drowned, and he himself arraigned, and had been executed, had he not been saved by his clergy. That servant who is not true to his

the master is careful of the servant's body, so the servant should be careful of the master's name; when the master is unjustly reproached, the servant cannot be excused if he be master, will never be true to God or his own possessed with a dumb devil. 4thly, Faith-soul. fulness is, when a servant is true to his (4). The servant is to honour his master, word.' He dares not tell a lie, but will speak by serving him, as with love, (for willingness the truth, though it be against himself. A is more than the work), so with silence, that lie doubles the sin: Ps. ci. 7, "He that tell- is, without repining, and without replying: eth lies, shall not tarry in my sight." A Tit. ii. 9, "Exhort servants to be obedient liar is near a-kin to the devil, John viii. 44. to their masters, not answering again;" And who would let any of the devil's kindred Greek, 'not giving cross answers.' Some live with him? The lie that Gehazi told his servants are quick at speech, though slow at master Elisha, entailed leprosy on Gehazi work, and instead of being sorry for a fault, and his seed for ever, 2 Kings v. 27. A faith- they provoke by unbecoming language: were ful servant, his tongue is the true index of the heart more humble, the tongue would be his heart. 5thly, Faithfulness is, when a more silent. They are the apostle's words, servant is against impropriation. He dares" not answering again." And to those sernot convert his master's goods to his own vants who do thus honour their masters, or use, Tit. ii. 10, "Not purloining." What a servant filcheth from his master, is damnable gain. The servant who enricheth himself by stealing from his master, stuffs his pillow with thorns, and his head will lie very uneasy when he comes to die. 6thly, Faithfulness is in preserving the master's person, if unjustly in danger. Banister who betrayed his master the duke of Buckingham, in King Richard the Third's reign,—it is remarkable how the judgments of God befell that traitorous servant: his eldest son ran mad,-his daughter, of a singular beauty, was suddenly struck with leprosy, his younger son was

family-fathers, by submission, diligence, faithfulness, love, and humble silence, for their encouragement let them take that, "Servants, obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh, not with eye-service, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ," Col. iii. 24. In serving your masters, you serve Christ, and he will not let you lose your labour, ye shall receive the "reward of the inheritance." From serving on earth, you shall be taken up to reign in heaven, and shall sit with Christ upon his throne, Rev. iii. 21.

EXOD. XX. 12. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, &c.

If we are not just, we cannot be holy. Having shown you how servants are to honour 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 provide for their servants; as they 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 governors of families, to lay out so much upon their own back, as to pinch their servants' bellies.

(2). Masters should encourage their servants in their work, by commending them when they do well; though a master is to tell a servant of his faults, yet he is not always to beat upon one string, but sometimes take notice of that which is praiseworthy. This makes a servant more cheerful in his

work, and gains the master love from his your horses than to your servants? Thus

servant.

(3). Masters must not overburthen their servants, but proportion their work to their strength; if you lay too much load on a servant he will faint under it. Christianity teacheth compassion.

should masters (the fathers of the family) carry themselves prudently and piously, that they may gain honour from their servants, and may give up their accounts to God with joy.

5. The natural father, the father of the flesh, Heb. xii. 9, Honour thy natural father. This is so necessary a duty, that Philo the Jew placed the fifth commandment in the first table, as though we had not performed our whole duty to God, till we had paid this debt of honour to our natural parents. Children are the vineyard of the parent's planting, and honour done to the parent is some of the fruit of the vineyard.

(4). Masters must endeavour the spiritual good 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 servants may be his servants; they must allow them time convenient for secret devotion. Some masters are cruel to the souls of their servants; they look that they do the work about the house, but abridge them of the time they should employ in work-persons, they must give them a civil veneing out their salvation. ration.' Therefore when the apostle speaks

QUEST. Wherein are children to show their honour to their parents?

ANS. 1. In a reverential esteem of their

(5). Masters should use mild, gentle be- of fathers of our bodies, he speaks also of haviour towards servants, Eph. vi. 9, "For-giving them reverence,' Heb. xii. 9. This bearing threatening," Lev. xxv. 43, "Thou veneration or reverence must be shown, shalt not rule over him with rigour, but fear thy God." It requires wisdom in a master to know how to keep up his authority, yet lay down his austerity: we have a good copy to write after,―our Master in heaven is "slow to anger, and of great mercy," Ps. cxlv. 8. Some masters are so harsh and implacable, that they are enough to spoil a good ser

vant.

(6). Be very exact and punctual in the compacts and agreements you make with your servants; do not prevaricate, keep not back any of their wages, nor deal deceitfully with them, as Laban did with Jacob, changing his wages, Gen. xxxi. 7. Falseness in promise is as bad as false weights.

(7). Be careful of your servants, not only in health but in sickness. They have got their sickness in your service; use what means you can for their recovery; be not like the Amalakite, who forsook his servant 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, Matt. viii. 6. If you have a beast that falls sick, you will not turn it off, but have it looked to, and pay for its cure; will you be kinder to

1. Inwardly, by fear mixed with love, Lev. xix. 3, " Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father." In the commandment 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 be more slighted by children. And, (2). partly, because the mother endures more for the child; therefore, here God gives the mother the priority, names her first, "Ye shall fear every 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 speaking to parents, or speaking of them.

First, Reverence in speaking to parents: children must speak to parents respectfully, and in decent language, 1 Kings ii. 20, “Ask on, my mother," said king Solomon to his mother Bathsheba.

Secondly, Reverence in speaking of parents: children must speak of their parents honourably, they ought to speak well of them, if they deserve well, Prov. xxxi. 28, "Her children rise up, and call her bless

ed." And, in case a parent bewrays weakness and indiscretion, the child should make the best of it, and, by his wise apologies for his father, cover his father's nakedness.

And children must hearken to the counsel of their parents, as in spiritual matters, so in other affairs which relate to this life; as in the choice of a calling, and in case of entering into marriage. Jacob would not dispose of himself in marriage (though he was forty years old), without the advice and consent of his parents, Gen. xxviii. 1, 2. Children are as it were the parents' proper goods and possession, and it is high injustice in a child to give away herself without the parents' leave. If parents should indeed counsel a child to a match with one that is

(2). In gesture. Children are to show their reverence to their parents by submissive behaviour, by uncovering the head,bending the knee. Joseph, though he was a great prince, and his father grown poor, yet he bowed to him, and behaved himself as humbly, as if his father had been the prince, and he the poor man, Gen. xlviii. And king Solomon, when his mother came to him, rose off his throne, and "bowed himself to her," | irreligious or popish, I think the case is 1 Kings ii. 19. Among the Lacedemonians, if a child had carried himself arrogantly or saucily to his father, it was lawful for the father to appoint whom he would to be his heir. O how many children are far from thus giving reverence to their parents! They despise their parents; they carry themselves with that pride and malapertness towards them, that they are a shame to religion, and bring their parents' grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Deut. xxvii. 16, "Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother." If all that set light by their parents are cursed, how many children in our age are under a curse! If such as are disrespectful to their parents live to have children, they will be thorns in their sides, and God will make them read their sins in their pun

plain, and many of the learned are of opinion, that here the child may have a negative voice, and is not obliged to be ruled by the parent. Children are to "marry in the Lord," 1 Cor. vii. 39.-Therefore not with persons irreligious, for that is not to marry in the Lord.

ishment.

A. 2. The second way of showing honour to parents, is in careful obedience: Col. iii. 20, "Children obey your parents in all things." Our Lord Christ herein set a pattern to children, Luke ii. 52, he was subject to his parents. He to whom angels were subject, yet was subject to his parents. This obedience to parents is shown three ways:

(1). In hearkening to their counsel, Prov. i. 8, "Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." Parents are, as it were in the room of God; if they would teach you the fear of the Lord, you must listen to their words as oracles, and not be as the deaf adder to stop your ears. Eli's sons hearkened not to the voice of their father, 1 Sam. ii. 25, but they were called "sons of belial," ver. 12.

(2). Obedience to parents is shown in subscribing to their commands. A child should be the parents' echo: when the father speaks, the child should echo back obedience. The Rechabites were forbidden by their father to drink wine; and they did obey him, and were commended for it, Jer. xxxv. 6. And children must obey their parents in all things, Col. iii. 20. Things that are more against the grain, and which they have most reluctance to, yet they must obey their parents. Esau would obey his father, when he commanded him to fetch him venison, because it is probable he took pleasure in hunting; but refused to obey him in a matter of greater concernment, namely, in the choice of a wife. But though children must obey their parents in all things,' yet restringitur ad licita et honesta,—it is with this limitation, things just and honest.' 'Obey in the Lord,' Eph. vi. 1, that is so far as the commands of parents agree with, and are consonant to God's commands. If they command against God, then they lose their right of being obeyed, but in this case we must unchild ourselves.

(3). Honour is to be shown to parents, in relieving their wants. Joseph cherished his father in his old age, Gen. xlvii. 12. It is but paying the just debt. Parents have

brought up children when they were young, and children ought to nourish their parents when they are old. The young storks, by the instinct of nature, bring meat to the old storks, when by reason of age they are not able to fly, PLINY. Lex pelargica. The memory of Eneas was honoured, for carrying his aged father out of Troy when it was on fire. I have read of a daughter, whose father being condemned to be starved to death, she did in prison give him suck with her own breasts, which being known to the governors, procured his freedom out of prison. To blame are such, shall I say children or monsters, who are ashamed of their parents when they are old, and fallen to decay; when parents' tears and lean cheeks may plead pity, yet children have no compassion; when they ask for bread, they give them a stone. When houses are shut up, we say the plague is there: when children's hearts are shut up against their parents, the plague is in those hearts. Our blessed Saviour took great care for his mother; when he was on the cross, he charged his disciple John to take her home to him as his mother, and see that she wanted nothing, John xix. 26, 27. The reasons why children should honour their parents, are,

1. It is a solemn command of God, "honour thy father," &c. As God's word is the rule, so his will must be the reason of

our obedience.

2. They deserve honour, in respect of that great love and affection which they bear to their children; and that love is evidenced both by their care and cost. (1). Their care in bringing up their children; a sign their hearts are full of love, because their hearts are so full of care. Parents often take more care of their children than for themselves. They take care of them when they are tender, lest like wall-fruit they should be nipt in the bud. And as children grow older, so the care of parents grows greater; they are afraid of their children falling when young, and of worse falls when they are older. (2). Their love is evidenced by their cost, 1 Cor. xii. 14. They lay up, and they lay out for their children; they are not like the raven or ostrich, Job. xxxix. 14, which are cruel to their young. Parents sometimes do

impoverish themselves to enrich their chil dren: all this calls for honour from the children. Children can never parallel or equal parents' love; parents are the instruments of life to their children, children cannot be so to their parents.

3. To honour parents, "is well-pleasing to the Lord," Col. iii. 20. As it is joyful to the parents, so it is pleasing to the Lord. Children, is it not your duty to please God! In honouring and obeying your parents, you please God, as well as when you repent and believe. And, that you may see how well it pleaseth God, he bestows a reward upon it, "That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Jacob would not let the angel go till he had blessed him; nor God would not part with this commandment till he had blessed it. Here is the blessing, "that thy days may be long in the |land," &c. St Paul calls this "the first commandment with promise,” Eph. vi. 2. The second commandment hath a general promise of mercy; but this is the first commandment that hath a particular promise made to it, "That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Long life is mentioned as a blessing, Ps. cxxviii. 6, "Thou shalt see thy children's children." It was a great favour of God to Moses, that though he was an hundred and twenty years old, he needed no spectacles; "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated," Deut. xxxiv. 7. God threatened it as a curse to Eli, that there should not be an old man in his family, 1 Sam. ii. 31. Since the flood, life is much abbreviated and cut short; some, the womb is their tomb,-others exchange their cradle for their grave, others die in the flower of their age,-death serves its warrant every day upon one or other. Now, when death lies in ambush continually for us, if God satisfy us with long life, Ps. xci. 16, "With long life will I satisfy him," this is to be esteemed a blessing. It is a blessing that God gives a long time to repent, and a long time to do service, and a long time to enjoy the comforts of relations; and upon whom is this blessing of long life entailed, but obedient children? "Honour thy fa