April 18

“Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day.” —Jeremiah 17:21.

LET me carry no burdens on God’s holy day. They are strangely untimely and inappropriate then.

There is a burden of worldly anxiety which I ought to lay down. Even in the hours when I am away from my business, I am apt to let myself be pursued by its frets and worries in my secret soul; and then I glean little benefit from my very communion with God. The week-day follows me into the rest-day, like some persistent and troublesome ghost, and spoils it altogether. That should not be.

There is a burden of personal sin and unworthiness which I ought to lay down. Sometimes I despair of salvation. My guilt has been so great that I see in earth and heaven, in time and eternity, no comfort or deliverance for me. But the Sabbath should lead me to the place somewhat ascending where the Cross of Jesus stands, and there the load falls from my back, and I go on my way with a merry heart.

There is a burden of haunting solicitude for other souls which I ought to lay down. When I have prayed for them, and appealed to them, and done my utmost on their behalf, let me commit them to the strong and tender love of my Lord, a thousand times wiser and warmer than my own. Let me not be crushed by a weight too heavy for me. He holds the key of all these hearts, and can turn them whither He will.

There should be no irksome burden-bearing on the day of peace. None may enter within the King’s gate clothed in sackcloth.