Merchants in the East carried their riches on the shoulders of young
asses (Isa. xxx. 6), and it is added in verse 24 that young asses and
oxen were yoked together in tilling the ground. But the chief service
rendered by the young ass was its frequent use in riding. In the Book
of Judges we read of one judge who had "forty sons and thirty sons' sons
that rode on threescore and ten ass colts, and he judged Israel eight
years." Both in merchandise, in agriculture, and in riding, the ass's
colt was a most useful animal.
And this is the test which must be applied to a boy's pleasures. He
must not allow them to interfere with his usefulness. The games that
make him neglect his lessons, the pursuits that render it difficult for
him to learn his trade, the companions that tempt him to desecrate the
Christian Sabbath, or the habits that lead him to lose respect for his
parents or reverence for his God--all these must be freely but firmly
laid aside; for when judged in the light of the influence they exert,
they stand self-condemned. Pleasure is never to be taken as the
touchstone of duty, but duty as the touchstone of pleasure.
It is this that gives the evangel of Jesus its inestimable value. He
can tame our wildness into usefulness, and make duty itself our
pleasure. He can teach us the secret of His own example, and then all
work is a joy, every duty is an inspiration. "I _delight_ to do Thy
will, O my God." The secret is love. That is the new commandment He
writes upon the heart, and then the yoke He lays upon the neck is
fur-lined--it is easy; and the burdens given us to bear are not
grievous, they are light. No service can compare with His service. Any
pleasure that would make us think lightly of His love is not pleasure,
but wanton folly; and any liberty that would tempt us away from His yoke
is not liberty but license. Therefore let every young heart learn this
second lesson from the example of the ass's colt, that wildness must be
tamed into usefulness.