The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-07-18

swear by it, and It is to be put in a dark
corridor of the city library, the Koran
on one side and the writings of Confu-
cius on the other, then let us each one
keep a copy for himself, for we might
have trouble, and we would want to be
under the delusions of its consultations;
and we might die, and we would want
the delusion Of the exalted residence
of Gods right hand, which it mentions.
o, what an awful thing it is to laugh in
Gods face, and hurl His revelation
back at Himl After awhile the day
will come when they will say they did
not laugh. Then all the hypercriti-
cisms. all the caricatures, and all the
learned sneers in the Quarterly Review,
will be brought to judgment; and amid
the rocking of everything beneath,
and amid the flaming of every
thing above, God will thunder: But
thou didst laugh" l think the most
fascinating laughter at Christianity |
ever remember was man in New En-
gland. He made the Word of God seem
ridiculous, and he laughed at our holy
religion until he came to die, and then
he said: MY life has been failure-a
failure domestically; | have no chill
dren; failure socially, for am treated
in the streets like pirate; failure
professionally, because | know but one
minister that has adopted my senti-
ments.' For quarter of n century he
laughed at Christianity; and ever since
Christianity has been laughing at him.
Now, it is n mean thing to go into
mans house and steal his goods; but |
| tell yol the most gigantic burglary ever
| invented is the proposition to steal
these treasures of our holy religion.
The meancst laughter ever uttered is
the laugh of the sceptic.
The next laughter mentioned in the
Bible is Davids laughter, or the express
sion of spiritual exultation. "Then was
our mouth filed with laughter" He
got very much down sometimes; but
there are other chapters where for four
or five times he calls upon the people
to praise and exult. 1t was not mere
twitch of the lips; it was a demonstra-
tion that took hold of his whole physi-
cal nature. "Then was our mouth
filled with laughter" My friends, this
world will never be converted to God
until Christians cry less, and laugh
and sing more. The horrors are poor
bait. If people are to be persuaded to
adopt our holy religion, it will be be-
cause they have made up their minds it
is happy religion. They don't like a
morbid Christianity. know there are
morbid people who enjoy funeral.
They come early to see the friends
take leave of the corpse; and they steal
a ride 10 the cemetery; but all healthy
people enjoy wedding better than
they do burial. Now, you make the
religion of Christ sepulchral and
hearse-lilie, and you make it repulsive
/ say, plant the rose of Sharon along
the church walks, and columbine to
Chamber over the church wall, and have
a smile on the lip, and have the mouth
filed with holy laughter. There is no
man in the world except the Christian
that has a right to feel an untrammeled
glee. He is promised everything is to be
for the best here, and he is on the way
to delight, which will take all the
professions with palm branches, and
all the orchestras harped, and GYM
balled and trumpeted TO express. "O,"
you say, 81 have so much trouble" 4"
Have you more trouble than Paul had2
What does he say? ''Sorrowful. yet
always rejoicing. Poor, yet making
many rich. Having nothing, yet pos
sessing all things" The merriest laugh
think ever heard has been in the
sick room of Gods dear children. When
Theodosius was put upon the rack, he
suffered very great torture at the first.
Somebody asked him how he endured
all that pain on the rack. He replied:
"When was first put on the rack
suffered great deal; but very soon n
young man in white stood by my
side, and with "a soft and COM
Portable handkerchief he wiped the
sweat from my brow, and my pains
were relieved; it was punishment
for me to get from the rack, because
when the pain was all gone, the angel
was gone" o, rejoice evermore! You
know how IL is in the army-an army in
encampment. If to-day news comes
that our side has had defeat, and to-
morrow another portion Of the tidings
comes saying we have had another de-
feat, it demoralizes all the host. But
II the news comes Of victory to-day and
victory tomorrow, the whole army is
impassioned for the contest. Now, in
the kingdom Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
report fewer defeats; tell us the vic
tories-victory over sin and death and
hell Rejoice evermore, and again I
say rejoice. believe there is more re-
ligion in a laugh than in a groan.
Anybody can groan; but to laugh in
the midst of Punishment, and persecu-
tion and indescribable trial, that re-
quired David, 4 Daniel, Paul, a
modern heroine.
The next laughter mentioned In the
Bible that shall speak of is the fools
laughter, or the expression Of sinful
merriment Solomon was very quick
at simile; when he makes comparison
we all catch IL. What is the laughter
Of fool like? He says: at is the
cracking Of thorns under pot" The
kettle is swung, bunch of brambles is
put under II, and the torch is applied
to it, and there is great noise, and a
big blaze, and sputter, and quick
extinguishment Then it is darker
than 1t was before. Fools laughter.
The most miserable thing on earth is a