when he was in Jerusalem, but, like
some other chief men in little spheres, he came to be anything but a
chief man when he got alongside of Paul, and found his proper work. He
did not say: 'I have always pulled the stroke oar, and I am not going to
be second. I do not intend to be absorbed in this man's brilliant
lustre. I would rather have a smaller sphere where my light may not
suffer by comparison than be overshone by him.' By no means! He could
not do Paul's work, but he could endure stripes along with him in the
prison at Philippi, and he took them. He could not write as Peter
could; it was not his work to do that. But he could carry one of
Peter's letters. And so, 'by Sylvanus, a faithful brother, I have
written to you.' Perhaps Sylvanus was amanuensis as well as
letter-carrier, for I daresay Peter was no great hand with a pen; he was
better accustomed to haul nets. At all events, subordinate work was what
God had set him to do, and so he found joy in it.

Well, then, is not that a pattern for us? People in the world or in the
Church who can do prominent work are counted by units; and those who can
do valuable subordinate work are counted by thousands--by millions.
'Those members which seem to be more feeble are the more necessary,'
says Paul. It is a great truth, which it would do us all good to lay
more to heart.

It is hard to tell what is superior and what is subordinate work. I
suppose that in a steam engine the smallest rivet is quite as essential
as the huge piston, and that if the rivet drops out the piston-rod is
very likely to stop rising and falling. So it is a very vulgar way of
talking to speak about A.'s work being large and B.'s work being small,
or to assume that we have eyes to settle which work is principal and
which subordinate.

The Athenians, who deemed themselves wisest in the world, thought there
were few people of less importance than the fanatical Jew who was
preaching a strange story about what they knew so little of that they
took Jesus and Resurrection to be the names of a pair of gods, one male
and one female. But in the eyes that see truly--the eyes of God--the
relative importance of Apostle and Stoic was otherwise appraised.

We cannot tell, as the book of Ecclesiastes has it, 'which shall
prosper--this or that.' And if we begin to settle which is important
work, we shall be sure to make mistakes, both in our judgment about
other people, and in our sense of the obligations laid u