The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-07-20
no confidence either In their Christian
character or their morality.

30 all merriment that springs out OF
the defects Of 'others-oarioature of q
lame foot, or curved spine, or blind
eye, or deaf ear-will be met with tho
Judgment of God, either upon you or
upon your children. Twenty years ago
l knew q man who was particularly
skillful In initiating the lameness of a
neighbor Not long ago son of tho
skillful mimic had his leg amputated
for the very defect which his father had
mimicked years before. I do not say it
was a Judgment of God. leave you to
make your own inference. So all merri-
ment born of dissipation, that which
starts at the counter Of the drinking res
taurant or from the wineglass in tho
home circle, the maudlin shipper, 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 10 o'clock at night, arc the
cracking of thorns under pot. Such
laughter and such sin end in death.
When was a lad, book canse out On
titled, Dow Juniors Patent Sermons. Z"
1t made great stir, very wide laugh,
all over the country, that book did. 1t
was caricature Of the Christian min
isty, and Of the word of God, and of the
day of Judgment. Oh, we had a 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 the 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
1.-THE Lord will laugh at him." Again,
II will laugh at his calamity" With
such demonstration will God greet ev-
cry kind of great sin and wickedness.
But men build up villainies higher and
higher. Good men almost pity God be-
cause he is SO schemed against by men.
Suddenly pin drops out of the machin-
cry of wickedness or secret is revealed,
and the foundation begins to rock. Final
ly 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, II mean to have my million. " He
goes to work reckless Of honesty, and he
gets his first 500, 900. He gets after
awhile his 5000, 900. After awhile he
gets his $500, 900. Now, he says, Il
have only one more move to make, and
l shall have my million. )" He gathers up
all his resources He makes that one last
grand move, he fails and loses all, and
he has not enough money Of his own left
to pay the cost Of the car to his home.
People cannot understand this spasmod-
10 revulsion. 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. 1 will tell you what
1t 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 mechanic
and got into the city councils some way
and in 10 years stole $15, 600, 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 expected to put half the city in his
vest pocket goes to Blaokwells island,
goes to Ludlow street Jail, breaks prison
and goes across the sea, is rearrested
and brought back and again remanded
to Jail. Why? 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 emperors. But what mean
the defaced Pantheon, and the Forum
turned into cattle market, and the
broken walled Coliseum, and the
architectural skeleton Of her great
aqueducts? What was that thunder?
"Oh," you say, that was the roar of
the battering rams against her walls. "
No. What was that culver? "Oh," you
say, that was the tramp Of hostile
legions. !" No. The CULVER and the roar
were the outburst of omnipotent laugh
ter from the defied and insulted heav-
ems. Rome defied God, and he laughed
her down. Thebes defed God, and he
laughed her down. Nineveh defied God,
and he laughed her down. Babylon de-
fed God, and he laughed her down
There is great difference between Gods
laugh and his smile. His smile is eter-
nal beatitude. He smiled when David
sang, and Miriam clapped the cymbals,
and Hannah made garments for her
son, and Paul preached, and John kim
died with apocalyptic vision, and when
any man has anything to do and does it
we'll His smilel Why, IL is the 9th
of May, the apple orchards in full bloom;
it is morning breaking on arippling sea;
1t is heaven at high noon, all the bells
beating the marriage peal. But his
laughter-may it never fall On usl 1t is a
condemnation for our sin; it Is a wasting
away.
The Scoffers at Truth.
We may let the satirist laugh at us,
and all our companions may laugh at
us, and we may be made the target for
the merriment Of earth and hell, but
God forbid that we should ever come to
the fulfillment of the prophecy against
the rejectors of the truth, 81 will laugh
at your calamity" But, my friends, all
Of us who reject Christ and the pardoss
of the gospel must come under that ire
mendous bombardment God wants us
ell to repent. He counsels, he coaxes,
he importunes, and he dies for us. He
comes down out of heaven. He puts all
the worlds sin on one shoulder, he puts
all the worlds sorrow on the other
shoulder, and then with that Alp on
one side and that Himalaya on the
other he starts up the hill back of Jeru-
salem to achieve our salvation. He puts
the palm of his right foot on one long
spike, and he puts the palm of his left
foot ON another long spike, and then,
with his hands spotted with his own
blood, he gesticulates, saying: Look,