must be willing to take off that heavy burden, the yoke of sin, the yoke of the world, and allow him to put his in its place. You must fling down at his feet your pride, your drunkenness, your impurity, your avarice, your worldly mindedness. You will make no bargains with him for keeping one sin, and letting another go: this would be mere traffic; not taking him for your master: it would be endeavouring to serve two masters.

The only way of being sure that you are coming to Christ is, are you coming all to him? Are you keeping any sin to yourself? Are you keeping your favourite sin? This is the shortest and the only sure trial. If you are not surrendering that, be assured you are attempting to serve two masters,-Christ and that favourite sin, whatever it may be. The only way of trying yourself is this :-Do you allow Christ to obtain a mastery over all your vices? Do you make him the fountain of all your virtues? Do you avoid all evil for his sake? And, above all, is he the bright example that you follow? Do you take some poor human standard of excellence, and put that in the place of Christ? Or do you look to him, not only for salvation,

but for example? Is his lowly and meek humility, his pure and holy conversation, his active and benevolent charity, his mild and gentle patience, his fervent and constant piety, his spirit of mercy and forgiveness,—are these your pattern of perfection to which you seek to be conformed?

Now the last thing to be considered is, the rest which he bestows;-in what does it consist, and how does he bestow it? The two following verses contain a full explanation: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." You perceive it is in the exchange of yokes and burdens that this rest consists;-in taking off the uneasy yoke and the heavy burden, and taking in its place Christ's easy yoke and light burden: "Take my yoke."

Now, what is Christ's yoke? "He that "loveth me keepeth my commandments:" and we are told by the same apostle, "His com"mandment is not grievous;" and the reason is, because we keep his commandments from a principle of love. It is not that we wear his burden in order, like a hireling or a slave, to earn our own rest and salvation, but it is the free service of warm, and

yoke and take his

earnest, and humble gratitude; a service of love that, after doing all, makes us willing to exclaim, "We are unprofitable servants!" It is because we serve one who is meek and lowly of heart, anxious to teach us by the influence of his Spirit how to find his yoke easy and his burden light; how to find it delightful to do the will of his Father which is in Heaven, and thus to resemble our divine Master; so that, instead of being servants and slaves, we become the friends and the brethren of our Master, and find his service perfect freedom: our obedience is not the means of our procuring our rest, but is the rest itself.

The blessed Saviour always administers to those who come to him, with heart and soul, both the means of fulfilling his will and of finding it sweet, easy, and delightful. He teaches us and enables us to do it from humble love and earnest gratitude; to look to him for fresh supplies of spiritual strength; and, whenever we are weary and faint by the way, to turn aside to him, where he stands by the fountain of living waters and gives freely to all that are athirst; and then with fresh strength we raise our light burden, and go on our way

rejoicing. It is true, men choose to consider Christ as a hard task-master, and his blessed service as gloomy and severe but to these men there are two very short answers: first, that it is only to those that labour and are heavy-laden that this is addressed,-to those who feel an insupportable load upon their souls and their consciences; and to them the exchange is indeed delightful: but if these men feel themselves perfectly at their ease, if they are happy in their present state, they are very welcome to take their own ease. Secondly, that the service of Christ always proceeds from a motive of earnest and humble gratitude, or it is no service at all. It is not so many separate and detached acts of service; but it comes warm and entire from a holy and sacred affection that makes it a service of perfect freedom.

X

SERMON VI.

MATTHEW, xi. 12.

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

WE may remember that this was the answer of Christ to the Pharisees when they reproached him with admitting sinners into his society; and it would, therefore, at first appear that they did not conceive they were sinners themselves when they ventured to bring such an accusation against him. And yet this seems hardly possible: blind and self-righteous as they were, we can scarcely imagine that any man could obtain such a victory over his conscience, or bring the art of self-deception to such perfection, as to fancy that he had never sinned!

Now, to us, it must appear one of the strangest things in the world how any man could entertain the least doubt upon the subject. If a man were to tell us that he was not a sinner, we would consider it a sign-not of