And because, so long as he is in this mortal body, he is a stranger to God, he walks by faith, not by sight; and he therefore refers all peace, bodily or spiritual or both, to that peace which mortal man has with the immortal God, so that he exhibits the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law.But as this divine Master inculcates two precepts,--the love of God and the love of our neighbor,--and as in these precepts a man finds three things he has to love,--God, himself, and his neighbor,--and that he who loves God loves himself thereby, it follows that he must endeavor to get his neighbor to love God, since he is ordered to love his neighbor as himself.He ought to make this endeavor in behalf of his wife, his children, his household, all within his reach, even as he would wish his neighbor to do the same for him if he needed it; and consequently he will be at peace, or in well-ordered concord, with all men, as far as in him lies.And this is the order of this concord, that a man, in the first place, injure no one, and, in the second, do good to every one he can reach.Primarily, therefore, his own household are his care, for the law of nature and of society gives him readier access to them and greater opportunity of serving them.And hence the apostle says, "Now, if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."(1) This is the origin of domestic peace or the well-ordered concord of those in the family who rule and those who obey.For they who care for the rest rule,--the husband the wife, the parents the children, the masters the servants; and they who are cared for obey,--the women their husbands, the children their parents, the servants their masters.
But in the family of the just man who lives by faith and is as yet a pilgrim journeying on to the celestial city, even those who rule serve those whom they seem to command; for they rule not from a love of power, but from a sense of the duty they owe to others--not because they are proud of authority, but because they love mercy.
CHAP.15.--OF THE LIBERTY PROPER TO MAN'S NATURE, AND THE SERVITUDEINTRODUCED BY
SIN,--A SERVITUDE IN WHICH THE MAN WHOSE WILL IS WICKED IS THE SLAVEOF HIS OWN LUST, THOUGH HE IS FREE SO FAR AS REGARDS OTHER MEN.
This is prescribed by the order of nature: it is thus that God has created man.For "let them," He says, "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every creeping thing which creepeth on the earth."(1) He did not intend that His rational creature, who was made in His image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creation,--not man over man, but man over the beasts.And hence the righteous men in primitive times were made shepherds of cattle rather than kings of men, God intending thus to teach us what the relative position of the creatures is, and what the desert of sin; for it is with justice, we believe, that the condition of slavery is the result of sin.And this is why we do not find the word "slave" in any part of Scripture until righteous Noah branded the sin of his son with this name.It is a name, therefore, introduced by sin and not by nature.The origin of the Latin word for slave is supposed to be found in the circumstance that those who by the law of war were liable to be killed were sometimes preserved by their victors, and were hence called servants.(2) And these circumstances could never have arisen save through sin.For even when we wage a just war, our adversaries must be sinning;and every victory, even though gained by wicked men, is a result of the first judgment of God, who humbles the vanquished either for the sake of removing or of punishing their sins.Witness that man of God, Daniel, who, when he was in captivity, confessed to God his own sins and the sins of his people, and declares with pious grief that these were the cause of the captivity.(3) The prime cause, then, of slavery is sin, which brings man under the dominion of his fellow,--that which does not happen save by the judgment of God, with whom is no unrighteousness, and who knows how to award fit punishments to every variety of offence.But our Master in heaven says, "Every one who doeth sin is the servant of sin."(4) And thus there are many wicked masters who have religious men as their slaves, and who are yet themselves in bondage; "for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."(5) And beyond question it is a happier thing to be the slave of a man than of a lust; for even this very lust of ruling, to mention no others, lays waste men's hearts with the most ruthless dominion.Moreover, when men are subjected to one another in a peaceful order, the lowly position does as much good to the servant as the proud position does harm to the master.But by nature, as God first created us, no one is the slave either of man or of sin.This servitude is, however, penal, and is appointed by that law which enjoins the preservation of the natural order and forbids its disturbance; for if nothing had been done in violation of that law, there would have been nothing to restrain by penal servitude.
And therefore the apostle admonishes slaves to be subject to their masters, and to serve them heartily and with good-will, so that, if they cannot be freed by their masters, they may themselves make their slavery in some sort free, by serving not in crafty fear, but in faithful love, until all unrighteousness pass away, and all principality and every human power be brought to nothing, and God be all in all.
CHAP.16.--OF EQUITABLE RULE.