7. The heathen everywhere, despite their ignorance of God and his
grace, condemned to the utmost the evil of ingratitude. They regarded
it the mother of evils, than which was none more malevolent and
shameful. Among many examples in this respect is one left us by a
people in Arabia called Nabathians, who had an excellent form of
government. So strict were they in regard to this evil that anyone
found guilty of ingratitude to his fellows was looked upon as a
murderer and punished with death.
8. No sin is more abominable to human nature, and of none is human
nature less tolerant. It is easier to forgive and to forget the act
of an enemy who commits a bodily injury, or even murders one's
parents, than it is to forget the sin of him who repays simple
kindness and fidelity with ingratitude and faithlessness; who for
love and friendship returns hatred. In the sentiment of the Latin
proverb, to be so rewarded is like rearing a serpent in one's bosom.
God likewise regards this sin with extreme enmity and punishes it.
The Scriptures say: "Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not
depart from his house." Prov 17, 13.
9. Thus we have the teaching of nature and of reason regarding the
sin of men's ingratitude toward one another. How much greater the
evil, how much more shameful and accursed, when manifested toward God
who, in his infinite and ineffable goodness, conferred upon us while
yet enemies to him and deserving of the fires of hell--conferred upon
us, I say, not ten dollars, not a hundred thousand dollars even, but
redemption from divine wrath and eternal death, and abundantly
comforted us, granting us safety, a good conscience, peace and
salvation! These are inexpressible blessings, incomprehensible in
this life. And they will continue to occupy our minds in yonder
eternal life. How much more awful the sin of ingratitude for these
blessings, as exemplified in the servant mentioned in the Gospel
passage for today, to whom was forgiven the debt of ten thousand
talents and who yet would not forgive the debt of his fellow-servant
who owed him a hundred pence!
10. Is it not incredible that there are to be found on earth
individuals wicked enough to manifest for the highest and eternal
blessings such unspeakable ingratitude? But alas, we have the
evidence of our own eyes. We know them in their very dwelling-places.
We see how the world abounds with them. Not only are the ingrates to
be found among deliberate rejecters of the acknowledged truth of the
Gospel, concerning God's grace, an assured conscience and the promise
of eternal life, terrible as such malice of the devil is, but they
are present also in our midst, accepting the Gospel and boasting of
it. Such shameful ingratitude prevails among the masses it would not
be strange were God to send upon them the thunders and lightnings of
his wrath, yes, all the Turks and the devils of hell.
There is a generally prevalent ingratitude like that of the wicked
servant who readily forgot the straits he experienced when, being
called to account for what he could not pay, the wrathful sentence
was pronounced against him that he and all he possessed must be sold,
and he be indefinitely imprisoned. Nor have we less readily forgotten
how we were tortured under the Papacy; how we were overwhelmed,
drowned as in a flood, with numberless strange doctrines, when our
anxious consciences longed for salvation. Now that we are, through
the grace of God, liberated from these distresses, our gratitude is
of a character to increasingly heap to ourselves the wrath of God. So
have others before us done, and consequently have endured terrible
chastisement.
11. Only calculate the enormity of our wickedness when, God having
infinitely blessed us in forgiving all our sins and making us lords
over heaven and earth, we so little respect him as to be unmindful of
his blessings; to be unwilling for the sake of them sincerely to
forgive our neighbor a single slighting word, not to mention
rendering him service. We conduct ourselves as if God might be
expected to connive at our ingratitude and permit us to continue in
it, at the same time conferring upon us as godly and obedient
children, success and happiness. More than this, we think we have the
privilege and power to live and do as we please. Indeed, the more
learning and power we have and the more exalted our rank, the greater
knaves we are; perpetrating every wicked deed, stirring up strife,
discord, war and murder for the sake of executing our own arbitrary
designs, where the question is the surrender of a penny in
recognition of the hundreds of thousands of dollars daily received
from God notwithstanding our ingratitude.
12. Two mighty lords clash with each other like powerful battering
rams, and for what? Perhaps for undisputed possession of a city or
two, a matter they must be ashamed of did they but call to mind what
they have received from God. They would be constrained to exclaim:
"What are we doing that we injure one another--we who are all
baptized in one name, the name of Christ, and pledged to one Lord?"
But no, it will not do for them to consider this matter; not even to
think of it. They must turn their eyes away from it, and put it far
from their hearts. Wholly forgetting God's benefits, they must wage
war against each other, involving nations, and subjecting people to
the Turk. And all for sake of the insignificant farthing each refused
to yield to the other.
13. The world permits the very devil to saddle and ride it as he
pleases. It seems to be characteristic of every phase of life that
one will not yield to another--will not submit to any demand.
Everyone is disposed to force his arrogant authority. The presumption
is that supreme honor and final success depend upon an unyielding,
unforgiving disposition, and that to seek to retain our possessions
by peaceable means will prove our ruin. Even the two remaining cows
in the stall must be brought into requisition, and war waged to the
last stick, until when the mutineer comes and we have neither cow nor
stall, nor house nor stick, we are obliged to cease.