N00618:23
A good master well served. A brief discourse on the necessary properties & practices…
A good master well served. A brief discourse on the necessary properties & practices of a good servant in every-kind of servitude: and of the methods that should be taken by the heads of a family, to obtain such a servant. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two lines from Joel]
printed by B. Green, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The First Society, which Mankind falls, and indeed Naturally falls into, is Domestical; the Society, that makes a family. Now, by the […] Nature it self, 'tis come to pass, that in such a Society there must be a Superiority, and an Inferiority; there must be some who are to Command, and there must be some who are to Obey. Accordingly, The Domestical Society is of Three Sorts; There is a Conjugal Society, or that between the Husband and the Wife; there is a Parental Society, or that between the Parent and the Child; and there is last, and lowest of all, an •erile Society, or that between the Master and the Servant.
The First Society, which Mankind falls, and indeed Naturally falls into, is Domestical; the Society, that makes a family. Now, by the 〈…〉 Nature it self, 'tis come to pass, that in such a Society there must be a Superiority, and an Inferiority; there must be some who are to Command, and there must be some who are to Obey. Accordingly, The Domestical Society is of Three Sorts; There is a Conjugal Society, or that between the Husband and the Wife; there is a Parental Society, or that between the Parent and the Child; and there is last, and lowest of all, an •erile Society, or that between the Master and the Servant.
When the Providence of God, hath brought a person, into any sort of Humane Society, it is not the least Office of Religion to direct, and assist, the person, in the Discharge of the Relation, which he bears to that Society. The true Religion, having a due Impression upon us, will vastly amend us, and improve us, in every Relation, wherein the Providence of God hath placed us. It has been a Maxim sometimes justly used; Be sure, that Religion cannot be right, that a man is the worse for having. And I will add This unto it; Be sure, if a Person seem to be Religious, but is not by Religion, made, a Better Husband or Wife, a Better Parent or Child, a Better Master or Servant, that persons Religion is vain.
When the Providence of God, hath brought a person, into any sort of Humane Society, it is not the least Office of Religion to direct, and assist, the person, in the Discharge of the Relation, which he bears to that Society. The true Religion, having a due Impression upon us, will vastly amend us, and improve us, in every Relation, wherein the Providence of God hath placed us. It has been a Maxime sometimes justly used; Be sure, that Religion cannot be right, that a man is the worse for having. And I will add This unto it; Be sure, if a Person seem to be Religious, but is not by Religion, made, a Better Husband or Wife, a Better Parent or Child, a Better Master or Servant, that persons Religion is vain.