From Tug of War, by Amy C. Walton

What Are You?

“What are you, dear friends?” he began; “that is our subject today. What are you? How many different answers I hear you make, as you answer my question in your hearts!

“ ‘What am I?’ you say. ‘I am a fisherman, a strong, active man, accustomed to toil and danger.’

“ ‘I am a mother, with a large family of little ones, working hard from morning till night.’

“ ‘I am a schoolboy, learning the lessons which are to fit me to make my way in the world.’

“ ‘I am a busy merchant, toiling hard to make money, and obliged to come to this quiet place to recruit my wearied energies.’

“ ‘I am an artist, with great ambition of future success.’

“ ‘I am an old man, who has weathered many a storm, but my work is done now; I am too old to fish, too tired to toil.’

“ ‘I am a gentleman of non-occupation, idling comfortably through a busy world.’

“ ‘I’ ”—and here he glanced down at his own little Jack in the stern of the old boat—“ ‘I am a tiny child, with an unknown life all before me.’

“Dear friends, such are some of your answers to my question. Can I find, do you think, one answer, one description, which will suit you all—fisherman, mothers, boys and girls, artists, merchants, gentlemen, the old man and the little child? Yes, I can. If I could hand you each a piece of paper and a pencil this day, there is one description of yourself which would include you all, the old, the young, the rich and the poor. Each of you, without exception, might write this—I am a servant.

“I, the speaker, am a servant; you who listen, all of you, are servants.”

“Well, I don’t know how he is going to make that out,” I said to myself. “I thought he was going to say we were all sinners, and that, I suppose we are, but servants! I do not believe I am anybody’s servant.”

“All servants,” he went on, “but not all in the same service. As God and the angels look down upon this green today they see gathering together a great company of servants; but they also see that we are not all servants of the same master. They see what we do not see, a dividing line between us. On one side of the line God sees, and the angels see, one company of servants—and in God’s book He gives us the name of their master—Servants of Sin.

“On the other side of the line, God sees, and the angels see, another company of servants—Servants of Christ.

“Which company do you belong to, dear friend? You fishermen on the bank there, what are you? Little child, what are you?—a servant of sin, or a servant of Jesus Christ?

“Do you say, ‘How can I tell? How can I possibly know on which side of the line I stand? God may know, the angels may know, but how can I know, myself?’

“It is no difficult thing to discover; it is as plain and clear as possible. A servant of sin obeys his master. Sin rules in him. He pleases his own sinful heart. ‘What should I like?’ is the rule by which he is governed. He wakes in the morning, and he asks himself this question, ‘What do I wish to do today?’ And if the sin in his heart prompts him to do anything contrary to God’s will, he does it without scruple. Sin rules; he is a servant of sin.

“A servant of Christ obeys his master. Christ rules in him. He pleases Christ. ‘What would Christ have me do?’ is the rule by which he is governed. He wakes in the morning, and the question he asks is this, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ And if his Master bids him do anything contrary to his own inclinations, he does it readily, nay, cheerfully. Christ rules; he is a servant of Christ.”

Then he ended by a very solemn appeal. “You must be one or other,” he said. “Oh, my friend, which are you?—a servant of sin, or a servant of Christ? Who is your master? On which side of the line do you stand?”