g what the right thing to be done is,
that we may do it and live for ever; that treasure of which not only
Solomon, but the wise men of old held, that to know what was right
was a more precious possession than rubies and fine gold, and all
the wealth of Ind? Has he not given us the hope of a joyful
immortality, of everlasting life after death, not only with those
whom we have loved and lost, but with God himself?

And how many of us give God the glory, and Christ the thanks? Do we
not copy those nine lepers, and just shew ourselves to the priest?--
Come to church on the Sunday, because it is the custom; people
expect it of us; and God, we understand, expects it too: but where
is the gratitude? Where is the giving of glory to God for all his
goodness? Which are we most like? Children of God, looking up to
our Father in heaven, and saying, at every fresh blessing, Father, I
thank thee. Truly thou knowest my necessities before I ask, and my
ignorance in asking?--Or, like the stalled ox, which eats, and eats,
and eats, and never thanks the hand which feeds him?

We are too comfortable, I think, at times. We are so much
accustomed to be blest by God, that we take his blessings as matters
of course, and feel them no more than we do the air we breathe.

The wise man says--

Our torments may by length of time become
Our elements;

and I am sure our blessings may. They say that people who endure
continual pain and misery, get at length hardly to feel it. And so,
on the other hand, people who have continual prosperity get at
length hardly to feel that. God forgive us! My friends, when I say
this to you, I say it to myself. If I blame you, I blame myself.
If I warn you, I warn myself. We most of us need warning in these
comfortable times; for I believe that it is this very
unrighteousness of ours which brings many of our losses and troubles
on us. If we are so dull that we will not know the value of a thing
when we have got it, then God teaches us the value of it by taking
it from us. He teaches us the value of health by making us feel
sickness; he teaches us the value of wealth by making us feel
poverty. I do not say it is always so. God forbid. There are
those who suffer bitter afflictions, not because they have sinned,
but that, like the poor blind man, the glory of God may be made
manifest in them. There are those too who suffer no sorrow at all,
even though they feel, in their thoughtful moments