II will do thing"
| they responding. ''You can't do it." God
says that the Bible is true-it is all true.
! Bishop Colenso laughs, Herbert Spencer
! laughs, Stuart Mill laughs, great German
universities laugh, Harvard laughs-Softly.
! A great many of the learned institutions,
with long rows Of professors seated on the
fence between Christianity and inftdelity,
| laugh softly. They say, "We didn't laugh"
| That was Sarah's trick. God thunders from
| the heavens, ''But thou didst laugh - The
| garden of Eden was only fable. There
| never was any ark built, or If it was built it
| was too small to have two of every kind.
| The pillar of fire by night was only the
northern lights the ten plaques of Egypt
| only brilliant specimen of juSgtery. The
| 6oa parted because the wind blew violently a
and moon did not put themselves out of the
| way for Joshua. Jacobs ladder was only
! horizontal AMI picturesque clouds. The de-
| stroyinS angel shifting the 1irstborn in
| Egypt was only cholera infantum become
| epiderlir. The gullet of the whale, by
| positive measurement too small to swallow
| u prophet. The story Of the immaculate
| conception shock to all decency. The
lame, the dumb. the blind the halt, curei
by mere human surgery. The resurrection
| Of Christ'S friend only beautiful tableau,
Christ and Lazarus and Mary and Martha
acting their parts well. My friends, there
Is not doctrine or statement OS Gods holy
word that has not been derided by the
! skepticsm of the day.
take up this book of King Jamess trans
lation. [ consider it a perfect Bible, but
| here are skeptics who want it torn to pieces.
| And now, with this BibiO in my hand, let
me tear out all those portions which the
| 5kepticism OF this day demands shall be torn
out. What shall go first? "Well," says some
one in the audience, ''take out all that about
the creation and about the first settlement
| Of the world" Away goes Genesis. Now"
! says some one, take out all that about the
| miraculous guidance OF the children OF Israel
IN tho wilderness" Away goes Exodus.
| "NOW," saws some one else in the aulience,
'tner3 are things in Deuteronomy ant
Kings that are not fit to be read" Away go
! Deuteronomy and the Kings. Now" says
| some one, ''the book of Job is IL fable that
ought 20 come out" Away goes the book of
| job Now" saws some one ''thOse pass-
| ages in th8 New Testament which imply the
divinity of Jesus Christ ought to come out"
Away 90 the Evangelists. "NOw," says
some one. "the book of Revelation-how
prepoSterous. 1t represents q mnn with ths
moon under his feet and sharp sword il
his hand" Away goes the book of Revela-
ton. Now there are a few pieces left What
shalt we do with them? "Oh," says ome
man in the audience, ~ don't believe q
word i'll the Bible from one end to the 9TH
| cr. Well. it is ali gone. Now you have
put out the last light for the nations. Now
il is the pitch darkness of eternal midnight.
How do you like it?
But l think, my friends, we had better
keep the Bible little longer intact It has
done pretty we'll for good many years
Then there are Old people who find it a com.
fort to have 1t on their laps, and children
like the stories in 1t. Let US keep It for q
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 1t is to be put in dark corridor Of the
city library, the Koran on one side and the
writings OF COnfucius on the other, then let
us each one keep copy for himself for 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
dolusiOn of the exalted residence OF GoIs
right hand, which it mentions. Oh, what an
awful thing 1t 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 ali the hyper
criticisms, all the caricatures and ali the
learned sneers in the quarterly reviews will
be brought to judgment, and amid the rock
| ing OF everything beneath and amid the
flaming OF everything above God will thun-
der, But thou didst laugh" !" l think the
most fascinating laughter at Christianity
ever remember was man in New England
| He made the word n Cod VII
and he laughed on at our holy religion unit
he came to die, and then he said: 'iIy life
has been q faiiure-a failure domesticaIIv
l have no children. A failure socially, for
am treated in the streets like a pirate. 4
failure professionally because know but on,
minister that has adopted my sentiments
For quarter OF century he laughed a
Christianity, and ever since Christianity ha
been laughing at him. Now, it is a meal
thing to go into mans house and steal hi
goods, tut | tell you the most gigantic bur
glary evei invented is the proposition t
steal these treasurerS of our holy religion
The meanest laughter ever uttered is tn
laugh of the skeptic.
The next laughter mentioned in the Bibl
Is David S laughter, or tho expression q
spiritual eXutation. ''Then was our moutl
filled with laughter" He got very muc
down sometimes, but there are other chap
ters where for four or five times he calls upo
| the people to praise and exult 1t was not
mere twitch of the lips-it was a demonstra
tion that took hold OF his whole physical ma
ture. 'Then was our mouth filed will
laughter" My friends, this world will neve
be converted TO God until Christians cry les
and laugh aud sing more. The horrors ar
poor bait. If people are to be pers suade
to adopt our holy religion, it will be becaus
they have made up their minds it is happ
religion. They don't like a morbid Chris
tian,ty. know there are morbid people VIII
ENJOY funeral. They come early to seeth
friends take leave of the corpse, andtheyste
{ ride to the cemetery. but all healthy peopl
. enjoy Il welding better than they do a buria
Now. you make the religion of Chris
s@pu!chral and hearselke, and yo
make it repulsive. say plant the rose {
Sharon along the church walks an
co'umbine to Chamber over the church wal
and hnNa q smiln on the lin and have Ii