God hath appointed to judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, and to give to every one according to the things done in the body whether they are good or bad. "In that most awful season, when the wicked shall see the judge sit above them, angry and severe, inexorable and terrible; under them an intolerable hell; within them their consciences clamorous and diseased; without them, all the world on fire; on the right hand, those men glorified, whom they persecuted and despised; on the left hand the devils accusing;" then shall it be found that the severest sentence of the Almighty, and the bitterest dregs of the vials of his wrath, will be poured out on the disobedient and ungodly child of those parents who trained him up in the nurture of the Lord.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DUTIES OF MASTERS.

"Ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening; knowing that your master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him."

EPHES. vi. 9. "Masters give unto your servants, that which is just and equal.''

COL. iv. 1.

"A party of friends setting out together upon a journey, soon find it to be best for all sides, that while they are upon the road, one of the company should wait upon the rest; another ride forward to seek out lodging and entertainment; a third carry the portmanteau; a fourth take charge of the horses; a fifth bear the purse, conduct and direct the route; not forgetting, however, that as they were equal and independent when they set out, so they are all to return to a level again at their journey's end. The same regard and respect; the same forbearance, lenity, and reserve, in using their service; the same mildness in delivering commands; the same study to make their journey comfortable and pleasant, which he whose lot it was to direct the rest, would in common decency think himself bound to observe towards them, ought we to shew towards those, who, in the casting of the parts of human society, happen to be placed within our power, or to depend upon us.'

PALEY.

"There are duties which we owe to the lowest of those who serve us, that are not fulfilled by the most bountiful allotment of wages, and lodging, and sustenance. Of these duties, which are not duties of supererogation, but flow from the very nature

of the bond which connects the master and the servant by reciprocal benefits, the surest rule is to be found in that brief direction which Seneca, in the spirit of the noble christian precept of morals, has so happily given us in one of his epistles, in which he treats of the cruelty and contumely of Roman masters - So live with your inferior, as you would wish your superior to live with you.' ”

DR. THOMAS BROWN.

"It has been justly remarked, that all authority over others, is in fact, a talent with which we are entrusted for their benefit, as well as our own; and so the discharge of our duty to them is only, in other words, securing our own interest as well as theirs. This, however, is especially manifest in the case of servants, dwelling under our roof, as members of the same family. Thereby how much our care over the souls of our servants contributes to their knowledge of God and themselves, so far have we secured their conscientious regard to our interests, and furnished them with principles, which will not only augment the stock of domestic happiness, but certainly contribute towards the divine favour resting on our dwelling, as well as on all we possess. Thus, then, is the fear of God in master and servant, found to be at once the only foundation of relative duty, and the only effectual security for the discharge of it."

ANDERSON.

“The highest panegyric that private virtue can receive, is the praise of servants, for they see a man without any restraint or rule of conduct, but such as he voluntarily prescribes to himself. And however vanity or insolence may look down with contempt on the suffrage of men undignified by wealth, and unenlightened by education, it very seldom happens that they commend or blame without justice.

"The danger of betraying our weakness to our servants, and the impossibility of concealing it from them, may be justly considered as one motive to a regular and irreproachable life. For no condition is more hurtful and despicable, than his, who has put himself in the power of his servant; in the power of him, whom, perhaps, he has first corrupted, by making him subservient to his vices, and whose fidelity he therefore cannot enforce by any precepts of honesty or reason. From

that fat al hour when he sacrificed his dignity to his passions, he is in perpetual dread of insolence or defamation; of a controller at home, or an accuser abroad."

JOHNSON.

Or all the domestic connexions, that between master and servant, is perhaps least understood, or at any rate, most neglected. In the two preceding cases, nature, imperfect and corrupt as she is, has come in with her aid: but this is a connexion, affecting very extensively the vital interest of the family, but which is left by God to conscience and scripture alone. Should these two be neglected, what wonder, if the duty on either side is not fulfilled. It is not a connexion founded in mutual love, like that of man and wife; nor in consanguinity, like that of parent and child, or brother and sister; but in mere convenience. It seems at first sight, a destruction of the natural equality of the human race, and an invasion by one party, of the rights of the other. It did not exist originally, but soon grew out of the natural course of things, such as the varied degrees of men's acquired property; the love of ease on the one hand, and the urgency of necessity on the other. It was wealth or power that made the first master, and want or weakness that made the first servant; and the very same circumstances which originated the relation preserves it. No one is a servant by choice, but of necessity, and becomes a master as soon as he can. All this shews that there is great propriety and importance in stating with clearness, and enjoining with frequency,

the duties of this connexion; and that there needs great impartiality in adjusting the claims of both parties so as to prevent the master from becoming a tyrant, and the servant from becoming a rebel; in other words to guard the master against the disobedience and dishonesty of the servant, and the servant against the oppression and cruelty of the master.

To the right performance of the Duties of Masters and Mistresses, the following qualifications are necessary.

1. A correct view of the nature and design of the family compact, as intended to train up all the members that compose it, to be good members of the civil community, and of the church of Christ. They must keep in constant recollection, that the domestic constitution has a reference to religion, to heaven, and to eternity; and that they who are appointed to be the head of it, are accountable to God for the manner in which they give it this direction. Every household is intended to be a seminary for virtue and piety, of which the master and mistress are the teachers; the servants and children the pupils.

2. They should be partakers of true religion.

Hence you see they are directed to consider, that they have a master in heaven, and to perform their duties with a believing and constant reference to their accountability to Christ. Without personal religion, they cannot of course seek on behalf of their servants the highest end of the domestic constitution, i.e. their spiritual and eternal welfare. Nor can they, without