So do not let us be anxious about the further end of our deeds—­viz. their results; but be careful about the nearer end of them—­viz. their motives; and God will look after the other end.  Seeing that ‘thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that,’ or how much any of them will prosper, let us grasp all opportunities to do His will and glorify His name.

IV.  Further, here we have an instance of the heroic self-devotion which love to Christ kindles.

‘For my sake they laid down their own necks.’  We do not know to what Paul is referring:  perhaps to that tumult in Ephesus, where he certainly was in danger.  But the language seems rather more emphatic than such danger would warrant.  Probably it was at some perilous juncture of which we know nothing (for we know very little, after all, of the details of the Apostle’s life), in which Aquila and Priscilla had said, ’Take us and let him go.  He can do a great deal more for God than we can do.  We will put our heads on the block, if he may still live.’  That magnanimous self-surrender was a wonderful token of the passionate admiration and love which the Apostle inspired, but its deepest motive was love to Christ and not to Paul only.

Faith in Christ and love to Him ought to turn cowards into heroes, to destroy thoughts of self, and to make the utmost self-sacrifice natural, blessed, and easy.  We are not called upon to exercise heroism like Priscilla’s and Aquila’s, but there is as much heroism needed for persistently Christian life, in our prosaic daily circumstances, as has carried many a martyr to the block, and many a tremulous woman to the pyre.  We can all be heroes; and if the love of Christ is in us, as it should be, we shall all be ready to ’yield ourselves living sacrifices, which is our reasonable service.’

Long years after, the Apostle, on the further edge of life, looked back over it all; and, whilst much had become dim, and some trusted friends had dropped away, like Demas, he saw these two, and waved them his last greeting before he turned to the executioner—­’Salute Prisca and Aquila.’  Paul’s Master is not less mindful of His friends’ love, or less eloquent in the praise of their faithfulness, or less sure to reward them with the crown of glory.  ’Whoso confesseth Me before men, him will I also confess before the angels in heaven.’

TWO HOUSEHOLDS

   ‘...  Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household.
   11. ...  Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus,
   which are in the Lord.’—­ROMANS xvi. 10, 11.

There does not seem much to be got out of these two sets of salutations to two households in Rome; but if we look at them with eyes in our heads, and some sympathy in our hearts, I think we shall get lessons worth the treasuring.

In the first place, here are two sets of people, members of two different households, and that means mainly, if not exclusively, slaves.  In the next place, in each case there was but a section of the household which was Christian.  In the third place, in neither household is the master included in the greeting.  So in neither case was he a Christian.