to be struggling and striving for salvation; they seem to be perfectly content to live without God and without hope, without Christ, without salvation. How many there are who do not seem to be aware that there is salvation to be had in this world! Oh! what a field is this: are not the fields white unto the harvest? The Lord bade us pray that labourers (and we do not want only preachers, we want labourers) might be sent into the harvest-field. My dear friends, we should bear in mind how many there are in this Christian country in darkness and ignorance; how many there are sitting in the shadow of death. The Lord speaks to all that are labouring. It may be there are some here that are labouring, that have been praying, and seeking, and searching, and inquiring, and asking, and weeping. You that are labouring and have done your best, hear the voice of Jesus; He speaks to you. You would not be labouring at all, if His Spirit had not been working in your soul; if His Spirit had not awakened you to see and feel your danger; if the Spirit of God had not awakened you to know that there is a something to be had, beyond this world, and its comforts and pleasures. That same mighty Spirit has awakened you to feel your state, that is all the fitness required :-He has awakened you, and if you have eyes to see your sin and danger, with the same eyes look and behold your Saviour, and hear His voice: "Come unto Me you that labour, you that are heavy laden,❞—and this heaviness always comes of labouring in earnest. If we have striven hard to save ourselves, our hearts sink within us, our souls are discouraged and burdened and heavy laden; we sink almost in despair, and the enemy of our soul comes then to bid us despair, and tell us there is no hope. But Jesus speaks, "Come unto Me." My dear hearers, He does not say: "Come unto My minister, come to My means of grace, come to My Church," but "Come unto Me." He will have a personal dealing with every anxious soul; He will have a personal transaction with every burdened sinner; and He Himself will speak the word of peace; He Himself shall set the ransomed captive free; He Himself shall bind up the broken heart. The Lord says, "Come unto Me;" and my dear hearers, this is the very beginning of vital religion— to have a personal transaction with Jesus Christ. Have I had a personal transaction with Jesus Christ? Have I ever gone to Him with my burden? He promises to give me rest-rest from what? Rest from condemnation, and rest from my fears, and rest from all labour. Oh! He shows me, not only that there is rest in Him; but He gives me to know the reason why. Because He has paid the debt; because He has shed the blood and made the atonement, and because God is satisfied. God has raised Him from the dead in token of His satisfaction. We not only have rest, but we know why. us rest, He bids us fear not. rion to them that are in hearers, there should be no ought to be clear and distinct. There may be some And when Jesus gives There is no condemnaChrist Jesus. My dear mistaking this rest; all among you who do not know this distinctly. There is no reason why you should remain in your clouds and indistinctness. The Lord bless this meeting here to-night : the Lord God bless the words of prayer that you have already heard, and of exhortation that will be spoken, that you may take firmer hold upon Christ. Believe in Him, and look away from words, and workings, and our own endeavours, and rest in Him: there is sweet rest in Jesus. He gives this rest from labour, and He does all things well: a sweet and good rest; not a rest of inactivity, but a rest which makes the heart burn again with love. The burning heart cannot be inactive; the loving heart is full of thanksgiving. When we have attained this point-rest-the Lord calls us to another; and this is distinctly the rest of the Christian. The first rest which Christ Jesus gives us is just the rest of the saved ones; those who are saved from the condemnation which they richly deserved, from sin, from the punishment that was due for their sin. Atonement has been made and satisfaction accepted, and now there is rest and peace. : Upon this platform we come to do the will of our God we come to work in the Lord's living harvest; we were made and preserved for this. May we serve the Lord with all our heart. A loving heart yearns to serve a loving God. The heart inquires, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" and Jesus says, That same Jesus that "Take My yoke upon you." bids the sinner come, bids the believer when he has come to follow. My dear hearers, we are not to overlook this word, "Come." There are three rests that complete the glorious work of Christ. He redeemed us to give us rest, that we should live in rest here, and that we should enter into the next rest hereafter: that rest hereafter consists in being with Jesus, not in an unclothed state; no, not in soul only, while the body is in the grave, but rest in glory with Jesus, body and soul: we shall be glorified like Him, behold Him, and rejoice in Him for ever. Oh my brethren, how many Christians forget this significant and crowning point:— we were redeemed not for our souls only, but we were redeemed body and soul to be with Him, to be like Him, to rejoice with Him, to triumph with Him hereafter. Take My yoke upon you." Too many make the burden of their prayer, "Lord, save my children, and my relations, and this one and that one." O dear friends, we want something more than salvation. When we only ask for salvation, that is not serving God, that is rather making use of God for ourselves. We want more than salvation. What do I want to be My saved for? Oh! to serve the Lord with all my ransomed powers: oh! to be filled with the mighty Spirit of God to be a living temple, that Christ may dwell in me, that Christ may work in me. friends, Jesus says, "Take My yoke; give yourself to Me; do My will." The way of Christ is different from the way of nature. In nature we take off the yoke to rest; in Christ we put it on. Love makes us restless to act. Where shall I walk? where the Lord leads me. What shall I do, and how shall I serve my God? after the example of His own dear Son. "Take My yoke;" be yokefellows with Me. Religion is the real power and fire of love burning in the heart. What will not love undertake and attempt to do for the object of love? With our hearts full of love for Jesus, we take His yoke upon us; we follow Him and do His bidding: we abide in Him and He in us. We have a work to do. Dear hearers, when we are saved we are only beginning to serve the Lord : we have not done. A lady said to me, "I asked the Lord to save my children: Oh!" she said, "He has saved them, but He has taken them away." She never saw that the Lord meant her to pray, “Oh! that my children may live before Thee, followers of Jesus. Oh! that they may live for Thy glory." How many people only ask to be saved, instead of to live for the glory of God; to live for the honour and glory of that Mighty God that saved us with an everlasting salvation; to be witnesses for Jesus here; to take His yoke here, and show the power of God's grace, and let our light shine that men may see. Oh ! for this mighty grace which teaches us that, fleeing from ungodliness, we should live righteously in this present world. "Take My yoke, then," said Jesus, "and learn of Me." He would have us give up all our powers to Him, whatever they may be, little or great, lay them at His disposal, that He may use them for His glory, in His own way. And even if we know that we have so few talents, we must not forget the five loaves and the two small fishes. The disciples said, "What are they?" and well may we say of ourselves, "What am I, and my poor weakness ?" God's |