your
laughing at this story will be a thorn in your pillow. As you look
back upon the record of your life, no matter how many men you have
wrecked and ruined, and no matter how many women you have deceived and
deserted--all that may be forgiven you but if you recollect that you
have laughed at God's book you will see through the shadows of death,
the leering looks of fiends and the forked tongues of devils. Let me
show you how it will be. For instance it is the day of judgment. When
the man is called up by the recording secretary, or whoever does the
cross-examining, he says to his soul "Where are you from?" "I am from
the world." "Yes sir. What kind of a man were you?" "Well, I don't
like to talk about myself." "But you have to. What kind of a man were
you?" "Well, I was a good fellow; I loved my wife, I loved my children.
My home was my heaven; my fire-side was my paradise, and to sit there
and see the lights and shadows falling on the faces of those I love,
that to me was a perpetual joy. I never gave one of them a solitary
moment of pain. I don't owe a dollar in the world and I left enough to
pay my funeral expenses and keep the wolf of want from the door of the
house I loved. That is the kind of a man I am." "Did you belong to any
church?" "I did not. They were too narrow for me. They were always
expecting to be happy simply because somebody else was to be damned."

"Well, did you believe that rib story?" "What rib story--Do you mean
that Adam and Eve business? No, I did not. To tell you the God's
truth, that was a little more than I could swallow." "To hell with
him. Next. Where are you from?" "I'm from the world, too. Do you
belong to any church?" "Yes, sir, and to the Young Men's Christian
Association." "What is your business?" "Cashier in a bank." "Did you
ever run off with any money? I don't like to tell, Sir." "Well, you
have to." "Yes, Sir I did." "What kind of a bank did you have?" "A
savings bank." "How much did you run off with?" "One hundred thousand
dollars." "Did you take anything else along with you?" "Yes Sir."
"What?" "I took my neighbor's wife." "Did you have a wife and
children of your own?" "Yes, Sir." "And you deserted them?" "Oh, yes;
but such was my confidence in God that I believed he would take care of
them." "Have you heard of them since?" "No, Sir. Did you believe that
rib story?" "Ah, bless your soul, yes! I believe all of it, Sir; I
often used to be sor