THE DAY OF REST. THE TWO-FOLD REST.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 321, 1 December 1888, Page 4

THE DAY OF REST. THE TWO-FOLD REST.

By Rev. Mark Guy Pearse.

"I will give rou rest."— Matthew xi. 28. "To sball find rest."— Matthew xi. 29.

THE KES1 1 GIVEN. Here is a two-fold rest— a rest that is given, aud a rest that is Jound. Both are in Jesus, Jesus only ; bub the two are very different, and differently obtained. The first is rest by what Christ takes off . ourshoulders and carries for us. " Come unto Me," saibh He, "all ye that labour and are heavy laden." That rest is ours simply by coming to Him. It is not dependent upon our learning or upon our service, but only upon our coming. That rest is a gitt, complete and secured alike to all who come to Him ; then is it ours at once and as fully as it ever can be. All true Christians have that rest. j - But few have the second. That is not I given — it is to be found. That is for those who enter Christ's school and learn of Him ; who go into Christ's service and work for Him. And it is theirs more and more as they go on learning and serving. ' Learn of Me, 5 saibh He. 'Take My yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' '.This is rest by a yoke put on, as the other . is rest by a yoke put off. At the outset, it is very needful for us to hear these words aright; aud that can only be by coming to Him Who spake them at the first. Think of Him looking forth upon all the burdened and heavy laden, conscious that in him there is that which meets the want of the whole world. Many men in every age have clamoured fiercely for the world's heeding, and have cried aloud : ' Come unto me, and I will give you happiness, honour, excitement, splendour, wealth, health.' How much more perfect was His knowledge of the world's need Who bent over to it and said : ' I will give you rest. 1 It is good to think that once in the midst of men there stood One Who thus spake. But it is better still to think that He stands in our midst and speaks thus note. That "Come unto Me" implies a present and approachable Christ. Christ wiohin reich of me, and within my reach. Those eyes that search all secrets, so full of tenderest pity, look on thee and me, and as if there were no other to be helped, He saith to us. I witl give you rest. It shall avail us nothing to hear a thousand sermons about these words, no matter how splendid ; this blessedness is ours only as \ce come to Him. We cannot come in the wrong way it we do but come — with fearful step, groping in blindness — only coming, the gift is ours. Gome unto Me — blessed be God, it is not far to go. It is to set thought and heart upon Him, to look up saying, "Here am I Lord — for Thou didsb call me, and I am come."" Strange, indeed, is it that this is ever the last thing we do— coming right away to Jesus. We go anywhere and to anything sooner than alone to him ; and yet nothing else can avail us. Salvation is too great a work for any short of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself : and the Saviour is too eager for our help to entrust it to other hands. Come unto Me. I xcill — the music grows richer and sweeter with every note. Stay yourself upon that word. Venture your all for eternity upon it. It is fixed and unalterable. Now we can hold Him by this truth. Now is it no more a matter in which my Master hath any choice. By that :I: I will' He hath bound Himself, and. bound Himself to me. I will give. It is wholly without condition. There is here nothing about learning of Him or taking His yoke ; nothing even about repentance and faith and feeling. ' Bub are they not needful V Of course they are, and because they are needful they shall be given toith the gift. My Master doth not cheat me by setting the gift on the pinnacle of the Temple and promising it with much show of grace if I can but get it. Never, never. He gives repentance, faith, feeling — all that can make the gifts most gracious and most complete His bounty delights to bestow. And voxv do you ask, What is the resti Well, different persons will set most store upon different aspects of it, and the rest is fullest and completes! where most of all the burden of life presses. To some it is above all else rent from the mystery, the loneliness, the burden of life. In Jesus Christ there is the revelation of a Love in which we rest. God's love is ours — the rest and blessedness as ot a little wearied child that hafch found .again the mother's arms and rests against; her heart. God's great love underlies and commences as well as overarches and completes every other gift that Christ gives to us. Life is, indeed, a burden of mystery. Here are we, so shaped by circumstances, and yet with such possibilities for good or evil within us ; so hemmed in by the present, and yet with eternity lying about us ; so dependent upon this world, and yet ever feeling its wretched insufficiency ; at times longing to be holy, and yet with such temptations and impulses to evil ; so weak, and yet with desires, ambitions, longings that are infinite. Life is a thing of distractions. Earth holds us, though Heaven beckons,and Death threatens, and we alternately hug the world and hate it; we sigh for Heaven and then despise it ; we dread Death, yet play with it. And Jesus Christ looks forth pitifully upon us, and bids us come unto Him. In Him life loses all its loneliness. With us everywhere and in everything there is an abiding Presence — helpful, comforting, delivering. In God is no more, only the Great Creator afar off, but my Father, stooping to take my hand, teaching me that lam dear, unutterably dear to His heart ; and for me He hath most gracious and most glorious purposes ; and all the way of life is but the path in which He is leading me on to truer blessedness ; developing and ennobling. The feverish worry and over-eagerness of life fall ' from" our shoulders as we rest 'in His care. The fierce and hungry desires that went out after the world are uplifted, and now find in Him their rest and satisfaction. There is deep, true, blessed resb in the revelation of the Father. Then out of this infinite love there comes the next step in our rest. Behind us there is a past that we cannot conceal ; that awful procession ot deeds and words and wishes ; and all the life's influence following us. A past which cannot be left behind ; a burden that grows each day. No skill, no desperate effort can loosen the knots. In our mid?G there staudeth One who saith : " Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." Sow we need nob stay to understand, rejoicing in ,the fact that the Son of Man hath power pn earth to forgive sins. Blessed be God, there are thousands who do know what it is to come to him ! One touch of that Hand, and the burden is gone. Cast behind God's back ; — buried in the depths of the sea — remembered against us no more for ever — removed from us as far as the East is from the West— this is ours in Christ Jesus. "Being justified by faibh, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Think of the disciples tossed -in the storm upon the lake, when the great waves surged about the little craft ; hung oyer them in awful threatening, crouched to spring upon them again, .then leapt roaring and hissing as if impatient for their '

1 I prey. ' Before, behind,J above,', ben6a£h* "the cruel sea that gathered in' its strength against them. Then suddenly He came, with outstretched hand. ' Be slill~ant\ there was a great calm ; and the starry heavens looked down upon the sleeping sea. Think not that his power and love have spent themselves — nay indeed, 'no more than His sun has spent its light and heat, Opou the ear of the heart : he speaks- now, to you — Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and / will give you rest. And for the future as from the past He is otir peace. Born of God we are vow of His family and household. If children, then heirs ; being trained and fitted for a high estate, until we are of age and enter upon our great inheritance. So do we stand. About us the ceaseloss, all controlling love of God ; behind us a past in which all condemnation is for ever hushed ; before us, growing nearer and clearer, the sunny distance of the Father's house. Believing, we have entered into rest. Will you havo it all — a gift, a gift for you ? Some time since, as I was stepping into the train at Newcastle, a gentleman came up to me and said ho was going my way, and if I did not object, lie would take his seat in the same compartment, as lie had been wanting to see me. I was very glad to have his company. He was good enough to say that he had met with a story a little while before which ho thought nrighb serve mo. A friend of his living some some few miles from Newcastle was walking along a railway siding going from the main line to a colliery, when he looked down upon a roughly-built cottage, and noticed that the daylight showed through the loose tiles on the roof. He wondered if anybody could be living in a place that looked so cheerless, aud coming round to Hie front he found an old woman and her grown-up daughter. At once he said within himself that he would see the place was made more comfortable befoi-o the winter came, and then hurried on his way. But the good purpose was forgotten, and he never thought of the place again until one morning some few ueeks after he drew up his blind and looked out to find some two or three inches of snow on the ground. At once his heart smote him for his forgetfulness. He had that day to go to Newcastle, and it occurred to him that at any i*ate a pair of blankets would do something towards adding to the comfort of the couple. He reached his house wich the big brown-paper parcel, and thought he would havo the pleasuro of taking them himself. As he passed the window the old woman was looking out, and he held up the parcel thinking she would understand that he was bringing something for her. But she only frowned angrily and shook her head. He opened the door, when the old woman bade him angrily begone ; she did not want to buy any of his goods, she said, and slammed the door against him. " Why," he said, " she thinks I icant to sell them ! No wonder she is so vexed, needing them so badly. I must make her understand that it is a gift." He opened the door again and got in. More fiercely than ever she bade him begone. He saw that she was stone deaf, and that her daughter was not at home. What could he do"? To leave the parcel would only be to have it flung after him in the snow. 'I will show her what it is,' he said to himself, ' perhaps she she will understood then,' and he untied the pacel. But the sight of the warm blankets only made her more conscious of her need and her poverty, and she turned away indignantly, ' Why don't you go away? I have told you I don't want them.' What could he do ? He took one out and held it up full length and breadth, and smiled and nodded hi? head, but it seemed only like the insinuating wiles of some resolute pedlar and aggravated her the more. 'Why don't you go away when 1 tell you ?' she cried. Then yet another effort suggested itself. Taking the blanket he threw it right round her and burst into a hearty laugh. Then the meaning of it all flashed upon her. Looking up, almost afraid to ask the question, she asked: 'Forme?' He nodded his head and smiled. ' A gift ?' she asked again, her hope growing bolder. Again he nodded his head. 1 A gift Jor me /' she repeated to herself. She stroked it with her hands and felt the warmth of it, then laughed and cried for very joy ; and grasped his hands, and thanked him with all her heart, whilst the tears streamed down her wrinkled cheeks. I Alas, that our blessed Master should ! have such trouble to force His gifts upon us ! Alas, that we are so deaf, so blind to His great love ! / zoill give, you rest, saibh He. Take it. Wrap it about you. Rest in it with adoring gratitute. A gift— a gift for me ! What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to beau ! "What a privilege to carry 3<h 'rything to God in prayer ! 01), what peaco we often forfeit, Oh. what needless pain we bearAll because we do not carry Ev'rything to God in prayer ! Have we trials and temptations ? Is there trouble anywhere ? "We should never be discouraged : Take it to the Lord in prayer ! Can we find a Friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share! Jesus knows our every weakness — Take it to the Lord in prayer! Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cunibered with a load of care 1 Precious Saviour, still our refuge,— Take it to the Lord in prayer ! Do thy friends despise, forsake thee ?— Take it to the Lord in prayer ! In his arms He'll take and shield thee, • Thou wilt find a solace there.