The Burden of Love
Acts viii. 17 v.
“Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.”
“They laid their hands on them “: there is a burden imposed in the imparting of every gift. Each ray of light leaves me less free. I have to pay for my increase of wealth by an increase of weigh tedness. The child is more joyous than the man, as man counts joy. The burdens of love are more numerous than the burdens of law. Love brings me a chain, albeit it is a golden one. She binds me not only about the feet of God, but about the feet of man. I cannot keep my lightness of heart in the presence of love. The heart which is full is not light; it reserves its music and dancing for the prodigal’s return. My hour of revelation is ever my hour of pressure; T receive Grod’s Spirit by the laying - on of human hands.
Son of Man, I accept the price of Thy revelation; I accept the penalty of love. It was Thine own penalty; love laid on Thee the iniquities of us all. Hadst Thou been less loving, Thou wouldst have suffered less. Had Thy Father not delighted in Thee, He would have delivered Thee; truly Thy cross was Thy crown. If I love like Thee, I must pay for my love like Thee. I must “pay for it with heavy-ladenness — with receiving on my head the hands of the multitude. I must be ordained to my ministry, to Thy ministry, by having laid on me the weight of other lives. I wait for Thy ordination. I know its beginning is in pain, but its ending is in peace; the pressure of myriad hands feels at last like the lighting of the dove. Therefore without murmur I lay down the price of loving. I pay the wages of the heart — the penalty of devotion. I bow my head to the burden of human care. I would not be compelled to bear Thy cross; I would take it freely, I would choose it in love. Let me join the procession along the Dolorous Way. Let me get a corner to cany of Thy mighty load. Let me follow, however far off, up the steep of Calvary. Let me, at however remote a distance, be a spectator of Thy passion hour. When the multitude have laid their hands upon me, the day of crucifixion shall be the day of love.