Here is a call to _all_--to every human being. No one is beyond the
reach of Jesus' love. The yoke is the emblem of service and service
is the price of happiness. We wear many yokes in common--the yoke of
society, the yoke of government, and the yoke of custom, not to speak of
a multitude of yokes that are individual. Wherever the Gospel has been
carried there are two yokes between which a choice must be made--the
devil's yoke and the yoke of the Master.
Let no one be deceived--if the devil would tempt the Saviour Himself,
will he not tempt you? Satan's service is alluring--it begins in
pleasure and ends in sorrow--"the dead are there!" Christ's service
begins in duty and ends in delight--"Blessed is the man who endureth
temptation." The devil's path is like a forest road at eventide; it
grows darker and darker until all is lost in the blackness of the night.
Christ's path leads from darkness into light.
"He is risen!" What inspiration in these words! Nature proclaims a life
beyond the grave, but Christ proves it by His resurrection. Nature gives
circumstantial evidence that would seem conclusive; but Christ is the
living witness whose testimony establishes beyond controversy that the
mortal can put on immortality. He comforts those who mourn; He dispels
the gloom by making death but a narrow, star-lit strip between the
companionship of yesterday and the reunion of to-morrow. Christ not only
gives us assurance of immortality but He adds the promise of His return.
As He ascended in like manner will He come again.
"And, lo, he goeth before you into Galilee." Yes, He is still going on
before--still leading, and His leadership will continue until time shall
be no more.
The growth of Christianity from its beginning on the banks of the
Jordan, until to-day, when its converts are baptized in every part of
the world, is so graphically described by Dr. Charles Edward Jefferson,
in his book entitled "Things Fundamental," that I take the liberty of
giving the following extracts:
"Christ in history! There is a fact--face it. According to the New
Testament, Jesus walked along the shores of a little sea known as
the Sea of Galilee. And there He called Peter and Andrew and James
and John and several others to be His followers, and they left all
and followed Him. After they had followed Him they revered Him, and
later on adored and worshipped Him. He left them on their faces,
each man saying, 'My Lord and my God!' All that is in the New
Testament.
"But put the New Testament away. Time passes; history widens; an
unseen Presence walks up and down the shores of a larger sea, the
sea called the Mediterranean--and this unseen Presence calls men to
follow Him ...--another twelve--and these all followed Him and cast
themselves at His feet, saying, in the words of the earlier twelve,
'My Lord and my God!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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