To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To kings
who proudly boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do they serve
themselves or Satan, and forget the God whose sufferance permits them
to wear their mimic majesty for their little hour. Speaks then the
apostle to those so-called "right reverend fathers in God," the
bishops, or "the venerable the archdeacons"? No, indeed, Paul knew
nothing of these mere inventions of man. Not even to pastors and
teachers, or to the wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this
word spoken, but to servants, ay, and to slaves. Among the toiling
multitudes, the journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants,
the drudges of the kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still, some
of the Lord's chosen, and to them he says, "Whatsoever ye do, do it
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord
ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord
Christ." This saying ennobles the weary routine of earthly
employments, and sheds a halo around the most humble occupations. To
wash feet may be servile, but to wash His feet is royal work. To
unloose the shoe-latchet is poor employ, but to unloose the great
Master's shoe is a princely privilege. The shop, the barn, the
scullery, and the smithy become temples when men and women do all to
the glory of God! Then "divine service" is not a thing of a few hours
and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and
every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and its
golden candlestick.
"Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see;
And what I do in anything to do it as to Thee.
All may of Thee partake, nothing can be so mean,
Which with this tincture, for Thy sake, will not grow bright
and clean.
A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, makes that and the
action fine.
