benighted and
left in darkness and misery; but a larger portion of it is infused into
the hearts of the servants of God, who thus "are renewed in the divine
likeness," and even here exhibit some faint traces of the image of their
heavenly Father. It is the principle of love which disposes them to
yield themselves up without reserve to the service of him, "who has
bought them with the price of his own blood."

Servile, and base, and mercenary, is the notion of Christian practice
among the bulk of nominal Christians. They give no more than they _dare_
not with-hold; they abstain from nothing but what they _must_ not
practise. When you state to them the doubtful quality of any action, and
the consequent obligation to desist from it, they reply to you in the
very spirit of Shylock, "they cannot find it in the bond." In short,
they know Christianity only as a system of restraints. She is despoiled
of every liberal and generous principle: she is rendered almost unfit
for the social intercourses of life, and is only suited to the gloomy
walls of that cloister, in which they would confine her. But _true
Christians_ consider themselves not as satisfying some rigorous
creditor, but as discharging a debt of gratitude. Their's is accordingly
not the stinted return of a constrained obedience, but the large and
liberal measure of a voluntary service. This principle, therefore, as
was formerly remarked, and has been recently observed of true Christian
humility, prevents a thousand _practical_ embarrassments, by which they
are continually harassed, who act from a less generous motive; and who
require it to be clearly ascertained to them, that any gratification or
worldly compliance, which may be in question, is beyond the allowed
boundary line of Christian practice[124]. _This_ principle regulates the
true Christian's choice of companions and friends, where he is at
liberty to make an option; _this_ fills him with the desire of promoting
the temporal well-being of all around him, and still more with pity and
love, and anxious solicitude for their spiritual welfare. Indifference
indeed in this respect is one of the surest signs of a low or declining
state in Religion. _This_ animating principle it is, which in the true
Christian's happier hour inspirits his devotions, and causes him to
delight in the worship of God; which fills him with consolation, and
peace, and gladness, and sometimes even enables him "to rejoice with joy
unspeakabl