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第10章

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effects; without the employment of appropriate causes。  The Great

Teacher dealt what ought to have been the final blow to this infinite

irrelevancy by a single question; 〃Do men gather grapes of thorns

or figs of thistles?〃



Why; then; did the Great Teacher not educate His followers fully?

Why did He not tell us; for example; how such a thing as Rest might

be obtained?  The answer is that HE DID。  But plainly; explicitly;

in so many words?  Yes; plainly; explicitly; in so many words。

He assigned Rest to its cause; in words with which each of us has

been familiar from his earliest childhood。



He begins; you rememberfor you at once know the passage I refer

toalmost as if Rest could be had without any cause; 〃Come unto

me;〃 He says; 〃and I will GIVE you Rest。〃



Rest; apparently; was a favor to be bestowed; men had but to

come to Him; He would give it to every applicant。  But the next

sentence takes that all back。  The qualification; indeed; is added

instantaneously。  For what the first sentence seemed to give was

next thing to an impossibility。  For how; in a literal sense; can

Rest be GIVEN?  One could no more give away Rest than he could

give away Laughter。  We speak of 〃causing〃 laughter; which we can

do; but we can not give it away。  When we speak of 〃giving〃 pain;

we know perfectly well we can not give pain away。  And when we aim

at 〃giving〃 pleasure; all that we can do is to arrange a set of

circumstances in such a way as that these shall cause pleasure。

Of course there is a sense; and a very wonderful sense; in which a

Great Personality breathes upon all who come within its influence

an abiding peace and trust。  Men can be to other men as the shadow

of a great rock in a weary land; much more Christ; much more Christ

as Perfect Man; much more still as Savior of the world。  But it

is not this of which I speak。  When Christ said He would give men

Rest; He meant simply that he would put them in the way of it。  By

no act of conveyance would or could He make over His own Rest to

them。  He could give them



His receipt



for it。  That was all。  But He would not make it for them。  For

one thing it was not in His plan to make it for them; for another

thing; men were not so planned that it could be made for them; and

for yet another thing; it was a thousand times better that they

should make it for themselves。



That this is the meaning becomes obvious from the wording of the

second sentence:  〃Learn of me; and ye shall FIND Rest。〃  Rest;

(that is to say); is not a thing that can be GIVEN; but a thing to

be ACQUIRED。  It comes not by an act; but by a process。  It is not

to be found in a happy hour; as one finds a treasure; but slowly; as

one finds knowledge。  It could indeed be no more found in a moment

than could knowledge。  A soil has to be prepared for it。  Like

a fine fruit; it will grow in one climate; and not in another; at

one altitude; and not at another。  Like all growth it will have an

orderly development and mature by slow degrees。



The nature of this slow process Christ clearly defines when He says

we are to achieve Rest by LEARNING。  〃Learn of me;〃 He says; 〃and

ye shall find rest to your souls。〃



Now consider the extraordinary



Originality of this utterance。



how novel the connection between these two words 〃Learn〃 and 〃Rest。〃

How few of us have ever associated themever thought that Rest was

a thing to be learned; ever laid ourselves out for it as we would

to learn a language; ever practised it as we would practice the

violin?  Does it not show how entirely new Christ's teaching still

is to the world; that so old and threadbare an aphorism should still

be so little known?  The last thing most of us would have thought

of would have been to associate REST with WORK。



What must one work at?  What is that which if duly learned will

find the soul of man in Rest?  Christ answers without the least

hesitation。  He specifies two thingsMeekness and Lowliness。

〃Learn of me;〃 He says; 〃for I am MEEK and LOWLY in heart。〃



Now these two things are not chosen at random。  To these

accomplishments; in a special way; Rest is attached。  Learn these;

in short; and you have already found Rest。  These as they stand

direct causes of Rest; will produce it at once; cannot but produce

it at once。  And if you think for a single moment; you will see

how this is necessarily so; for causes are never arbitrary; and

the connection between antecedent and consequent her and everywhere

lies deep in the nature of things。



What is the connection; then?  I answer by a further question。



What are the chief causes of unrest?



If you know yourself; you will answerPride; Selfishness; Ambition。

As you look back upon the past years of your life; is it not

true that its unhappiness has chiefly come from the succession of

personal mortifications and almost trivial disappointments which

the intercourse of life has brought you?  Great trials come at

lengthened intervals; and we rise to breast them; but it is the

petty friction of our every…day life with one another; the jar

of business or of work; the discord of the domestic circle; the

collapse of our ambition; the crossing of our will or the taking

down of our conceit; which make inward peace impossible。  Wounded

vanity; then; disappointed hopes; unsatisfied selfishnessthese

are the old; vulgar; universal



Sources of man's unrest。



Now it is obvious why Christ pointed out as the two chief objects

for attainment the exact opposites of these。  To meekness and

lowliness these things simply do not exist。  They cure unrest by

making it impossible。  These remedies do not trifle with surface

symptoms; they strike at once at removing causes。  The ceaseless

chagrin of a self…centered life can be removed at once by learning

meekness and lowliness of heart。  He who learns them is forever proof

against it。  He lives henceforth a charmed life。  Christianity is

a fine inoculation; a transfusion of healthy blood into an anaemic

or poisoned soul。  No fever can attack a perfectly sound body; no

fever of unrest can disturb a soul which has breathed the air or

learned the ways of Christ。



Men sigh for the wings of a dove that they may fly away and be at

Rest。  But flying away will not help us。  〃The Kingdom of God is

WITHIN YOU。〃  We aspire to the top to look for Rest; it lies at the

bottom。  Water rests only when it gets to the lowest place。  So do

men。  Hence; BE LOWLY。  The man who has no opinion of himself at

all can never be hurt if others do not acknowledge him。  Hence; BE

MEEK。  He who is without expectation cannot fret if nothing comes

to him。  It is self…evident that these things are so。  The lowly

man and the meek man are really above all other men; above all other

things。  They dominate the world because they do not care for it。

The miser does not possess gold; gold possesses him。  But the meek

possess it。  〃The meek;〃 said Christ; 〃inherit the earth。〃  They

do not buy it; they do not conquer it; but they inherit it。



There are people who go about the world looking out for slights;

and they are necessarily miserable; for they find them at every

turnespecially the imaginary ones。  One has the same pity for

such men as for the very poor。  They are the morally illiterate。

They have had no real education; for they have never learned



How to live。



Few men know how to live。  We grow up at random carrying into mature

life the merely animal methods and motives which we had as little

children。  And it does not occur to us that all this must be changed

that much of it must be reversed; that life is the finest of the

Fine Arts; that it has to be learned with life…long patience; and

that the years of our pilgrimage are all too short to master it

triumphantly。



Yet this is what Christianity is forto teach men



The art of life。



And its whole curriculum lies in one word〃Learn of me。〃  Unlike

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