Magazines · Christian Friend Vol. 5, 1878, p. 113 etc.

"Servants," therefore, are exhorted to "be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye‑service, as men‑pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men." (v. 5‑7.) Here again the obligation is taken out of the range of the old creation, and connected with Christ in glory. Like wives and children, the servants are exhorted to render their obedience "as unto Christ." This at once transfers their duties to a higher region than either the legal compulsion of the old system, or the legal contract of the present. Even a slave's duties were at once ennobled and sweetened if he could say, "I am doing this, not for reward, or to escape punishment, but to please Christ." It was not to be a question of whether the task imposed was reasonable or unreasonable, light or arduous. Wrong endured, or severe labour performed for Christ's sake, might be cheerfully borne.