is He that is with you than he that is against you. His grace is sufficient for you. Ask, and ye shall receive. The path is indeed narrow, yet seek, and ye shall find. The gate is indeed strait, yet strive to enter in, and it shall be opened unto you. SERMON XI. CHRIST'S YOKE EASY. MATTH. 11. 28, 29, 30. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. WE have lately been considering what is meant by striving to enter in at the strait gate. (See Luke 13. 24, and Sermon X.) And from that text we concluded that the true religion of the Gospel requires constant exertion on the part of man, both in the belief of its doctrines, and in the practice of its commands. It humours not our pride. It allows not our indolence. mortifies our passions. It cuts off our excuses. It baffles all our devices for serving It us that we are devoted to destruction, and that we can escape only by perseverance, and zeal, and fear, and trembling too, on our part, in working out our salvation. How then, it may be asked, how comes it that the "yoke" of Christ is described in the text as "easy, and his burden light?" How will they, who labour and are heavy laden, gain by coming unto Him? And what is the nature of that rest which He promises we shall find for our souls? By way of answer to these questions, I purpose now to point out some few chief particulars in which the yoke of Christ may be said to be easy, observing, as we proceed, how it comes to pass, that the difficulty of true religion, is by no means inconsistent with the rest which it will give unto our souls. I. And first observe, the words of the text are addressed to those who "labour and are heavy laden." This shews what a sad condition we are in when without religion. And the yoke of Christ, however difficult in itself, may be reckoned easy, compared with that ignorance and sin un der which man naturally labours. The words were spoken by Christ originally to the Jews, to a people who had corrupted their divine revelation, and had found it to be to them a yoke which they could not bear. (See Acts 15. 10.) But to labour, and be heavy laden, is no less truly the case of every one, Gentile as well as Jew, whose heart is uninfluenced by the spirit of the Gospel. We speak not here of those who never heard its glad tidings. However sad be their condition, it must be different from our own. Amongst ourselves then, amongst those who know the word of life, some there are who question its truth and divine obligation, men whose minds are tossed about with doubts, troubled with misgivings, who live without any comfortable hope of a future life, and who cannot be persuaded that the goodness of God has been revealed for the guidance of his creatures. Is not this to labour and be heavy laden? Is not the Gospel of Christ able to give rest unto a soul thus ill at ease? Is not his yoke easy, if we would succeed, we are bound to strive; and where if we strive not, we shall not enter in. One thing which is of very frequent occurrence, and in respect of which men are very commonly mistaken, is their attendance on the worship of God. You think it perhaps enough to attend when it is convenient, to come when you can spare time from business or pleasure; once on the Sunday, or not even thus often. But is this striving to enter in? Many of you know well, that if you were really to strive, you could attend more frequently, more regularly. Be not then deceived. The way is narrow, the gate is strait; strive to enter in, or you approach in vain. And when you are in the house of God, you find it hard to attend to the prayers, you find the discourse difficult to keep up with, you wish to have your attention engaged without any effort of your own, you would like the excitement of more novel prayers, or of a more eloquent preacher. But can you seriously think that this would be to strive? Nay it is to have all done for you, without |