Did you ever stop to
ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal
which wears it? It is just the opposite. It is to make its burden
light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the
plough would be intolerable. Worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A
yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is
AN INSTRUMENT OF MERCY.
It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle
device to make hard labor light. It is not meant to give pain, but to
save pain. And yet men speak of the yoke of Christ as if it were
slavery, and look upon those who wear it as objects of compassion. For
generations we have had homilies on "The Yoke of Christ"--some
delighting in portraying its narrow exactions; some seeking in these
exactions the marks of its divinity; others apologizing for it, and
toning it down; still others assuring us that, although it be very
bad, it is not to be compared with the positive blessings of
Christianity. How many, especially among the young, has this one
mistaken phrase driven forever away from the kingdom of God? Instead
of making Christ attractive, it makes Him out a taskmaster, narrowing
life by petty restrictions, calling for self-denial where none is
necessary, making misery a virtue under the plea that it is the yoke
of Christ, and happiness criminal because it now and then evades it.
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