In assuming the right to direct and control fellow beings, from their cradles to their graves, you have taken on yourselves responsibilities, onerous indeed; and whatever may be your feelings,—­whatever may be your views—­whatever may be your course toward these unfortunate beings, of one thing you may be assured, that you are destined to meet them at the bar of judgment, and that if you have failed to discharge the duties obligatory on you, God Almighty will require their souls at your hands.

It is there that the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the slave and his master, shall meet on a common level before a just and Almighty Judge; who, without respect of persons, colors, grades, or conditions in life, shall render unto every man according to his works, whether they be good or evil.  In that dread day, it will avail you nothing, that in this world you were men of renown; that in this world the indigent and the ignorant, cowered in your presence, or were awed into submission by your superiority; or, that the summits of your superb and beautiful mansions vied with the clouds—­that you added house to house, and field to field—­that you amassed silver and gold as the dust of the earth—­and that you were surrounded by all the elegancies and enjoyed all the comforts of life—­rioted in excess and reveled in luxury.  There you will stand before a just and scrutinizing God, divested of all those superfluities, and stripped of all that drapery, and those fascinating accomplishments, which attracted the attention and commanded the respect and admiration of your dependants and inferiors in this world.

Having in the preceding pages, but incidentally alluded to the duties of servants, I will close the present chapter with a few remarks on that subject.  “Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh,” &c.  Servants are taught in the New Testament, not only to obey their masters, but to do it in the fear of God, cheerfully, freely, and actively; not simply with a view to please their masters, but as a service or duty, which God requires of them and for which he will hold them accountable.

It is a little remarkable, that so much should have been said and written about the cruel and harsh treatment of servants, and the duties of masters, and that the duties of servants should have been overlooked.  Servants are commanded to be subject to their masters, “not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.”  The non-observance of this command on the part of servants, has frequently engendered that peevishness and perverseness in masters to which the apostles alludes, viz. forwardness among servants, has engendered frowardness in masters.  It is the duty of servants, to oppose the evil tempers and dispositions, and the inhumanity of masters, by opposite tempers and dispositions, and by an opposite course of conduct.  This is the command of God; and by yielding obedience to this command, they would