Christian Economy, Treatise · Chapter 16
CHAP. 16.
Of the Seruant.
THe Seruant, is a person in the family subiect vntounto his master.
The dutie of a seruāt is, faithfully and diligētly to demeane himselfe in the affaires of his master, and to doe seruice vntounto him as vntounto Christ, though he be froward and hard-harted. Titus 2. 9. Let seruants be subiect to their masters, and please them in all things, not answering againe. Ephes. 6. 5. Seruants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with feare & trembling, in singlenes of your hearts, as vntounto Christ. Col. 3. 22. Thus Iacob serued Laban, Gen. 31. 38. This twentie yeares hauehave I bin with thee; thine ewes and thy goates hauehave not cast their yong, and the rammes of the flocke hauehave I not eaten, &c.
Contrariwise, the seruant must take heed that he doe not his masters businesse negligently, or for fashion sake, or with eye-seruice as a man-pleaser; that in case of rebuke or controlement, he answere not againe; lastly, that hee be trustie & withhold his hands from picking, and his heart from deceiuing his master.
Seruants are of two sorts; either free, or bond-seruants.
A free-seruant is he, whom his master hireth for wages to do him seruice. To him belongs the iust paiment of his hire, and in case of offence, them master hath authoritie to censure and correct him, prouided that in the execution thereof, respect bee had vntounto his age, and the correction be vsed with moderation, as if hee were his sonne.
A bond-seruant, is a seruant bought for money, and is commonly called a slaue. Touching this sort, a question is moued, whether a Christian may with safe conscience, hauehave and vse a man as his slaue?
Answ. The power & right of hauing bond-men, in those countries where it is established by positiue lawes, may stand with good cōscience, if it be vsed with moderation. That authoritie in this behalfe is moderate, wherein these seuen caueats be obserued.
I. That the master hauehave not ouer his seruant the power of life and death; for this takes away the lawful power of the Magistrate, to whom only the Lord hath committed the sword of iustice.
II. That there be not libertie granted him, to vse his seruant at his owne will and pleasure in all things; for this was not granted by the law of God to his owne people: Exod. 21. 26. If a man smite his seruant or his maid in the eye, and hath perished it, he shall let him go free for his eye: Also if he smite out his seruants or his maids tooth, he shall let him go out free for his tooth.
III. That the power be not enlarged to the commanding of things against piety or iustice; for in these cases a man must rather obey God then man, Act. 4. 19.
IV. That masters do not take libertie to make separation of those their seruants that be married, the one from the other, or of those that be parents from their children; considering that God himselfe hath made these societies, and ioyned such persons together, and therefore man may not separate them.
V. That the masters do not take libertie to put ouer their seruants to vngodly and vnbelieuing masters, for that is an vnkind and cruell libertie, & may be an apparāt occasion to make the seruant fall away from religion, and renounce the true God.
VI. That they do not bind them to perpetuall slauery, & neuer make them free. Exo. 21. 5. But if the seruant say thus, I louelove my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free.
VII. That the seruitude be not procured and retained by force; for it is a more grieuous crime to spoile a man of his libertie, then of his riches.
Now yt the same power limited with these cautions, is lawfull & warrantable in cōsciēce, it appears by these reasons.
I. God hath ordained & allowed it, euen by warrant of his owne law: The posteritie of Cham was cursed by Noah, and condemned to slauerie, Gen. 9. 25. And he said, Cursed be Cham, a seruant of seruants shal he be to his brethren. So were the Gibeonites by Ioshua, Ios. 9. 23. Now therefore yee are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bond-men, and hewers of wood, & drawers of water, for the house of my God. So was the theefe, Exo. 22. 3. If he had not wherewith to make restitution, then hee should bee sold for his theft. Again, those that are ouercome in war may be held captiue, and it is lawful for the conquerer to kill them, & therefore to make them slaues: and if being takē, they be saued from death, they owe all that they hauehave to them by whom they are saued.
II. The law of God gaue libertie to any mā that would, to make sale of himselfe to another. Leuit. 25. 45. Of the children of the strangers that are soiourners among you, of them shal ye buy, & of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land, these shall be your possessiō. Deut. 15. 12. If thy brother an Hebrew sell himself to thee, or an Hebrewesse, and serue thee six yeares, euē in the seuenth yeare thou shalt let him go free from thee: and vers. 17. Thou shalt take an aule, & pierce his eare through against the doore, and he shall be thy seruant for euer.
III. The mā that is ransommed frō his enemie, is bound to serue as a slaue in liew of thankfulnesse.
IV. The examples of the godly in the Scriptures. Abraham had seruants whom he bought for siluer, Gen. 17. 12. Euerie manchild of eight daies old among you, shal be circumcised in your generations, as well he that is borne in thine house, as he that is bough with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. Gen. 24. 35. The Lord hath blessed my master Abraham wō derfully— for he hath giuen him sheep and beeues, and siluer and gold, & men-seruants and maid-seruants, and camels and asses.
V. The Apostles do not disallow of such seruāts, but cōmand thē being seruants, & called to the professiō of Christianitie in that state, not to change, but to abide in their calling. 1. Cor. 7. 21. Art thou called being a seruant? care not for it.
It is alledged that such seruitude is against the law of nature. Ans. It is indeed against the law of intire nature, as it was before the fall, but against the law of corrupted nature since the fall, it is not.
But Christ hath purchased liberty to belieuers, Coloss. 5. 11. Ans. Only a spirituall libertie in this life; & a corporal only in the life to come. For though y• seruant in regard of faith & the inner man be equal to his master, because in Christ Iesus there is neither master nor seruāt, bond nor free; yet in regard of the outward man & ciuill order amongst men, the master is aboue the seruant, and the seruant is, & must be subiect to the master.Theodor▪ Orat. 8. Neuerthelesse where this kind of seruitude is abolished, it is not to be againe receiued or intertained amongst Christians, specially considering, it is a far more milde and moderate course to hauehave hired seruants.
If it be said againe, that the Heathen Philosopher holdeth seruitude to be naturall, wherby some are by birth bond, and others free. I answere, That seruitude proceedeth not of nature,Aristot. polit. lib. 1. but hath his originall from the lawes of nations, and is a consequent of the fall. For all men by nature are equally & indifferētly free, none more or lesse then others.