Page:The Family in its Civil and Churchly Aspects.djvu/157

Rh passages; because there are clauses in one not found in the other, and they are mutually explanatory. We are able to deduce from them the precise attitude in which the two parties stand to each other, the nature of their reciprocal obligations, the spirit in which they are to be fulfilled, the protection against the abuse of power, and the elements which ennoble service.

I. First of all, It is noticeable, too, that the duty of the servant is expressed in the same terms with that of the child; and in both the command is apparently absolute: "obey in all things." There are checks, indeed, which restrain this absolutism; and it is important to emphasize this, as well as the place where these checks are imposed. We had occasion to indicate this, when treating of the filial relation. It challenges the the closer attention here, from the stronger terms in which subjection is made the condition of the servant. Whatever protection may be