The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-07-19

tisnity. know there are morbid psaple WHO
enjoy a funeral. They come ear,v to AGO tho
friends take leave OF the corpse. and they steal
ride to the cemetery. hut all healthy people
enjoy wedding better than they do a hnrial.
Now. you make the religion o; Christ
sspulchral and hsarselike, and you
make II repulsive. I say plant the rose OF
Sharon along the church walks and
columbine to chamber over the church wall,
and have smile on the lip. and have the
mouth flle1 with holy laughter. There Is
no man In the world. except the Christian,
that has right to feel an untrammeled gIee
He is promised everything Is to be for the
best here. and he is on the way to delight
which VIII take all the professions with palm
branches and all tho orchestras harped and
cymbaled and trumpeted TO express. 'Ob."
you say. ~ have so much trouble" Have
you more trouble than Paul had? What does
he sayp "Sorrowful, yet ALWAYS rejoicing.
Poor, vet making many rich. Having moth
ing. yet possessing all things" The merriest
laugh think have over heard has been in
the sickroom of Gods dear children. When
Iheodosius was put upon the rack. he suf-
fered very great torture at the first.
somebody asked him how he endured all
that pain on the rack. He replied "when
l was first put on the rack. suffered great
deai, but very soon young man IN white
osOCN " my stuf, anu WITH n sOIt anu COM
Portable handkerchief he wiped the sweat
from my brow. and my pains were relieved.
IL was punishment for me 10 get from tho
rack. because when the pain was all gone
the angel was gone" Oh. rejoice evermore
You know how II is In the army--an army In
encampment. II to-day news comes that
our side has had defeat, and tomorrow
another portion OF the tidlngs comes, saw
Ing we have had another defeat. Il demoral-
lies all the host. But II the news comes Of
victory to-day and victory tomorrow the
whole army Is impassionsi for the contest.
Now, In the kingdom OF our Lord Jesus
Christ report fewer defeats tells us the vie.
tories-victory over sin and death and hell
Rejoice evermore, and again | say rejoice
believe there Is moro religion In laugh
than In n groan. Anybody can groan, but
to laugh in the midst OF banishment and
persecution and iniescribable trial, that re-
quired a David. Daniel. Paul, a modern
heroine.
The next laughter mentioned In tho Bible
that shall speak Of Ia the fools laughter. or
the expression OF sinful merriment. Solomon
was very quick at simile When no makes n
comparison, we all catch II. What is tho
laughter OF a fool like2 He says. 1T IL the
cracking OF thorns under pot" The ket-
tie Is swung. a bunch Of bramblss Is put un-
der 1t, and the torch is applied to IL. and
there Is great noise, and big blaze, and a
sputter and quick extinguishment. Then
| II Is darker than IL was before. Fools lau gh-
ter: The most miserable thing on earth is q
bad mans fun. There they are-ten mon In
q barroom. They have at home wives,
mothers, daughters. The impure Jest starts
at one corner OF the barroom, and crackle,
crackie, crackle II goes all around. In 500
such outlaws thorc Is not one item Of happ!-
ness. They all feel bemeaned II they have
any conscience left. Have nothing TO do
with men or women who tell immoral stories
have no confidence either In their Chris
tian character or their morality
SO all merrlment that springs out OF the
defects OF fothers-caricature OF lame foot,
or a curved spine. or blind eye, or denf
ear-will be met with the ju lgment OF Go !,
either upon you or upon your children.
Twenty years ago knew a man who was
particularly skillful in initiating the lame
ness OF neighbor. Not long ago son OF
the skillful mimic had his leg amputated for
the very defect which his father had
mtmlcked years before. do not say II was
Judgment OF God. leave you to make
your own inference. SO all merrlment born
OF dissipation, that which starts at the
counter OF the drinking restaurant or the
winsglass In the home circle the mauilin
eimpsr, the meaningless joke, the saturnalian
gibberish, the paroxysm OF mirth about moth
Ing which you sometimes see In the fashion
able cluhroom or the exquisite parlor IT
twelve o'clock at night, are the cracking OF
thorns under a pot. Such laughter and such
sin end In death. When was a lad, n book
came out entitled, "Dow Juniors Patent
Sermons" 1t made great stir. a very wide
.augh, oil over the country, that book did.
IL was q caricature ofthe Christian ministry
and OF the word OF God. and OF the day OF
judgment. oh, We had u great laugh, The
commentary on the whole thing Is that the
author OF that book dtsd In poverty. shame,
debau sherry, kicked out OF society and cursed
OF Almighty God. The laughter OF such
men Is the echo OF their own damnatiou.
The next laughter that shall mention as
being In the Bible is the laugi OF Goi's con-
domnation, .'Hs that sItteth in tho heavens
shall laugh" Again. "Ihe Lord will laugh
at him" Again, 81 will laugh at his calam-
ity." With such demonstration will God
greet every kind OF great sin and wicked
ness. But men build up villainies higher
and higher. Good men almost pity God be-
cause He is so scheme1 against by men,
Suddenly pin drops out OF the machinery
OF wickedness or secret Is revealed. and
tho foundation begins TO rock. Finally the
whole thing is demolished. Wnat Is the
matterp will tell you wait tho matter Is.
That crash OF ruin Is only ths rsverbsration
OF Gods laughter. In the money market
there ars great many good men and a
great many fraudulent men. fraudulent
man there says, II mean to have my mil
Hon." He goes to work reckless OF hon
esty, and be gets his Arst 800, 900 He
gets after awhile his s2O0.O0O. After awhile
no gets his S500,000. Now" hs says. II
have only one more move to make, and
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 ear to his home. People can
not understand this spasmodic reyulston.
Some said IL was sudden turn In Eric Rail-
way stock. or In Western Union, or In Illi-
nois Central some said one thing and some
another. They all guessed wrong. Iwlll
tell you what IL WIS. "He that sitteth In the
heavens laughed" A man In New York said
he would be the richest man in the city. He
left his honest work rs mechanic ani got
into the city councils some way and In ten
years stole $4,000, 900 from thu city govern
ment. Fifteen million dollars Hs held the
Legislature OF the State OF New York In the
grip OF his right hand. Suspicious vera
ha nj