ther those hands which they elevate in Prayer are at other times induftrioufly apply'd to work; or those mouths wherewith they there blefs God, are not elsewhere fill'd with Oaths and Curfes, Scurrilities and Revilings: in a word, whether that form of Godliness be not defign'd in commutation for Sobriety and Honesty. Indeed, the Governours of Families ought to make a strict inspection into the manners of their Servants, and where they find them good, to affix fome fpecial mark of favour, by which they may both be encou rag'd to perfevere, and others to begin; but where they find them vicious, there as eminently to discountenance, feverely to admonish them, and use all fit means for their reclaiming, and when that feems hopeless, to dismiss them that they may not infect the rest. A little leaven, faith the Apostle, leaveneth the whole lump, Gal. 5. 9. and one ill Servant (like a perifh'd Tooth) will be apt to corrupt his fellows. 'Tis therefore the fame in Families that it is in more publick Communities, where severity to the ill is mercy and protection to the reft; and were houses thus early weeded of all idle and vicious Perfons, they would not be fo overgrown, nor degenerate into fuch rude wilderneffes, as many (nay I fear most) great Families now are.

52. BUT as Servants are not to be tolerated in the neglect of their duty, so neither are Ff 2

they

they to be defeated of any of their dues. Mafters are to give to their Servants, that which is just and equal, Col. 4. 1. And fure 'tis but juft and equal that they who are rational Creatures fhould not be treated with the rigour or contempt of Brutes: a fufficient and decent provifion, both in fickness and in health, is a juft debt to them, befides an exact performance of those particular contracts upon which they were entertain'd. Laban had fo much of natural juftice, that he would not take the advantage of Jacob's relation to him to make him ferve him gratis, Because thou art my brother, fhould' ft thou therefore ferve me for nought? tell me therefore what shall thy wages be, Gen. 29. 15. But alas! now adays where Servants have been told, nay, exprefly articled for their wages, 'tis with many no easy thing to get it: nay 'tis thought by fome Masters an infolence, a piece of ill manners to demand it; and when they have worn out a Servant, they either pay him not at all, or with the fame protraction and regret, which they do their Taylors for the old Cloaths they have caft off. I fear there are many inftances of this, especially among great perfons; it being a receiv'd mode with too many of them to pay no debts to those who are too mean to conteft with them. But however they may ruffle it out with Men, it will one day arraign them before God as moft injurious Oppreffors;

there

there being no crime of that kind more frequently or more severely branded in Scripture, than this of the detention of the wages of the Servant and Hireling. Befides, this example of injuftice, wherein the Servant is paffive, is often transcrib'd by him in acts of Fraud and Deceit, and he is apt to think it but an equal Retaliation, to break his Truft where the Mafter breaks his Covenant; and when he once attempts to be his own pay-master, 'tis not to be doubted but he will allow himself large use for the forbearance of his wages; fo that the courfe is no lefs unprofitable to the Mafter, than unjuft and dishonourable.

53. I am not fure 'tis always in the Wife's power to prevent this or any of the former faults in the manage of the Family. For her authority being but fubordinate, if the Hufband who is fupreme fufpend her Power, he do's by that vacating her Rule, take off the duty confequent to it; fo that what I have faid, can be Obligatory to none that are fo impeded but to those who can either do it themselves, or perfwade their Husbands to it, the omiffion will be their fin: all the Profaneness and Disorder of the Family will be charg'd upon their account, if it came by their

default.

54. AND this, methinks, is a confideration that may much mortify one ufual piece of Vanity, I mean, that of a multitude of

Ser

Servants. We fhall all of us find burthen enough of our own personal miscarriages, and need not contrive to fetch in more weight from others. And in Families 'tis generally obfervable, that the bigger they are, the worse; Vice gains boldness by numbers, is hatch'd up by the warmth of a full fociety; and we daily fee people venture upon thofe Enormities in Confort, and in a Croud, which they would not dare, did they think they ftood fingle, Befides, the wider the Province is, the more difficult it is well to adminifter it; and in a heap of Servants many faults will escape undifcern'd: efpecially confidering the common confederacy there is ufually among them, for the eluding of difcipline: fo that what the Wife Man speaks of not defiring a multitude of unprofitable Children, I think may be very well apply'd to Servants, whofe unprofitableness usually increases together with their number. I have now run through the feveral obligations confequent to the Marry'd ftate wherein even upon this very curfory view there appears fo many particulars, that if they were all duly attended, Ladies need not be much at a loss how to entertain themselves, nor run abroad in a Romantick queft after foreign divertisements; when they have fuch variety of engagements at home.

1.

TH

SECT. III.

of Widows.

HE next ftate which can fucceed to that of Marriage, is Widow-hood; which tho' it fuperfedes thofe duties which be terminated merely in the person of the Husband, yet it endears thofe which may be paid to his afhes, love is strong as death Cant. 8. 6. and therefore when it is pure and genuine, cannot be exftinguifh'd by it, but burns like the Funeral Lamps of old even in Vaults and Charnel-houses. The Conjugal love transplanted into the grave, (as into á finer mould) improves into Piety, and lays a kind of facred Obligation upon the Widow, to perform all Offices of Refpect and Kindness which his Remains are capable of.

2. Now thofe Remains are of three forts, his Body, his Memory, and his Children. The moft proper expreffion of her Love to the firft, is in giving it an Honourable Interment; I mean not fuch as may vie with the Poland Extravagance, (of which 'tis obferv'd, that two or three near fucceeding Funerals ruin the Family) but prudently propor

tion'd