THE WILLING SERVANT.

In England we know very little of the horrors of slavery. We may have read some heart-rending stories of children torn from their homes, of wretched men and women driven for miles under the burning sun, or cooped up in the holds of ships more like animals than human beings, but here in England we can have no personal knowledge of such hardships.

There is a great difference between a servant and a slave. However hard the place may be, or however unkind the master or mistress may prove, a servant cannot be in so wretched a condition as a slave. They can leave their place, or seek protection from the authorities, but the slave is the property of his master; he can neither leave his service, nor gain protection from his cruelty. The condition of a slave in olden times was often very sad. In those days there lived in the land of Israel a little maiden. Her home was bright and happy. She knew the tender care of father and mother, and the days of her young life were spent in happiness

and freedom. One sad day without any warning of danger, a terrible misfortune fell upon that happy home. A band of soldiers burst upon the village, the child's parents were slain before her eyes—the home she loved was burnt to the ground, and she herself taken captive by the rough soldiers as waiting maid for the wife of their commander. What a terrible change for the little maiden-without parents, without home-far from her own land—a stranger amongst people of a different nation and language to her own-no longer free to come and go as she pleased, but obliged to toil on without any hope of ever again seeing her native land. She did not forget that land-she longed to behold it again. She did not forget her God, but alone in that heathen household the child's voice was raised night and morning to the God of Israel. The house she lived in was large. Her master was a great general -rich, powerful and high in favour with the king, but he was a leper.

Leprosy was a disease which seemed to be without cure, and which cut off those attacked by it from the company of their fellow creatures. All remedies had been tried and had failed. Might not the little maid servant have felt well revenged for all the injuries done to her? This great soldier who had killed her parents, destroyed

THE WILLING SERVANT.

109

her home, and led her away captive, could not enjoy his prosperity. Let him suffer. Let him die. No, the little Jewish maiden reads a lesson to Christians. She did her best to comfort her mistress. She spoke of her God and the power of His prophet. "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria: for he would recover him of his leprosy." The words were told to her master. The king of Syria wrote to the king of Israel. Naaman went to

the prophet of the Lord, and returned to his own country healed of his disease, and a believer in the true God. That little maiden we may be sure was not forgotten. Her willing service and forgiveness of injury was not without its reward. Cannot we act in the like spirit? There are difficulties sometimes in our household. The master or mistress is perhaps unkind-the place is hard. The servant toils on discontentedly and unwillingly, with angry answers and saucy speeches. Think of the lonely little Jewish maiden. Try and make the best of things. Keep your tongue quiet. and cheerfully and it will not be all in vain. God sees you as He saw the little maiden in the far country, and if He sees you trying to do right He will not forget the willing servant.

Work on patiently

THE CHRISTIAN SERVANT.

WHENEVER We read of servants in the Bible we should remember the great difference between them and servants in the present day. The servants in those days were really slaves, the property of their masters, receiving no receiving no wages for their service. There is one short Epistle by S. Paul which is all about a runaway slave.

Onesimus was a slave belonging to a Christian named Philemon, who lived in the City of Colosse. He had stolen some property from his master, and had fled to Rome. There he came under the notice of S. Paul, who was at that time a prisoner in Rome. He gained an influence over the runaway slave, taught him the true faith, and baptised him into the Christian Church. At the first opportunity he sent him back to his master, with a letter explaining how he had found him in Rome, and converted him to the Christian faith. He begs him to receive him back into favour as one who is willing to atone

THE CHRISTIAN SERVANT.

for his past fault by future good service. The whole letter is well worth careful reading. It is not the only place where S. Paul speaks of the duties of a Christian servant. In one place he says, "Let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God," that is to say that the slave when he became a Christian was not to be discontented with his lot, but to do his work faithfully as the freeman of the Lord. Again, he says, "And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren; but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit ;" and, again, "Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."

Christian servants think that because their master or mistress attends the same sort of Church as themselves, they are therefore to be treated with special consideration-that they ought to have