The Duties of Masters
“Ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening; knowing that your master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.” Ephes. vi. 9.
“Masters give unto your servants, that which is just and equal.”
Col. iv. 1.
“A party of friends setting out together upon a journey, soon find it to be best for all sides, that w hile they are upon the road, one of the company should wait upon the rest, another ride forward to seek out lodging and entertainment; a third carry the portmanteau; a fourth take charge of the horses; a fifth bear the purse, conduct and direct the route; not forgetting, however, that as they were equal and independent when they set out, so they are all to return to a level again at their journey ‘send. The same regard and respect; the same forbearance, lenity, and reserve, in using (heir service; the same mildness in delivering commands; the same study to make their journey comfortable and pleasant, which he whose lot it was to direct the rest, would in common decency think himself bound to observe towards them, ought we show towards those, who, in the oasting of the parts of human society, happen to be placed within our poww, or to depend upon us.” Paley.
“There are duties which we owe to the lowest of those who serve us, that are not fulfilled by the most bountiful allotment of wages, and lodging, and sustenance. Of these duties, which are not duties ol supererogation, but flow from the very nature of the bond which connects the master and the servant by reciprocal benefits, the surest rule is to be found in that brief direction which Seneca, in the spirit of the noble christian precept of morals, has so happily given us in one of his epistles, in which he treats of the cruelty and contumely of Roman masters. — ‘So live with your inferior, as you would wish your superior to live with you ‘”
Dr. Thomas Brown.” It has been justly remarked, that all authority over others, is in fact, a talent with which we are entrusted for their benefit, as well as our own; and so the discharge of our duty to them is only, in other words, securing our own interest as well as theirs. This, however, is especially manifest in the case of servants, dwelling under our roof, as members of the same family. Thereby how much our care over the souls of our servants contributes to their knowledge of God and themselves, so far have we secured their conscientious regard to our interests, and furnished them with principles, which will not only augment the stock of domestic happiness, but certainly contribute towards the divine favor resting on our dwelling, as
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well as on all we possess. Thus, then, is the fear of God in master and servant, found to be at once the only foundation of relative duty, and the only, effectual security for the discharge of it.” Anderson.
“The highest panegyrick that private virtue can receive, is the praise of servants, for they see a man without any restraint or rule of conduct, but such as he voluntarily prescribes to himself. And however vanity or insolence may look down with contempt on the suffrage of men undignified by wealth, and unenlightened by education, it very seldom happens that they commend or blame without justice.
64 The danger of betraying our weakness to our servants, and the impossibility of concealing it from them, may be justly considered as one motive to a regular and irreproachable life. For no condition is more hurtful and despicable, than his, who has put himself in the power of him, whom, perhaps, he has first corrupted, by making him subservient to his vices, and whose fidelity he therefore cannot enforce by any precepts of honesty or reason. From that fatal hour when he sacrificed his dignity to his passions, he is in perpetual dread of insolence or defamation; of a controller at home, or an accuser abroad.” Johnson,
Of all the domestic connexions, that between master and servant, is perhaps least understood, or at any rate, most neglected. In the two preceding cases, nature, imperfect and corrupt as she is, has come in with her aid: but this is a connexion, affecting very extensively the vital interest of the family, but which is left by God to conscience and scripture alone. Should these two be neglected, what wonder, if the duty on either side is not fulfilled. It is not a connexion founded in mutual love, like that of man and wife; nor in consanguinity, like that of parent and child, or brother and sister; but in mere convenience. It seems at first sight, a destruction of the natural equality of the human race, and an invasion by one party, of the rights of the other. It did not exist originally, but soon grew out of the natural course of things, such as the varied degrees of men’s acquired property; the love of ease on the one hand, and the urgency of necessity on the other. It was wealth or power that made the first master, and want or weakness that made the first servant; and the very same circumstances which originated the relation preserves it. No one is a servant by choice, but of necessity, and becomes a master as soon as he can. All this shews that there is great propriety and importance in stating with clearness,
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and enjoying with frequency, the duties of this connexion; and that there needs great impartiality in adjusting the claims of both parties so as. to prevent the master from becoming a tyrant,”’ and the servant from becoming a rebel; in other words to guard the master against the disobedience and dishonesty of the servant, and the servant against the oppression and cruelty of the master.
To the right performance of the Duties of Masters and Mistresses, the following qualifications are necessary.
1. A correct view of the nature and design of the family compact as intended to train up all the members that compose it, to be good members of the civil community, and of the church of Christ. They must keep in constant recollection, that the domestic constitution has a reference to religion, to heaven, and to eternity; and that they who are appointed to be the head of it, are accountable to God for the manner in which they give it this direction. Every household is intended to be a seminary for virtue and piety, of which the master and mistress are the teachers; the servants and children the pupils.
%. They should be partakers of true religion.
Hence you see they are directed to consider, that they have a master in heaven, and to perform their duties with a believing and constant reference to their accountability to Christ. Without personal religion, they cannot of course seek on behalf of their servants the highest, end of the domestic constitution, i. e. their spiritual and eternal welfare. Nor can they, without religion, be so well prepared to discharge even the, ordinary duties of their station. True religion will not fail, wherever it exists in full vigor and operation, to teaqha man, in reference to every thing, the best rules’ and ends, and measures of action: and especially will the grace of God, in this case* prevent that pride, passion, cruelty and unkinffless, which make a man a bad master; and
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at the same time it will implant those virtues which are the germs of a master’s greatest excellence. Religion is the strongest basis and the firmest support of authority; it not only renders all the commandments which are delivered, holy, and just, and good; not only infuses wisdom and equity into all the laws which are enjoined, but invests the lawgiver himself with the beauty of goodness, and the awful power of sanctity. A peculiar awe and dread seem to have been upon the inferior creatures, for man in his innocence, as a kind of reverence for the divine image which man bore; and the more holiness there is in a man’s character now, the more power is there in his authority, and the more nearly does he come back to his original dominion, at least over the rational creation. If we would govern well, and easily, and pleasantly, we must inspire reverence rather than fear, and nothing does this like religion. u Them that honor me, saith God, I will honor:” this is never more remarkably exemplified, than in the case of eminently holy masters and mistresses.
3. They should entertain correct notions of the nature and design of the relation they stand in to their servants, who are to be considered as their equals in nature, though their inferiors in rank; and not as beings of another and inferior race.
Servants are not mere speaking brutes, but rational men and women, who are bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh, and who on the ground of natural equality, covenant with you to deliver to you so much service, for so much wages. They are your equals in the eye of the laws of the land, and are as much protected as you are: equal in the eye of God, who is no respecter of persons; equal in personal formation, having the same corporeal senses, members and beauty, and the same mental faculties; equal in the church of God, being re-A HELP TO DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. lg&
deemed by the same blood of atonement, regenerated by the same Holy Spirit, and entitled to the same heaven; and on all these grounds entitled to the respect that is due to a man and a christian; as such they are to be addressed and treated; and not spoken to and oppressed like beasts.
I now lay down one or two preliminary remarks.
I. Professing christians should be very careful in the selection of their servants.
It is desirable, where it can be done, to engage such servants as are truly and consistently pious. I know that this cannot always be accomplished, in reference to the household, much less in the manufactory and the shop. In a business that depends upon the skill of the workmen, a master must have such as will suit his purpose, whether they possess moral qualifications or not. But when he cannot get good men, he should endeavor to reform, to the extent of his ability, such as are bad. It must be admitted that there are many, both men and women, who, as to their general qualifications, are most excellent servants, who yet do not possess true piety: they are industrious, good tempered, honest, and cleanly, and contribute far more to the comfort of the families that employ them, than some conceited, cross, and iudolent professors of religion. Notwithstanding this, it is every way desirable to obtain, if we can, those to serve us, who, we have every reason to believe, serve the Lord Christ.
Other things being equal, pious servants are much to be preferred to those that are without the fear of God. They may bring the blessing of God with them into your house. You have the benefit of their example and of their prayers: in the time of sickness, you have the consolation of their remarks as well as their sympathy: and hence they have been, in many cases, sources of inconceivable comfort to the households, in which they have been placed. If you have a family, how immensely im-THE FAMILY MONITOR: OR
portant is this matter. Think of what incalculable mischief one unprincipled servant may be the author, in a circle of young children. On this account, if a person of decided piety cannot be found, at least determine that none but such as are strictly moral, shall be inmates in your habitation. David determined that no liar should dwell in his family. The utmost caution should be exercised, to keep from the nursery all improper persons. Nor ought any mother to trust her children too much to any servants, however excellent; and on admitting them, she should very minutely instruct them in all those points of conduct towards their minds, as well as to their bodies, which they are to avoid, as well as those which they are to observe. I would sooner take a toad into my bosom, said an old author, than a wicked servant into my family. Well might he say this, for the poor reptile is belied in being said to be armed with poison, but the wicked servant has poison for the mind both of her fellow servants and the children. Christian parents are not perhaps sufficiently cautious on this head. They are not sufficiently impressed with the importance of the subject, till they learn it by the various kinds of mischief that have been done. The present age has peculiar advantages on this point, inasmuch as by the extension of education, many young women, of considerable respectability, are trained for the important situation of nursery governesses.
2. When you engage a servant, let there be a very explicit statement, of what each party expects from the other.
The master or mistress should most fully explain to the servant, all that will be demanded in the way of service, and all that will be given in the way of wages and of privilege, both temporal and spiritual. Nothing should be concealed or omitted, to be brought forward at some future time: this is in the highest degree dishonorable, and subjects the en-I So
croaching party to the justest reproach. It would be well for you to inform your servants, in a very minute and particular manner, all the religious habits of your family, and what compliance with these you will expect from them.
The duties of Masters and Mistresses may be classed under three heads.
First. You owe them a duty of justice.
This demands, that you should give them a fair remuneration for their labor. The amount should not only be enough to support them in mere existence, but in comfort. It is an utter disgrace to any man, much more to a professing christian, to abate and screw down those whom he employs, till they cannot earn enough for their decent clothing, and the nourishment of their strength. Is not this to grind the faces of the poor? But, as in trade, there are certain rates of wages, from which it may be difficult for a master, however pious or humane, to vary, I shall merely remark, that such men ought never to be forward in lowering the price of labor, beyond what is actually necessary to keep possession of the market. As to household servants, to whom this chapter more especially applies, it is very dishonorable to a mistress to higgle about a few shillings, with a poor dependant creature, whom she is scarcely willing should earn enough to procure herself reputable apparel. I do not wish servants to be encouraged in dress, and in expensive habits: there is too great a propensity to this in many young women, which ought to be checked, and if it can be done by no other means, by a reduction of wages. But enough ought to be afforded in all cases, for suitable attire, and for a little surplus fund, which they should be encouraged to make against a time of destitution and helplessness. If we do not furnish them by a sufficiency of wages, with the means of honestly supplying their wants, are we not tempting them to make up the defi-THE FAMILY MONITOR: OR
ciency by dishonesty? And of course, their wages should be regularly paid. It is disreputable to be long in debt to any one, but utterly scandalous, when such creditors are unpaid servants, who ask, without success, for what has been due to them for months. I wonder the pride, if not the principle of some people, does not prevent them from putting on new finery, while the servants in the kitchen are saying, “That bonnet and gown are mine, for I am owed the money which payed for them, if indeed they be paid for.”
Justice demands that you should pay your servants for all the work they do; and that every thing, which in respect of time or labor, is above the stipulated or usual quantity of service rendered for a given sum, should be most equitably paid for. There are some persons who are proverbially mean, for exacting, not only what is actually due to them for the wages they pay, but for getting, if possible, a little extra service, without paying for it: this remark applies, of course, to the case of day work. If a woman be hired to work in the parlor, or the kitchen, or a man be engaged for the garden, such persons will generally detain them if they can, an hour or two beyond the usual time, on pretence, perhaps of finishing up the matter, or getting ready something of importance. This would be all very fair, if they paid an extra sum for the extra work; but no; they want the additional hour or two to be thrown in for nothing. But when the case is reversed, and the workman or woman is obliged to go away an hour or two earlier than the usual time, they are then forward enough to make a deduction from the amount paid to them. This is not only detestably mean, but actually dishonest, for it is taking the laboring person’s work without paying for it. Many persons, and some of them, professors of religion, have no conscience in this matter, and get a character for extortionate selfishness from all whom they employ. In our money transactions with those who serve us, we should always lean to the side of generosity, or at least, should pay to the uttermost farthing, for all the work which is done for us.
Justice requires, that your domestic servants be well provided for in all the necessaries and accommodations of life. Their food should be wholesome and sufficient; their lodging should be such as is convenient for them in respect to warmth and protection, and not such as a person of even tolerable humanity would scarcely allot to the dogs of his flock. If people cannot really afford to give such wages as will procure decent attire, nor such food, both as to quantity and quality, as is necessary to keep up the strength of a servant, they ought not to have one, and should do the work themselves. I pity from the very bottom of my heart some poor orphans, hired perhaps, if not from the workhouse, yet from friends that are glad to get them off their hands at any price, who although burdened with excessive labor, are not allowed meat and drink sufficient to support their strength, and nourish their stunted frame, and are in a condition, which, with the single exception of liberty, is more pitiable than that of many African slaves. Medicine and surgical assistance, also should be procured for our domestic servants at our cost, as long as they are in our employ. I do not like the practice of hurrying them off, except in the case of contagious diseases, to hospitals and dispensaries, and thus calling upon the public to provide for the relief of those, whose cases belong to us. Much less is it equitable to make them pay the expences of their own affliction. I have known servants, who were half beggared by doctors’ bills, which ought to have been discharged by those, in whose service they contracted the ailaments which reduced them to suffering and poverty.
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* Justice also equally demands, in the case of apprentices, that they should be well taught the business which they come to you to learn; especially, where as in many cases, a high premium is paid for this very purpose. No man can honestly retain such property, or indeed, such apprentice with whom it is given, if he do not even take pains to instruct him. If there be any secret in the trade, it must be thrown open to him, for he comes to you for that very purpose. Nor is it enough not to hinder him from acquiring the business, but you must take pains to help him. I do think that this circumstance is very much forgotten by masters, not excepting those that make a profession of religion. Apprentices, I know, are taken with a primary view to the master’s interest: but in return for the help which a servant affords towards the accomplishment of this object, a master covenants to instruct him in the trade, and the man who employs an apprentice in any thing else than that which he came to learn, and suffers him through his neglect, to remain ignorant of the trade, is guilty of a double act of robbery; he robs the parent of the youth of his property, and at the same time, robs the youth himself of all his future means and opportunities of success.
Justice demands, that when they leave your service, you should dismiss them, as far as you are able, consistently with truth, with a good character. Their character is their wealth, and if this be gone, their means of subsistence have all vanished. Do not disallow them the right of leaving you when they please, nor avenge yourselves upon them by insinuating any thing to their disadvantage. On the contrary, do all you can to raise their reputation, and say all the good you can in their favor.
“There is a carelessness and facility in 4 giving characters,’ as it is called,” says Paley, “especially when given in writing, or according to some established form, which, to speak plainly of it, is a cheat upon those who accept them. They are given with so little reserve and veracity,” that I should as soon depend, (says the author of the rambler,) upon an acquital at the Old Bailey by way of recommendation of a servant’s honesty, as upon one of these 4 characters.’ It is sometimes carelessness; and sometimes to get rid of a bad servant, without the uneasiness of a dispute; for which nothing can be pleaded, but the most ungenerous of all excuses, that the person whom we deceive is a stranger.
u There is a conduct the reverse of this, but morei injurious, because the injury falls where there is no remedy; I mean the obstructing of a servant’s advancement, because you are unwilling to spare his service. To stand in the way of your servant’s interest, is a poor return for his fidelity, and affords slender encouragement for good behavior, in this numerous, and therefore, important part of the community. It is a piece of injustice, which, if practised towards an equal, the law of honor would lay hold of; as it is, it is neither uncommon, nor disreputable.
It is but common justice, also, to do something for the provision of servants that have worn themselves out in your service. To leave such to penury and want in the wintry season of their old age, is an instance of great and disgraceful cruelty. How much have they contributed either to your wealth or to your comfort, and perhaps to both! By the Levitical law it was provided that the servant who had been six years in the employ of a master should be treated with great generosity. u He shall not,” said the Lord,” be sent empty away; but thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, out of thy floor, and out of thy wine press; and that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him. (Deut. xv. 13, 14.) Now if six years’ service, under the Law, were considered to entitle a servant to such an acknowledgment,
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surely a whole life’s labor under the gospel dispensation, entitles them in their old age to no less. I ask this, not on the ground of kindness, but of justice; for it partakes of oppression and extortion, to give them no more for their time and strength than they need for the passing moment, and then to cast them upon the parish, when we can no longer render them subservient to our interests.
Secondly. Kindness comprehends another extensive class of duties owed by masters and mistresses to their servants.
You must be careful not to overwork them.
A merciful man will not overload his beast. We have been often shocked to see in our streets, or on the public road, how cruelly some weak, half starved animals have been used, in being compelled to drag along burthens much beyond their strength: but are there not scenes of equal cruelty, to be witnessed in some houses, where is to be found a poor, young, friendless girl, whose pallid looks and delicate frame indicate to every one, but her hard hearted mistress, that she is incompetent to the tasks, which, without cessation, she is mercilessly compelled to sustain? Her toil commences, perhaps, at five or six o’clock in the morning, and continues without intermission till eleven at night. Of work, she has too much for the robust and well nourished frame, especially for her weak and ill fed constitution. Some unfeeling creatures seem to think, that the payment of five or six pounds a year, gives them a right to exhaust all the energies of the poor helpless creatures who are unfortunate enough to be employed by them. And even where unkindness is not carried to this extent, I am persuaded, that servants are in very many cases, quite overworked; they are so urged by incessant demands for their labor, that from the beginning to the end of the week, they have scarcely a moment to keep their own clothing in proper repair, much less to
attend to the concerns of their souls: their employers seem to think, that every moment they sit down, is so much time stolen from them. Are there any professing christians, who act thus! Yes; and in so far they are a disgrace to the christian name.
Your method of addressing them, while it accords with your station, and partakes of the dignity, of superiority, should be as remote from bitterness and contemptuous pride, as it is from familiarity. Do not speak to them as if they were a race of inferior creatures, whom it almost demeaned you to notice. There are some masters and mistresses, who, though they do not swear, or storm, or call reproachful names, yet have a method of addressing their servants, which they would scarcely use to a brute animal. I have myself heard tones, and seen looks, which the authors of them would not, and did not give to their dogs. Servants are not stocks and stones, but men and women; and how galling to their feelings, how insulting to their rank as rational creatures, must it be to be addressed as a reptile race, who were scarcely entitled to the most common civilities. And as pride is improper, so is passion. Masters are commanded to “forbear threatening.” This is particularly specified, because there is a great proneness to this in many, if not in most persons. When an inferior displeases us, the temptation to undue sallies of wrath, gusts of passion, and threatening words is peculiarly strong. The individual is so much below us, and in our power, that let us say what we will, we have nothing to fear in return. But how mean, and cowardly, and execrable is it, to say nothing of the wickedness of such conduct, for any one to hector, and bully, and threaten a poor, defenceless creature, because we have no need to apprehend any thing in the way of revenge. We must, as christians, not only be meek, and gentle, and patient, but be gentle towards all, to those who are below us, as
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well as to those who are above us. Occasions, will of course, often present themselves, when it will be necessary to find fault, and to express displeasure; but this should never be done in a passion. A Fury never can be respectable; we never go into a rage without disgracing ourselves in the eyes of our servants: at such times we may be terrible, but we cannot be reputable. Abusive epithets and ill names lower our dignity, and undermine our authority. Mild firmness, rational expostulation, and meek reproof, will do far more both in the way of punishing faults, and of reforming them, than petulance and passion. Speak kindly to them, then, at all times. Let your words, and even your tones, partake of a dignified courtesy, blending and softening authority with good will. At the same time, avoid all familiarity, and do not encourage an obtrusive and encroaching boldness. You must keep them in their place, and in order to this, you must keep yours. Do nothing to remove the line of demarcation between you, nor encourage them to step over it. You must not joke with them, nor make yourselves merry with them; you must not enter into gossip with them about the floating occurrences of the neighborhood, nor encourage them to bring you tales, nor employ them as your purveyors of scandal. Some persons, who would not run the risk of being thought busy bodies themselves, scruple not to encourage their servants to bring them all the news of the town. All this is mischievous in the highest degree, and tends to degrade those who are foolish enough to indulge in it, in the eyes of those who should be taught to respect them.
You should manifest an unvarying regard for their comjort. Take a deep interest in their welfare, and make it clear to them that you wish to see them happy. Watch over their health, tenderly inquire into the cause of their ailaments, and by mitigating their labor, and procuring them medical assistance, do all you can for their recovery. Advise them for their good, and refuse not your counsel whenever it can be of service to them. Convince them by the whole of your conduct, that you are their real friends, and truly anxious to make them happy and respectable.
Bear with patience those lesser infirmities which may comport with substantial excellencies. Do not be strict to mark, at least with severity, their more trivial faults. Some mistresses render their servants miserable by incessant complaint: they are such slaves to excessive neatness, that they are always in bondage themselves, and make every body miserable around them. No one can please them; a speck of dust, or a drop of rain blown in through the window upon the furniture, is sure to bring a cross look or word upon the poor, wretched house-maid, who was no more to blame than her mistress.
Kindness to servants, would lead us to administer commendation as often as possible, and censure with as much lenity, as a due regard to justice will allow.”
“There is a certain moral pleasure which we particularly owe them. They may do well, and in doing well, they have the same title to our praise, which our best actions have to the glory with which we expect the world to be ready to reward us. If we withhold the approbation which is due, we take from them one powerful incentive to continuance of that species of conduct which rendered them worthy of approbation; and at the same time, we take from them one of the most delightful feelings of which he who has sold his freedom is still capable — the feeling that he has done something which was not actually sold with the very labor of his hands — that in the additional duties performed by him, he has been free still, and that our praise is something, which, as it was not an actual condition, like the livery and the daily bread, is an offer-THE FAMILY MONITOR: OR
ing to his own gratuitous virtue. The duty of approbation, then, when approbation is due, is another of the duties which the master owes to the servant; and a duty which, though he may legally withhold it, he is not entitled morally to withhold.
u But servants share not our love of praise only, but passions of a less commendable kind. They are assailed by temptations, like those which assail us; and they sometimes fall, as we too fall. They neglect to do what we have desired; and they often do what is positively injurious to us. In such cases, they might deserve all our severity of punishment, if we were not men, and they were not men. Our reproof they unquestionably deserve, not merely because they have failed in their part of our mutual contract, but also, because our reproof may, even to them be attended with moral advantage. Yet though our reproof of any gross inattention is not excusable only, but, if we consider all its consequences, an act of humanity, it is not to be the reproof of one who seems almost pleased with the offence itself, in the eagerness which is shown to reprehend it. In censuring, we are silently to have in mind the human weaknesses of our own moral nature; and to remember, that if even we, with better light, and nobler recreations, err, the ignorant, who by their very ignorance, are incapable of seeing many of the consequences of actions, and who have few recreations, but those which seduce them from what is good, may still more naturally be imagined to err. In condemning them, therefore, we condemn ourselves; or we declare that we are frail creatures, of whom less knowledge and less virtue are to be expected than from them. There are beings with gentle voices, and still gentler eyes, and with smiles that seem never to be willed, and scarcely even to fade and brighten again, but to be almost the native character of the countenance, like the very lustre that is ever blooming on the lip and on the cheek; — there are beings who seem to exist thus only in a perpetual moral atmosphere of radiance and serenity, that on the sight of a single particle of dust on a book, or a table, or a chair, as if in that particle, a whole mountain of misery were before them, can assume in an instant, all the frowns and thunders of all the furies; whose delicate frame is too weak to bear the violent opening of a door, but not too weak, after the door is opened to shake the very floor with the violence of their own wrath on the unfortunate opener of it.”*
Kindness should lead us to allow our servants all possible indulgencies and recreations that are not incompatible with religion.
They are capable of gratification like ourselvesv and have the same desire of it; while at the same time, are denied by their very circumstances, access to many of those sources of delight which are continually open to us. Those who seem to grudge domestic servants an occasional remission of their labor, that they may have communion with others at the feast of innocent enjoyment, convert their service into slavery, and render the oppression additionally bitter by the circumstance, that it is exercised in the land of freemen. I have often been delighted to see t he cheerful faces of female servants at those meetings which are convened for promoting the various objects connected with the cause of religion and humanity, and who seemed to drink in the streams of eloquence and piety, with as eager a thirst, and as exquisite an enjoyment, as their more enlightened and better educated masters and mistresses. And I have known those, who, when going to some neighboring town or village, to attend, perhaps, a religious service of a public nature, have placed a female servant on the box seat of the carriage that conveyed them, that she might
*Dr. Brown’s” Lectures.
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share the pleasures of the day. It is our duty, of course, to keep them from all polluting and vitiating amusements, but it is not less a duty of benevolence, to give them as often as is convenient to us, and consistent with their interests, an opportunity of enjoying the liberty and sunshine of innocent and holy pleasure.
It is no credit, but very much otherwise, to any family, to be always changing their servants. Some persons have as many as there are months in the year. Their place has acquired so bad a reputation, that no good servant will offer herself for it. It is astonishing how extensively the character of every household is known amongst persons of this description. Those who keep register offices, can tell, perhaps, the repute in which most of the families in a town are held, for oftentimes upon mentioning a house to one who has applied for a place of service, they receive some such reply as this: — u I will not offer myself there, for I shall not be kept above a month or two if I go.” This is not to the honor of any one, much less to the professor of religion: for, as those who leave the place, are naturally enough anxious to justify themselves to their friends, they scruple not to tell all the faults of the mistress, and oftentimes, of course, with great exaggeration, and thus the credit of religion suffers. Besides, what a risk is it where there are children, to be always receiving fresh servants into the family; and what an interruption also to domestic comfort. Avoid then, unnecessary changes, and every thing that leads to them, whether it be bad temper, inflicting excessive labor, or striving after unattainable perfection.
A kind master or mistress will prevent their servants from being insulted or oppressed by the children. It is really affecting to see what cruel scorn and impertinence are, in some families, allowed to be practised towards respectable men and women, by those little tyrant masters and misses, whose weak parents never allow them to be opposed in anything. They may utter the grossest falsehoods, indulge in the most wanton and distressing vexation, vent the most scurrilous abuse, and utter the foulest epithets against the servants, and their pitiless and unjust mother or father, with the full knowledge of the fact, allow this cruel insolence to continue. Children ought not to be permitted in any kind or degree, to be guilty of such impropriety as this. They should be kept from being familiar but equally so from being impertinent. I would never allow a servant to strike children, nor to be struck or in any way oppressed by them.
Peculiar attention, partaking at once of respect and kindness should be shown to those who have served us long and faithfully. “Reckon,” says Mr. Janeway, “that one has been a faithful servant to you seven years, deserves to be esteemed next to a child ever after.” Tried fidelity should be marked with peculiar approbation. At the end of each seven years of faithful service you should present them with some substantial present, as a token of your respect and gratitude, and the present should increase in value at the close of each septennial period. Where there is wealth, to be disposed of by will, I think that aged and valuable servants should be remembered. Think how much you owe to their faithfulness, how long your property has been in their power, which they have neither embezzled nor wasted, how constantly you have been served by them, how much they have contributed to your domestic comfort, perhaps, to your success. You owe them not only wages but esteem.
Thirdly. But there are duties of a still higher and more sacred character, owed by you to your servants, I mean those of religion.
They have souls, as well as you; like you, are immortal creatures; like you, are sinners; and like you, the objects of redeeming mercy. The very
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circumstance of their being brought within the comprehension of your domestic circle, has made them a part of that little community, the spiritual welfare of which, you are to promote and to watch, with all possible solicitude. They are members of the domestic constitution, as well as hired servants. We surely cannot suppose, that the fine and extensive power, which is lodged by the family compact in the master’s hand, was vested there for so trivial a purpose as the mere payment of those wages and the affording of that sustenance, which are necessary for supplying the servant’s bodily wants. It is also to be recollected, that moral duties are required from servants, and ought therefore to be taught. With what propriety can we look for truth, honesty, temperance, chastity, if we have never inculcated these virtues? How can we expect they will be faithful in serving its, if we have never taught them to serve God in sincerity and truth?
1. Our first care must be not to oppose their religion or to hinder their salvation. We may do this by the influence of a bad example. In what a heathenish state do some families live I Heathenish! No: for pagans have their household deities, and make some show of religion, though it be a false one, in their houses: but great multitudes in this christian land, live as if there were no God, and are, to all intents and purposes, practical atheists. There is no family prayer, no reading of the Scriptures, no observance of the Sabbath, no regular attendance upon public worship. The holy day of rest is to them as other days; they keep the same company, and seek the same recreations then as at any time besides. Religion is rarely introduced, but to be an object of contempt, and a source of ridicule. The servants in such families hear swearing, perhaps, but no prayer; see drunkenness, but no worship; witness card playing, dancing, and conviviality, but no acknowledgment of God. How can such masters expect good servants. If they habitually break God’s commands, how can they expect their servants to keep theirs? Unreasonable men, can you look for sobriety in them, if you set them the example of intoxication? For chastity, if you teach them lewdness r For truth, if you teach them falsehood? For religion, if you teach them irreligion? 0 that you would consider that your wickedness ensures not only your own damnation, but hazards that of all the persons under your charge. Is it not enough to have your own sins laid to your charge, but that you must be answerable for your servant’s sins also? Is one curse too light, but you must seek to multiply it? Are the flames of hell so cool and tolerable, that you are busy in adding fuel to that terrible fire, to make it burn seven times hotter? Yours will not be the privilege of perishing alone, but will be the fate of the pilot who sinks others with himself.
Some carry the matter so far, as to hinder the salvation of others, not only by example, but by direct temptation. How many masters have by their atrocious and murderous arts, corrupted the virtue, blasted the reputation, and ruined the souls of those females, whom, having received into their house, they were bound, by every principle of honor, as well as of religion, to protect. Such wretches deserve the gallows far more than many who suffer there. How many poor unhappy women have been sent by such vile transgressors, into the career of prostitution, to an early grave, and to that place of punishment, where they will meet their seducer to be his tormentor, through eternity. Neither a word, nor a look, should ever be given to a servant, which has the remotest tendency to injure her modesty.
Nor ought you to tempt them to sin, by employing them to practice dishonesty and falsehood in the way of trade. Do not engage them in acts of fraud upon
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the revenue; nor make them the spectators of your own evasion of the laws which regulate the taxes; for all such conduct as this, is laying a snare in their way, and tempting them to sin. And by what sophistry can any one attempt to justify that wicked practice of commanding their servants to say to visitors, that they are not at home, while they are in the house at the very time 9 This is teaching falsehood by system, and ought we to wonder if our servants should lie to us, when we have thus taught them to lie for us? People that make any profession of religion, cannot, of course, adopt this iniquitous custom, for it disgraces the most general acknowledgment of piety; but it is to be feared that some, who pass for real christians, and wish to be thought such, are guilty of many things which are quite unworthy of their character, in reference to their servants, either by making them the witnesses or instruments of many evasions, artifices, and dishonorable acts; and by which they really tempt them to go much farther astray on their own account. We can easily conceive, with what insufferable loathing and disgust some such servants must come to the domestic altar, at the time of the morning or evening sacrifice. It is a most shocking instance of hypocrisy when a master says to his servants, “After you have done so and so” — alluding to some act of imposition upon others — “come to prayer.” “Come to prayer!” one might imagine they reply, “thou hypocrite, what to sanctify the dishonesty thou hast just commanded us to perform?” Many who have witnessed these things, or any thing like them, have taken an inveterate prejudice against religion, by concluding that all its professors are alike, and that all are hypocrites together.
We hinder their salvation, when we keep them away from the means of grace. Their work should not be so oppressive, even on week days, as to allow them no time for reading the Scriptures and prayer; but to compel them to spend even their Sabbaths in such a manner as to deprive them of an opportunity to hear the word of God explained and enforced by the faithful preaching of the gospel, is to place a most powerful hindrance in the way of their salvation. How exceedingly cruel and disgraceful is it to keep them from public worship to dress a warm dinner. Without affirming that the christian Sabbath is to be observed with the same ceremonial strictness as the Jewish Sabbath was, we do contend that no unnecessary work should be done on that day in our dwellings. I suppose no one will contend that a warm dinner is necessary. Is it not a crime, then, against the spiritual welfare of our servants, as well as against God, to occupy their Sabbath in preparing for our luxurious gratification? Even as it respects their bodies, it is an act of great oppression, for they must need rest from their labor, far more than we do: and as it respects their souls, it takes away both the opportunity and the inclination to attend to these: it occupies their time in the morning, and unfits them for attention in the afternoon. All who thus employ their domestics on the Sabbath, maybe truly said to feast upon their servant’s birth right, and to gratify their palate at the expense of their fellow creatures spiritual and eternal welfare. How long and how loudly shall the voice of indignant and faithful reprobation be raised in vain against this sinful practice? I put it to any professing christian’s conscience, how he can any longer determine thus to hinder the salvation of those who are under his care? Will he not make even this small sacrifice for the spiritual welfare of the members of his domestic constitution? Is this his professed zeal for God, and compassion for souls? But, perhaps, he will reply, somebody must be at home to guard the house. Be it so. But need they be slavishly occupied in the drudgery of cookery? If they must be deprived of the public means of grace, is it necessary that they should be deprived of those that are private also? But they will not improve their time at home. How do you know? Have you tried them? Have you, before you left home, furnished them with a suitable portion of reading?
In some families, the servants are kept away from the house of God far more than they need to be, for other purposes besides cooking. If there are two children, one must be detained from public worship for each, and perhaps a third to guard the house. But is this necessary? I would have all proper care taken, both of the children, and of the property; but then I would not have more servants than are absolutely requisite, kept away from the house of God. The Sabbath is of more importance to them than it is even to us. Their incessant occupation through the week, renders it more necessary for them to have a day of rest and of leisure to attend to their soul’s concerns, than it is for us. Nor do I think it enough to grant them merely the afternoon of the Lord’s day: for that is the very part of the Sabbath, which we find to be the least edifying to ourselves, and if this be the case with us, how much more so must it be with them? If, then, we keep away our servants from suitable public means of grace, we are placing a hindrance in the way of their salvation; for we know that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God;” and that God hath ordained the preaching of the gospel for the salvation of men’s souls.
It appears to me, that we tempt our servants to sin also, by improper negligence and carelessness about many of the more covetable parts of our property. Some persons are too much away from home, and leave their servants too much to themselves: and when they are idle abroad, is it any wonder that their domestics should be dishonest at home? If they will gossip away their time by hours, and days, and weeks together, can it be wondered at, that their property should be wasted by those who are only hired to watch it? If you are so much from home, is it not a temptation to them to invite company? Is this habit of neglecting them the way to make them faithful? Will they not learn idleness from you, and do you not know that idleness is a parent of sin? Or if you tempt them not to sin by being too much from home, do you not do it by giving them too little employment 9 If you overwork them, you oppress their bodies; if you underwork them, you endanger their souls. It is said of the wise and virtuous woman, that she would suffer none of her household to eat the bread of idleness. You must account, not only for your own time, but for theirs also. When your servants are idle, said an old author, the devil is at work; and our idle days are his busy ones; if you find them nothing to do, he will. Many have been ruined for both worlds, by having nothing to do — but mischief. Do not tempt them to sin, by never calling them to account for what is entrusted to their care; especially in pecuniary matters. They may be honest; then keep them so, and put no temptation in their way to be otherwise, by not examining their accounts. Never let them feel that they are irresponsible. If you keep not your eye upon them you may find a thief, where you expected to find an honest man. It is your prayer for yourself, “lead me not into temptation;” act upon this same principle towards them. Honesty itself should always be required to account for the uttermost farthing, and will wish to do it. Do not leave your property too much exposed. Some go to one extreme, and lock up every thing, others go to the opposite extreme, and lock up nothing; and here, as in many other cases, extremes meet, for one tempts to dishonesty by trusting too little, the other by trusting too much. Money, drinkables, and the lighter articles of female dress
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and decoration, should not be left too carelessly about. Nor should one party in married life, ever make a confederacy with servants to deceive the other. Wives should never engage their maids in a scheme of falsehood, imposition, or concealment of any kind against their husbands, though it be but in trifling matters, for this is teaching them intrigue and duplicity, which may not only be injurious to their own character, but seriously detrimental in the end to the interests of the family. If a servant be employed by the wife, to assist her to conceal any part of the husband’s property, or appropriate it in any way unknown to him, she is in that act tempted by her mistress, so far as the influence of example goes, to take the same liberty on her own account; for she who is employed to purloin for another, will soon feel no scruples to steal for herself.
2. It is our duty, not only not to hinder the salvation of our servants, but to do every thing in our power to promote it.
Seriously consider your obligation in this particular, and that as God sent them under your roof, that you might care for their souls, so he will require THEIR SOULS AT YOUR HANDS. Yes, at the
day of judgment he will say to you, “Give an account of those immortal beings which were placed under your instruction, inspection, and anxiety.” Cherish, then, I entreat you, a deep solicitude for their spiritual welfare, and feel desirous to become the instruments of their salvation. In order to this, take care to set them a good example, and let them see in you, not only nothing that is contrary to religion, but every thing that can recommend it, that so an attractive influence may ever be exerted by your character on theirs. Many have learnt more of religion by what they have seen in their masters and mistresses, than by all they have heard from their ministers. They will never, forget their example. Call them regularly to family prayer, and make them the peculiar subjects of your earnest supplications, that they may hear your entreaties with God on their account, and be the witnesses of your solicitude for their welfare. See to it that they have bibles, and take care that they are able to read, for if this be not the case, it is your bounden duty to teach them. Furnish them with a few well selected books, and thus provide for them a kitchen library. Give them opportunities to attend public worship, and to keep holy the Sabbath day. Keep them not too late at work on Saturday evening, lest their worldly business trench upon the Sabbath, or unfit them, by excessive fatigue, for its hallowed occupations. Instruct them in the principles of true religion, that they may have their judgments rightly informed, and that they may not perish for lack of knowledge. It is a great disgrace to a christian master or mistress, if any servants leave their house, without knowing, at least in theory, the way of salvation. In addition to this, you should talk to them in the most affectionate manner on their soul’s concerns, warning them to flee from the wrath to come, and directing them to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Give them no rest till you have prevailed upon them to seek in good earnest, the one thing needful. Observe what company they keep, and caution them against such as would lead them astray. Acquaint yourselves with the books they read, and examine what they understand and remember of the sermons they hear. Do all you can to convince them of the reasonableness, profit, and sweetness of true religion, and of the folly, and danger, and misery of living without it. If you see no fruit of your exertions at first, do not be weary of well doing, but persevere in your anxious and judicious efforts. Should you notice any solicitude about their souls, nourish to the utter-THE FAMILY MONITOR: OR
most their impressions, by giving suitable advice and proper books. Encourage them, when you are convinced of their true conversion, to connect themselves with the church of Christ, and thus to make a public profession of religion. 0, if you should be the instrument of saving the souls of your servants, what an honor and a happiness will be conferred upon you! How many have been so honored; and in what bonds have their servants been held to them for ever after in this life.
To influence you to the performance of these duties, I may call upon you, to remember that your Master also is in heaven, and to consider what a master he is to you. Meditate upon his attributes, and upon the manner in which they are manifested in all his conduct towards you. How righteous, how faithful, how holy, how true, how merciful is he in his dealings towards his servants. And it is your duty to be like him. When in danger of acting improperly, either by want of equity or kindness, O think of God; meditate on his matchless grace, and surely such a reflection will be an immediate check to every kind, and every degree of impropriety. To him also you are accountable, and accountable, as for your conduct in general, so also for your behavior to your servants. Prepare to meet Him in that awful day, and to meet them also at his bar!!
Consider how much your servants, need this kind interposition for their welfare. They are often young, inexperienced, and ignorant; rash, and imprudent; and they are also an unprotected and dependent race. I know not a class of persons whose situation is more calculated to awaken our tenderest sympathies, than domestic female servants. Many of t’hem are orphans, and have no friend in the world, beyond their employers; and no home but what they find in their master’s house. When they leave one place of service, they often know not where to find their next home, and are thus repeatedly beginning the world, and setting out on the journey of life afresh. How many dangers are they exposed to! How many snares are laid for their feet! Masters and mistresses, be kind to them, they have found a refuge in your house, and let them find friends in you. Pity their condition, and labor to the uttermost for their welfare. You may be the means of blessing thernfor both worlds, and become their spiritual fathers and mothers, as well as their temporal masters and mistresses. Their souls may be given to your kind solicitude, to be your crown of rejoicing in the day of eternity.
The honor of religion is most deeply involved in the way in which you discharge your duties. Bad masters and mistresses bring great dishonor upon Christianity; while on the other hand, they who in this situation, exhibit whatsoever things are pure, and true, and honest, and just, and lovely, and of good report; who abound in that love which is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil, and is kind; who have the meekness and gentleness of Christ; and who put on bowels of mercy, are bright ornaments of their profession, and adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. A good master or mistress is indeed a most honorable character; good men esteem it, bad men admire it, the world values it, the church applauds it, angels delight in it, and God commends and rewards it. Eyes too dim to see the beauties of holiness in the abstract, discern the excellence of this, and tongues that never speak of religion generally, but to scoff at it, are eloquent in the praise of this. I conjure you, then, by all the regard you bear to the honor of religion, strive to excel in this your appropriate duty.
Interest pleads with you for this. Consider how much your own happiness will be promoted, by seeing others happy around you. The heart of tha
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man cannot be in the state in which it ought to be, who is not pleased to see around him in his dwelling, a circle of happy minds and smiling countenances. A good master, or a kind mistress, is a kind of central luminary in the domestic system, and every child and every servant an attendant satellite, revolving in the force of his attraction, and reflecting the brightness of his glory. Or to change the metaphor, he is a fountain of gladness, continually sending forth in kindness and kind actions, streams of pleasure to all that are in the house. And then good masters and mistresses make good servants, or find them. When I hear persons complain, that they cannot find good servants, I suspect the fault is their own, and that they have a bad character, for their conduct towards their domestics. If they are tormented, have they not been tormentors? If they can get no one to serve them willingly, and honestly, have they been generous and kind? If they find none but such as are wicked, have they tried to make them holy? If they complain of their lying, their lewdness, their theft, have they not been so selfish as to seek to produce right dispositions towards themselves, without endeavoring to found these dispositions on a right state of mind towards God? Try, then to conduct yourselves rightly to those, whom you have so much interest in making what they should be. Body, soul, estate, wife, children, character, comfort, all are more or less concerned in this matter. Your servants may rob or enrich you; may defend your reputation or blast it; may corrupt your children, or improve them; may tempt you to sin, or warn you against it; may injure your health, or protect it; may bless you by their prayers, or curse you by their vices; may render your dwelling continually pleasant, or perpetually miserable: your own interest, therefore, unites with God’s commands, to make it your wisdom and your duty, to train your servants as well as your children in the fear of the Lord.
What have you to say against what I have been persuading you to? Will you not now, without delay bewail your former neglect, and in good earnest set to your work, like persons that in some measure, know the power of divine precepts, the worth of souls, and the greatness of the charge that lieth upon you? 0 that there were in you such a heart. 0 that all masters of families were resolved for that which humanity, reason, interest, reputation, and their comfort call for, as well as the law of God, and men oblige them to. What blessed families then should we have! What noble corporations! What glorious cities! Might not holiness to the Lord, be written upon every door? 0, when shall it once be.”