domestic servants, are labouring under pain and illness; nor should a cold and calculating parsimony obstruct or delay a recourse to the remedies required.

Thirdly, Let there be a prevailing solicitude for the religious interests of the servants employed.

If, as is often discovered, they appear ignorant of the gospel of Christ, and unacquainted with the contents of the bible, it becomes a most sacred and imperious duty, on the part of the master and the mistress, to promote their religious instruction, and to direct their regard to the things which belong to their peace. Their best interests should be kept in view in the daily worship of the family;--and can that be regarded as a religious family, in which the children and servants are not daily assembled to hear the reading of the word of God, and to present their common supplications at the throne of grace? Can the fear or the love of God be supposed to dwell in the hearts of those who are at the head of a family, in which domestic devotion is neglected? More especially on the Lord's-day, should the religious interests of servants, as well as of children, be particularly kept in view, and promoted by the best methods which wisdom can devise and which kindness can carry into effect. Above all, every facility should be afforded on that day, for their attendance at

the house of God; and such arrangements should be made, in every part of the domestic economy, as that no avoidable hindrances should arise from festivity or from company, to prevent a regular enjoyment of the benefits of public instruction. It remains for us now to advert,

SECONDLY, To the Principles on which these Duties should be performed.

The first is a regard to the relation in which Masters themselves stand towards God, and to the principle on which he requires service to be rendered to himself.

"Ye also," said the Apostle, "have a Master in heaven." What, then, is the principle on which he requires us to render obedience to his will, and without which no obedience can be acceptable? Is it a principle of servile dread? "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."-" We love him because he first loved us."" If ye love me," said the Saviour," keep my commandments." Is not this, then, the model for our imitation? Ought we not to endeavour to rule our households, by inspiring attachment, and esteem, and respect? Ought it not to be our desire, that our servants, and especially if they be christian servants, should obey from the impulse of principles such as these? Will not this desire, then, restrain from all undue severity

both of requirement, and of reprehension?

Will

it not preserve us from an unreasonable demand of perfection in their services, as also from sinful and injurious irritation, on the discovery of occasional instances of thoughtlessness and negligence, and inattention to the orders they had received?

The second principle, which alone remains to be noticed, is—a consideration of accountableness at the divine tribunal.

"Your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him."

Before his bar the master and the servant must alike appear, to give an account of the things done in the body, "whether they be good or whether they be evil." No partiality will be shown in favour of the master to the prejudice of the servant, or in favour of the servant to the prejudice of the master. All the multiform distinctions and gradations of rank shall finally cease at death, to be no more recognized at all, except for the purpose of a righteous retribution. The question which alone will be found important, when we enter the unseen world, to which we are rapidly hastening, will not be what rank or station did we occupy among the short-lived inhabitants of the earth, but-in what manner, and with what spirit, and under what motives, did we conduct ourselves in the stations assigned us by God?

Are we, then, whether masters or servants,

prepared to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? Have we humbled ourselves under a sense of our numberless defects and transgressions, both as it regards our fellow-creatures, and our adorable and omniscient Creator? Have we received, by faith, those glad tidings which proclaim a free and a full forgiveness, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? Are our hearts renewed by the omnipotence of regenerating grace? Are we " girding up the loins of our minds," for the vigorous discharge of every incumbent duty? Are we in the attitude of servants fully prepared for the arrival of their Lord? "Be ye ready," said the Saviour; "for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."

Y

LECTURE XVI.

THE DUTIES WE OWE TO OUR CHRISTIAN BRETHREN.

JOHN XIII. 34, 35.

love

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

OFTEN were words of kindest love combined with words of loftiest dignity, in the discourses of our Lord Jesus Christ; but never were expressions of exquisite tenderness more admirably blended with the true sublime, than on the occasion to which this chapter refers. The memorable Supper was ended. The traitor had quitted the table, in order to arrange the infernal plot. It was then, that not with a trembling, but an exulting heart, the Saviour exclaimed-" Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him" Is