Master (2)
Master, in a Christian point of view, is a person who has servants under him; a ruler or instructor. 'The duties of masters relate, 1. To the civil concerns of the family. They are to arrange the several businesses required of servants; to give particular instructions for what is to be done, and how it is to be done; to take care that no more is required of servants than they are equal to; to be gentle in their deportment towards them; to reprove them when they do wrong, to commend them when they do right; to make them an adequate recompense for their services, as to protection, maintenance, wages, and character. 2. As to the morals of servants. Masters must look well to their servants' characters before they hire them; instruct them in the principles and confirm them in the habits of virtue; wsatch over their morals, and set them good examples. 3. As to their religious interests. They should instruct them in the knowledge of divine things (Ge 14:14; Ge 18:19); pray with them and for them (Jos 24:15); allow them time aetl leisure for religious services, etc. (Eph 6:9). See Stennett, On Domestic Duties, ser. 8; Paley's Moral Philosophy, 1:233, 235; Beattie's Elements of Moral Science, 1:150, 153; Doddridge's Lectures, 2, 266.
