men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." In faithfulness, the duty of obedience seems included. When Joseph became a bond-servant in Potiphar's house, he was devotedly faithful to his master. In every sense of the word, the conduct of Joseph, as a servant, is worthy of universal imitation. "Eye-service," the service of men-pleasers, performed only from the hope of reward, the fear of displeasure, or to acquire praise, is not the kind of service which the apostle commends; on the contrary, he reprobates it: and hence the service must be performed in integrity, with a sincere desire to do what is just, not only because it is pleasing to man, but because it is enjoined by that higher law which masters and servants are both bound to obey.
October Twenty-eighth.
THE DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS.
"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much"—Eccles. v. 12.
LABOUR has every advantage over idleness: it produces competence, it conduces to health, and it brings at its conclusion the sweet repose of sleep. We are placed in this world to be useful: "Occupy till I come," is the command of the Highest. The highest state of primeval happiness was a life, not of inglorious ease, but of useful labour; and man was placed in the garden of Paradise "to dress and to keep it." There can be nothing good in idleness; and the apostle has taken care to exhort us seriously
