Divine regard for them, though placed in one of the humblest vales of human life, is very conspicuous. Witness Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian, and the little maid in the land of Syria, in the Old Testament; or the Servant of the Roman centurion, and Onesimus, the servant of Philemon, in the New. The first has a message sent to him from God himself, by the mouth of a prophet; and, while the children of the king, his master, were slain in the royal presence,―nay, the eyes of that king are put out, and he is bound with chains to be carried to Babylon,-Ebedmelech's very fears are anticipated, and he is assured of perfect security from every danger. In regard to the second, such is her weight of character, even in youth, that she is honored to send the great man, her master, into Judea, where, though there were many lepers, unto none of them was Elias sent, but to this individual whom the little maid advised. In regard to the centurion's Servant, the Saviour of the world wrought upon him one of his most illustrious miracles-curing him at a distance, without seeing him, in consequence of the strong faith of his Master, and the deep interest which he discovered in this his domestic servant. And as for Onesimus, the Holy Spirit inspired an apostle to write a letter respecting him, which now forms an interesting part of the Sacred Canon, as well as a perfect model of ancient epistolary correspondence.

These cases, I grant, are not equally illustrative of our present subject. Two of them we can trace only to the influence of religion generally on the minds of Servants, But the character of Philemon, though lost for a time on the heart of Onesimus, must have been one prevailing motive with him in complying with Paul's desire that he should return. And as for the Roman Centurion, whose uncommon interest in his Servant displays the weight and value of that Servant's character, he had lived down even Jewish prejudice, made the hearts of the Jews yearn over

his family distress, and secured even from them at least one instance of earnest application to the Saviour for relief; while he himself had received the Messiah in a way which excelled all that Jesus had ever beheld, even in Israel! "Verily," he said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel!" Thus we see the most eminent Servants are found in the most eminent families, while their excellency of character throws an additional light on that of their Master. When the reader has cast his eye over society in general, he will find this rule hold good, though it may have exceptions. These exceptions, however, continue only for a season: the constitution of such a family will right itself, and must throw off in a short time what is incompatible with its vital interests.

Let a Servant once enter the threshold of a well-regulated family, not only are habits and manner corrected, but ignorance is removed, and in some instances too, where the Servant is not a little indisposed to improvement. Example is more powerful than precept, and the example of a Master or Mistress must operate. The exercise of parental love, the exhibition of parental authority, and the judicious training of children, are not witnessed without some influence on a Servant's character. The exercise of daily family devotion insinuates certain ideas into the mind, meanwhile it restrains, and many times, if short and plain, tender and heavenly, by slow but certain degrees, it may assist in turning from darkness to light at all events, it enables this Servant to appreciate the purpose of God in a standing ministry, while it stimulates the attention, probes the conscience, and helps the party to comprehend the meaning, as well as follow the drift, of a public expositor. Affliction too must enter this family, and a new scene is presented,-prosperity and relief succeed, but still the same principles which sustained in darkness, now lend a lustre to their brightest day. To

resist the influence of such a combination of means must require no common effort. The operation of them is constant and uniform, while in their united character they form an engine of vast power on the side of truth and uprightness, and propriety of conduct.

Let not, then, any expedient of human device, for improving, or forming, or reforming the character of domestic Servants in general, be once mentioned in comparison with the discharge of duty by Masters in general. The Master of a family is not a solitary character: one is with him, or ought to be, in herself an host; and he has most frequently on his side a combination of influence, which may by him, if managed with prudence, be turned to great account, independently of the power involved in his own personal character and relative conduct. Let Masters then set a proper example, and let them only do their duty, for there is positively no other effectual remedy, and then, if the complaints respecting Servants, and the occasions of complaint, do not die away, they must and will be as few as can be expected in the present state of humanity.

Fourth, THE IRRESISTIBLE ENERGY INHERENT IN THE FAMILY CONSTITUTION ITSELF; ITS POWER FOR PRESERVING RELIGION AND MORALITY, AND REPELLING EVIL, OR THE CORRUPTION OF MANNERS, is the last point of view in which this subject remains to be illustrated.

On what vantage ground does the conscientious Christian Parent here stand! The springs of public and social life may be greatly corrupted: the nation in which he dwells may degenerate into licentiousness, into idolatry, or the most daring infidelity. Retiring, then, to this sacred enclosure, he may entrench himself, and there, lifting up a standard for God, either wait the approach of better days, or leave a few behind him, on whom the best

blessings of these days will certainly descend. Though the heavens be shut up, and there be no dew, the little enclosure which he cultivates, like the fleece of Gideon, will discover evident marks of the divine favor. It actually seems as though, in the wide scene, where the vices of the age may and can reign triumphant, this were some secure and sacred retreat into which they cannot, dare not enter. "If you will take this course," says such a Parent to his countrymen, "do so; there is left to me one quarter, and only one, to which I may still retire, and where, with the promised blessing of God on my head, every inch of ground may be at once disputed and maintained.""If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye, this day, whom ye will serve: whether the gods which your Fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for ME and MY HOUSE, we will serve the Lord." Nor is this a singular case: Joshua is here in effect intimating to these, and all other Parents, the extent of obligation which he felt, and that he had no idea of fulfilling his obligations as a Father, if he went home, and shut up himself and his religion in a closet; and, more than this, the Parents of every age, he thus informs how much he could and would effect, through his own family, as well as how much they might, if so disposed.

A practical illustration, however, I shall prefer to reasoning; and as it is one which will at once fully verify and illustrate the inherent energy of the Domestic Constitution, the reader will excuse the length to which it may be extended.

There were natural and lawful descendants of Abraham, who, though not in the line of the child of promise, have been too much overlooked; since he was appointed to be the Father of many, or a multitude of nations. The

prodigious and rapid increase of his posterity, in the line of Isaac, doubling their members every fourteen years, even in Egypt, is one view of the blessing pronounced on Abraham; but the multitude of nations is another view of it. Had the knowledge of the true God been confined solely to Israel, there would have been less inducement to inquire after the history of other branches of Abraham's posterity; but though the Sacred Record is intended principally to unfold the fulfilment of divine favor in the line of Isaac, other parties are incidentally touched upon, in their connection with this line. These slight memorials are, at least to my mind, most interesting, as serving to prove that the knowledge and worship of the true God must have been far more extensive than a superficial reader will at first imagine.

As an illustration of this remark, I shall only select the Midianites. This tribe or nation had descended from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham, by Keturah, his second wife. In progress of time, they appear separated into two distinct classes, differing, not only in the place of their residence, but in their character and manners. The eastern and northern Midianites, who were uniformly the enemies of Israel afterwards, were in alliance with the Moabites and Ammonites, and finally marrying among them, both nations were at last destroyed. The southern and western, the more ancient division, dwelt on the borders of the Red Sea, in the lands partly inhabited by Cush, the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah: hence individuals belonging to this tribe were occasionally, and it should seem, by way of reproach, called Cushites. Now, among this class of Midianites, we find one very eminent family, or little tribe, which, at different times, for a succession of ages, is glanced at by the sacred writers. First, when Israel was travelling to Canaan, then just before entering it, and then soon after they got