exercise authority, command, and dominion; and the latter are difpofed to yield attention, fubmiflion, and obedience. How can the mafter, for inftance, teach, unless he has authority to command the attention and implicit regard of the fcholar How can thofe of mature age, and who poffefs fuperior ftrength, cherish the young, fupport the feeble, and defend the weak, without the uncontrolled exertion of that force with which they are endowed to these falutary ends? And how is it to be expected that the rich, who have an undoubted right, as we have fhewn, to the property they hold, should part with a portion of it to the poor; if thefe are not difpofed to make a proportionable return of fervice, or at leaft an humble and grateful acknowledgment of the obligations they hereby incur? Difmifs all idea of pre-eminence, authority, command, and government; and of their oppofites, docility, fubmiffion, obedience and fervitude; and there will be an end to the intercourfes of fociety: men muft in that cafe subsist, if subsist at all, in a cold, lonely, perilous, unhappy condition.--But then,

V. Authority and obedience are the refult of voluntary compact.

Men's wants naturally lead them into focial connections, which make rule and order neceffary: but they are born free. Every man has a right to difpofe of himself in respect of all the concerns of life, as he pleafes, provided he does not injure his neighbour. Nor can any one jufily demand fervice of another against his confent. The cafe is indeed otherwife with children, idiots, and lunatics: they are not, fui juris, and thereföre it is an act of humanity and juftice to exercife compulfory authority over them. But men poffefled of

their reafon are free. Freedom however is subject to certain reftrictions: which reftrictions, as they are the refult of either tacit or exprefs agréement, do not injure but improve and confirm it. When men enter into fociety they agree to veft in perfons chofen forthat purpose, the power of defending them against foreign enemies, and finally to determine quarrels among themselves. So they part with a certain portion of their natural rights to others, in order to fecure to themselves a good to which they are not in their individual capacity competent. And thus government, which becomes neceffary in confequence of human imperfection' and depravity, rifes into exiftence. Now every one born in fociety tacitly acknowledges, by accepting the protection and benefit of government, his voluntary fubmillion to it. And fo he is bound; but in no way, you fee, prejudicial to his natural rights. When, however, he violates the juft laws of fociety to which he has thus confented, he forfeits his freedom, But fulfilling his agreement, he is in all other refpects as free as in a state of nature.

Whether a foreign enemy, becoming a conqueror, may justly demand fervitude of the vanquished, is a question we fhall not ftay here particularly to confider. We must however just obferve, that in many inftances the caufe of the conqueror is itself unjust, and of confequence his demands oppreffive; and in moft cafes the lower people are not at all acceffary to the difpute, and fo do not deferve to be deprived of their liberty.

But it is of the right of masters and fervants in a domeftic capacity that we are here fpeaking. And thefe are no doubt the refult of voluntary compact

or

or agreement. No man has a right, because he poffeffes more than his neighbour, to compel him to become his fervant. Nor has another a right, because of his poverty, to force his fervice on the rich. Indeed, upon the general grounds of humanity, the former is an object of the charitable regard of the latter, and having received his bounty he ought to be thankful. But authority and obedience take place in confequence of a direct and positive contract. The mafter ftipulates with the fervant, for fuch and fuch services to pay him fuch and fuch wages; and the fervant ftipulates with the master, for such and fuch wages to render him fuch and fuch fervices. And fo the mafter has a juft right to exercife authority over the fervant, and the fervant is obliged to yield obedience to the master. And indeed not only juftice requires that there fhould be fuch agreement between the two parties, but interest also. For if there be not good will on both fides, neither the one nor the other are likely to be benefited by this important connection.--And this leads us to the

VI. And laft propofition, That where thefe matters. are properly adjusted, there will be a pretty equal dif-tribution of happiness.

The welfare of individuals is, or ought to be, the object of all civil and domestic arrangements. The aggrandizing one to the degradation of another, for the purpose of gratifying avarice and ambition, is unjust and inhuman. Why should one be an abfolute def. pot, and another an abject flave? Nature revolts at the idea. Every one has a right to as much happiness Las his character, abilities, and station of life are capable of procuring him. And if in this relation between

mafters

mafters and fervants, the contract is founded in equity and good faith, and there is a hearty good will on both fides, it is scarce poffible that either party should mifs of the end propofed. There will be mutual concord, peace and contentment. And indeed regard, cultivated by the mild and humane ufe of authority on the one hand, and by an attentive cheerful obedience on the other, will pretty generally, in a courfe of time, ripen into a cordial and lafling friendship and affection.

And from hence it follows that there is, or at leaft if the voice of reafon were duly regarded there would be, a more equal partition of happiness among mankind than is commonly apprehended. Through the mistaken eftimates which men have formed of fuperior and inferior stations of life, and through the miserable abuse of the rights and duties of these relations, too many have come to conceive of authority and domi. nion, as the real and only fources of happiness; and of fervitude and obedience, as neceffarily fubjecting men to contempt and wretchedness. But if the light in which we have placed the matter is juft, a fenfible and fober man would be almost at a lofs to determine which ftation upon the whole is most eligible-So equally has a wife and good providence diftributed happinefs among mankind! If more bodily pain and labour falls to the fare of the fervant than the master, the fervant has however lefs care and anxiety to dif turb his peace. He has no weighty concern to exercife his fagacity, attention, and patience. Having done his duty, and by honest labour contributed to his own health, he may eat his bread with a peculiar relish, enjoy his reft without interruption, and have the comfort too of hoping that he has attached the affections

come.

fections of his mafter to himself, and may reap fome extraordinary advantages from thence in time to Let no one therefore be offended at the idea of authority, as if it monopolized the fum total of human happiness; nor at fervitude, as if it funk men beneath the fpecies into a condition of wretchednes and contempt.

Thus we fee then-Men, as men, are equal-Their condition in life is unequal-They are not fufficient to their own fupport, and therefore ftand in need of each others affiftance-But effectual affiftance can only be rendered by the due exercife of authority on the one part, and obedience on the other--Authority and obedience are, however, the refult of voluntary agreement--And, where thefe are properly adjusted, there will be a pretty equal diftribution of happiness.

Such are the grounds of the relation between mafters and fervants, and of the obligations they owe to each other. And it is upon these principles the admonitions to the latter in our text, and to the former in the verfe following, are founded. We should now, therefore, proceed to explain the apoftolic exhortation to fervants, and fo go on to a more particular confideration of the feveral duties of this character, and the motives to urge men to the practice of them. But this we must refer to the next fermon, and content ourselves at prefent with two or three remarks, which the perfect agreement there is between the dictates of nature and the language of the text and context fuggefts.

The first is, that they very injuriously misreprefent the Christian inflitution who infinuate, that it countenances a levelling principle in fociety. Nothing can