that at every point they
turned their work into horseplay and merriment. Now, laughter is a
gift of God. It is a kind of spice which the Creator has given to be
taken along with the somewhat unpalatable food of ordinary life. It is
a kind of sunshine to enliven the landscape, which is otherwise too
dull and sombre. The power of seeing the amusing side of things
immensely lightens the load of life; and he who possesses the gift of
evoking hearty and innocent mirth may be a true benefactor of his
species.[1]

But, while laughter is a gift of God, there is no other gift of His
which is more frequently abused and converted from a blessing into a
curse. When laughter is directed against sacred things and holy
persons; when it is used to belittle and degrade what is great and
reverend; when it is employed as a weapon with which to torture
weakness and cover innocence with ridicule--then, instead of being the
foam on the cup at the banquet of life, it becomes a deadly poison.
Laughter guided these soldiers in their inhuman acts; it concealed from
them the true nature of what they were doing; and it wounded Christ
more deeply than even the scourge of Pilate.

A second thing to be noticed is that it was against the kingly office
of the Redeemer that the opposition of men was directed on this
occasion. It was different on a former occasion, when He was abused at
the close of the ecclesiastical trial. Then it was His prophetic
office that was turned into ridicule: "when they had blindfolded Him,
they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, Prophesy who is it
that smote thee." Here, on the other hand, the ridicule was directed
against Him entirely on the ground of His claiming to be a king. The
soldiers considered it an absurdity and a joke that one apparently so
mean, friendless and powerless should make any such pretensions.

Many a time since then has the same derision been awakened by this
claim of Christ. He is the King of nations. But earthly kings and
statesmen have ridiculed the idea that His will and His law should
control them in their schemes and ambitions. Even where His authority
is nominally acknowledged, both aristocracies and democracies are slow
to recognise that their legislation and customs should be regulated by
His words. He is King of the Church. Andrew Melville told King James:
"There are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland; there is King James,
the head of this commonwealth, and th