I show that I am thankful? My good friends, what does God
require of you? "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with your God." I told you He required of you first to trust in Him at
all hours, in all weathers. This is the next thing which He requires of
you--To do justly, to cheat no man, not in the price of a pilchard; to
love mercy; to love your neighbours, as Christ loved you; to help your
neighbours, as Christ helped you and all mankind, by dying to save you;
and as Christ has helped you, night after night, when you might have been
buried in the waves, if Christ had not prayed for you that you might have
time to repent, and bring forth fruits fit for repentance. To love
mercy; to forgive every man who hurts you, for they are all Christian men
and your brothers. Christ loved every one! Why should not you? If your
wife or friend loved anything, you would be kind to it for their sakes;
and so, if you really love God, and are thankful to Him for all His mercy
and kindness, you will love every man you meet, for God's sake, who loved
them and gave His Son for them.

"To walk humbly with your God." That is the beginning and end of all--you
must be humble; you must confess that you are foolish, and God alone is
wise; that you are weak, and God alone is strong; that you are poor
fishermen, whom any squall may drown, and that God is the Great, Loving,
Almighty God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea and all that is
therein, and who helps all those who put their trust in Him. This is
what God asks you to do in return for all He has done for you! To pray
to Him, to praise Him, to put your trust in Him, to keep His commandments
like thankful, humble, obedient, loving children. They who do these
things, and only they, shall never fail. By night and day, in summer and
winter, in storm and calm, in health and sickness, in richness and
poverty, God will be with them. Christ will be with them. He sat in a
fisherman's boat once, on the sea of Tiberias, and He will sit in your
boats if you will but ask Him. He will steer you, He will save you, He
will take care of your wives and children when you are far away, and He
will bring you through the troublesome waves of this mortal life, so
that, having faith for your anchor, and hope for your sail, and charity
for your crew, you may at last land on the happy shore of everlasting
life, there to live with God, world without end. God grant it may be so!

M