THE FAMILY ALTAR

September 6.

"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. "Matt. 11:29:30.

To come to Jesus means to believe in Him as your Savior

from sin, and woe, and death. Such faith unites us with our

blessed Lord and puts His yoke upon us. What is that yoke?

It means nothing else than to follow in the Lord's footsteps and

to do as Paul says, Gal. 2, 20 : "I am crucified with Christ ; never-

theless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life

which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of

God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." "Jesus speaks to

all those who are weary and heavy laden, and bids them change

their service. He tells them to cast off the heavy, crushing weights

under which they are staggering through life, to give up the slavery

of the world, or of the devil, for the glorious freedom of the sons

of God; to give up serving the lusts of the flesh, or running in

the idle pursuits of pleasure, or striving for the bubble reputation,

or laboring for the meat that perisheth — and to enter His service.

He says: Learn of Me, follow My example; be like Me, meek

and lowly in heart; do the will of God, not your own. Think of

others first, yourselves last; go about doing good; harness your-

selves to the burdens of life with the Gospel-harness, the harness

of faith, of love, of patience, of hope, and you shall find that life

is twice as easy to the Christian as to others. Then in spite of the

hard work, and the climbing, and the carrying of burdens, and

the bearing of disappointments, you shall have rest, a peaceful

conscience, a quiet faith, a peace which the world cannot give."

We see, then, that our blessed Lord does not lay a heavier burden

on us when He asks us to come to Him and take His yoke upon

us, but really wants to be our "Yoke-fellow" who shares our bur-

dens with us and carries the heavier end. Who would not, then,

gladly give himself with his burdens to this compassionate and

almighty Savior?

Thou knowest, Lord, the weariness and sorrow

Of the sad heart that comes to Thee for rest;

Cares of to-day, and burdens of to-morrow,

Blessings implored, and sins to be confessed;

We come before Thee at Thy gracious word,

And lay them at Thy feet: Thou knowest, Lord.