11.
The Causes of Ingratitude.
1. One common cause of ingratitude is thoughtlessness. Those nine who did not come back were simply average and ordinary people in this matter : they did not think. They did not impress upon their own minds that they heuceforth owed everything to Christ; that, whatever other people might do or say with regard to Christ, their course was clear. Or perhaps something of this kind happened in their case, certainly the like of it does happen. They had the feeling, of course, that they had been most wonder- fully restored, that they had reason to be thankful to God, that Providence had been kind to them. But gradually Jesus slipped out of their thought, even in connexion with their cure, until, long afterwards, if any one of those nine had been asked to recall the circumstances under which he had been healed, he would have said, " Ah ! it was very wonderful ; we were going along the way when we all suddenly felt that we were clean. No doubt just before that we had spoken to a stranger, who told us to go to the high- priest." " And did that stranger do nothing that contributed to your recovery ? " " Oh dear no ! It all simply happened ; no one touched us." Thus they might tell the story afterwards — as an instance of their own good fortune, or perhaps as an example of the general goodness of God working in human lives, but not as an illustration of what, because it happened to themselves, may
^ W. M. Sloaue, I^'upoleon Bonapa''-te, iv. 130.
ST. LUKE XVII. 17 329
happen to others who come to a standstill in the journey of their lives, and who out of some despair lift up their broken hearts to Jesus Christ.
^ Familiarity breeds forgetfulness. If a man has a hair's- breadth escape from drowning, or comes safe out of a disastrous railway accident, he kneels down and thanks God for sucli a signal mercy ; or if some long-desired but long-denied thing comes into his life, he will say to himself, *' What a cause for thankful- ness ! " But the daily bread that nourishes him, the daily health that makes life a joy to him, the friendships that cheer him, the love of wife and children that fills his home with brightness and comfort, are, or become, so much a matter of course that it hardly occurs to him that they should " be received with thanksgiving." You see the same kind of spirit in the earthly home ; and in this, as in so much else, the child is father of the man. If the father brings home some pretty toy to his child, he is overwhelmed with thanks and caresses ; but that same child eats its daily bread and enjoys its daily blessings provided by a father's toil without a thought of gratitude. This is perfectly natural and blameless in a little child, but surely inexcusable as between a man and his Maker. Should not every mercy remind us of the overshadow- mg love of God, and help to keep our hearts tender and responsive to our Father in heaven ? ^
The bridegroom may forget che bride
Was made his wedded wife yestreen; The monarch may forget the crown
That on his head an hour lias been; The mother may forget the child
That smiles sae sweetly on her knee ; But I'll remember thee, Glencairn,
And a' that thou hast done for me ! 2
2. Another cause of ingratitude is found in pride. Only the stranger returned to give thanks. Perhaps it was partly just because he was a stranger that he was the one to return. The Jew was apt to take everything that came to him as a matter of right, and wonder that he did not get more, as being one of God's peculiar people. Any blessing vouchsafed to him was one of the " sure mercies of David." If Jesus was the Messiah, had not the Jew reason to expect an exercise of power on his behalf ? The
* G. S. Streatfeild. ' Burns, Lament for Jatties, Earl of Olencaim.
330 INGRATITUDE
Samaritan, doubtless, was not without his temptation to spiritual pride. He, too, claimed descent from Abraham ; he had his sacred books, his temple, and his holy hill ; but, as compared with the Jew, there was less of that spirit of conscious superiority which cried, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we " ; less of that temper which the Baptist rebuked when he said, " Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father : for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." There was, it may be, a deeper sense of un worthiness in the Samaritan, and therefore a deeper sense of gratitude. Humility is at the root of gratitude, and when we have learned to humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, we shall have learned at least the first principle of gratitude.
1[ I must send you a word that you may know of God's deal- ings with us. You know how ill my Mary [Bishop Collins's wife] has been for long, and for some little time now we have known that it was either a tumour or abscess on the brain, and that there was but little hope of recovery if the latter, none, if the former, since it was evidently so deep-seated. To-day, Sir Victor Horsley operated. They find that there is a very large solid tumour, and that there is no hope at all. So we are trusting that at least she may have relief, and that God of His mercy will give her a peaceful passing. That is all that there is to tell, excepting that she is just bearing it all and using it all as the saint that she is, and that we are not unhappy, and are full of thankful- ness. I ought to have nothing but praise for the rest of my life ; and we are thankful to have been able to bring her safely from Germany to England ; and we have had much precious time together lately and have been able to speak quite openly and get behind and above separation and things present and things to come or any other creature.^