pon ourselves.
Let us remember that when a thing is to be done by the co-operation of a
great many parts, each part is as important as the other, and each is
indispensable. Although more glory may come to the soldiers who go to
the front and do the fighting, the troops miles in the rear, that are
quietly in camp looking after the stores and keeping open the lines of
communication, are quite as essential to the success of the campaign.
Their names will not get into the gazette; there will probably not be
any honours at the conclusion of the war showered upon them; but, if
they had not been doing their subordinate work, the men at the front
would never have been able to do theirs. Therefore, the old wise law in
Israel was: 'As his part is that goeth down into the battle, so shall
his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike.'

And so it is good for people that have only one talent, and cannot do
much, and must be contented to help somebody else that can do more, to
remember this pretty little picture of Sylvanus, 'the faithful brother,'
contented all his life to be a satellite of somebody; first of all
helping Paul, and then helping Paul's brother Peter. Let us not be too
lazy, or too proud with the pride that apes humility, to do the little
that we can do because it is little.

II. Another lesson which is own sister to that first one, but which may
be taken for a moment separately, is, the importance and obligation of
persistently doing our task, though nobody notices it.

As I remarked, there is not one word of anything that Sylvanus said, or
of anything that he did apart from Paul or Peter, recorded. And for all
the long stretch of years--we do not know how many, but a very large
number--that lie between this text of mine, where we find him in
conjunction with Peter, and that day at Corinth, where we left him with
Paul, the Acts of the Apostles does not think it worth while to mention
his name. Was he sitting with his hands in his pockets all the while, do
you think, doing no Christian work? Did he say, as some good people are
apt to say now, 'Well, I went to teach in Sunday School for a while, and
I took an interest in this, that, or the other thing for a bit, but
nobody took any notice of me; and I supposed I was not wanted, and so I
came away!'

Not he. That is what a great many of us do. Though we sometimes are not
honest enough to say it to ourselves, yet we do let the absence of
'recognition'