of its
everlasting continuance, and yet many of us have not returned the poor
affections of our feeble finite hearts. We have been over-arched with
the firmament of immortal goodness all our lives long, and have the
promise that it shall span us forever, and yet we have drank in but
little of its life and light. We have fed on the bounties of a benignant
Providence and have scarcely returned an emotion of genuine
thoughtfulness. Here we are; God is all the time doing for us; and we
are thoughtless of his favors and indifferent to his holy friendship. He
strives to impress us with his greatness, but we scarcely seem to
recognize the entreaties of his love or the munificence of his bountiful
hand. Through His love he pleads in the earnest eloquence of a divine
life and a perfect heart for us to bow in love at the feet of Jesus;
but even those of us who profess to do so are cold in our love and weak
in our resolutions. The world has stolen away our hearts. Evil
associates have corrupted our good manners, and we are irreverent,
sensuous, even in the house of God. To illustrate our impiety: suppose
you, by some accident, had been cast away on some lone island,
barrenness reigned around you; cold winds beat against you; alone and
desolate you stood exposed to every element without and a prey to every
want within. The sea in its wild fury roared around you. No living being
heard your cries; no heart beat in sympathy with yours. Now, suppose in
your distress a good spirit of the island should speak to you, out of a
cell or cloud, and ask your wants; and should lead you into a beautiful
temple, and tell you it was yours; should feed and clothe you; should
surround you with beauty and comfort, furnish you with friends, and make
every thing delightful so far as another could do for you, what kind of
feelings ought you to entertain toward the good spirit? If you should
forget him in your enjoyments, should abuse his gifts, should make him
the subject of jest and sport, and blaspheme his name, would you not, in
your thoughtful moments, despise yourself for your ingratitude? And yet
this good spirit, in the supposed case, would not do for you a tithe
your heavenly Father is doing for you every day; for life, and breath,
and powers, all natural as well as spiritual things, we receive at his
hand.

Few things are more base than an ungrateful spirit. If we do a favor
either to a friend or stranger, and get no response of gratitude, we