a weariness, to others a failure, to many a tragedy, to all a struggle
and a pain. How to carry this burden of life had been the whole
world's problem. It is still the whole world's problem. And here is
Christ's solution: "Carry it as I do. Take life as I take it. Look at
it from My point of view. Interpret it upon My principles. Take My
yoke and learn of Me, and you will find it easy. For My yoke is easy,
works easily, sits right upon the shoulders, and _therefore_ My burden
is light."

There is no suggestion here that religion will absolve any man from
bearing burdens. That would be to absolve him from living, since it is
life itself that is the burden. What Christianity does propose is to
make it tolerable.

CHRIST'S YOKE

is simply His secret for the alleviation of human life, His
prescription for the best and happiest method of living. Men harness
themselves to the work and stress of the world in clumsy and unnatural
ways. The harness they put on is antiquated. A rough, ill-fitted
collar at the best, they make its strain and friction past enduring,
by placing it where the neck is most sensitive; and by mere continuous
irritation this sensitiveness increases until the whole nature is
quick and sore.

This is the origin, among other things, of a disease called
"touchiness"--a disease which, in spite of its innocent name, is one
of the gravest sources of restlessness in the world. Touchiness, when
it becomes chronic, is a morbid condition of the inward disposition.
It is self-love inflamed to the acute point; conceit, _with a