A POOR woman, a drunkard’s wife, steeped in poverty and clothed in rags, was coming along the street with a babe in her arms. Happiness had forsaken her long ago; desperate struggles with want made her weary of life; hope, that most patient of angels, had disappeared in the clouds; and all her days and nights seemed but steps to deeper woe.
“A voice strange to her fell upon her ear. The one utterance that fell like dew upon her weary heart was the word of the Lord— ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ She stood still upon the pavement, far off from the preacher; and as she listened, the voice seemed to come, nearer and nearer to the heart. ‘Rest!’ she said to herself, as the preacher went on to explain rest in the Lord Jesus— ‘Rest! that is what I want.’
“Jesus heard the groaning of that oppressed spirit, and came to her relief. There and then she believed on Christ; there and then she entered on the rest of the gospel. Peace and joy, like birds of Paradise, began to sing in her soul. “She carried the blessing home, and the light that filled that mother’s heart illuminated the drunkard’s house, and transformed it into a Bethel. Years have passed; she still hearkens to Jesus, and still hears Him saying, ‘Come unto Me and rest’.”
“I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me, and rest;
“Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
“Thy head upon, My breast.”
“I came to Jesus as I was,
“Weary, and worn, and sad;
“I found in Him a resting place,
“And He has made me glad.”
ML 05/08/1904