NEXT to good wages, I find in general, working men look after good masters; such as will find them constant employment; pay them with regularity, and treat them with kindness. This is quite natural, and yet although it may appear unaccountable, there are a great many working men, and even women and children in our town, who are of their own deliberate and voluntary choice, in the service of one of the worst masters that can be imagined! It is not that he ever fails to pay wages when due; the fact is they are frequently paid BEFORE they are expected.
Neither is it that the supply of work is ever short; this has never yet been known to occur, but he does make such SLAVES of those who remain with him. They work hard, day and night; with body and mind; without rest or holiday, month after month, year after year, and many at the expense of their purse and their position is society, devote themselves entirely to his service, and yet I assure you, he is one who does not know what kindness is.
He is, to his work-people, the most malicious enemy they have; indeed, he only aims to get them absolutely into his power, in order that he may torment them in every conceivable way. And his men know this quite well, yet they seem to have lost all power to free themselves from his tyranny, and more than this, they are so bewitched by the flatteries and deceit he practices towards them, that most of them have no DISPOSITION to part company with him; they have worked for him nearly all their lifetime, and their fathers before them have done the same, and although they never get full rest of body, or enjoy any real peace of mind, while engaged for him, they yet hug the fetters of this most oppressive and merciless master.
However, it is often surprising to see the amount of hardship and ill-treatment people will submit to for the sake of really liberal remuneration: I have already remarked that in the case of the employer referred to, the payment of wages is never deferred after they become due, and you may judge of how amply the poor wretches are repaid their slavish toil, when I further inform you that their hire is DEATH! Nothing besides, nothing whatever! Except indeed that after death comes judgment, and that mean: eternal misery. The wages of sin is DEATH, and no bright golden wages are labored for with half the industry or perseverance that this commands.
Every person, old or young, has been for a longer or shorter term in this cruel servitude, but some of us have been bought over by another Master, a very different person indeed, and One who, with kindness to perfection, cares for all whom He has made His own. He liberated us from our slavery at the cost of His own blood, and we now desire to fulfill all His bidding, not for paltry wages, but for very gratitude and love.
His service is perfect liberty, and the peace of soul, the rest of conscience, and the joy of heart that are ours while basking in the sunlight of His favor, are indeed a contrast with the wretchedness and misery of which we were ever the subjects, when in the service of our former master. Before our emancipation we used to try by all means in our power to dissipate the gloom that had settled on our spirits, to drown in the mad pursuit of fancied pleasure, the unhappy reflections that often crossed our minds, and by a little outside show of morality, to stifle the clamor of our ever-accusing conscience. And on the whole we were reckoned as well off, and as happy as other people, which it may be was true, but ah! we for ourselves knew even in laughter that the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness; and the continual fear of death, that eternal death, which was our hire, gnawing at om hearts, by day and night, effectually hindered our being really happy.
But now, thank God, He has made us happy, without our having to work a day for it, for He has taken off our shoulders the terrible load of our guilt, and upon the sinless, spotless Jesus, His beloved Sony has He laid the iniquity of us all. And now, through simply believing Him, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and He has made us not servants only, but sons, and has told us that when the inheritance passes into the hands of Him who is appointed heir of all things, the “First-born among many brethren,” we shall share it, as joint heirs with Him of all His great possessions.
Now I ask you, my reader, whether it is better to be working hard to earn the wages of sin, which is death and eternal banishment from the presence of the ever blessed God, or to receive at His bounteous hand that priceless gift which He so freely bestows on ALL who feel and confess their need of it. Even eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord?
W. T.