48 INADEQUATE CONCEPTIONS CONCERNING [CH. Ill,

ference; we repeat them almost as it were by rote,
assuming by turns the language of the deepest humi-
liation and of the warmest thankfulness, with a calm
unaltered composure; and when the service of the
day is ended, they are dismissed altogether from
our thoughts till, on the return of another Sunday,
a fresh attendance on public worship gives occasion
for the renewed expressions of our periodical hu-
mility and gratitude. In noticing such lukewarm-
ness as this, surely the writer were to be pardoned,
if he were to be betrayed into some warmth of con-
demnation. The Unitarian and Socinian indeed,
who deny, or explain away the peculiar doctrines of
the Gospel, may be allowed to feel these grand truths,
and to talk of them with little emotion. But in
those who profess a sincere belief in them, this cold-
ness is insupportable. The greatest possible services
of man to man must appear contemptible, when,
compared with " the unspeakable mercies of Christ:"
mercies so dearly bought, so freely bestowed—a de-
liverance from eternal misery—the gift of a " crown
of glory that fadeth not away.*" Yet, what judg-
ment should we form of such conduct, as is here
censured, in the case of any one who had received
some signal services from a fellow creature? True
love is an ardent and an active principle ; a cold, a
dormant, a phlegmatic gratitude, are contradictions
in terms. When these generous affections really
exist in us in vigour, are we not ever fond of dwelling
on the value, and enumerating the merits of our
benefactor ? How are we moved when any thing is
asserted to his disparagement! How do we delight
to tell of his kindness ! With what pious care do we
preserve any memorial of him, which we may hap-
pen to possess ! How gladly do we seize any oppor-
tunity of rendering to him, or to those who are dear
to him, any little good offices, which though in them-