HONOUR PAID WHERE DUE.

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humble headstone, bearing the following inscription, may be found among more pretentious monuments :

THIS STONE WAS ERECTED

BY JAMES CARNEGIE, ESQ.,

IN MEMORY

OF THE FAITHFUL SERVICES

OF JEAN BURNS

IN HIS FAMILY,

FOR A PERIOD OF UPWARDS

OF FORTY YEARS.

Now, such a monument stands forth like a relic of times and habits long passed away. It speaks of kindness and regard upon the one side, of duty and respect upon the other. There is, as there should be, no blending of ranks, no effacing of distinctions, no utopian socialism, such as the lawless delight to proclaim. A servant is a servant by the appointment of Him who made a master a master. But that servant is regarded as a member of the household; her soul is cared for in common with those of all the inmates; and were such a medicating power introduced into all our homes, society would become both sounder and happier. The good old rule of family catechising would be followed by family affection.* There would be a genial flow of kindness downward to those who are in providence below, and as kindly a response of loving, dutiful obedience upward to those who are in providence above.

And this is no theory. It is well known, for example, that John Howard and his servant were in some respects

• One of the names given by our forefathers to family worship was significant. It was called Family Order.

150

JOHN HOWARD-PHILIP HENRY.

knit to each other like brothers. Their devotions, like their perils, were in common, during their strange and eventful wanderings; and they often felt the full blessedness of the assurance, "wherever two or three are met together, there am I in the midst of you." But it would be difficult to find a better illustration of the faithful discharge of a master's duties than the case of Philip Henry supplies. His servants were cared for, taught, prayed with, warned, or encouraged just as his children were. Every domestic, and every sojourner, when they first entered his family, had a special prayer offered on their behalf, according to their peculiar condition; they were solemnly dedicated to God; and that man, so great in his goodness, was in this respect, as in many others, a model to be copied with care.

At the same time all this tenderness implied no connivance at what was wrong in the conduct of Henry's inferiors.— He had at one period a man-servant whom he saw intoxicated. The offender was solemnly warned of his sin, and forgiveness for it was as solemnly implored; but soon after the transgression, the master and the servant separated, and amid such principles and such painstaking, some received impressions under Henry's roof which went with them into eternity. They blessed God that his house had ever been their home, because they were there prepared for the services of the sanctuary on high. He acted, indeed, like David, and would not let the worker of iniquity dwell with him, unless the delinquent were also a penitent; yet few of Henry's servants ever left his home till they went to their own as married people, and so kindly was his rule over them all that after some of them had become widows, they "returned to his service again, saying, 'Master, it is good for

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us to be here."" Were such procedure general on the part of masters, as the Word of God requires, the sorrows of servitude would be lessened, its temptations would be fewer, and the complaints, now so numerous and loud, regarding the unfaithfulness of servants, would cease to be heard. Masters, we repeat again and again, have the cure in their own hands. Let the Word of God preside over all our homes, and then even the ungodly may at least be shamed into integrity and truth.

The Bible and its Beauties-The Laws of Britain-The Law of God-Roman Fishpools-The Saviour in the form of a Servant-The Lessons of ScriptureServants of Christ-Adorning Christ's Doctrine-A Servant's Trials-And Richness-Rules for Servants-1. Be Honest-2. Be Truthful-3. Be Courteous 4. Be Economical-5. Be no Tale-bearer-6. Serve the Lord Christ.-Examples, Ruth Clark-Other Servants.

IF it be beautiful to see the various tints of the autumn landscape, or the blended yet distinct hues of the rainbow, or the diversified yet always lovely flowers of summer, it is not less pleasing to the moral eye to trace the exquisite and endlessly varied adaptations of Scripture to the different classes and characters of men. Kings upon the throne, and peasants in their cabin-the lordly and the menial—the millionaire and the pauper-the man who grasps a baton and he who wields a hammer-are equally cared for, equally taught their duty, equally warned of their danger, or equally encouraged amid the difficulties of their lot. The same Omniscience plans: the same Omnipotence executes for the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the disposer of them all. The statutes of Great Britain are said to fill twenty folio volumes, besides the endless precedents and decisions which constitute our Common Law. But the legislation of heaven is all contained in one little volume, which can be easily carried about our persons; nay, that legislation is condensed into ten commandments, called, "The ten words

THE SON A SERVANT.

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of God,"—which at once describe, and, in principle, define, the duties of all in every age, in every land and rank.

But there are still finer shades of beauty in the heavenly legislation. It is very definite in regard to the condition of servants; for the Spirit of love, who gave us the Bible, knew that their lot is often a hard one. When the Christian's Book was written, they might even be slaves-the purchased property of their masters, who could, in some cases, doom them to death, without a challenge or a charge. He who has visited the remains of the Fish-pools on the shores of the Mediterranean, near Naples, where the ancient voluptuaries of Rome are said to have fed their favourite fish with the flesh of slaves, will at once understand how dark must have been the lot of many a servant, about the time when the New Testament was written.

Now the Spirit of love knew all these things, and there are tokens of such knowledge in many a passage of His book. Where trials abound, the antidote is as copiously supplied, and there are lessons upon lessons for servants, designed to elevate and soothe the soul, whatever might befall the body. Some touching portions of Scripture are accordingly addressed to this class. To console, to cheer, and purify, they are spoken of in language such as occurs in no other case.

For, first, the Saviour of the lost "took on him the form of a servant." None so lowly, but he is down at their level -none so despised, but he was yet more so. In all depths, in all disrespects, in all hours of trial, servants may be solaced by the thought-"Socially, the Redeemer was as I am ; he became poor for his people's sake,—so poor that he had not where to lay his head."

But, secondly, the Word of God is very explicit in an