The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-05-06
PULPIT EDITORIALS.
Delivered by DIR. Frank Crane at Trinity
Church. Chicago, Preceding the Usual
Sermon Sunday, Mar. 13. 1898.
THE MIRTH CURE is BEST OF ALL.
ICopyright, 1881


ing upon this, very sagely remarks that
there is novelty on the side Of the
Paris enthusiastically and origin
atty, too" which animadversion goes to
show what mistakes newspaper men,
as well as common mortals, are liable
to fall into by not reading their Bible.
Some thousands of years ago a wise
Jew declared there was nothing new
under the sun, and curiously enough
1t was this same philosopher-king, Sol
ONION the Great, who antedated the
Gallo doctors by publishing this iden-
tical mirth cure, setting it down in his
book of proverbs that "a merry heart
doeth good like a medicine" 1t is pleas
ant to think that then as now there
moved about among the crowd of
troubled men those jovial twinkLng,
beamy faces that drive away the brood
ing humors of our bilious race.
But whoever originated the idea do
not care. Plagiarism has ever seemed
to me a trivial and Jealous issue; a
thought belongs to him who can use it;
a little man with borrowed big idea
is like David with Goliath's sword; aft
er all there are only about eleven, per-
haps twelve, real ideas in the world,
and since the table talk of Adam and
Eve we have been ringing the changes
upon them. A recent article in The
Bookman sneered at middle men,"
mere popularizers Of science, and exalt-
ed the original discoverers;" trash!
there are no original folk; all our minds
are but channels of the universal
thought, the main question for us to
consider being whether we shall be
clear and healthful brooks, babbling or
otherwise, or be sewers
But, to return to our mutton, con-
slider the mirth cure, whoever invented
1t, to be the best Of all cures in these
days of cures. The whole earth teens
with advertised restoratives; the land
scape blossoms with them; the bill
boards glow like Italian sunsets and the
periodicals and newspapers are reduced
to daily, weekly and monthly bulletins
Of them. We have healing by Chris
tian science, by faith by electricity
by animal magnetism, by vegetables,
animals and minerals, by pills, drinks
and boluses, by everything, including
menti-culture, magetism and just plain
mud. From the pines of Georgia to the
smart weed that springeth from the
rail fence come natures juices to suit
our every ailment. Medical schools
produce doctors as fast as hominy
comes from the mills. Why should any
one any more say he is sick when for
rs cents he can have the choice of seven
billion remedies, each Of which will pos
itively restore him to health in nine
minutes by the watch? Yet strange to
say, the more Of these sickness de-
stroyers we have the more sicknesses
we discover.
Now, the mirth cure differs radically
from all others herein, that 1t is not a
specific, but an actual catholicon. And
further 1t was invented by the ALI \
Wise Creator, and not by man. 1t will
not operate successfully, however, ur-
less taken according to directions; that
is, It must be used daily from the youth
up and one must not omit to shake well
while using. Thus administered it heals
mainly by preventing disease. 1t is an
tiseptic: the cheerful man is not liable
to take any disease unless he should
lose his false teeth laughing, and un-
derstand that not even faith can rem
edy that. 1t is germicide; bacteria turn
pale at its approach, as we learn from
the versicle:
1.-THE microbe trembles when he sees
A body cheerful and at ease"
It promotes healthy action in all the
bodily functions. 1t expands the lungs;
being in this respect better than the
Colorado climate, whittier recently a
n
months had three lungs-having mar
ried two: for had he used mirth faith
fully he might never have lost the one
and thus have had four. 1t promotes
the secretion of the bile, removing all
the yellow, envious and naughty ele-
ments out of the spirit as we'll as out
of the frame. 1t secures the deoppil-
alton Of the spleen. q do not know
what that is, but read 1t in a doctor
book and have been unable to look it
up because of pressure Of other engage
whatever 1t is, mirth VIII
do it, IT Is better than mares milk,
honey baths, buttermilk. or any lotion
or powder for the complexion, as Sol
ONION declares: "A merry heart maketh
a cheerful countenance." 1t is a great
health food, contains no mineral, keeps
well III any Cllfndte anu dBTeeS With any
1t Is a monstrous fine
digester, as the wise man further says:
He that is of a merry heart has a
continual FEAST" and the proverb
runs: Laugh and grow fat"
But the superior advantages of the
mirth cure are more illustriously mani
fest in it's salutary effect upon the
mind. No man who laughs will ever
go insane, ut least he will not make a
practice Of 1t. God gave laughter to the
only animal with an intellect on pur-
pose, that all the mental action should
thus be kept sweet and wholesome. The
Creator intended men to laugh; when
they won't laugh at all but go on with
furrowed brow Of unremitting care,
then He drives them crazy that they
may laugh all the time. Historians,
scientists and theologians with no touch
Of humor are apt to ride hobbies and
fail in true intellectual clare-obscure.
The observations of one who has not
looked at life from the opposite orbital
sides of grief and mirth arc unreliable
because Of lack Of parallax. Therefore
humor Is usually a quality In men of
sense.