Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-08-02

1 ''-AtS -tsoAs OF = tufFei SINE or q i1t
re or deaf ear will be met with tn,
judgments of tod either upon you OF
upon your children. Twenty years age
| knew a man who was particularly
skillful in initiating the lameness of q
nelghbor. Not long ago son or tine
skillful mimic had his leg amputated
for the very defect which his father
had mimicked years before. do not
say 1t was Judgment of God; leave
you TO make your own inference. So,
all merriment born of dissipation, that
which starts at the counter of the
drinking restaurant, or from the wine
glass in the home circle the maudlin
shipper, the meaningless joke, the
saturnalian gibberish, the paroxysn of
mlrth about nothing, which you some
times see in the fashionable club room
or the exquisite parlor at II o'clock at
night, are the cracking of thorns I'M
der pot. Such laughter and such sin
ends in death. When | was a lad, a
book came out entitled ''Dow Juniors
Patent Sermons" 1t made great stir
"a very wide laugh, all over the coun-
try, that book did. 1t was caricature
Of the Christian ministry and of the
word of God and of the day of judg-
ment. Oh. we had great laugh. 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 Almighty
God. The laughter Of such men is the
echo Of their own damnation.
The next laughter that / shall mem
tion as being in the Bible, is the laugh
Of Gods condemnation: 'He that sit
teth in the heavens shall laugh" Again:
Il will laugh at his calamity With
such demonstration will God greet
every kind of great sin and wicledness.
But men build up villainies higher and
higher Good men almost pity God, be-
cause he is so schemed against by men.
Suddenly a pin drops out of the machin-
cry of wiekedness. ora secret is revealed,
and the foundation begins to rock:
finally, the whole thing is demolished.
What is the matter? | will tell you
what the matter is. The crash Of rain
is only the reverberation of Gods laugh
ter. In the money market there are
great many good men, and a great
many fraudulent men. A fraudulent
man there says: Il mean to have my
million" He goes to work reckless OF
honesty, and he gets his first 100000
lie gets after awhile, his 100000. After
awhile he gets his 100000. Now.
he says, Il have only one more to-
make and | shall have my million" He
gathers up all his resources: he makes
that one last grand move, he fails
aud loses all, and he has not enough
money of his own left to pay the
cost of the ear to his home People
cannot understand this spaSmodic re-
vulsion. Some said it was sudden
turn in Erie railway stock. or in West.
ern Union, or in Illinois Central; some
said one thing and some another. They
all guessed wrong. | will tell you
what it was: "He that stitch in the
heavens laughed a man in New York
said he would be the richest man in
the city. He left his honest work as a
mechanic, and got into the city coun-
ellis some way, and in ten years stole |
SIS, 900. 900 from the city government |
Fifteen million dollars! He held the
legislature of the state Of New York in |
the grip of his right hand.
Suspicious were aroused. The grand |
jury presented indictments The whole
land stood aghast The man who ex.
pected to put half the city in his vest |
pocket goes to BlaclIwell's Island; goes
to Ludlow street Jail, breaks prison.
and goes across the sea; is rearrested
and brought back, and again remanded
to Jail. Whyp "He that sitteth in the
heavens laughed" Rome was great
empire; she had Horace and Virgil
among her poets; she had Augustus
and Constantine among her emper-
ors. But what means the defaced
and the Forum turned
into a cattle market, and the broken
walled coliseum, and the architect
ural skeleton of her great aqueducts?
What was that thunder? OH you
say, "that was the roar of the battering
rams against the walls" No. What
was that CULVER? "Ohl' you say, 'that
was the tramp of hostile legions." No.
Il ne QulNGT anu LllC IOdl 0Cit bhC Ohl-
burst of omnipotent laughter from the
lefied and insulted heavens. Rome de-
led God and He laughed her down.
rhebes defied God. and He laughed her
Town. Nineveh defied God, and He
aughed her down. Babylon defied God
md He laughed her down. There is a
treat difference between Gods laugh
md His smile. His smile is eternal
,eatitude. He smiled when David sang,
md Miriam clapped the cymbals, and
hannah made garments for her son,
md Paul preached, and John kindled
With apocalyptic vision, and when any
nan has anything to do and does it
veil. His smilel Why, it is the fif.
zenith of May, the apple orchards in
ull bloom; it is morning breaking on
ippling sea; it is Heaven at high noon,
II the bells beating the marriage peal.
,ut His laughter-may it never fall on
IS! It is condemnation for our sin; it
5 a wasting away. We may let the
atirist laugh at us. and we NAV be