THE world is dotted with institutions for the treatment of persons who need rest. These institutions are fitted with appliances designed to help men and women to get rest. A veritable epidemic of restlessness has invaded this earth, and the bacilli of the disease have found fertile soil for their propagation in all parts of the habitable world.
THE man of the world is continually haunted by the terrible dread that he or his family may experience want, and he conjures all his powers of craft and acquisition to amass a fortune. With the increase of his wealth come increased expenditures and increased luxury in the home, and the income still seems inadequate. So he increases his energy to acquire still greater income. He draws tighter lines in all his dealings, makes sharper bargains, “grinds the face of the poor,” grows less and less careful of the rupture of moral principles, becomes more careless of the sufferings of the needy, more selfish, more calloused, more greedy, and more restless. The course of such a life also brings restlessness into the lives of every soul affected by his dealings. His own striving to surmount his haunting fears increases them and makes harder the life of his neighbor. Unless that neighbor is resting in the rest, and trusting in the protection and care of God, he is drawn into the same rest-destroying maelstrom.
Nevada Falls, Yosemite Valley.
IN the worldly home and in too many homes that call themselves Christian the same spirit of unchristian restlessness is manifest from day to day and from year to year. It is over the work to be done; over the meals to be prepared; over the fashions to be followed or discarded; over the calling to be done, or the visitors to be received; over mortgage or foreclosure; over rents unpaid and impossible of payment at the time specified, and the consequent fear of ejectment; over the place of the family in the social realm; over amusements and frivolous expenditure of time; over trips to the seaside or mountains, and a thousand other things that no one can forecast. In such homes nervousness and restlessness are enthroned to rule and ruin. With that spirit inborn and inculcated, children are sent out into the world to follow where it leads; and it leads to unholy ambitions, unholy alliances, and unhallowed occupations. That teaching and that spirit send young men and young women along the downward way at rapid pace.
THAT spirit, coupled with greed and urging it on, is making of modern finance and modern politics high schools of “graft,” academies of bribery, and colleges of genteel robbery, that are turning out every year their thousands of graduates in the art of fraud. This same spirit is dominant in the nations till there is not one of them that has a peace in which it dares to rest. Verily, RESTLESSNESS is written in red over the whole habitable globe. Restfulness and peace are the greatest needs of nations and individuals; and true it is that restfulness and peace are scarcer than diamonds in the earth to-day. That which the world needs most, the powerful hand of an enemy is pilfering away, and the world groans and suffers and strives.
THEREFORE in this time, of all times, the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the men and women of this world: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” O that men would take God at His word, and allow Him to verify this His promise to them in this their hour of greatest need.
THERE never will come true rest to the individual soul until Christ is permitted to break the chains of our slavery to sin; take the heavy, galling yoke of sin-bondage from the tired neck of the restless one, and substitute His yoke—His easy yoke—of Christian service. Then He will enter the heart to cast out the very spirit of fear and restlessness and rule there Himself, the Prince of Peace on a throne of peace. If ever there was a time when the spirit of trust and restfulness was needed in the earth, it is now—not trust in the arm of flesh nor the promises of men; not restfulness in sin, for there is no rest in wickedness; but trust in the protecting care of our Father, and restfulness in the spirit of peace which He gives. To sit at the feet of Jesus and learn to do His will is better than cumbering one’s self with the cares and troubles pertaining to worldly things. That does not mean an inane existence or a life of idleness; but a life of joyful service which brings refreshing rest and peace. That peace is a peace which can not be disturbed by all the confederated cares, perplexities, troubles, strife, and wars of this wicked world. Peace in the midst of strife, rest in the midst of toil, this is what God is giving to-day to His faithful children.
IS THERE a soul that is troubled or worried over anything anywhere? Cast that burden on the Lord. By His death He purchased the right to lift it for you. He paid the terrible2 (498)price that gave Him the right to forgive your sins, set you at liberty, and give you rest and peace and joy in Him. It is utterly useless for you to strive to get rest or peace out of the world, or with the ways of the world. “Come unto Me,” says Jesus, “and I will give you rest.” There is no rest outside of Him. Every attempt of the worldly one to find a rest of his own but adds to the general restlessness of the world. Such attempts are always working out selfishness, and so searing hearts and injuring other struggling souls. In the rest of Christ self is sacrificed, service exalted, and peace and blessedness assured. The door of invitation is still open. Come, and find rest.
