(4) But primarily Christ addressed Himself to the sin problem. Indisputably sin is the cause of all unrest, the poison which has fevered every life. Sin is the root of all the weakness and weariness which rob life of its true quality. Sin it is that blurs the vision of God, and blinds men to His unfailing nearness and help, as also to the true issues of life, for the realizing of which they do so much need Him. And when Christ offers rest to the weary and heavy laden, He is proposing to deal with the sin which has created their need.
T| Sin is the greatest disturbance of men's souls, far deeper than any agitation or perturbation that may arise from external
1 N. H. Marshall.
ST. MATTHEW xi. 28 263
circumstances. It is our unlawful desires that shake us ; it is our unlawful acts that disturb us, rousing conscience, which may speak accusingly or be ominously silent, and, in either case, will disturb our true repose. As our great dramatist has it, " Macbeth has murdered sleep." There is no rest for the man whose conscience is stinging him, as, more or less, all consciences do that are not reconciled and quieted by Christ's great sacrifice. Such an one is like the troubled sea " that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt " ; whilst they who come to Jesus are like some little tarn amongst the hills, surrounded by sheltering heights, that " heareth not the loud winds when they call," and has no more movement than is enough to prevent stagnation, while its little ripples kiss the pure silver sand on the beach ; and in their very motion there is rest.1
TJ Browning has suggested that, among those who heard the Lord Jesus invite the weary and heavy laden to come to Him, was one of the two robbers who were eventually crucified at His side. The poem describes the emotions which passed through the man's soul, and he is made to say :
The words have power to haunt me. Long ago I heard them from a Stranger — One who turned, And looked upon me as I went, and seemed To know my face, although I knew Him not. The face was weary; yet He spoke Of giving rest — He needed rest, I think — Yet patiently He stood and spoke to those Who gathered round Him, and He turned And looked on me. He could not know How sinful was my life, a robber's life, Amid the caves and rocks. And yet He looked As though He knew it all, and, knowing, Longed to save me from it.
It may have been so, or it may not. Browning's fancy may have a basis in fact; we cannot tell. But this at least we know — that he who suffered by the side of Jesus is one of those who have proved the truth of His saying, and have found Him able to make good His word.2
1 A. Maclaren, A Rosary of Christian Graces, 152. » H. T. Knight.
264 THE GREAT INVITATION
IL
The Gift.
" I will give you rest."
1. Rest, then, is a gift; it is not earned. It is not the emolument of toil ; it is the dowry of grace. It is not the prize of endeavour, its birth precedes endeavour, and is indeed the spring and secret of it. It is not the perquisite of culture, for between it and culture there is no necessary and inevitable communion. It broods in strange and illiterate places, untouched by scholastic and academic refinement, but it abides also in cultured souls which have been chastened by the manifold ministry of the schools. It is not a work, but a fruit ; not the product of organization, but the sure and silent issue of a relationship. " Come unto me, . . . and I will give you rest."
Tf " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Who but would test this gracious promise ? Who is altogether free from the heavy load of pain, either bodily, mental, or spiritual ? Yet how many spend half their lives in vainly seeking rest ! If ever there was a question which it concerns us all to answer it is this, Where is rest to be found ? The larger part of mankind seek it in wealth, in honours, in worldly ease ; but they do not find it. Covetousness, greed, envy, fraud, conspire to spoil all thought of rest in the good things of this world. Others seek rest in themselves, but what can be expected from our weak, changeable natures ? Society, literature, science may occupy, but they cannot satisfy or rest, the heart. There is no rest for the heart, of man save in God, who made him for Himself. But how shall we rest in God ? By giving our- selves wholly to Him. If you give yourselves by halves, you cannot find full rest — there will ever be a lurking disquiet in that half which is withheld ; and for this reason it is that so few Christians attain to a full, steadfast, unchanging peace — they do not seek rest in God only, or give themselves up to Him without reserve. True rest is as unchanging as God Himself — like Him it rises above all earthly things : it is secret, abundant, without a regret or a wish. It stills all passion, restrains the imagination, steadies the mind, controls all wavering : it endures alike in the' time of tribulation and the time of wealth ; in temptation and trial, as when the world shines brightly on us. Christ tells you