Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XI. 175
is the source of a tliousand disquiets. It is not
sufficient to go to Christ by faith ; we must take
upon us the yoke of his law and gospel, that we
may conform our lives thereto, and study his dispo-
sitions and behaviour, that we may be capable of
imitating them. In the schools of the world, some
study philosophy, others physic, law, &c. In the
school of Christ, every one must study meekness
and humility : for to these two, the whole science
of Christianity may be reduced. Meekness of
charity—calm and sedate in the midst of wrongs,
injuries, affronts, persecutions, without envy, with-
out revenge, &c. Humility of heart—remote from
all inordinate and worldly desires by which pride is
nourished, ascribing nothing to itself, and desirirn*"
nothing, ready to part with all things, to be placed
below all men, to remain in silence and oblivion, &c.
Lord, vouchsafe to teach us this science, writing it
in our hearts by thy love !
" 30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light."
How easy and sweet is it, to serve Christ even in
bearing his cross ! How hard and painful is the
slavery of the world, of sin, and of our own passions,
even with all their false pleasures ! That
satisfac-
tion, peace, and comfort, which grace gives here
below, and that which hope encourages us to expect
in heaven, make a Christian full amends for all his
pains in subduing his passions, and in opposing the
world. A yoke which Christ takes together with
us, can that be uneasy ? A burden which he bears
in us by his Spirit, can that be heavy ? Come, taste
and know by experience how sweet the Lord is, and
how worthy his yoke is to be chosen and loved !