IF we are not just, we caimot be holy. Having shown you how servants are to ho- nour their masters, the fathers of families ; I shall next show how masters are to carry it towards their servants, that they may gain honour from them.
1. In general, masters must remember that they have a master in heaven, who will call them to account, Eph. vi. 9., " Knowing that your master also is in heaven."
2. More particularly.
(1.) Masters must have a care to pro\'ide for tiieir servants ; as tluy cut them out
work, so they must give them their meat in due season, Luke xvii. 7. And the food should be wholesome and sufficing. It is an unworthy thing in some gover- nors of families, to lay out so much upon their own back, jis to pinch their servants' bellies.
(2.) Masters should encourage their sei- vants in their work, by commending them when they do well ; though a master is to tell a servant of his faults, vet he is not al- ways to beat upon one siring, but some- times take notice of that which is praise- worthy. This makes a servant more cheer*
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OF THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.
ful in liis work, and gains the master love from his servant.
(3.) Masters mnst not overburden tlieir servants, but proportion their work to their strength ; if you lay too much load on a servant he will faint under it. Christiani- ty tcachcth compjissinn.
(4.) Masters must endeavour the spirit- ual g'ood of their servants ; they must be seraphims to kindle their love to religion ; they must be monitors to put them in mind of their souls ; they must bring them to the pool of the sanctuary, waiting till the angel stir the waters, John v. 4. They must seek God for them, that their ser- vants may be his servants ; they must al- low them time convenient for secret devo- tion. Some masters are cruel to the souls of their servants ; they look that they do the work about the liouse, but abridge them of the time they should employ in work- ing out their salvsttion.
(5.) Masters should use mild gentle bc- havi<»ur towards servants, Eph. vi. 9., " Forbearing threatening," Lev. xxv. 43., " Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, but fear thy Cod." It requires wisdom in a master to know how to keej) up his au- thority, yet lay down his austerity : we have a good copj' to write after, — our Mas- ter in heaven is " slow to anger, and of great mercy," Ps. cxlv. 8. Some mastiirs are so harsh and im|)lacable, tiiat they are enough to spoil a good servant.
(().) lie very exact and jtunctual in the compacts and agreements you make Avith your servants ; do riot ])revaricate, k(!ep not back any of their wages, nor deal de- ceitfully with them, as Laban did with Ja- cob, changing his wages. Gen. xxxi. 7. ralsenesi* in ])romise is as bad as false weights.
(7.) Be carcfal of your servants, not on- ly in health but in sickness. Th< y have got their sickness in your service ; use what means you can for their recovery ; be not like the Amalakite, who ' forsook his ser- vant when he was sick,' 1 Sam. xxx. 13., but be as the good centurion, who kept his sick servant, and sought to Christ for a cure, Mat. viii. 6. If y<>" have a beast that falls sick, you will not turn it off, but have it looked to, and pay f<.r its cure ; will you
be kinder to your horses than to your ser vants ? Thus should masters (the fathers of the family) carry themselves |)rudeiitly and piously, that they may gain honour from their servants, and may give up their accounts to God w ith joy.
.5. The natural father, the father of the fl<>sh, Ilcb. xii. 9., Honour thy natural fa- ther. Tliis is so noeessurv a dutv, that TMiilo the ,h\\v j)lac<'d the fifth command- ment in the first table, as though we had not j)erformed our whole duty to duA. till we had paid this debt of honour to our na- tural parents. Children are the vineyard of the parent's planting, and honour flone to the parent is some of the fruit of the vineyard.
Quest. Wherein are children to sJiow their honour to their parents ?
Arts. 1. In a reverential esteem of their persons, — they must ' give them a civil ve- neration.' Therefore when the a|)ostle speaks of fathers of our bodies, he speaks also of 'giving them reverence,' Hci). xii. 9. This veneration or reverence must be shewn,
1. Inwardly, by fear niixed with \o\o, Lev. xix. 3., '' Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father." In the command- ment the father is named first, here the mother is named first, (1.) Partly to put the honour upon her the mother, because, by reason of many weaknesses incident to her sex, she is apt to he more sliohted by children. y\iid, (2.) partly, because the mother endures more for the child ; tli(>re-- fore, here God {iives the motlu'r the jiiiori- ty, names her first, " Ye shall fear eveiy one his mother and his father."
2. Reverence must be shown to parents outwardly, viz. In word and gesture.
(1.) In word, and that either in speak- ing to parents, or speaking of them.