It is a barbarous
inhumanity in men towards their servants, to account their small
failings as crimes, without allowing their past services to have been
virtues; gracious God, keep thy servants from such base ingratitude!
But then O servants, if you would obtain "the reward of inheritance,"
each of you should set yourself to enquire "how shall I approve myself
such a servant, that the Lord may bless the house of my master, the
more for my being in it?" Certainly there are many ways by which
servants may become blessings. Let your studies with your continual
prayers for the welfare of the family to which you belong: and the
example of your sober carriage render you such. If you will but
remember four words and attempt all that is comprised in them,
Obedience, Honesty, Industry, and Piety, you will be the blessings and
Josephs of the families in which you live. Let these four words be
distinctly and frequently recollected; and cheerfully perform all your
business from this consideration--that it is obedience to heaven, and
from thence will leave a recompense. It was the observation even of a
pagan, "That a master may receive a benefit from a servant"; and "what
is done with the affection of a friend, ceases to be the act of a mere
servant.
Pages:
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426