all ye that labor." That doesn't mean a select few--refined
ladies and cultured men. It doesn't mean good people only. It applies
to saint and sinner. Hospitals are for the sick, not for healthy
people. Do you think that Christ would shut the door in anyone's face,
and say, "I did not mean _all_; I only meant certain ones"? If you
cannot come as a saint, come as a sinner. Only come!

A lady told me once that she was so hard-hearted she couldn't come.

"Well," I said, "my good woman, it doesn't say all ye soft-hearted
people come. Black hearts, vile hearts, hard hearts, soft hearts, all
hearts come. Who can soften your hard heart but Himself?"

The harder the heart, the more need you have to come. If my watch
stops I don't take it to a drug store or to a blacksmith's shop, but
to the watchmaker's, to have it repaired. So if the heart gets out of
order take it to its keeper, Christ, to have it set right. If you can
prove that you are a sinner, you are entitled to the promise. Get all
the benefit you can out of it.

Now, there are a good many believers who think this text applies only
to sinners; It is just the thing for them too. What do we see to-day?
The Church, Christian people, all loaded down with cares and troubles.
"Come unto me all ye that labor." All! I believe that includes the
Christian whose heart is burdened with some great sorrow. The Lord
wants you to come.

Christ the Burden-Bearer.

It says in another place, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He
careth for you." We would have a victorious Church if we could get
Christian people to realize that. But they have never made the
discovery. They agree that Christ is the sin-bearer, but they do not
realize that He is also the burden-bearer. "Surely He hath borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows." It is the privilege of every child of
God to walk in unclouded sunlight.

Some people go back into the past and rake up all the troubles they
ever had, and then they look into the future and anticipate that they
will have still more trouble, and they go reeling and staggering all
through life. They give you the cold chills every time they meet you.
They put on a whining voice, and tell you what "a hard time they have
had." I believe they embalm them, and bring out the mummy on every
opportunity. The Lord says, "Cast all your care on Me. I want to carry
your burdens and your troubles." What we want is a joyful Church, and
we are not going to convert the world