We ought ever with a ready zeal to extend our arm to relieve a sinking
friend from distress and danger, or endeavour to forewarn him against
the wicked plots of his enemies. The benevolent man, from the most
disinterested motives, will always be disposed to do good offices to
all, and the grateful man will never forget to return them in kind, if
it be possible; and there is not one good man in the world who may not
on some occasion stand in need of the help of another. But gratitude
is not very common among mankind. It is a heavenly spark, from which
many virtues spring; and the source of pleasures which never enter the
breast of the vile ingrate. The favours and kindnesses bestowed upon
the grateful man, he cannot forget; those which are conferred upon the
ungrateful, are lost: he concludes he would not have had them, if he
had not deserved them.
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