God alone is worthy of our absolute submission and service. How low a
man sinks when he is ruled by any lesser authority! Such obedience is a
crime against the dignity of human nature, and the soul is not without
a galling sense of this now and then, when its chains rattle.
III. A service which is freedom because it is rendered by love, or a
service which is hard slavery.
'With joy for the abundance of all things.' How sin palls upon us, and
yet we commit it. The will is overborne, conscience is stifled.