assemble the inmates to morning and evening worship. In a lower sphere, the business of tradesmen and artizans was carried on by the help of apprentices, the form of whose indentures by which they were bound still witness that they were looked upon in the light of children of the family, as as the eye of the law still regards them. In farm houses, the chief part of the labourers were lodged, and cottages were few and little needed. Whence this state of things has ceased to be, and a new mode of life has been superinduced, it would be foreign to our present purpose to inquire; but it is obvious that the change has been detrimental to the moral influence and control of the masters over their dependents in all these several stations. the largest families of our aristocracy, the heads do not know the names, or ever see the faces of the inmates of their own houses. Our extensive manufacturers make use of those in their employ as mere machines, to be cast off as worthless the moment they cease to be profitable, that is to make money for their masters; and the most unbounded licentious

In

ness is permitted to exist among them unchecked, and even unrebuked. The masters having lost sight of their duty to Christ, the dependents have necessarily forgotten theirs also; the one is served, and the other serves, only as far as it is to his pecuniary advantage so to do. No part of the master's interest is attended to but that which is stipulated for: the waste and wanton destruction of his property is thought to be no crime by the servants; and the turning a dependent out, houseless and homeless, nay, even defenceless females, amidst the profligacy of the metropolis, is considered by the master as the natural punishment of every slight misde

meanor.

covenant with

"Servants are not mere speaking brutes, but rational men and women, who are bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh, and who, on the ground of natural equality, you to deliver so much service for so much wages. They are your equals in the eye of the law of the land, and are as much protected as you are; equal in the eye of God, who is no respecter of persons;

equal in personal formation, having the same corporeal senses, members and beauty, and the same mental faculties; equal in the church of God, being redeemed by the same blood of atonement, regenerated by the same Holy Spirit, and entitled to the same heaven; and on all these grounds entitled to the respect that is due to a man and a Christian; as such they are to be addressed and treated, and not spoken to and oppressed like beasts.” James. It would be wide of the present purpose to discuss the causes of a fact which has been noticed by many travellers, namely, that of all the nations of the earth, the English are the most proud, overbearing, and insolent to their inferiors; and that this prevails more in the lower and middling, than in the higher ranks of life. Kindness and urbanity have no connexion whatever with improper familiarity; and none are so far removed from the latter as those who exercise the greatest portion of the former. The cause is probably to be found in wealth, the god which is worshipped more in this country than in any other; and certainly it is an idolatry

which more degrades and debases its votaries, than pride of ancestry, or of intellectual superiority. But be this as it may, it is a most unchristian act to behave with haughtiness or violence to inferiors.

A master of a family, composed of wife, children, and servants, is an epitome of a kingdom, and of the world. As Moses was as God to the house of Israel, so is the master as God, to the household over which the Lord has set him. In his relationship to his wife, he sees Christ and his church; in his children, he finds the objects of his particular and distinguishing love; in his servants, he beholds how all mankind do contribute and minister to the fulfilment of the designs of the great Master of all, and specially with a reference to his church and children. As Christ offers up the prayers of his whole family to his heavenly Father, so does the master of the Christian household, offer up the morning and evening tribute of gratitude to their common Master which is in heaven.

There is no part of a Christian's duty, the

difficulty of which is much enhanced by the present circumstances of society, that more calls for prayer, and for the direction of the Lord, than that of the righteous governance of a family in his fear. A Christian master and mistress ought to be very earnest with God to pour out upon them the spirit of rule. That it is not so easy to govern properly, as many seem to suppose, is proved from the fact, that few who are elevated to a station in which they were not born, ever attain to it. An account recently published, of the family and generals of Napoleon, confirms this remark in a very striking manner: for we therein see that the very same men, who evinced the greatest military talents in the field, were utterly incompetent to rule in other situations. The talent for government is a gift from God. Let heads of families especially imitate the example of God, in his long suffering of offenders against himself, while he abhors the offence. It is possible, indeed, that faults may be committed which require prompt and summary notice of them to be taken, and even punish

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