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THE RELATIVE DUTIES OF MANKIND. [Pakt III.

and good. Improve the family, strengthen the relations of do-mestic life, and more is done for the happiness and progress ofmankind, than by the most splendid charities.

Moreover, whatever there is of dignity, interest or importancein government, education, and religion, is all combined in thefamily, when well regulated. It includes the maintenance of ajust and rightful authority, and the wise administration of discip-line. The earliest and most lasting impressions are made at thedomestic fireside ; the manners are formed there, good or evilprinciples are imbibed there ; the temper and affections are cul-tivated and regulated there ; the habits and sentiments, which ina great measure govern future life, are contracted there ; — thefamily, then, is a more extensive and effectual place of educationthan the school, the college, or the university. There, too, theinfant is first taught to lisp its brief, unaffected prayer; there,day by day, the Scriptures are searched; and there, morning andevening, the inmates prostrate themselves, in united prayer tothe Father of light, at the domestic altar ; —• the pious family,then, is a church of the most High God.*

Consulting convenience and perspicuity of arrangement, it willbe useful to subdivide this chapter, by reason of its unusuallength, and the variety of subjects which it embraces, into sev-eral sections. I. The relation of husband and wife, and theirreciprocal duties. II. Of parents and children. III. Ofbrothers, sisters, and more remote relatives. IV. Of masterand servant.

SECTION I.

The relation of husband and wife is the first of the domesticrelations, and the foundation of all the rest. In all countriesraised above barbarism, this relation has been considered pecu-liarly sacred, and involving duties of the most solemn and respon-sible kind. Almost universally, a religious sanction has beenbelieved to pertain to this relation ; and the narrative of the crea-tion of man, and of the institution of marriage in the persons

* Colossians iv. 15; Philemon ii.; Dr. Channing on Associations, in “ TheChristian Examiner,” of September 1829, pp. 116, 117.