The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-07-18

/ had Augustus and Constantine among
/ her emperors. But what mean the de-
! faced 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 batterinS
/ 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 out
| burst of cmnipOtent laughter from the
/ defied and insulted heavens. Rome de-
fed God, and He laughed her down.
! Thebes defied God, and He laughed her
| down Nineveh defied God, and He
! laughed her down. Babylon defied God,
and He laughed her down.
| 4 Laugh and "a Smile.
There is a great difference between
! Gods laugh and His smile. His smile
is eternal beatitude. He smiled when
David sang and Miriam clapped the
| cymbals, and Hannah made garments
| for her son, and Paul preached, and
John kindled with apocalyptic vision,
| and when any man has anything TO do
| and does il well. His smilei Why, it
| is the 18th of May. the apple orchards
| in fun bloom: il is morning breaking on
! a ripping sea: ii is heaven at high noon,
| all the bells beating the marriage peal.
/ u.s. 1t is a condemnation for our sin;
| Il Is a wasting away We may let the
| satirist laugh at us. and all our COM
| panions 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 fulhllment
| OF the prophesy against the rejectors of
the truth. II will laugh at your calam-
| ity."
| But. my friends. all of us who reject
| a,,I bc Of Hn 1ct
come under that tremendous lombard
| ment. God wants all 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 one side and the Hima-
| laya the other He starts up the hill
! back Of Jerusalem to achieve our saliva
ton. 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. look and live, With the crimson
veil Of My sacrifice | will cover up all
your sins. With Ny dying groan | will
swallow up all your groans. Look Live!"
| But a thousand of you turn your back
| on that. and then this voice of invitation
| turns to tone divinely omnOus, that
| sobs like a simeon through the first chap
| and We refused. I have stretched out My
right hand and no man regarded, but We
| have set at naught all My counsel and
| would none of Ny reprOof. | also will
| laugh your calamity" Oh, what
| laugh that is-a deep laugh; long, rever-
berating laugh: an overwhelming laugh
God grant we may never hear it. But in
this day of merciful visitation yield your
heart to Christ that you may spend all
your life on earth under his smile and
escape forever the thunder of the laugh
of Gods Indignation.
An Eternal Recovery.
The other laughter mentioned in the
! bible-the only one 1 shall speak offs
! heavens laughter, or the expression Of
eternal triumph. Christ said to His dis
cples, Blessed are We that weep now,
for We shall laugh" That makes me
know positively that we are not to spend
our day in heaven singing long meter
psalms The journalistic and stiff notions
of heaven that some people have would
make me miserable. l am glad TO know
that the heaven of the bible is not only
place of holy worship, but of magnificent
sociality
What" say you. will the ringing
laugh go around the circle of the saved?'
| say yes, pure laughter, cheering laugh
ter, holy laughter. Ii will be a laugh
of congratula ton. When we meet
friend who has suddenly come to a for
tune or who has got over some dire sick
ness, do we not shake hands, do we not
laugh with him? And when we get TO
heaven and see our friends there, some
of them having come up out OF great
tribulation, why we will say to one of
them, THE last time / saw you you had
been suffering for six weeks under low
intermittent fever, or TO another we will
say: You for ten years were limping
- I'LL
of complaints when we saw you last. l
congratulate you on this eternal re-
coVery."
We shall laugh. Yes, we shall con-
graduate all those who have come out
of great financial emba rraSSments in this
world because they have become million
aires in heaven. Re shall laugh. 1t shall
be a laugh of reaSsOciation. 1t is just
as natural for US to laugh when we meet
a friend we have not seen for ten years
as any thing is possible to be natural.
When we meet our friends from whom
we have been parted ten or twenty or
thirty years will il not be with infinite
congGatulation? Our perception quick
ened. our knowledge improved, we will
know each other at a flash. We will have
TO talk over all that has happened since
we have been separated, the one that
has been ten years in heaven telling us
all that has happened in the ten years or
his heavenly residence. and we telling
him in return all that has happened
during the ten years of his absence from
earth Ye shall laugh.
/ think George Whitefield and John
Wesley will have a laugh of contempt
for their earthly collisions. and Toplady
and Charles Wesley will have a laugh Of
contempt for their earthly misunder-
standings. and the two farmers, who were
in the lawsuit all their days, will have
a laugh of contempt over their earthly
disturbance about a line fence. EXemp-
ton from all annoyance. Immersion in
all gladness Ye shall augh. Christ says
so. Ye shall laugh. Yes, it will be a
laugh of triumph. OH what pleasant
thing it Will be To stand on the wall of
heaven and look down at satan. and hurl
at him defiance, and see him Gagged and
chained, and we forever free from his
clutches. Ahai Yes, it will be a laugh
of royal greeting.
A Laugh of Spiritual ExuItatiOn.
You know how the Frenchmen cheered
when Napoleon came back from Elba.
You know how the English cheered when
Wellington came back from Waterloo.
You know how Americans cheered when
Kossuth arrived from Hungary. You re-