The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-11

Street Christian Church. delivered an
able sermon yesterday morning or,
'tChrist's Yoke
The minister said In part:
FOR my yoke is easy and my burden
Is light 81
"Does 1t no, sound like a contradiction
IN terms, II not in fact, to say that
& a yoke Is easy and a burden is light!
& Is not yoke a symbol oftbondage and
a burden burden? Yokes were put Upon
the necks Of oxen and burdens upon
the backs of canels. and they sIgn!hed
not only the Limitation OF freedom, out
a painful tax on the endurance and
and burden light? Why, that seems
nlainly to contradict other portions OF
the teaching Of Jesus where he repre-.
sents the Christian life as being hard, II
not extremely difficult. There are no
rcseatc lines in the picture that Jesus
draws Of discipleship. He told HIS 1o,.
lowers honestly and uumistakeaoly. J,
not biuntly. the hardshps they woulo
have to endure non resistance. Tor eS-
ann,e u It easy when fellow does
you n mean turn to do him good one.
When he smites you on one cheek IS u
81 Measure to turn the other also? has
1T ever been delightful exercise 10 re-
turn good for evil. to stand abuse ana
ruling without returning the fre7 IS sen
denial easy? Is II n thing OF oeaut! any
a jov forever to sacrifice yoursell a,'u
rour cherished ambitions for the
rood OF others? Was it#a nice tn,ng
for those early Christians to be dogsed
and Swallowed by informers, to be driven
from their homes and hunted like wild
3 beasts. and to be imprisone ed stoned. ourn-
"a and crucifed All these things were TO
com. upon them as the result OF 1ai!n-
fulness to their connections as disc1ples
OF Christ. Was all that an easy YOKE a'u
HIGHT burden? :.
recognized the difficulty OF living the
(. CHRISTIAN lie, and they have skipped over
.he rough places. by eliminating Its dim
culties and making an easy religion. ne
Roman and Greek Catholic Churches
gave up the fight from the start. ana
said in effect TO their members. you oo-
serve at stated seasons few sacra-
ments and ceremonies. &c .n!ousm, wv. ~
certain external performances tnat we
nrescribe and leave the moral and spir,-
tnaI which are the hard parts and the
only essential ones. to take care OF tnem-
selves. The Protestant regulates Greek
and Roman sacraments as wortnless
mockeries and slides over hard places
and Unacceptable doctrines by empnas'z,
ing belief OF certain dogmas aoou. w
md Christ the Holy Spirit and human
nature, with the Understanding that ne
Nil, not saw too much about life and
MORALS. For the life OF selfsacrifice tnat
Jesus talked about. Catholics suostltuee
1a,th in the church and Professionals De-
lief In theology.
"Saw the Difficulty"
pon, ga " the difficulty and felt 1t. too
hut he did not meet 1t in either OF these
w.ays. He exhorted Timothy to enoure
d hardship as good soldier of Jesus
Christ and he said, furthermore thai
those who lived cody in Christ Jesus
would suffer persecution, &c. for Pau
himself he rejoiced in tribulation. be-
cause ne had arisen to those sublime
heights OF faith where sef-sacrilce De.
comes a Joy. It is no longer yoke or
a burden, but a gladstone service, be-
cause the service Of love"
II once heard distinguished minister
say In the pulpit that every step he TOOK
under the yoke OF Christ was calling &c
him. This. was sad confession OF Stud
born will, rebclious disposition and par
hal conversion for minister OF the Cos
nel, or any other Christian, to make
nut this Is the effect that an effort TO
live the Christian life would likely have
on an unregenerate man. FROM one
point OF view, 1t Is difficult, to reduce
ideal Christianity to practical reality
in the HE. What Is the programme OF
ideal Christianity? Here 1t Is: Add te
your faith courage, and to courage KNOW
edgcriand to, knowledge self-control, ant
to ,selG.control patience, and to patience
Kodliness and to goodness brotherlS
Kindness, and to brotherly kindness love
Is that easy? And, again: The fruit O.
the spirit is love. Joy, peace. long suffer
Ing, kindness. goodness faithfulness
meekncss, temperance; against such there
Is no law. Is that easy? And yet GU
Lord spoke truly, as lie always did
when He said: my yoke is easy and m!
burden Is light" Two explanations o
this passage, have been suggested: First
the burden we have to bear with Chris
is light and easy In comparison with tn
burden Christ bore for u.s. An allusos
It Is supposed. to the yoke employed y.
Hebrew farmers to harness UP thei
beasts OF burden. This yoke was heav.
at one end and light at the other SO whe
they hitchcd up strong animal and
weak one a big animal and n little one
as'they often did. the heavy end cf tn
yoke was laid upon the neck Of the bis
strong animal and the light end on IN
little weak one, as, for example, whe
the OK and the calf were yoked togethe
So in this spiritual warfare with the or
envy OF souls, the heavy end OF the yok
OF endurance and suffering WAS laid 0
Christ. and the light end on us.
u