The Globe-republican., 1894-07-27

sob" 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 outbursts of omnipotent
laughter from the defied and insulted
heavens. Rome defied 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. There is q
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 apocalpytic vision. and
when any man has anything to do and
does it we'll. His smile! Why, it is
the 18th of May, the apple orchards in
full bloom; it is morning breaking on
a ripping sea; it is Heaven at high
noon, all the bells beating the mar
riage peal. But His laughter-mayi it
never fall on us! 1t is condemnation
for our sin; it is wasting away. We
may let the satirist laugh at us, and all
our companions may laugh at MS. and
we may be made the target for the
merriment of earth and hell: but God
forbid that we should ever come to the
fultillment of the prophecy against the
rejectors of the truth: II will laugh
at your calamity"
But, my friends. all of us who reject
Christ and the pardon of the gospel
must come under that tremendous bonn
bardment. God wants us to repent.
He counsels, He coaxes. He importunes
and He dies for us. He comes down
out of Heaven. He puts all the worlds
sins 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 Jerusalem 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 an
other long spike, and then. with His
hands spotted with His own blood, He
gesticuli IS. saying: Look! look! and
live. With the crimson veil of My sac
rifice ! will cover up all your sins; with
My dying groan L will swallow up all
your grOans Look! live" But thou
sand of you turn your back on that,
and then this voice of invitation turns
to tone divinely ominous, that sobs
like a simeon through the first chapter
o: Proverbs: Because l have called
and we refused; have stretched out
My right hand and no man regarded;
but We have set at naught all My coun-
sci, and would none of My reproof; I,
also, will laugh at your calamity"
The other laughter mentioned in the
Bible, the only one shall speak of. is
Heavens laughter, or the expression
of eternal triumph. Christ said to His
disciples: blessed are We that weep
now, for We shall laugh" That makes
me know positively that we are not to
spend our days in Heaven singing long
meter psalms. The journalistic and
stiff notions of Heaven that some peo-
pie have would make me miserable
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 viii go around the circles of
the saved?" l say, yes; pure laughter,
cheering laughter, holy laughter. 1t
will be laugh of congratulation. 1t
shall be 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 anything is possible to be
natural. When we meet our friends
from whom we have been parted for
ten, or twenty. or thirty years. will it
not be with infinite congratulations.
Our perception quickened, our knowl-
edge improved. we shall know each
other at flash. Exemption from all
annoyance. Immersion in all gladness.
Ye shall laugh. Christ says so. Yes,
it will be laugh of triumph. Oh!
what a pleasant thing it will be to
stand on the wall of Heaven and look
down at Satan. and hurl at him def
ance, and see him Gagged and chained,
and we free from his clutches.
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 Ameri-
cans cheered when Kossuth arrived
from Hungary: you remember how
Rome cheered when Pompey came back
victor over 900 cities Every cheer
was a laugh. But, oh! the mightier
greeting. the gladder greeting, when
the snow-white cavalry troop of
Heaven shall go through the Streets.
and, according to the Book of Revel-
alton. Christ. in the red coat,
the crimson coat. on a white horse,
and all the armies of Heaven following
on white horses. Oh! when we see and
hear that cavalcade. we shall cheer,
we shall laugh. Does not your heart
beat quickly at the thought of the
great jubilee upon which we are soon
to enter? pray God that when we
get through with this world and are
going out of tive may have some such
vision as the dying Christian had when