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others, allured by the inviting prospects set before them, are discouraged at the first impediments in their way, abandon their profession in disgust, and walk no more with Christ.

Highly important then is it, that those to whom the ministry of the Gospel is entrusted, should state with clearness and precision the real nature of religion; that by no undue exaltation, or depression of its favourable or unfavourable circumstances, they either occasion disappointment or excite offence. Truth, in the present instance, as in most other cases, lies in the mean between the two extremes. Each of the representations, noticed above, contains some portion of just delineation; but each has a mixture of exaggeration and falsehood. Though Christianity exposes its followers to many trials, is it therefore a hard or an unprofitable service? The experience of every true Christian, no less than the plainest testimony of Scripture, directly contradicts this inference. Though the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness, are they therefore free from all tribulation and conflict? The same experience, the same testimony, are equally opposed to this conclusion. What then is the real fact? The Gospel of Christ undertakes to secure the happiness of its followers, notwith

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standing every difficulty which they may be summoned to encounter. It promises to bless us with peace and joy, even amidst the most afflicting dispensations. It does not propose to exempt us from trials, but it engages to make us more than conquerors by the abundant support and consolation which it admi

nisters.

Such is the view of the subject exhibited in the text. Our blessed Lord, in the preceding verses, having asserted in very memorable language his own personal and mediatorial dignity, had proclaimed that most gracious invitation, so worthy of all men to be received; Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will gwe you rest. Apprehensive, however, that the nature of his offer might be misunderstood, he immediately adds, Take my Yokeupon you, and learn of me. The rest which he promised to them did not consist in a freedom from all restraint. There was a Yoke which they must carry. There was a discipline to which they must submit. There was a burden which they must bear. How then could they find rest unto their souls? He subjoins in the text, For my Yoke is easy and my burden is light. If they were willing to become his disciples, they must carry his Yoke; but they would find by experience that it was an easy Yoke. They must bear the burden which he should lay on them; but they would find upon trial that it was a light burden.

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It is this interesting truth which I purpose to explain and illustrate. But since the limits of a single discourse will not admit of that ample discussion which the importance of the subject demands, I shall confine myself on the present occasion to the former clause of the text; and shall reserve the latter for a future consideration.

My Yoke is easy.

Christians are under the Yoke. They are not their own masters, at liberty to act as they please; to follow their own inclinations. They are the servants of Christ. What then is the Yoke which he imposes on them? It is obedience to his commandments. These commandments are in substance the same with the moral law of God. The servants of Christ, though free from the condemning power of the law, are not discharged from their obedience to the precepts of the law. Though no longer depending for acceptance with God on their own moral performances, they are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ*. They receive the law from the hands of Christ as the rule, to which all their actions, thoughts, and tempers must be conformed; as the rule, by their conformity to which their final state will be adjudged, and their future rewards proportioned. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! yea we establish the law*. The doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, far from weakening the obligations to morality, increases them tenfold. An unceasing endeavour to fulfil the whole law of God is the most unequivocal expression of love to Christ, and an indispensable evidence of an interest in his merits. If ye love me keep my commandments. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. The grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that denying, all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world†,

* Cor. ix. 21.

Such is the Yoke which Christ imposes on his followers. But is this an easy Yoke? Is • obedience to the holy law of God an easy service? On the contrary, are not all the natural inclinations of man directly opposed to the spiritual duties which it enjoins ? Do not the very expressions frequently employed in Scripture to denote the nature of Christian

* Rom. iii. 31.

† John, xiv. 15; xv. 14. Titus, ii, 11, 12.

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obedience, convey the plainest intimations of its difficulty? When we are taught by Him who knew what was in man, that compliance with his precepts would on many occasions prove as painful to us as the cutting off of a right hand, or the plucking out of a right eye; when we are directed by the same Divine Teacher and his apostles to deny ourselves, to mortify our members which are in the body, to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts ; can we doubt whether obedience to the holy law of God be a difficult service? St. Paul expressly declares, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can be*. What does experience testify? If the Yoke of Christ's commandments be an easy Yoke, why do we not uniformly find it such? Why do we not readily submit to it? Why do we complain of its severity? If conformity to the divine precepts be agreeable to our natures, whence arises that general propensity to substitute empty forms in the room of practical godliness? Whence proceeds that indisposition to spiritual exercises? Why are religious duties so often esteemed a weariness? Surely these things prove, that the service of Christ is a service offensive to our natural hearts; a ser

* Rom. viii. 7.

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