The Laugh of Faith
by C. T. Studd

Faith has a large family–Laughter is another of his children. The laugh of Faith is a merry child brightening every heart and home that entertains his parent.

There are two children bearing the name of "Laughter," but born of different parents, and wholly unrelated.

The one is the child of Faith, the other the child of Doubt.

The one is the laugh of Joy, the other the laugh of Scorn.

The one is the child of God, but the other that of the Devil.

Abraham laughed the laugh of Faith, but Sarah the laugh of Doubt, but, experiencing a sudden conversion, she later produced and enjoyed the fruit of Faith, bearing a child, and calling him "Laughter" (Isaac).

The wise woman of Proverbs laughed at "the times to come," having faith in God, and so in the good times coming.

The minstrels of Jairus laughed the laugh of scorn, doubting the Son of God, and were promptly turned out of the house, thus losing the presence of Jesus Christ and the wonderful sight of a resurrection from the dead. The Athenians laughed the laugh of doubt on hearing of the Resurrection of Christ, and so lost the Apostle Paul and their best chance of Salvation.

The laugh of Faith abides forever, but the laugh of doubt or scorn dies of fear and shame at the Judgment Day or at the Throne of God, if not before.

Faith is a Microscope revealing the things of earth as they really are, and not as they seem to be; a Telescope magnifying the things of God and Heaven; an Eye Specialist giving sight to the blind: aye! and Faith is the greatest Humorist alive, the Drollest of the Droll; he would conjure a laugh out of an Egyptian mummy, could he only get inside.

–From The Laugh of Faith