Home's in,incible strength. 2. On the other hand, the father must beware lest his authority should wear a nredless aspect of severity. His ri.,.hteous clesire to "command his children and his household after him" (Gen. xviii. 19), and his anxious sense of responsibility, may occasion this, if not relieved by more genial influences. The inno- cent liveliness and the many unintended offences of childbood must not provoke him to ill temper. lie must learn by patience and tenderness to win the child's affection and open-hearted trust, without impairing its submissive reverence. A mechanical, unsym- pathetic ~trictness, or an angry and unequal discipline, will fatally alienate the sensitive heart of the child, which in that case either sinks down into a dull, spiritless apathy, or prepaT'!'.s for a passionate revolt when the hour of its strength shall come. Too often those most anxious to commend religion to their children have made it odious by presenting it in forms unintelligible to the young mind, and associating it with tasks unsuited to its powers, and burdens that it found "grievous to be borne." As the child should find in the child Jesus its pattern, and model (Luke ii. 40-52). so the parent should seek to be to his children an image of" our Father in heaven." UL MASTEn A1''T> sEnVANT. (Ver. 22-ch. iv. 1.) This third relationship is one which we may be sure will continue to exist, however varied the forms it may take, so long as the world stands. And what the apostle says here is of universal application, though slavery has happily given place to free service. Even when our lower classes sl,all have become so far raised in intelligence an<l independence that co-operation in industrial labour will become the rule instead of the exception, still there must be some to command, others to obey; Indeed, the more extended and complicatecl the operations of trade and manufacture become, the more thoroughly labour needs to be organized and authority graduated, and the more entirely success depends on manage- ment and discipline and on a right adjustment of the relations of master and servant. 1. From servant.~ Christianity demands, what conscience demands, an honest obedience, that serves as well behind the master's back as to his face (ver. 22). As a mere matter of commercial a,lvantage, the uniform presence of this quality would be an incalculable econorny and enrichment of the community. And religion secures this, directly and of necessity. The man who does his work in God's sight-" as ever in his great Taskmaster's eye "-and as for the judgment-day, cannot scamp any part of it. He is serving, not a man like himself, but a heavenly Lord, whose searching eye is always upon him, who Wlderstands and can judge every man's work (ver. 24; 1 Pet. i. 17), and who bas promised infinite rewards for faithfulness in the "few things" of our earthly probation (Matt. xxv. 21, 23). 'l'hese convictions form the best guarantee, with the mass of men the only sufficient and effectual guarantee, for good work and thorough workmanship in every department of life. "A servant with this clause, Makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a room as for thy laws, Makes tlmt and the actiou fine." (George Herbert.) 2. And the Christian master whether at the head of a farm or a factory, of a commer- cial house or a private raO:ily, will remember t~at he lias ~1is dutie~ along with his rights as a ma1Jter. He is dealing with human berngs, not with machmes. The laws of political economy arc not to be his only guide. "'l'he nexus of cash-pa;rm~nts" can never be the sole link that associates any two men together. ·woe be to him 1f he say!', with Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. iv. 9). "Just dealing and fairness w (eh. iv. 1) must rule in the relations of master and man, if the)'. are to be on a mo~al and ri~hteous footing. He will not take a hard advantage of his s~rvant's necessity; or allow if he can help it his dealin.,.s with him to degenerate rnto a mere struggle hetw~n capital and Jab~ur for ever/inch of vantage. 'l'be cruel greed that g_rasps at irr,media!e gain at whatever cost of toil and poverty to ot.hers, and that" grmds the faces of the poor" (Isa. iii. 15), may enrich the individual, but in the long run is fatal to the class or the trade which practises it. And the rich oppressor will have to appear at a tribunal where" there is no respect of per~ons" (ver. 25). Political economy iLself teaches that ill-paid labour is the most expensive and wasteful. ~hi: ma~ who has want a1Hl fear g11awiu~ at his btart cannot _be~ good workman, cyen if, ID spite o~ n.trt:me wmptation, he ue an honest one. Injustice and over-reachrng on the plll'"t ol IJlI. III, 1-25.] THE EPISTLE ·ro THE COLOSSIANS. 160
the rich and governing classes, polil[cal and social institutions that favour "the fat and the strong" at the expense of the weak and poor (Ezek. xxxiv. 16-27), are sure of God's heavy judgment. They generate in the hatred excited in those subject to them an explosive force which, with a suitable train of circumstances, will burst forth, as in the French Revolution, in some volcanic upheaval that the strongest social fabric will be unable to resist. Christ's golden rule of equity (Luke vi. 31) is the only safe, as it is the only righteous, basis for the dealings of man with man, of class with class, or of nation with nation in the world's great polity.