ance rather than pleasure. Work may be done well, but in such a spirit and temper as entirely to prevent the pleasure which its excellent performance would otherwise occasion. Where there is a manifest desire to please, though the work done may fail to give satisfaction, the will is accepted for the deed. But when no such desire is shown, when no pains are taken to do well, when repeated directions are forgotten and neglected, when work is skipped or slurred over, when it is evident there is no concern to meet the wishes of the employer, in such cases there is lacking one of the principal elements in the character of a good servant. Such lack of intention and desire to please is a fatal drawback to any service. It is a radical defect. Its influence extends not merely to one or two isolated acts, but to the whole range of duty. It operates from morning to night, and affects every kind of work. It diminishes the worth of every service rendered, gives ground for ceaseless dissatisfaction, and prevents the existence of right feeling and regard. Who likes to be served grudgingly? Who would care to be served by one who found no pleasure, and sought to give no pleasure therein? What home is made happy by a selfish, careless domestic? Many mistresses, if able, would rather, even at much personal inconvenience, do the housework themselves, than be daily tried by one whose defective service is unpleasantly rendered. The requirement both of God and man is, that servants shall " please," shall please well, and shall "please well in all things."

The speech of service.

The Apostle Paul does not hesitate to give directions on

this most important point. His injunction is, "Not answering again." This has obvious reference to angry and pert replies to words of correction and reproof. Such replies are prohibited even when the rebuke is unjust, how much more so when the reproof is deserved. The Apostle Peter enjoins, "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For what glory is it, if when ye be buffetted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." There is no doubt it is not easy to bear quietly the unmerited censure of an unreasonable mistress; very hard it is to have fault found when there is no occasion; but to submit meekly and endure patiently is acceptable to God, and is the best way to disarm injustice and to win favour. To return railing for railing, insult for injury, is to give cause for offence when before there was none; it is to merit censure, when before it was unmerited. "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." And where the angry disputants are mistress and maid, however much the former is in the wrong, the latter is certainly not right. Let every servant, when wrongfully upbraided, imitate the blessed Saviour, who, "when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but committed Himself to God who judgeth righteously." And if in such circumstances a servant is to abstain from loud and angry speech, on other occasions her language is to be respectful, far removed from undue familiarity and saucy rudeness.

The honesty of service.

"Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity." This precept refers to the first essential of a good servant. One of the first, if not the very first question asked by a mistress when inquiring a servant's character, is, "Have you reason to believe she is honest ?" A negative answer usually .renders any further inquiry unnecessary. Whatever other good qualities a servant may have, they are more than counterbalanced by want of honesty. She may be industrious, clean, tidy, and clever, but if she lacks this, none will venture to engage her. Consider how much is placed within the reach and power of a servant. She has access to well-nigh everything in her master's house; she can, if she is so minded, make gain by selling her master's goods to receivers of stolen property who prowl about to take advantage of such as herself; she can, if she is so disposed, open the door to others more unscrupulous and dishonest than herself. Much of her master's property is specially in her hands; it is impossible, even if it were desirable, that a large proportion of it should be placed under lock and key; inevitably much is under her keeping. For a master and mistress to be comfortable they must have no reason to mistrust or suspect the honesty of one to whom so much is confided. It is in the highest degree reasonable that strict integrity should be the very first requirement in a servant's as in every one else's character.

But there are many servants who, whilst they would never think of opening the door for a thief, or of stealing any money or furniture, or book or dress belonging to their master or mis

tress, have very loose notions of honesty respecting other things. They do not think it wrong to appropriate and give away to their friends little things which they deem of small value, and think will never be missed, but which they have no more right to take without permission, than the money in their master's purse, or the ornament on the drawing-room table. In the matter of food, for example, some act as if they were entitled not only to as much as they require to appease their own hunger, but to as much as a number of their friends can consume as well. It might never occur to them that food, like everything else, costs money; and that to give it away is to give away money's worth,-is in fact purloining what does not belong to them, and what they have no right to dispose of. Many a one would be indignant if she were called a thief, who yet has acted the part of one, in taking without her employer's knowledge and permission, what was no more hers than the wedding ring on her mistress's finger.

But more "fidelity in all things" requires not only that there is neither theft nor, what is really the same thing, misappropriation, but also that there be the utmost possible care of property. There may be sinful waste where there is nothing purloined; there may be sinful extravagance where there is no stealing. Great loss may ensue from neglect and carelessness, as well as from intentional dishonesty. Destruction and deterioration of property occasion pecuniary loss as well as robbery. Apart from wilful fraud, there may be such carelessness as will justify the expression, "The loss would have been much less if she had put her hand into my pocket and taken out a sovereign."

To be "faithful in all things" is to act in the absence of the mistress in precisely the same way as you would in her presence; it is to take as much care of her property as you do of your own; it is to deal in little things on the same principle as you deal in large ones; it is to observe the same rule in food and clothing as in money and jewels; it is to be sincere, truthful, uncorrupt, and above suspicion. Our action in little things determines our true character. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much." A good servant is one who is faithful in all things.

The motive and end of service.

The aim of service we have seen is to please employers in all things; the motive and end of service is to please God. This is stated in one form or another in every exhortation the apostles specially address to servants. "Not with eyeservice as men-pleasers; but as 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 one doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord." "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.” "Exhort servants that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." It adds immensely to the dignity and the worth of service to regard it as rendered not merely to man, but to God. A woman has a more powerful incentive to faithfulness than even the expectation of wages, if she feels that by the right discharge of duty she can please God and lay up treasure in heaven. She has a more constraining inducement to faithful