The Iniquity By iniquity I mean the evil of ingratitude—manifest or se cret. The world’s greatest poet, Shakespeare, describes in gratitude as “ a marble-hearted fiend.” He thus expresses himself: I hate ingratitude more in man He feels that the cutting, icy winds of winter that find their sharp way to the marrow of the bones are not so unkind as man’s ingratitude. How sharper than a serpent’s tooth It is to have a thankless child. Milton brands ingratitude as besotted and base. And we will not think crookedly if we agree with him who wrote: He that’s ungrateful has no guilt but one; All other crimes may pass fo r virtues in him. Swift declares that he who calls a man ungrateful sums up all the evil of which one can be guilty. Thomason states that ingratitude is treason to mankind. Fuller writes: And Colton declares that brutes leave ingratitude to man. Again we hear another defclare the iniquity of ingratitude in this question: Is it not as if this mouth should tear. this hand for lifting food to it? Another asks us to believe these severe words: The thief may have some streaks of honesty in him, the deadbeat spots of honor, the liar hours when he loves the truth, the libertine occasions when he has impulses to be pure; but there is nothing redemptive in the ingrate. Ingratitude will steal money from a blind man’s cup, tram ple love underfoot, sneak into the graveyard under cover of darkness and rob the graves of patriots. It fits one for the infamous company of “ Knights of the Kloudy Kountenance.” It makes one talk and think as if all good men were dead, youth were hopelessly corrupt, and God a merciless tyrant. It rewards its benefactor with wounds. It is the serpent one takes to his bosom, warming it back into life, which rewards its benefactor by lifting a heinous and hissing head and by striking its poisonous fangs into the heart. The indictment of the ungrateful soul was expressed by a wise man in words that blister: Trust the ungrateful soul with money—and he will steal it; with honor—and he will betray it; with virtue—and he will violate it; with love — and, with hellish alchemy, he will transmute it into lust; with your good name—and he will besmirch it. It is a shame that thanksgiving is a rare virtue! Many fail more often in gratitude than in any other of the Chris tian graces. Is not this an iniquity? Consider, then, The Inclusiveness By inclusiveness we mean giving thanks in all things and under all circumstances. Paul expresses it: “ In every thing give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18), “ Giving thanks always for all things” (Eph. 5:20). Of course we are to give thanks. “ Con tinue in prayer . . . with thanksgiving” (Col. 4 :2). “ I ap pointed two great companies that gave thanks” (Neh. 12:31). “ Daniel gave thanks before his God” (Dan. 6:10). “ Offer unto God thanks” (Psa. 60:14). Jonah said: “ I will sacri fice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving” (Jonah 2:9). “ The angels . . . worshipped God, saying . . . thanksgiving . . . be unto our God for ever and ever” (Rev. 7:11,12). Paul said: “ I thank God.” Jesus “ gave thanks”. Jeremy Taylor said: “ Every furrow in the Psalms is sown with the seeds of thanksgiving.” Thankfulness as a duty and as a delight is prominent in the Bible. It should have a big place in our lives, for thankfulness is the declarative mood of gratitude, a bright fire in the world’s frigid zone, a great incentive to faith, a glorifier of God, a subduer of the N O V E M B E R . I 9 4 7 Ingratitude is the abridgement of all baseness—a fault never found unattended with other viciousness. Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption Inhabits our frail blood.
& QTijouganb QTimnkggtbtngg || T HOU life of my life, blessed Saviour, Thy death was the death that was mine; jjj For me was Thy Cross and Thine anguish, Thy love and Thy sorrow Divine; Thou hast suffered the Cross and the judgment That I might forever go free; A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings I bring, my Lord Jesus, to Thee! jjj F OR me hast Thou borne reproaches, The mockery, hate and disdain, The blows and the spitting of sinners, The scourging, the shame and the pain; To save me from bondage and judgment Thou gladly hast suffered for me. A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings jjj I bring, my Lord Jesus, to Thee! jjj O L0RD, from my heart do I thank Thee, For all Thou hast borne in my room, Thine agony, dying unsolaced, Alone in the darkness and gloom, That I in the glory of Heaven jjj For ever and ever might be. A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings I bring, my Lord Jesus, to Thee! lower nature. “ It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord” (Psa. 92:1). But what about giving thanks in every thing? When the road is rough, when circumstances are try ing, when the night is dark, when situations are disagreeable, when the cup of woe is bitter, when the black wings of dis ease flutter over the cradle, when the wolf of want howls at the door, when from our neighbors we receive unkind treat ment, when friends despise and forsake—well, we are to give thanks. Yes, that is the inspired imperative—to give thanks in all things that enter into the experiences of all believers. Does “ in everything” include the occasions on which happy faces bend above the cradle, and when the crepe is on the front porch and the coffin in the parlor? Does it include the gall with the honey, the martyr’s fire with its suffering as well as the hearthstone fire with its comfort, the hailstorm that ruins the fruitful field as well as the rain that drives away the drouth, tribulations severe as well as triumphs sweet, good-byes that break our hearts as well as greet ings that cheer our hearts, voyages when tempests churn the sea as well as voyages when the seas are still? Does it include the desert place as well as the garden, the sun-blistered des ert road along with the grass-carpeted riverside? Yes! when we are bereaved of loved ones, when we find traitors among friends, when uncongenial circumstances crowd and conquer us, when sickness brings prostration, when dream houses col lapse, when hopes wither, when orchards are barren, when we have only summer clothes for winter time, when only scraps are on our plates—yea, in everything we are to give thanks! We are to thank God in tribulation, distresses, persecutions, famines, nakedness, perils; we are to give thanks for all things. John Ruskin said: “ Among my chief calamities I had noth ing to endure.” Remembering that, let us be found “giving thanks always for all things,” sharing the confidence of Paul that “ all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Then shall we find that, even as ingratitude is evil, so, with Gray in his “ Ode for Music,” we shall joyously agree:
Sweet is the breath of vernal shower, The bees’ collected treasures sweet, Sweet music’s melting fa ll; but sweeter yet The still, small voice of gratitude.
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