Servants, look at this character, admire it, imitate it. THIRDLY. There are duties which servants in the same family owe to EACH OTHER.

There ought to be no tyranny nor oppression exercised by one over the other. This is often the case in those families which employ a numerous retinue of domesties, and which admit the distinction of superior and inferior servants. There is sometimes in such households, a system of great cruelty carried on, altogether unknown to the master. Some poor creatures are degraded into the condition of a slave to the other servants, and drag on a miserable existence, under the heavy yoke which has been imposed upon them, by an unfeeling minion, who stands before the master's eye, and has always his ear at command.

Strive to agree with each other, for families are often disturbed by the quarrels of the servants; and the uproar in the kitchen, is distinctly heard by the guests in the parlor. You should bear with one another's infirmities, and never take delight in thwarting each other. Instead of finding pleasure in converting the infirmities of any one into a means of annoying, and a source of vexation to her, carefully avoid whatever, by appealing to these imperfections, or bringing them into notice, would render the subject of them, irritable or sullen. Never tease one another, which is too often done, especially where an individual is known to be petulant. The worst consequences have sometimes arisen from this practice. A few days ago, I saw an individual put to the bar of his country, upon an indictment for manslaughter, under the following circumstances.-His fellow servants, aware of his petulant disposition, provoked him by some petty vexations, till, in his rage, he hurled a hammer at them, which struck one of them in the head, and inflicted a wound of which he died.

Never bear tales to your employers, for the purpose of exciting a prejudice against each other, and ingratiating yourselves into their favor. A supplanter is a most hateful character, at once despicable and despised,

At the same time, you are not to connive at sin; if your fellow servants do any thing wrong, either in the way of drunkenness, lewdness, or dishonesty, you owe it to your

master to make him acquainted with the fact. You are dishonest if you conceal the dishonesty of others, and you are a partaker of those vices, which you allow to be perpetrated under your notice, without making it known.

Servants that make a profession of religion, have great need to conduct themselves with singular propriety. Towards their masters and mistresses there should be the deepest humility, and the very reverse of every thing that bears even a distant resemblance of spiritual pride. There must be no consciousness of superiority, no air of importance, no affected sanctity: but a meek, modest, unobtrusive exhibition of the influence of religion, in making them strictly conscientious and exemplary in the discharge of all the duties of their station. Their piety should be seen, not only in a constant anxiety to attend to the public means of grace, and in a regular performance of the private duties of religion, but also in making them more respectful and obedient; more meek and submissive; more honest and diligent, than all the rest. That servant does not adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour in all things, who does not shine in her sphere as a servant. There are occasions when you may seek to do good to those who employ you, if they are yet living without the possession of piety. Instances have occurred, in which such as you, have been the instruments of converting their employers and a visible, but unostentatious exhibition of eminent and consistent piety, supported by as eminent a discharge of the duties of your station, followed by a modest and judicious introduction of the subject when a suitable occasion presents itself, may, by the grace of God, be blessed for the salvation of your master and mistress.

If, on the other hand, your profession of religion be not supported by consistency; if it render you proud, conceited, and consequential; if it be accompanied by an unsubdued temper, or by habits of inattention to the duties of your place; if it makes you troublesome about your religious privileges, so that in a time of emergency or sickness, you will not give up a single sermon without murmuring and sullenness, you do not glorify God, but dishonor him; you excite a prejudice against religion, rather than produce a prepossession in ts favor.

Towards your fellow servants you should be meek, obliging, and generous; assuming nothing on the ground of your piety, never disgusting them by any apparent consciousness of superior sanctity, but at the same time, never scrupling to let them know and see that you fear God. Timidly to conceal your regards to the claims of religion, or vauntingly to acknowledge them, would equally excite a prejudice; but to yield to them with a firmness, that ridicule and opposition cannot bend, a consistency that scrutiny cannot impeach, and a humility that the reproached conscience of those who are offended, cannot misrepresent, will be sure to raise admiration, and, by the blessing of God, may produce imitation.

Are any of your fellow servants living in the neglect of religion, it is your duty, in a solemn and affectionate manner, to warn them. "I knew a religious servant," says Mr. Janeway, "that after other endeavors for the conversion of one of his fellows had proved ineffectual, spent some time at midnight to pray for him, and being very importunate, his voice was heard in the next chamber, where the object of his pious solicitude lay, who, on hearing the voice of entreaty, rose from bed to listen, and was so struck with the affectionate concern that was breathed out for him, that he was converted by the prayer."

Let me now, in conclusion, exhort you to attend to the duties which have been set before you. It may be felt as a motive to this, to consider that though you are servants, you are not slaves, as was the case with those who are addressed by the apostles, in their inspired writings. Yes, they were slaves, and yet are they admonished to give honor and service to those, who held them by a tie which they could not break. You are free, and your labor is voluntary; you sell it for a stipulated price, and are not degraded by your situation: nothing can degrade you, but bad conduct. Your interest lies in the faithful discharge of your duties. This will secure to you peace and serenity of mind, the respect and attachment of your employers, the esteem of the public, the testimony of conscience, and the approbation of God. You will thus help to diffuse happiness through the fam

ilies in which you reside; for a good servant is one of those springs of domestic comfort, and daily refreshes, by its pure and pleasant stream, the members of the little community in the house, who, in return, will do what they can to promote your present comfort, and provide for your future support, when the days of sickness, and the years of old age shall come upon you. And remember that God is every where, and his eye is always upon you, "He compasseth your path, and knoweth your down sitting and up rising, and there is not a word upon your tongue, but he knoweth it altogether." You may have an absent master, but you cannot have an absent God. And he cites your conscience to his side, to take a correct copy, and lodge it in your bosom, of the record of your actions, words and feelings, which he writes down in the book of his remembrance. Time is short, life is uncertain, death is at hand, and the judgment approaching, when it will be of no consequence who was master, and who was servant, but only who was holy and faithful. God is now your witness, and will be hereafter your judge. Have the promises and the threatenings of the great master, little efficacy? Are heaven, glory, and eternal happiness worth nothing? If so, what think you of condemnation, wrath, and everlasting misery? If the former signify little, do the latter signify no more? Then, I must confess, I know not what further to say, for I have exhausted the differences of time, and the varieties of eternity; I have spread out the miseries which sin brings, and the pleasure which holiness produces upon earth; and have added to this the consideration of the eternal torment which iniquity draws upon itself in hell, and the everlasting felicity which religion conducts the soul to enjoy in heaven what more can I add but simply to say, choose ye, whether to you it shall be said in the last day by the Lord Jesus Christ, "THOU WICKED AND

SLOTH

FUL SERVANT, DEPART ACCURSED FROM ME INTO EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS AN

GELS;" or "WELL DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD.'