And now I thank Thee for the prayer
Thou didst not hear ; And for the ministry of care,
The hour of fear, For skies o'ercast, and places where
The way was drear.
For now I know that life is great
Not by the things That make for peace, and all that Fate
Or Fortune flings Down at my feet — for soon or late
These all take wings.
ROMANS XII. II 297
I do not ask what joys or woes
Time holds for me : I simply seek a love that goes
Out unto Thee, As surely as the river flows
To meet the sea.^
2. Is not this a lowering of the whole tone and style of our intercourse with the Lord, and our engagement for His work ? After all seemed to be placed on the footing of a large and free commerce of love and confidence; when the adjustment of the whole question of our standing with God, and our relation to Him, had been taken out of the hands of law, and out of the category of legal bargaining, and transferred to a higher region, in which grace and honour reign ; are we again to come down to the level of servants ? Yes, and hired servants too. And why should this ofifend us ? It did not offend Christ when He was doing His Father's work on earth. He did it as a servant, even as a hired servant, when He "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame."
Our Master all the work hath done
He asks of us to-day; Sharing his service, every one
Share too his sonship may. Lord, I would serve and be a son;
Dismiss me not, I pray.^
3. Finally, obligation and responsibility are not badges of degradation. On the contrary, for intelligent creatures, on a right footing with their Creator, they are elements and conditions of highest glory and purest joy. Angels in heaven now work as servants ; nay, as hired servants ; for He whom they serve will never accept service unrequited. They work as servants, under obligation ; upon their responsibility. It is in that character and capacity that they are summoned to join in the universal song of praise : " Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts ; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure " (Ps. ciii. 20, 21). Saints in heaven hereafter
* Percy 0. Ainsworth, Poems and Svtmtts, 63. ' T. T. Lynch, The Sivulei, 4.
298 OUTWARD, INWARD, CHRISTWARD
will work in like manner ; in fact, one chief element of heaven's blessedness and glory is this, that there " his servants shall serve him " (Eev. xxii, 3). And all our work here on earth, we will do the better if we do it, not as at our own hand, but as " serving the
Lord."
If I knew it now, how strange it would seem, To think, to know, ere another day I should have passed over the silent way, And my present life become as a dream; But what if that step should usher me Eight into the sinless company Of the saints in heaven.
I'll carefully watch the door of my lips As I talk with my comrades to-day, And think a little before I say.
To see that no careless expression slips, Which I should find would so ill compare With the holy converse uttered there, By the saints in heaven.
If they let me in — Oh, how sweet, how strange, The thoup;ht that before a new day dawn, I may put the incorruptible on, —
That beautiful garment, the robe of change! And walk and talk with that happy throng, Perhaps join my voice in the "new, new song,* With the saints in heaven.
But I fear I should be poorly meet
To mingle much with the saints at all;
My earthly service would seem so small- Just going of errands on tired feet;
But, oh ! how blest, if it were my share
To be the trusted messenger there. For the saints in heaven !
With holy missives to take and bring, Sometime, perhaps, it would come to be That some pure saint would commission me
To carry his message straight to the King And the King His answer would defer, To turn and smile on the messenger Of His saints in heaven .'^
1 Anna Jane Granniss,
For the Battle,
Literature.
Berry (C. A.), Vision and Duty, 99.
Black (H.), Christ's Service of Love, 130.
Body (G.), The Guided Life, 101.
Candlish (R. S.), The Two Great Commandments, 183.
Drury (T. W.), The Prison-Ministry of St. Paul, 105.
Gray (W. A.), Laws and Landmarks of the Spiritual Life, 137.
James (F.), A National Pentecost, 44.
Jowett (J. H.), Apostolic Optimism, 1.
„ „ ITie Transfigured Church, 149.
Keenleyside (C. B.), God's Fellow- Workers, 115. Liddon (H. P.), Some Elements of Religion, 168. Maclaren (A,), Expositions : Romans, 273.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxv. (1879), No. 1480. Wilberforce (B.), Sanctification by the Truth, 160. Christian World Pulpit, x. 250 (Jarvie) ; xlvii. 248 (Fairbaim).
For the Battle.
Rejoicing in hope ; patient in tribulation ; continuingf stedfastly in prayer. —Rom. xii. 12.