the others, might be supposed to say, "Ye have done it unto us." The good brother will make a good husband and a good father. The good sister will make a good wife and a good mother : "Oh, she that hath a heart of that fine frame, To pay this debt of love but to a brother, CHAPTER IX. MASTERS AND MISTRESSES. OUR relative positions are from God. Whether one is a master or a servant is arranged by Him; and the excellence does not lie in the position, but in the way we adorn the position. Superior and inferior stations are for this world, and are therefore temporary. The conditions of life may in many cases be reversed hereafter, so that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. In this view there is something foolish and pitiable in an overbearing man. Wilberforce has this entry in his diary: "At the levee, and then dined at Pitt's-sort of Cabinet dinner-was often thinking that pompous Thurlow and elegant Carmarthen would soon appear in the same row with the poor fellow who waited behind their chairs." * A kindred reflection may have occurred to one standing beside the skeleton of some imperious and supercilious master, and he may have been tempted into an apostrophe: "Poor skeleton! I dare not touch thee, lest thou topple into pieces. Yet thou wert once * "Life of Wilberforce," i. 98. a man, rejoicing in thy strength and swaggering in the pride of life! I must not touch thee, and yet thou touchest me." Some of the greatest men have been good masters. Such was Saladin. While the descendants of Seljuk and Zenghi held his stirrup and smoothed his garments, he was affable and patient with the meanest of his servants. The ancient tyranny exercised over servants, who were indeed slaves, is happily no precedent for our times. Of a master who never forgave, the orders were seldom disobeyed. The diligence of the multitude was quickened by the eye of a despot, whose smile was the hope of fortune, and whose frown was the messenger of death.* But would any generous mind wish for such obedience the obedience of terror, the obedience obtained by assuming power unduly, and depriving fellowcreatures of property, liberty, and even life itself? Far better is the limited obedience which comes from voluntary engagement and the hope of a reward blended with personal attachment. For, after all, the ancient slave must have been an anxious possession. "It is requisite," says Aristotle, "that masters should rise before their slaves and go to rest later, and that a house, like a city, should never be left unguarded; and what ought to be done should be omitted neither by day nor by night." + The author of Ecclesiasticus was not much in advance of heathen ideas on this question: "Bread, correction, and work, are for a servant." Then he gives a recipe for an evil servant: "Tortures and torments and in * Gibbon's "History," ch. lxviii. † Arist., Econ., i. 6. creasingly heavy fetters." But self-interest comes in to mitigate this regimen, and bethinking himself that the slave is so much money, he adds, "If thou have a servant, let him be unto thee as thyself, because thou hast bought him with a price.* In It is wonderful how God always provides some corrective to counteract a mischievous tendency. The idea that a slave was property was bad; but the fact acted as a salutary restraint upon tyrannical treatment. This explains the humiliating fact, that a slave-owner often takes more care of his slave, and a farmer often takes more care of his horse, than a master takes of his servant. such cases pecuniary interest is stronger than human sympathy. These Hebrew counsels were very bad indeed; still there was one of them not so objectionable. The writer prescribes work, and certainly it is most desirable for all classes, servants included, that they should be fully occupied. In some religious families the servants have extremely little to do on Sundays, and for hours are unemployed. These are hours of idleness, and are often consumed in gossiping, looking out of windows, peering into cabinets and rummaging drawers. A considerate master or mistress may turn this weekly leisure to good account by reading to their servants or permitting them to attend Bible classes as well as church. The religious supervision may, however, be carried to excess, and then it becomes inquisitorial and oppressive. History has recorded the case of one Reingault. He was a temporary convert from Romanism, and affected great * Ecclus. xxxiii. 30. zeal for the Calvinistic religion. He would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two clergymen. He was one of those who, according to a Flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope. But without this extravagance, there was a good custom in old times for masters to take an interest in their servants and to instruct them in religion, as being members of a Christian household. * It is a providential compensation also, that servants are sometimes better, wiser, and happier than their masters and mistresses. How much judgment, delicacy, devotion, and gratitude do some servants possess, while their employers make themselves notorious for folly, selfishness, and extravagance! However, these are exceptional cases and dare not be calculated upon. The likelihood is that they will ape the follies and imitate the vices of the heads of the house; for we are all powerfully influenced by example; and this is especially natural in inferiors. † James Ferguson, a self-taught astronomer, relates a pleasant incident of his early life. At night he used to study the stars, and he kept the sheep by day. He made mechanical models of mills, and measured the distance of the stars by means of a thread with beads on it. "My master," he adds, "at first laughed at me; but when I explained my meaning to him, he encouraged me to go on; and that I might make fair copies in the day * Motley's "United Netherlands," ii. 68. 66 Quid istuc tam mirum, si de te exemplum capit ?”—Andria, iv. 1, 27. |