How novel the connection between these two words "Learn" and "Rest."
How few of us have ever associated them--ever 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 things--Meekness 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 are 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 here and everywhere lies deep in the
nature of things.
What is the connection, then? I answer by a further question.