Jesus was amazed at ingratitude

JESUS WAS AMAZED AT INGRATITUDE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 17:17 And Jesus answering said, Were not the
ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
GreatTexts of the Bible
Ingratitude
It was when He was on His last journey towards Jerusalemon the frontier of
Galilee and Samaria, that our Lord saw, on the road towards a village which
is not named, ten lepers. They might not come near the gates, as being tainted
with the fataldisease and lying under the ban of God. They kept togetherin a
band, endeavouring no doubt to find in eachother’s company some solacefor
their sufferings, for their sense ofhumiliation and disgust, for their exclusion
from the civil and religious life of their countrymen.
Misfortune makes strange associates:and of these lepers one was a
Samaritan. Illness, too, will make men think of God who have never thought
of Him before: and as our Lord passedalong the way He attracted the
attention of these poor outcasts. Consciousoftheir misery, they stood afaroff;
and yet—evenif nothing came of it—they must appealto Him. They might
have heard that one of the distinctive features of His work was that “the
lepers were cleansed”;they might have heard that He had commissionedHis
representatives not merely to heal the sick, but specificallyto “cleansethe
lepers.” They had an indistinct idea that He was in some sense the Healer of
mankind; and so, as He passed, they lifted up their voices and said: “Jesus,
Master!have mercy on us.” This prayer was itselfan actof faith: and, as

such, our Lord at once acceptedand testedit. There they were, all ten,
coveredwith leprosy, but He bade them do that which already implied that
they were perfectly cleansed;they were to take a long journey, which would
have been a waste of labour unless they could believe that He would make it
worth their while. “Go,” He said, “shew yourselves unto the priests.” To go to
the priests for inspectionunless they were healedwould only have led to a
repetition of their sentence as proved lepers;and therefore, in the miracle
after His Sermon on the Mount, He first healed the leper and then sent him to
undergo the prescribedinspection. Here—it must have perplexed them
sorely—He does nothing but bids them go, as if already cleansed. Couldthey
trust Him sufficiently to make the venture, to obey when obedience seemed
irrational at the moment, in firm persuasionthat it would be justified by the
event?
Yes; they took Him at His word: they setout for Jerusalem—a distant
journey, along an unwelcome road. But lo! as they went, and, as it would
seem, before they had gone far, a change was alreadyupon them. They looked
eachat the others, eachat himself, and they saw that an Unseen Powerwas
there, cleansing them, they knew not how, of the foul disease, andrestoring to
them the freshness and purity of early years. “As they went they were
cleansed.”It was in the actof obedience that they obtained the blessing;it was
by assuming that our Lord could not fail that they found Him faithful.
They were all cleansed—allten. But, like Naaman the Syrian returning with
his blessing for the man of God, one of them thought that something was due
to the author of so signala deliverance. He left the others to pursue their
onward road; they might go on to claim at the hands of the priests their
restorationto the civil and religious life of Israel. He left them; ho turned
back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and then he prostrated himself at
the feetof his Deliverer, thanking Him for this act of mercy and power. And
our Lord blessedhim once more in another and a higher way. A greater
possessionthan even that of freedom from leprosy was assuredto the poor

Samaritan in Christ’s parting words, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” But
ere He did this our Lord also uttered the noteworthy exclamation, “Were
there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that
returned to give glory to God save this stranger.”1 [Note:H. P. Liddon.]
In a sermon on this text, Luther says:“This is the right worship of God, to
return glorifying God with a loud voice. This is the greatestwork in heaven
and earth, and the only one which we may do for God; for of other works He
stands in need of none, neither is He benefited by them.” Luther is surely
right; for we have nothing to give to God, because whatwe have is all His gift;
but this we may do, we may return thanks to Him for the goodnessand mercy
with which He blesses us, and that this is well pleasing to Him we learn from
His words in the 50th Psalm, saying: “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee:
for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eatthe flesh of bulls, or
drink the blood of goats? Offerunto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows
unto the MostHigh.”1 [Note: F. Kuegele, Country Sermons, iv. 547.]
I believe thanksgiving a greatermark of holiness than any other part of
prayer. I mean specialthanksgiving for mercies askedand received. It is a
testimony to prayers being remembered, and therefore earnestprayer. It is
unselfish, and more loving.2 [Note: Norman Macleod, in Memoir, ii. 21.]
The subject is Ingratitude. Let us look at—
I. Its Extent.
II. Its Causes.

III. Its Penalty.
I
The Extent of Ingratitude
1. Tenlepers were cleansed. Nine went on their way, with never a word of
thankfulness. The averagesofgratitude and ingratitude do not vary much
from age to age, and the story suggeststhat ninety per cent. of those who
receive God’s benefits are more or less wanting in gratitude. Man is prone to
forgethis benefits and mercies. He lays more stress upon what he has not than
upon what he has. It is our human tendency to take our blessings forgranted
and as a matter of course. Manseems to look upon all goodthings—
pleasurable sensations, comforts,evenluxuries—as his birthright, upon which
he has a natural inalienable claim, giving him just ground for complaint if he
does not receive them. A stroke of goodfortune, an agreeable surprise, creates
only a transient ripple and leaves but a dim impression! Instead of being
thankful for it as a sheergratuity, an extra dividend, the individual only finds
in it a reasonwhy he should receive more of the same kind and oftener.
If you searchthe world around, among all choice spices youshall scarcely
meet with the frankincense ofgratitude. It ought to be as common as the dew-
drops that hang upon the hedges in the morning; but, alas, the world is dry of
thankfulness to God! Gratitude to Christ was scarce enoughin His own day. I
had almostsaid it was ten to one that nobody would praise Him; but I must
correctmyself a little; it was nine to one. One day in sevenis for the Lord’s
worship; but not one man in ten is devoted to His praise.1 [Note:C. H.
Spurgeon.]

(1) Those who frankly believe are not all ready to praise. These ten men did
believe, but only one praisedthe Lord Jesus. Theirfaith was about the
leprosy; and according to their faith, so was it unto them. This faith, though it
concernedtheir leprosyonly, was yet a very wonderful faith. It was
remarkable that they should believe the Lord Jesus though He did not even
say, “Be healed,” or speak a word to them to that effect, but simply said, “Go
shew yourselves unto the priests.” With parched skins, and death burning its
way into their hearts, they went bravely off in confidence that Jesus must
mean to bless them. It was admirable faith; and yet none of the nine who thus
believed ever came back to praise Christ for the mercy received.
In an address Dr. Wilsononce said: “There is a man who has a nickname. In
the different parts of the country to which he goes he is known by the name of
‘Hallelujah.’ When he stops at a hotel and goes into the commercialroom, the
travellers say, ‘Here comes Hallelujuh So-and-So.’Why? Becausehe is a
praising Christian. I think if I had the choosing ofa nickname I would choose
that. Supposing that my joy were rightly grounded, I would prefer
‘Hallelujah’ almost to any other name that could be given to me.”2 [Note:Life
of James Hood Wilson, 433.]
Many of our modern Christian writers are lacking in true rapture. I took up a
book of devotion by a saintly Presbyterian—the Rev. George Matheson—
Moments on the Mount, a book of real value. There are one hundred and
eight meditations in it, but there is not one that passes into rapturous praise.
Again, we all love the Christian Year more and more the older we grow, but
the sobriety of tone that it claims as its distinctive note does, I think, deprive
us of the note of gratitude amounting to rapture. It is the same with Keble’s
Lyra Innocentium; wondrous beauty is there, but he does not strike all the
chords at once for the greatchorus of praise. It is almost true also of Newman,
exceptin the well-known“Angels’Song.” I dare to sayit is the same with
Tennyson and with Wordsworth: and all these were Christian men, some of

them fervently and wholeheartedlyso to an extent that makes them wearthe
title “saintly” with absolute propriety.
I then extended my researches further back in time and at once I discovered
the note I sought. They were not greaterChristians than those I have
mentioned, but their note has more rapture. Spenser, George Herbert, Milton,
Henry Vaughan, Addison, Ken, Watts, Newton. You cannot read their poetry
or hymns without feeling the thrill of rapture. I do not sayit is indispensable
to a most noble Christianity; yet it works miracles becauseit means intensity.
I have reservedone name for separate mention. I have lookedover four
hundred and fifty hymns of Charles Wesley, and anyone who does so will
allow there is rapture there, and gratitude, and praise deep and returning
againand again. And in this respectWesleyhas a successorin our Heber,
whose name I had also kept back as one who may be called a modern, but who
certainly has rapture in his music.1 [Note:Bishop Montgomery, in The
Church Family Newspaper,11thMarch 1910, p. 202.]
(2) Those who diligently pray do not all praise. These ten men that were lepers
all prayed. Poorand feeble as their voices had become through disease, yet
they lifted them up in prayer, and united in crying: “Jesus, Master, have
mercy on us!” They all joined in the Litany, “Lord, have mercy upon us!
Christ, have mercy upon us!” But when they came to the Te Deum,
magnifying and praising God, only one of them took up the note. We should
have thought that all who prayed would praise, but it is not so. Caseshave
been where a whole ship’s crew in time of storm have prayed, and yet none of
that crew have sung the praise of God when the storm has become a calm.
Multitudes of our fellow-citizens pray when they are sick, and near to dying;
but when they grow better, their praises grow sick unto death. The angel of
mercy, listening at their door, has heard no canticle of love, no song of
thankfulness.

It is well to notice that when we draw the closestto God it is not in the exercise
of prayer we do so. We draw nearer still in praise, for praise is the eternaland
supreme employment of the perfectedin heaven. In praise we come to the
very foundation of all truth—to that which is deepestin our nature—
reverence, love, trust, the overflowing outcome of our whole hearts in
worship, and that is the highest exercise in which our souls can ever hope to
engage.1[Note:J. M. Sloan, in Memories of Horatius Bonar, 89.]
The greatestcontribution that the Anglican Church has ever made to
Christendom is the “Devotions ofBishop Andrewes,” and the reasonis that he
has culled all that is deepestand highest in the Old Testamentand in the New
Testamentto put in to our utterances before God, mingled with a touch of his
own genius. I am not aware of any crime so great, any horror in life so
dreadful, that it cannotfind fit expressionbefore God in those “Devotions.”
Likewise there is no rapture of gratitude and praise which is not also there,
nor any intercessionor yearning which is not written therein. We are told that
Andrewes’ awful penitence is owedto one acthe committed under pressure.
And if so, then that same actis responsible for the notes of praise also from
one who, though a sinner, trusted his God utterly. We are almosttempted (be
it said with reverence and as a paradox) to thank God that he fell into one
heinous sin, since he made such gooduse of it for all future generations. If
ever the grateful leper of the miracle had a counterpart it was in the personof
Bishop Andrewes in his own estimation as he lay for years at his Master’s feet
pouring out his gratitude.2 [Note: Bishop Montgomery.]
A joyful and pleasantthing it is to be thankful. Unworthy before let me not be
ungrateful after.3 [Note:Bishop Andrewes, Preces Privatœ, 156.]
(3) Those who readily obey do not always praise. When Jesus said, “Go shew
yourselves unto the priests,” off they went—all ten of them; not one stopped
behind. Yet only one came back to behold a personalSaviour, and to praise

His name. External religious exercisesare easyenough, and common enough;
but the internal matter, the drawing out of the heart in thankful love, how
scarce a thing it is!
Beginat once, humbly and simply as a little child, to glorify God in the only
way in which it will ever be in your powerto glorify Him or that He would
value, by making your life worth as much as ever you canin the outpouring of
the spirit of good-will, human fellowship, and mutual understanding, upon the
struggling wearyworld.4 [Note: R. J. Campbell, A Rosaryfrom the City
Temple, 17.]
2. Our Lord expressessurprise at man’s ingratitude. He speaks witha sort of
mournful and painful wonder; and, indeed, it must appear to us a
circumstance marvellous and almost incredible; such as we could not
understand and scarcelybelieve, were it not that it is such an exactpicture of
our own hearts. Notwithstanding all the deceits we put upon ourselves, we
cannot but acknowledgeit, although there is no truth in the world more sad
and melancholy than this; in all our manifold deliverances from sicknessand
dangers and distresses, we may be full of faith, full of prayer, full of holy
resolutions, when we feel God’s chastening hand pressing hard upon us; but
when it is removed, this is all gone awayand forgotten; the very feeling of
thankfulness is but as the morning cloud which passes away, as the morning
cloud which catches a few gleams from the sun, and is radiant for a moment,
or which lets fall, it may be, a few drops of tears;but, look again, and it is
gone awayand not found.
Where else, in all our English tongue, will you find the piteous cry of wounded
love which you find in King Lear? Where else will you encounter the wild
storms which there break overthe outragedfather’s soul? I remember a great
critic describing the Lear which he had just witnessed, its darkness, its
splendours, its rage, tears, pity. And he ended his notice with some such words

as these: “And so I stepped forth out of the world of the theatre into the real
world of the streets. Real? Butwhat is real, if King Lear is not?”1 [Note:C. F.
Aked, The Courage ofthe Coward, 157.]
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Becausethou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,

Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.2 [Note:Shakespeare,As You Like It, II. vii. 173.]
It is related in the memoirs of Caulaincourt, that when the minister was
admitted in the early morning (after the Emperor’s attempt to poison
himself), Napoleon’s “wanand sunkeneyes seemedstruggling to recallthe
objects round about; a universe of torture was revealedin the vaguely
desolate look.”Napoleonis reported as saying: “Goddid not will it. I could
not die.” Why did they not let me die? It is not the loss of the throne that
makes existence unendurable; my military careersuffices for the glory of a
single man. Do you know what is more difficult to bear than the reverses of
fortune; It is the baseness, the horrible ingratitude of men. Before such acts of
cowardice, before the shamelessnessoftheir egotism, I have turned away my
head in disgust and have come to regard my life with horror.… Deathis
rest.… Restat last.… What I have suffered for twenty days no one can
understand.”1 [Note: W. M. Sloane, NapoleonBonaparte, iv. 130.]
II
The Causes ofIngratitude
1. One common cause ofingratitude 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
henceforth owedeverything to Christ; that, whateverother people might do
or say with regardto Christ, their course was clear. Orperhaps something of
this kind happened in their case,certainlythe like of it does happen. They had

the feeling, of course, that they had been most wonderfully restored, that they
had reasonto 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 askedto 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 spokento a stranger,
who told us to go to the high-priest.” “And did that strangerdo nothing that
contributed to your recovery?” “Ohdear no! It all simply happened; no one
touched us.” Thus they might tell the story afterwards—asaninstance of their
own goodfortune, or perhaps as an example of the generalgoodness ofGod
working in human lives, but not as an illustration of what, because it
happened to themselves, may 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 such a signalmercy; or if some long-desired but long-
denied thing comes into his life, he will sayto himself, “What a cause for
thankfulness!” But the daily bread that nourishes him, the daily health that
makes life a joy to him, the friendships that cheerhim, 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
receivedwith 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
betweena man and his Maker. Should not every mercy remind us of the
overshadowing love of God, and help to keepour hearts tender and responsive
to our Father in heaven?1 [Note:G. S. Streatfeild.]

The bridegroom may forgetthe bride
Was made his wedded wife yestreen;
The monarch may forgetthe crown
That on his head an hour has been;
The mother may forget the child
That smiles sae sweetlyon her knee;
But I’ll remember thee, Glencairn,
And a’ that thou hast done for me!2 [Note:Burns, Lament for James, Earlof
Glencairn.]
2. Another cause ofingratitude is found in pride. Only the strangerreturned
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 getmore, as being one of God’s
peculiar people. Any blessing vouchsafedto him was one of the “sure mercies
of David.” If Jesus was the Messiah, had not the Jew reasonto expectan
exercise ofpower on his behalf? The Samaritan, doubtless, was not without

his temptation to spiritual pride. He, too, claimed descentfrom Abraham; he
had his sacredbooks, his temple, and his holy hill; but, as compared with the
Jew, there was less ofthat spirit of conscioussuperiority which cried, “The
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we”;less of that temper which
the Baptistrebuked 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 ofunworthiness 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 beneaththe mighty hand of God, we shall have learned at
leastthe first principle of gratitude.
I must send you a word that you may know of God’s dealings 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 abscessonthe
brain, and that there was but little hope of recoveryif the latter, none, if the
former, since it was evidently so deep-seated. To-day, SirVictor 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 leastshe may have relief, and that
God of His mercy will give her a peacefulpassing. 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 thankfulness. I ought to have
nothing but praise for the rest of my life; and we are thankful to have been
able to bring her safelyfrom Germany to England; and we have had much
precious time togetherlately and have been able to speak quite openly and get
behind and above separationand things present and things to come or any
other creature.1 [Note:BishopCollins, in Life by A. J. Mason, 160.]
3. Men are apt to be thankless, when they do not see their benefactor. When
this miracle was wroughtupon the lepers, the Workerwas out of sight. He
had walkedtowards the village, and they, avoiding the village, were pursuing
their way towards Jerusalem. At that moment of awe and blessing they did

not see Him. No shadowyform hovered about them to remind them that He
was present in powerto heal them. No word like the “I will, be thou clean,”
which had healed the leper at Capernaum two years before, now fell upon
their ears;no hand was raisedin benediction; and yet, minute by minute, the
foul disease was disappearing, whenor how they could not exactlytell: and at
last they saw that they were healed. But the HealerHimself they did not see;
as now in His Church, so then, He was out of sight, even when His action was
most felt and energetic. His words still lingered on their ears, but it was not
impossible, amid the distractions of a new scene, to forget their import: and
thus, out of the ten men, nine did forgetit.
A strong man says in the pride of achievement, “Neversince I was a boy have
I been under obligation to any human being.” Nonsense!You are under
obligation to a hundred unknown, lowly workers, and under obligation, too, to
the greatestofmankind. You are debtor to the policemanon his beat, the deep
sea fishermen off the banks, the stokerin the furnace-room of the oceanliner,
the driver on the swift express or electric car, and the man who drops the
fenders betweenthe ferry-boat and the landing-stage!Many years ago,
Rudyard Kipling administered a rebuke to the swash-bucklers ofEmpire
who, in time of disturbance, fawn upon the private soldier as though he were
one of the immortal gods descendedfrom Olympus, and then, when the war-
drum has ceasedfor a time its feverish throbbing, treat the same man as
though he were the offscouring of humanity. You remember:
Makin’ mock at uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaperthan
them uniforms, and they’re starvationcheap!1 [Note: C. F. Aked, The
Courage ofthe Coward, 160.]
III

The Penalty of Ingratitude
Ingratitude closes the door againstthe deeper blessings oflife. We cannot be
wanting in this greatduty of thankfulness without being untrue to the law of
our existence—withoutthe worst results upon ourselves. Forwhat is
thankfulness such as God demands but that which is at the bottom of all
human excellence—the frank acknowledgmentof truth? As prayer is a
recognitionof our dependence upon God amid the darkness and uncertainties
of the future, so thankfulness is a recognitionof our indebtedness to Him for
the blessings ofthe past. To acknowledgetruth is always moral strength; to
refuse to acknowledgeit is always moral weakness. Accordinglythe worst
excessesofheathenism are tracedby St. Paul to the ingratitude of the Gentile
nations for the light of nature and conscience. “Whenthey knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
He who forgets to be thankful, may one day find himself with nothing to be
thankful for.1 [Note:Bishop Thorold, in Life by C. H. Simpkinson, 141.]
1. The grateful man receiveda greaterblessing. “And he said unto him, Go
thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.” This does not mean that this man
alone was ultimately cleansedoutof the ten. It was not the manner of Jesus to
withdraw His gifts because they were not appreciated at their true worth, any
more than it is the Father’s way to take back His blessings from men who
misuse them; for He “makethhis sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and the unjust,” and “is kind towardthe unthankful
and evil.” But in the mind of Jesus, physicalhealing was the leastpart of His
purpose in bestowing health on people. He ever thought of their souls; and
unless the bodily benefit He bestowedblossomedinto some spiritual grace, He
was troubled and unsatisfied. Those nine had been healed, and remained
healed, but they were not “made whole”;only he could be made whole who

was lifted into the circle of Divine relationship, and acknowledgedGodas the
Giver of health and all goodthings.
The seculartemper takes everything as it comes, without any realization of its
Divine source;the spiritual temper refers everything to its heavenly origin
and author. “Where does the corncome from?” “From the ground,” says the
materialist. “From the Fatherof lights,” says the Christian. And there is a
whole world of difference betweenthese points of view. If we stopwith
Nature, which produces corn and wine and fruit, and whose laws become our
willing servants when once we learn to understand and controlthem, we may
possesscontinents, and yet our souls be starved. But he who lifts his eyes
above, and sees in every fact a blessing, in every possessiona gift, in every
incident a Divine influence, will live a life in which all lowergoodis still his,
but crownedwith a higher goodthat redoubles its value and makes it a
spiritual treasure beyond price.1 [Note: E. Griffith-Jones, The Miracles of
Jesus, 273.]
I thank God for the removal of sickness;but I have been able to give thanks
for sickness, forhealth, for light, for darkness, forthe hiding of God’s face.2
[Note:“Rabbi” Duncan, in Recollectionsby A. Moody Stuart, 221.]
(1) Gratitude is a self-rewarding virtue.—Who can doubt that this man was
far happier in his condition of mind, that he felt a more full and ample and
inspiriting enjoyment of his cure, that he experiencedmore exquisite
sensations than any of the nine who departed without uttering a word of
thankfulness? His supreme joyfulness and exultation are proclaimed in the
tones with which he utters them, in the loud voice with which he glorified
God. What strength of feeling is here! Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh;he is not silent; he cannotrestrain his voice:he cannotbear
that his thankfulness should be felt only within his own breast; he must utter
it; he must utter it aloud; all shall know how he rejoices for the mercy

bestowed, allshall hear him thank God for what He has done for him. How
superior his delight in God’s gift, to that of the other nine who slunk away,
and how much stronger!We see that he was transported, and that he was
filled to overflowing with joy of heart, and that he triumphed in the sense of
the Divine goodness.It was the exultation of faith; he felt there was a God in
the world, and that God was good. What greaterjoy can be imparted to the
heart of man than that which this truth, thoroughly embraced, imparts?
It was in the lastdays of his life that DeanStanley told me how on the occasion
of the funeral of Dr. Arnold he spoke afterwards to the widow, pouring out his
heart first in gratitude for having been under the greatheadmaster, and all it
meant to him of inspiration; and then he said, “I told her that so long as I
lived never should this day pass without her hearing from me in tokenthat I
could never forgetthe debt I owed her husband.” Then he exclaimed, “And
she never failed to get that letter!” It is goodto dwell on such things, for they
are beautiful.1 [Note:Bishop Montgomery.]
(2) Gratitude, powerfully stimulates to active well-doing.—Aman will do out
of gratitude much more than he will do out of fear, or from hope of reward.
Thankfulness for redemption was the motive power of a life like that of St.
Paul, as it has been the motive powerof all the greatestand most fruitful lives
that have been lived in Christendom. Christ “died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves”—this is the motto of such lives.
Gratitude, like love, lives not in words, but in deed and in truth. Often those
who feel most what has been done for them say leastabout it; but they do
most. Gratitude can work;gratitude cansuffer; gratitude can persevere. But
one thing gratitude cannot do: it cannotbring itself to feelthat it has done
enough; it cannot, in this world, lie down with a sense that it has really paid
off its debt to the Redeemer.

A few months before the death of Robert Louis Stevenson, certainSamoan
chiefs whom he had befriended while they were under imprisonment for
political causes, andwhose releasehe had been instrumental in effecting,
testified their gratitude by building an important piece of road leading to Mr.
Stevenson’s Samoancountry house, Vailima. At a corner of the road there
was erecteda notice, prepared by the chiefs and bearing their names, which
reads:
“The Roadof the Loving Heart. Remembering the greatlove of his highness,
Tusitala, and his loving care when we were in prison and sore distressed, we
have prepared him an enduring present, this road which we have dug to last
for ever.”2 [Note:J. A. Hammerton, Stevensoniana,125.]
A well-knowntemperance lecturer was once being driven in a carriage to
address a meeting. He noticed that the driver bent forward before the front
window in a strange way, with his head as much as possible before the glass.
The lecturer thought the man was ill, but he answered, “No.” Thenhe was
askedthe reasonof his conduct, and he replied that the window was broken,
and that he was trying to keepthe cold draught from the passenger. “But
why,” askedthe lecturer, “do you do this for a stranger?” Thenthe driver
said, “I owe all I have in the world to you. I was a ballad singer, drunken and
disreputable, dragging a miserable wife along the streets of Edinburgh. I went
to hear you, and you told me that I was a man, and might live as a man again.
I went home, and I said, ‘By the help of God, I’ll be a man.’ God bless you,
sir; I would put my head anywhere if it would do you good.”1[Note:H. J.
Wilmot-Buxton, By Word and Deed, 130.]
2. Those nine ungrateful ones did not receive more, they lost even what they
had. They did not become leprous again, the gift of bodily health was not
withdrawn from them, but they lost their faith and their goodconscience.
They were now cured, and were free to go to their homes, but they did not

carry a joyous heart in their bosom like the Samaritan; they were rather
pursued by the consciousnessofhaving actedwickedlytowards Him who had
restoredthem to health. So it always is; he that gives thanks to God receives
more and more, but the ungrateful loses that he has; as the Lord says,
“Whosoeverhath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance;
but whosoeverhath not, from him shall be takenawayeven that he hath.”
Only one hears the gracious words, “Thyfaith hath made thee whole,” or, as
the Greek means, “Thyfaith hath saved thee.” For a man is neither “saved,”
nor “made whole,” by being made sound in body. Whateverhis “faith,” no
man is a whole or a savedman until faith has unsealedthe fountains of
wonder and thankfulness and love within him. Betterthat the body be
consumed by the most loathsome disease, so that the soul be in health and
prosper, than that the soul dead to wonder and gratitude and love should
dwell in the healthiestof frames and the happiest outward conditions. For the
soul has the power of weaving a body, and even many bodies, for itself, and is
always, I suppose, busily weaving for itself the “spiritual body,” in which it
will abide when once it has “shuffled off this mortal coil.” Sooneror later the
body must come right if only the soul be right with God. So that these nine
thankless lepers—cleansed, but not saved;healed, and yet not made whole—
had far better have remained lepers, if their misery would have helped to
make whole or complete men of them, if it would have helped to “save” them,
by making them feel their need of God, and by drawing them nearer to the
Fountain of all love and goodness.2[Note:S. Cox, Expositions, iii. 398.]
But one alone
Turns back that gift of God’s greatlove to own,
His thanks and praise to tell;

Son of Samaria’s race,
In him is seena fuller, worthier grace,
Than aught in Israel.
And is it not so still?
Are not we slow to own the Mighty Will
That works to save and bless?
We, who so much receive,
The speechof joy and praise to others leave,
Whom God endowedwith less.
We lose whatGod has given,
The prize for which our feeble faith has striven

Becausewe thank Him not;
Though healed the leprous taint,
Yet still the head is sick and heart is faint;
We crave we know not what.
Wilt thou full health attain,
Let thy heart utter joy’s exulting strain;
To Christ who cleansedthee turn;
Then shalt thou know, at last,
A fuller bliss than all thy unblest past,
High thoughts that cleanse and burn.1 [Note:E. H. Plumptre.]
Ingratitude

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Commonness Of Ingratitude, Etc
Luke 17:11-19
W. Clarkson
Under the guidance of this narrative, we think of -
I. THE COMMONNESS OF INGRATITUDE. Onlyone of these ten men had
a sufficient sense of indebtedness to return to Christ to offer thanks. The
ingratitude of the remaining nine touched, smote, wounded our Lord, and he
used the reproachful words of the text (ver. 17). This ingratitude was not a
remarkably exceptionalillustration of our nature; it is one of those things in
respectof which "he that increasethknowledge increasethsorrow."Forthat
which youth refuses to believe, experience obliges us to acknowledge,viz. that
to accepta greatboon from the hand of love, and to show no proper sense of
gratitude, is not a rare but a common thing. It is likely enough that we may go
much out of our way to do a man a kindness, and that when we look for his
response we shall be disappointed. What then? Shall we be diverted from the
path of beneficence by this unlovely fact? Shall we say, "Since it is very likely
that my services will not be appreciated, they shall not be rendered"?
Certainly not. For:
1. There is gratitude to be gained and to be enjoyed. This proportion is not
representative. It is not the case that nine men out of ten are insensible to
kindnesses shownthem. It is as likely as not, perhaps more likely than not,
that if we do help out brother in his hour of need, if we do sustain him in
sorrow, succourhim in distress, stand by him in temptation, lead him into the
kingdom of God, we shall win his gratitude, and we may secure the profound,
prayerful, lifelong affectionof a human heart. And what better reward, short
of the favour and friendship of God, canwe gain than that?

2. If we fail to obtain this, we shall stand by the side of our Divine Master;we
shall share his experience;we shall have "fellowshipwith the sufferings of
Christ." He knew well what it was to serve and be unappreciated, to serve and
be disparaged. To be where he stood, to
"Treadthe path our Mastertrod,
To bear the cross he bore," = - this is an honour not to be declined.
3. If man our brother does not bless us, Christ our Saviour will. The most
heroic deed of love may go, has gone, unrewarded of man. But the smallestact
of kindness rendered to the humblest child will not go unrewarded of him.
"Whosoevershallgive to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of coldwater
only... shall in no wise lose his reward."
II. THE UNCOUNTED DEBT DUE TO JESUS CHRIST. These nine men
having receivedthe greatestgoodone man could receive from another -
deliverance from a living death - failed to recognize their obligation, did not
stop to considerit. They were not the last to be guilty in this respect.
1. How much more do many owe to Christ than they think they do! They say,
"We do not choose to range ourselves under him and call him 'Master;' we
can constructour own character, canbuild up rectitude and purity and
benevolence ofspirit apart from his truths or his will; we can do without
Christ." But suppose we subtract from the elevating and purifying influences
which have made these men what they are all those elements which are due to
Christ, how much is left? How little is left? The influences that come from him
are in the air these men are breathing, in the laws under which they are living,
in the literature they are reading, in the lives they are witnessing;they touch
and tell upon them at every point, they actsilently and subtly but mightily
upon them; they owe to Jesus Christ the best they are and have; they ought to
come into direct, living, personalrelations with the Lord himself.
2. How much more do some men owe to Christ than they stay to consider!
These nine men would not have disputed their obligation had they been
challenged, but they were so anxious to get home to their friends and back to
their business that they did not stay to considerit. Have we stayedto consider

what we owe to him who, though he has not indeed cured us of leprosy, has at
infinite costto himself prepared for us a way of recoveryfrom that which is
immeasurably worse - from sin and death? to him who, "though he was rich,
for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich?"
III. THE PERIL OF EARLY PRIVILEGE. It is significant enough that the
tenth leper who did return to give glory to God was a Samaritan - was "this
stranger." Taking this factwith that concerning the Romansoldier whose
faith surprised our Lord, and that of the Syro-Phoenicianwoman whose
importunity prevailed overevery obstacle, we may conclude that the Hebrew
mind was so familiarized with "signs and wonders," that those outside the
sacredcircle were far more impressed by what they witnessedthan the people
of God themselves. It is well to he the children of privilege; but there is one
grave peril connectedwith it. We may become so familiar with the greatestof
all facts as to become insensible to their greatness. The Swiss peasantwho
lives on the Alpine slopes sees no grandeur in those snow-cladsummits on
which his eyes are always resting; the sailor who lives by the sea hears no
music in "old ocean's roar." We may become so familiar even with the story
of the cross that our minds are unaffected by its moral grandeur, by its
surpassing grace. It behoves us to take earnestheed that we fall not into this
fatal snare;lest many should come "from the north, and the south, and the
east, and the west, and sit down in the kingdom of God," and we, the children
of the kingdom, be excluded. We must do our utmost to realize the great
truths which have so long been uttered in our hearing. - C.

Biblical Illustrator
Ten men that were lepers.
Luke 17:11-19
The ten lepers
J. Burns, D. D.
I. THEIR ORIGINAL CONDITION.Defiled. Separated.
II. THEIR APPLICATION TO CHRIST.
1. Observe the distance they kept from His person.
2. The earnestness oftheir prayer.
3. The unanimity of their application.
4. The reverence and faith they evinced.
III. THE CURE WROUGHT.
IV. THE THANKS RENDERED BYTHE SAMARITAN AND THE
INGRATITUDE OF THE NINE.
1. The willingness and power of Christ to heal.
2. The application to be made.
3. The return He demands of those He saves.
4. The commonness of ingratitude.
(J. Burns, D. D.)

The ten lepers
G. R. Leavitt.
I. THE STORYENCOURAGES WORKON FRONTIERS AND BORDERS.
Jesus met the lepers "in the midst of" — that is, probably, along the frontier
line between— "Samaria and Galilee," onHis way eastto the Jordan. Their
common misery drew these natural enemies, the Jews and the Samaritans,
together. The national prejudice of eachwas destroyed. Under these
circumstances the border was a favourable retreat for them. The border
population is always freer from prejudice and more open to influence.
II. THE STORYSHOWS THAT THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH
IMPENITENTMEN CAN PRAY. The lepers prayed. That weak, hoarse cry
affecting]y expressedtheir sense of need — one characteristic oftrue prayer.
Their standing afar off further expressedtheir sense ofguilt — another
characteristic ofacceptable prayer. Their disease was a type of the death of
sin. Their isolation expressedthe exclusionof the polluted and abominable
from the city of God.
III. THE STORYSHOWS THAT THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH GOD
ANSWERS THE PRAYERS OF IMPENITENTMEN.
IV. THE STORYSHOWS NOW THE FORM OF OBEDIENCEMAY
EXIST WITHOUT ITS SPIRIT.
V. THE STORYSHOWS US THAT A DEGREE OF FAITH MAY EXIST
WITHOUT LOVE, AND SO WITHOUT SAVING POWER. There was a
weak beginning of faith in all the ten. It is shownin their setting out without a
word, though as yet uncleansed, for Jerusalem. This must have required faith
of a high order. If it had workedby love all would have been saved. This was
one trouble with the nine, and the radical one — they did not love. Calvin
describes their case, and that of many like them. "Wantand hunger," he says,
"create a faith which gratificationkills." It is realfaith, yet hath it no root.

VI. THE STORYSHOWS US THE SIN OF INGRATITUDE, AND THE
PLACE WHICH GRATITUDE FILLS WITH GOD. The Samaritan was the
only one who returned, and he was the only one saved. "Birth did not give the
Jew a place in the kingdom of heaven; gratitude gave it to a Samaritan."
Blessings are good, but not for themselves. They are to draw us to the Giver,
they are tests of character. True gratitude to God involves two things, both of
which were found in the leper.
1. He was humble; he fell at Jesus'feet. He remembered what he had been
when Jesus found him, and the pit whence he was digged. If blessings do not
make us humble, they are lostupon us.
2. Gratitude involves, also, the exaltationof God. The leper glorified God. A
German, who was converted, expressedhimself afterwardwith a beautiful
spirit of humility and praise: "My wife is rejoicing," he said, "I am rejoicing,
my Saviouris rejoicing." Onanother occasionhe said, "I went this evening to
kiss my little children good-night. As I was standing there my wife said to me,
'Dearhusband, you love these our children very dearly, but it is not a
thousandth part as much as the blessedSaviour loves us.'" What spirit should
more characterize God's creatures than gratitude? What should we more
certainly look for as the mark of a Christian? God blesses it. He blessedthe
leper; He cleansedthe leprosy deeper than that in his flesh, the leprosyof sin.
The nine went on their way with bodies healed, but with a more loathsome
disease stillupon them, the leprosy of ingratitude. We classifysins. "We may
find by and by that in God's sight ingratitude is the blackestofall." There is
an application of this truth to Christians which we should not miss. Gratitude
gives continual accessto higher and higher blessings. The ungrateful
Christian loses spiritual blessings. If we value the gift above the Giver, all that
we should receive in returning to Him we lose.
(G. R. Leavitt.)
The ten lepers
F. F. Gee, M. A.

I. THE BLESSING WHICH THEY ALL RECEIVED.
1. A healthy body.
2. Restorationto society.
3. Re-admissionto the sanctuary.
II. THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE NINE.
III. THE LOSS SUSTAINED BY THE NINE IN CONSEQUENCEOF
THEIR INGRATITUDE. Lessons —
1. In the bestowmentof His grace, Godis no respecterofpersons.
2. Our Lord regards moral and religious obligations as more important than
those which are positive and ceremonial.
3. Answers to prayer should be receivedwith thanksgiving.
(F. F. Gee, M. A.)
The lepers
B. Beddome, M. A.
Affliction quickens to prayer; but those who remember God in their distresses
often forgetHim in their deliverances.
1. Observe the condition in which Jesus found the applicants.
2. Observe the state in which Jesus left them.
3. Their subsequent conduct.
I. THE GREAT EVIL AND PREVALENCY OF INGRATITUDE.
1. It is a sin so very common that not one in ten canbe found that is not guilty
of it in a very flagrant manner, and not one in ten thousand but what is liable
to the charge in some degree. It is a prevailing vice among all ranks and
conditions in society.

2. Common as this sin is, it is nevertheless a sin of great magnitude. Should
not the patient be thankful for the recovery of his health, especiallywhere the
relief has been gratuitously afforded? Should not the debtor or the criminal
be thankful to his surety or his prince, who freely gave him his liberty or his
life?(1) It is a sin of which no one can be ignorant; it is a sin againstthe light
of nature, as well as againstthe law of revelation.(2)Ingratitude carries in it a
degree of injustice towards the Author of all our mercies, in that it denies to
Him the glory due unto His name, and is a virtual impeachment of His
goodness.(3)Unthankfulness brings a curse upon the blessings we enjoy, and
provokes the Giver to deprive us of them.
II. CONSIDERTHE MEANS BY WHICH THIS EVIL MAY BE
PREVENTED.
1. Be clothed with humility, and cherish a proper sense ofyour own meanness
and unworthiness.
2. Dive every mercy its full weight. Callno sin small, and no mercy small.
3. Take a collective view of all your mercies, and you will see perpetual cause
far thankfulness.
4. Consideryour mercies in a comparative view. Compare them with your
deserts:put your provocations in one scale, andDivine indulgences in
another, and see which preponderates. Compare your afflictions with your
mercies.
5. Think how ornamental to religion is a grateful and humble spirit.
6. There is no unthankfulness in heaven.
(B. Beddome, M. A.)
The ten lepers
R. Winterbotham, M. A.

1. The first thing I would have you notice is, that the ten were at first
undistinguishable in their misery. That there were differences of character
among them we know; that there were differences of race, ofeducation, and
training, we know too, for one at leastwas a Samaritan, and under no other
circumstances, perhaps, would his companions have had any dealings with
him; but all their differences were obliterated, their natural antipathies were
lost, beneath the common pressure of their frightful misery — their very
voices were blended in one urgent cry, "Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us."
"One touch of nature," says the greatpoet, "makes the whole world kin":
true, and alas I never so true as when that touch of nature is the sense ofguilt.
This is the greatleveller, not only of the highestand lowest, but of the bestand
worst, effacing all distinctions, even of moral character;for, when one
attempts to weigh one's sin and count it up, it seems impossible to establish
degrees in one's own favour — one feels as if there were a dreadful equality of
guilt for all, and one was no better than another.
2. I would have you notice, in the secondplace, the apparent tameness of their
cure. Our Lord neither lays His finger on them, nor holds any conference, but,
merely tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, according to the
letter of that now antiquated and perishing law of Moses.Neverwas so greata
cure workedin so tame a fashion since the time of Naamanthe Syrian; well
for them that they had a humbler spirit and a more confiding faith than he, or
they, too, would, have gone awayin a rage and been never the better. Now, I
think we may see in this a striking parable of how our Lord evermore deals
with penitent sinners. He does not, as a rule, make any wonderful revelation
of Himself to the soul which He heals;there is no dramatic "scene"whichcan
be reported to others. There is, indeed, often something very commonplace,
and therefore disappointing, about His dealings with penitents. He remits
them to their religious duties — to those things which men accountas outward
and formal, and therefore feeble, which have indeed no powerat all in
themselves to heal the leprosy of sin, such as the means of grace, the ministry
of reconciliation. In these things there is no excitement; they do not carry
awaythe soul with a rush of enthusiasm, or fill it with a trembling awe.
3. And, in the third place, I would have you notice the unexpected way in
which He addressedthe one who came back to express his heartfelt

gratitude." "Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." Now, it is
obvious that these words were just as applicable to the other nine as to him,
for they, too, had been made whole, and made whole by faith; all had believed,
all had started off obediently to show themselves to the priests, and all alike
had been cleansedthrough faith as they went. Does it not seemstrange that
He took no notice of the gratitude which was peculiar to the one to whom He
spake, and only made mention of the faith which was common to them all?
Did He not do it advisedly? Did He not intend us to learn a lessonthereby?
We know that this story sets forth as a parable our own conduct as redeemed
and pardoned sinners. We know that the greatbulk of Christians are
ungrateful; that they are far more concernedin lamenting the petty losses and
securing the petty gains of life, than in showing their thankfulness to God for
His inestimable love. What about them? Will unthankful Christians also
receive the salvationof their souls? I suppose so. I think this story teaches us
so, and I think our Lord's words to the one that returned are meant to enforce
that teaching. All were cleansed, though only one gave glory to God; even so
we are all made whole by faith, though scarcelyone in ten shows any gratitude
for it. The ingratitude of Christian people may indeed mar very grievously the
work of grace, but it cannot undo it. "Thy faith hath made thee whole" is the
common formula which includes all the saved, although amongstthem be
found differences so striking, and deficiencies so painful. There are that use
religion itself selfishly, thinking only of the personal advantage it will be to
themselves, and of the pleasure it brings within their reach. But these are
certainly not the happiest. Vexed with every trifle, worriedabout every
difficulty, entangledwith a thousand uncertainties, if all things go well they
just acquiescein it, as if they had a right to expectit; if things go wrong they
begin at once to complain, as though they were ill-used; if they become worse,
then they are miserable, as though all cause for rejoicing were gone. Now, I
need not remind you how fearfully such a temper dishonours God. When He
has freely given us an eternal inheritance of joy, a kingdom which cannotbe
shaken, an immortality beyond the reachof sin or suffering, it is simply
monstrous that we should murmur at the shadows ofsorrow which fleck our
sea of blessing, it should seemsimply incredible that we do not continually
pour out our very souls in thanksgiving unto Him that loved us and gave
Himself for us. But I will saythis, that our ingratitude is the secretofour little

happiness in this life. Our redeemedlives were meant to be like that summer
sea when it dances and sparkles beneaththe glorious sun insteadof which
they are like a sullen, muddy pool upon a cloudy day, which gives back
nothing but the changing hues of gloom. It is not outward circumstance, it is
the presence orabsence ofa thankful spirit which makes all the difference to
our lives. Gratitude to God is the sunshine of our souls, with which the tamest
scene is bright and the wildest beautiful, without which the fairestlandscape is
but sombre.
(R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
J. A. Seiss, D. D.
Three impressive and instructive pictures are described in this gospel.
I. A CONGREGATIONOF SUFFERERS,whomaffliction influenced to
much seeming goodness andpiety. It is a beautiful and comforting truth, that
there is no depth of suffering, or distance from the pure and the good to which
sin may banish men in this world, where they are debarred from carrying
their sorrows and griefs in prayer to God. A man may be guilty, leprous, cast
out, cut off, given up as irretrievably lost; and yet, if he will, he may call on
God for help, and the genuine, hearty, earnest, and real cry of his soul will
reachthe earof God.
II. A MARVELLOUS INTERFERENCE OF DIVINE POWER AND GRACE
for their relief, very unsatisfactorilyacknowledgedand improved. Dark-day
and sick-bedreligion is apt to be a religion of mere constraint. Take the
pressure off, and it is apt to be like the morning cloud and the early dew,
which "goethaway." Give me a man who has learned to know and fear God
in the daytime, and I shall not be much in doubt of him when the night comes.
But the piety which takes its existence in times of cloud and darkness, like the
growths common to such seasons,is apt to be as speedy in its decline as it is
quick and facile in its rise. There are mushrooms in the field of grace, as well
as in the field of nature.

III. AN INSTANCE OF LONELY GRATITUDE, resulting in most precious
blessings superaddedto the miraculous cure. There was not only a faith to get
the bodily cure, but a faith which brought out a complete and practical
discipleship; an earnestand abiding willingness, in prosperity as well as in
adversity, to wearthe Saviour's yoke.
(J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Only trust Him
C. H. Spurgeon.
As these men were to start straight awayto the priest with all their leprosy
white upon them, and to go there as if they felt they were already healed, so
are you, with all your sinnership upon you, and your sense of condemnation
heavy on your soul, to believe in Jesus Christ just as you are, and you shall
find everlasting life upon the spot.
I. First, then, I saythat we are to believe in Jesus Christ — to trust Him to
heal us of the greatdisease ofsin — though as yet we may have about us no
sign or tokenthat He has wrought any goodwork upon us. We are not to look
for signs and evidences within ourselves before we venture our souls upon
Jesus. The contrary supposition is a soul-destroying error, and I will try to
expose it by showing what are the signs that are commonly lookedfor by men.
1. One of the most frequent is a consciousness ofgreatsin, and a horrible
dread of Divine wrath, leading to despair. If you say, "Lord, I cannot trust
Thee unless I feel this or that," then you, in effect, say, "I can trust my own
feelings, but I cannot trust God's appointed Saviour." What is this but to
make a god out of your feelings, and a saviour out of your inward griefs?
2. Many other persons think that they must, before they can trust Christ,
experience quite a blaze of joy. "Why," you say, "must I not be happy before
I can believe in Christ?" Must you needs have the joy before you exercise the
faith? How unreasonable!

3. We have known others who have expectedto have a text impressed upon
their minds. In old families there are superstitions about white birds coming
to a window before a death, and I regard with much the same distrust the
more common superstition that if a text continues upon your mind day after
clay you may safely conclude that it is an assurance ofyour salvation. The
Spirit of Godoften does apply Scripture with power to the soul; but this fact is
never set forth as the rock for us to build upon.
4. There is another way in which some men try to get off believing in Christ,
and that is, they expect an actual conversionto be manifest in them before
they will trust the Saviour. Conversionis the manifestationof Christ's healing
power. But you are not to have this before you trust Him; you are to trust
Him for this very thing.
II. And now, secondly, I want to bring forward WHAT THE REASON IS
FOR OUR BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST. No warrant whatever within
ourself need be lookedfor. The warrant for our believing Christ lies in this —
1. There is God's witness concerning His Son Jesus Christ. God, the
Everlasting Father, has setforth Christ "to be the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole world."
2. The next warrant for our believing is Jesus Christ Himself. He bears
witness on earth as wellas the Father, and His witness is true.
3. I dare saythese poor lepers believed in Jesus becausethey had heard of
other lepers whom He had cleansed.
III. WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF THIS KIND OF FAITH THAT I HAVE
BEEN PREACHING? This trusting in Jesus without marks, signs, evidences,
tokens, whatis the result and outcome of it?
1. The first thing that I have to sayabout it is this — that the very existence of
such a faith as that in the soul is evidence that there is already a saving
change. Every man by nature kicks againstsimply trusting in Christ; and
when at last he yields to the Divine method of mercy it is a virtual surrender
of his own will, the ending of rebellion, the establishment of peace. Faithis
obedience.

2. It will be an evidence, also, that you are humble; for it is pride that makes
men want to do something, or to be something, in their own salvation, or to be
savedin some wonderful way.
3. Again, faith in Jesus will be the best evidence.thatyou are reconciledto
God, for the worstevidence of your enmity to God is that you do not like
God's way of salvation.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The ten lepers
D. C. Hughes, M. A.
I. A WRETCHED COMPANY.
II. A SURPRISED COMPANY.
1. The occasionofthe surprise.(1) They suddenly met Jesus.
(a)Life is full of surprises.
(b)To meet Jesus is the-best of all life's surprises.
2. The effects of this surprise.
(1)Hope was enkindled within them.
(2)Prayerfor mercy broke forth from them.
(3)Healing of their dreadful malady was experiencedby them.
III. AN UNGRATEFULCOMPANY.
1. Considerthe number healed.
2. The cry which brought the healing.
3. The simultaneousness ofthe healing.
4. The ingratitude of the healed.

(1)Only one returned to acknowledge the mercy.
(2)This one a stranger.
(3)The ungrateful are those of the Master's ownhousehold.
(4)Are these representative facts?
5. Considerthe specialblessing bestowedon the grateful soul.
(1)Notonly healed in body, but also in soul.
(2)Soul-healing ever requires personalfaith.
(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The ten lepers
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. THEIR APPLICATION. It was —
1. Unanimous.
2. Earnest.
3. Respectfuland humble.
II. THEIR CURE.
1. A wonderful manifestation of Christ's power. He is a rich Saviour, rich in
mercy and rich in power.
2. Greatfaith and obedience exhibited on their part.
III. THE THANKFULNESS MANIFESTED BYONE OF THESE HEALED
MEN.
1. Prompt.
2. Warm, hearty, earnest.

3. Humble and reverential.More so, observe, than even his prayer. When he
cried for mercy, he stood; when he gives thanks for mercy, he falls down on
his face, The thankfulness of this man was elevatedalso. It was accompanied
with high thoughts of God, and a setting forth, as far as he was able, of God's
glory. He is said in the text to have "glorified God." And observe how he
blends togetherin his thankfulness God and Christ. He glorifies the one, and
at the same time he falls down before the other, giving Him thanks. Did he
then look on our Lord in His real character, as God? Perhaps he did. The
wonderful cure he had receivedin his body, might have been accompanied
with as wonderful an outpouring of grace and light into his mind. Godand
Christ, God's glory and Christ's mercy, were so blended togetherin his mind,
that he could not separate them. Neither, brethren, can you separate them, if
you know anything aright of Christ and His mercy.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
The ten lepers
T. Gibson, M. A.
1. Look at the afflicted objects.
2. Observe the direction of the Divine Physician. The Saviour, by sending the
lepers to the priest, not only honoured the law which had prescribedthis
conduct, but securedto Himself the testimony of the appointed judge and
witness of the cure; for, as this disease was consideredto be both inflicted and
cured by the hand of God Himself, and as He had cured it, He thus left a
witness in the conscience ofthe priest, that He was what He professedto be.
3. Follow these men on the road, and behold the triumphant successof
Christ's merciful designs. Christ's cure was not only effectual, but universal.
No one of the ten is exceptedas too diseased, ortoo unworthy; but among all
these men there is only one that we look at with pleasure. He was a stranger.
4. Contemplate more closelythe grateful Samaritan. What a lovely object is
gratitude at the feet of Mercy!

5. But what a contrastis presentedby the ungrateful Jews.
6. Yet how gently the Saviour rebukes their unthankfulness. He might have
said — "What! so absorbed in the enjoyment of health as to forget the Giver!
Then the leprosy which I healedshall return to you, and cleave to you for
ever." But, no; He only asks — "Are there not found any that returned to give
glory to God, save this stranger?" And, turning to the man prostrate in the
dust at His feet, Jesus said, "Arise, go to thy house, thy faith hath made thee
whole."Concluding lessons —
1. This subjectshows the compassionof the Saviour.
2. Let eachask himself, "Am I a leper?"
3. See the hatefulness of ingratitude.
(T. Gibson, M. A.)
Gratitude for Divine favours
T. Gibson, M. A.
I. WE ARE CONTINUALLY RECEIVING FAVOURS FROM GOD. No
creature is independent. All are daily receiving from the Father of lights, from
whom "cometh every goodand perfectgift," and "with whom there is no
variableness, nor shadow of turning." Our bodies, with all their powers;and
our souls, with all their capacities,are derived from Him. But whilst the
beneficence ofthe Supreme Being is, in one sense, general;it is, in another,
restricted. Some are more highly favoured than others. Some have
experiencedremarkable interpositions of Divine providence. Some have been
raisedup from dangerous illness. Some have been advancedin worldly
possessions. Some are the partakers of distinguished privileges. Such are those
who are favoured with the dispensation of the gospel.
II. THAT THESE FAVOURS SHOULD INDUCE A SUITABLE RETURN.
1. Gratitude will not be regardedas unsuitable. We always expect this from
our fellow-creatureswho participate in our bounty.

2. Commendation is another suitable return. Make knownthe lovely
characterof your merciful Redeemerto others.
3. Service is anothersuitable return. "Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God
acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear."
4. Humiliation is a suitable return. This Samaritan prostratedhimself before
his Divine Healer. How unspeakable is the felicity of that man, who, deeply
humbled under a sense ofthe manifold mercies of God, canlift up his eyes to
the greatJudge of quick and dead, and say in sincerity, "Lord, my heart is not
haughty, nor my soul lofty, neither do I exercise myselfin greatmatters, nor
in things too high for me; I have surely behaved and quieted myself as a child
that is weanedof its mother: my soul is even u a weanedchild!"
5. Honour is a suitable return. This Samaritan was not, perhaps, acquainted
with our Lord's divinity; but he regarded Him as some extraordinary
personage, and, as was customaryin such cases, he prostrated himself before
Him, as a tokenof great respectand veneration. Entertain the most exalted
conceptions ofHim; you cannot raise your thoughts too high: "He is God over
all, blessedfor ever."
III. THAT THIS RETURN IS TOO COMMONLYNEGLECTED. The cause
of this forgetfulness is to be traced, in general, to the influence of inward
depravity; and nothing is a clearerproof of the corruption of our nature; but
there are other causes,co-operating withthis, of which we may mention two.
First: Worldly prosperity. Honey does not more powerfully attractbees than
affluence generates danger. Secondly: Worldly anxiety is another cause of this
forgetfulness.
IV. WE MAY OBSERVE, THAT TO NEGLECT A RETURN OF
GRATITUDE TO GOD IS HIGHLY REPREHENSIBLE. Nay, it is
exceedinglysinful. What insensibility does it argue, and what criminality does
it involve! It is a virtual denial of the Divine providence.
(T. Gibson, M. A.)

The earnestnessofpersonalnecessity
P. B. Power, M. A.
One fact is brought most powerfully before us here, and that is —
1. The personal necessityof these ten men. So strong was it that it gained a
victory over national prejudices of the fiercestkind, and we find the
Samaritan in company with the Jew. Amongstmen not conscious ofa
common misery, such a union might have been lookedfor but in vain; the Jew
would have loathed the Samaritan and the Samaritan would have scornedthe
Jew. And there is too much reasonfor supposing that a want of personal
religion is the cause ofmuch of that fierce estrangementwhich characterizes
the different parties and denominations of the religious world in the present
day. Did men realize their common sinfulness, the deep necessitywhich
enfolds them all, we can well believe that much of the energy which is now
wastedin profitless controversyand angry recrimination, would be spent in
united supplication to the One, who alone can do ought for the sinner in his
need.
2. Again we see how personalnecessitytriumphs over national prejudice, in
the factthat the Samaritanis willing to call upon a Jew for safetyand for
help. Under ordinary circumstances he would have held no communion with
Him at all, but the fact that he was a leper, and that Jesus couldcure him,
overcame the national antipathy and he joins his voice with that of all the rest.
And surely thus also is it with the leper of the spiritual world; when he has
been brought truly to know his state, truly to smart under its degradationand
its pain, truly to believe that there is One at hand by whom he can be healed,
the powerof the former pride and prejudice becomes brokendown, and he
cries out in earnestto the long-despisedJesus for the needed help.
3. We have now seenthe powerof personal necessityin overcoming strongly-
rooted prejudice; let us next proceedto considerit as productive of great
earnestnessin supplication. The supplication of these men was loud and
personal;they lifted up their voices, and fixed on one alone of Jesu's company
as able to deliver them, and that one was Jesus Christ Himself. And we can
well understand how this plague-strickenfamily united their energies in a

long, earnestcry to attract the attention of the One that alone could make
them whole. Theirs was no feeble whisper, no dull and muffled sound, but a
piteous, an agonizing call which almost startled the very air as it rushed along.
Nor canwe marvel if God refuse to hear the cold, dull prayers which for the
most part fall upon His ear; they are not the expressions ofneed, and
therefore find little favour at His hands; they come to Him like the
compliments which men pay to their fellow-men, and meaning nothing, they
are takenfor exactly what they are worth.
4. And mark, how by the loudness of their cry these unhappy men expose
their miserable state to Christ — the one absorbing point which they wished
to press upon His notice was the fact that they were all lepers, ten diseased
and almostdespairing men. In their case there was no hiding of their woe,
they wished the Lord to see the worst.
(P. B. Power, M. A.)
He was a Samaritan
The Samaritan's gratitude
M. F. Sadler.
It is necessaryto notice the saving element in this man's gratitude. We can
imagine the other nine saying to him as he turned back, "We are as grateful to
God as you are, but we will return our thanks in the temple of God. There are
certain acts of worship, certain sacrifices ordainedin the law by God Himself.
In the due performance of these we will thank God in His own appointed way.
He who healed us is a great Prophet, but it is the greatpowerof God alone
which has cleansedus." Now the Samaritan was not content with this. His
faith workedby love, taking the form of thankfulness. He at once left the nine
to their journey, and, without delay, threw himself at the feet of the Lord. He
felt that his was not a common healing — not a healing in the way of nature,
by the disease exhausting itself in time. It was a supernatural healing, through
the intervention of a particular servantof God; and this servant (or, perhaps,
he had heard that Jesus claimedto be more than a servant, even the Son of

God) must be thanked and glorified. If God had healed him in the ordinary
course, the sacrificesprescribedfor such healing would have sufficed. But
God had healedhim in an extraordinary way — by His Son, by One who was
far greaterthan any prophet; and so, if God was to be glorified, it must be in
connectionwith this extraordinary channel of blessing, this Mediator.
(M. F. Sadler.)
Gratitude heightens the power of enjoyment
E. P. Hood.
Man's gratitude is, I have often thought and said, a sixth sense;for it always
heightens the powerof enjoyment. Suppose a man to walk through the world
with every sense excitedto its utmost nerve: let there be a world of dainties
spread before him and around him, and the aromas of all precious fragrances
steeping his sensesin delicious and exquisite enjoyment; let the eye be
gladdened and brighten over: the knowledge, and the hand tighten over the
graspof presentand actual possession, yetlet him be a man in whose nature
there wakes no keensensationof grateful remembrance, and I saythat yet the
most delightful sensationis denied him. Grateful-thankfulness is allied to —
nay, forms an ingredient in — the very chief of our deepestenjoyments, and
purest springs of blessedness.Gratitude gives all the sweetspice to the cup of
contentment, and the cup of discontent derives all its acid from an ungrateful
heart.
(E. P. Hood.)
Unexpected piety
E. P. Hood.
"And he was a Samaritan." Thus frequently, in like manner, have we been
surprised at the the finding of gratitude to God in most unexpectedplaces and
persons. We have often seenthat it is by no means in proportion to the

apparent munificence of the Divine bounty. It is proverbial that the hymn of
praise rises more frequently from the peasant's fireside than from palace
gates — more frequently from straitened than from abounding circumstances.
Wherefore let us ourselves adore the exalting gracesofthe Divine goodness,
which makes the smallestmeasure of God's grace to outweighthe mightiest
measure of circumstantial happiness. As long as God merely gives the gilded
shell — the scaffolding of the palace — He gives but little; and it has been
frequently said that He shows His disregardof riches by giving them to the
worstof men frequently; but to possessa sense ofHis mercy and goodness,
that exceeds them all.
(E. P. Hood.)
Ingratitude for Divine favours
C. H. Spurgeon.
The Staubachis a fail of remarkable magnificence, seeming to leap from
heaven; its glorious stream reminds one of the abounding mercy which in a
mighty torrent descends from above. In the winter, when the coldis severe,
the waterfreezes at the foot of the fall, and rises up in huge icicles like
stalagmites, until it reaches the fall itself, as though it sought to bind it in the
same icy fetters. How like this is to the common ingratitude of men! Earth's
ingratitude rises up to meet heaven's mercy; as though the very goodnessof
God helped us to defy Him. Divine favours, frozen by human ingratitude, are
proudly lifted in rebellion againstthe God who gave them.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Where are the nine?
Ingratitude towards God
Horar.
I. THE IGNOMINYOF INGRATITUDE.

1. The ungrateful Christian acts againstthe voice of his conscience.
(1)Natural reasonacknowledgesthe duty of gratitude.
(2)The generalconsentofmankind brands with infamy the ungrateful.
2. Ingratitude sinks the human being below the level of the brute creation.
3. Ingratitude is infinitely ignominious, because directedagainstGod.
(1)God exhorts us so often to be grateful.
(2)His beneficence is unlimited.
(3)All His benefits are gratuities.
(4)The ungrateful man denies, in fact, the existence ofGod.
II. THE PERNICIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF INGRATITUDE.
1. Temporalconsequences.(1)Godthreatens to deprive the ungrateful of the
blessings received(Luke 9:26). God has ever been the absolute ownerof
whateverHe gives;and He gives and takes according to His goodpleasure.
(a)He threatens so to direct events that His gift shall become a curse instead of
a blessing to the ungrateful receiver.
(b)To refuse whateverhe may ask for in future.
(c)To send chastisements upon him so as to convince him that He is the
Lord.(2) God fulfilled His threatenings
(a)on our first parents;
(b)on Israel;
(c)on Nebuchadnezzar.
(d)Your own life and the life of your acquaintances willbear similar
testimony.
2. Everlasting consequences.If the sinner remain ungrateful to the end of his
earthly life, he will be deprived of all Divine gifts for all eternity. He will be

deprived —(1) Of the Word of God, instead of which he will incessantlyhear
only the words of Satan.(2)Of the celestiallight againstwhich he closedhis
eyes;in punishment of which he will be buried in everlasting darkness.(3)Of
the Beatific Vision, insteadof which he will behold only the vision of devilish
deformity.(4) Of the sacramentalmeans of salvation.(5)Of heavenly peace
and joy.
(Horar.)
The causes ofingratitude
Urijah R. Thomas.
"The nine, where?" Thus Christ with censure, sadness, surprise inquires.
There are more than nine sources ofingratitude. But there are nine, and each
of these men may represent some one.
I. One is CALLOUS. He did not feel his misery as much as some, nor is he
much stirred now by his return to health. Sullen, torpid, stony men are
thankless. Callousnessis a common cause of ingratitude.
II. One is THOUGHTLESS. He is more like shifting sand than hard stone, but
he never reflects, neverintrospects, never recollects.The unreflecting are
ungrateful.
III. One is PROUD. He has not had more than his merit in being healed. Why
should he be thankful for what his respectability, his station, deserved? Only
the humble-hearted are truly grateful.
IV. One is ENVIOUS. Thoughhealed he has not all that some others have.
They are younger, or stronger, or have more friends to welcome them. He is
envious. Envy turns sour the milk of thankfulness.
V. One is COWARDLY. The Healer is scorned, persecuted, hated. The
expressionof gratitude may bring some of such hatred on himself. The craven
is always a mean ingrate.

VI. One is CALCULATING the result of acknowledging the benefit received.
Perhaps some claim may arise of discipleship, or gift.
VII. One is WORLDLY. Already he has purpose of business in Jerusalem, or
plan of pleasures there, that fascinates him from returning to give thanks.
VIII. One is GREGARIOUS. He would have expressedgratitude if the other
eight would, but he has no independence, no individuality.
IX. One is PROCRASTINATING.By and by. Meanwhile Christ asks,
"Where are the nine?"
(Urijah R. Thomas.)
The sin of ingratitude
Canon Liddon.
There are, speaking broadly, three chief reasons forunthankfulness on the
part of man towards God. First, an indistinct idea or an under-estimate of the
service that He renders us; secondly, a disposition, whether voluntary or not,
to lose sight of our benefactor;thirdly, the notion that it does not matter much
to Him whether we acknowledgeHis benefits or not. Let us take these in
order.
I. There is, first of all, THE DISPOSITIONTO MAKE LIGHT OF A
BLESSING OR BENEFIT RECEIVED. Ofthis the nine lepers in the gospel
could hardly have been guilty — at any rate, at the moment of their cure. To
the Jews especially, as in a lesserdegree to the Easternworld at large, this
disease, orgroup of diseases,appearedin their ownlanguage to be as a living
death. The nine lepers were more probably like children with a new toy, too
delighted with their restoredhealth and honour to think of the gracious friend
to whom they owedit. In the case ofsome temporal blessings it is thus
sometimes with us: the gift obscures the giver by its very wealthand
profusion. But in spiritual things we are more likely to think chiefly of the gift.
At bottom of their want of thankfulness there lies a radically imperfect

estimate of the blessings ofredemption, and until this is reversedthey cannot
seriouslylook into the face of Christ and thank Him for His inestimable love.
II. Thanklessnessis due, secondly, TO LOSING SIGHT OF OUR
BENEFACTOR,AND OF THIS THE NINE LEPERS WERE NO DOUBT
GUILTY. Such a thanklessnessas this may arise from carelessness, orit may
be partly deliberate. The former was probably the case with the nine lepers.
The powerful and benevolent strangerwho had told them to go to the priests
to be inspectedhad fallen already into the backgroundof their thought, and if
they reasonedupon the causes oftheir cure they probably thought of some
natural cause, orof the inherent virtue of the Mosaic ordinances. Fora
sample of thanklessnessarising from a carelessforgetfulness o!kindness
received, look at the bearing of many children in the presentday towards
their parents. How often in place of a loving and reverent bearing do young
men and womenassume with their parents a footing of perfect equality, if not
of something more, as if, forsooth, they had conferred a greatbenefit upon
their fathers and mothers by becoming their children, and giving them the
opportunity of working for their support and education. This does not — I
fully believe it does not — in nine casesout of ten imply a bad heart in the son
or daughter. It is simply a form of that thanklessnesswhichis due to want of
reflectionon the real obligations which they owe to the human authors of their
life.
III. Thanklessnessis due, thirdly, TO THE UTILITARIAN SPIRIT. If prayer
be efficacious the use of it is obvious; but where, men ask, is the use of
thankfulness? What is the goodof thankfulness, they say, at any rate when
addressedto such a being as God? If man does us a service and we repay him,
that is intelligible: he needs our repayment. We repay him in kind if we can,
or if we cannot, we repay him with our thanks, which gratify his sense of
active benevolence — perhaps his lower sense ofself-importance. But what
benefit canGod get by receiving the thanks of creatures whom He has made
and whom He supports? Now, if the lepers did think thus, our Lord's remark
shows that they were mistaken — not in supposing that a Divine Benefactoris
not dependent for His happiness on the return which His creatures may make
to Him — not in thinking that it was out of their power to make Him any
adequate return at all — but at leastin imagining that it was a matter of

indifference to Him whether He was thanked or not. If not for His own sake,
yet for theirs, He would be thanked. To thank the author of a blessing is for
the receiverof the blessing to place himself voluntarily under the law of truth
by acknowledging the fact that he has been blest. To do this is a matter of
hard moral obligation; it is also a condition of moral force. "It is very meet,
right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give
thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty Everlasting God." Why
meet? Why right? Becauseit is the acknowledgmentofa hard fact — the fact
that all things some of God, the fact that we are utterly dependent upon Him,
the factthat all existence, alllife, is but an outflow of His love; because to
blink this fact is to fall back into the darkness and to forfeit that strength
which comes always and everywhere with the energetic acknowledgmentof
truth. Morally speaking, the nine lepers were not the men they would have
been if, at the costof some trouble, they had accompaniedthe one who, "when
he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
giving Him thanks."
(Canon Liddon.)
Praise neglected
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. THE SINGULARITY OF THANKFULNESS.
1. Here note — there are more who receive benefits than ever give praise for
them. Nine persons healed, one personglorifying God; nine persons healedof
leprosy, mark you, and only one person kneeling down at Jesus'feet, and
thanking Him for it!
2. But there is something more remarkable than this — the number of those
who pray is greaterthan the number of those who praise. Forthese ten men
that were lepers all prayed. But when they came to the Te Deum, magnifying
and praising God, only one of them took up the note. One would have thought
that all who prayed would praise, but it is not so. Caseshave been where a

whole ship's crew in time of storm has prayed, and yet none of that crew have
sung the praise of God when the storm has become a calm.
3. Mostof us pray more than we praise. Yet prayer is not so heavenly an
exercise as praise. Prayeris for time; but praise is for eternity.
4. There are more that believe than there are that praise. It is real faith, I
trust — it is not for me to judge it, but it is faulty in result. So also among
ourselves, there are men who getbenefits from Christ, who even hope that
they are saved, but they do not praise Him. Their lives are spent in examining
their own skins to see whether their leprosy is gone. Their religious life reveals
itself in a constantsearching of themselves to see if they are really healed. This
is a poor way of spending one's energies.
II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE THANKFULNESS.
1. Living praise is marked by individuality.
2. Promptness. Go at once, and praise the Saviour.
3. Spirituality.
4. Intensity. "With a loud voice.
5. Humility.
6. Worship.
7. One thing more about this man I want to notice as to his thankfulness, and
that is, his silence as to censuring others.Whenthe Saviour said, "Where are
the nine?" I notice that this man did not reply. But the adoring strangerdid
not stand up, and say, "O Lord, they are all gone off to the priests:I am
astonishedat them that they did not return to praise Thee!" O brothers, we
have enough to do to mind our ownbusiness, when we feel the grace of Godin
our own hearts!
III. THE BLESSEDNESSOF THANKFULNESS. This man was more blessed
by far than the nine. They were healed, but they were not blessedas he was.
There is a greatblessednessin thankfulness.

1. Becauseit is right. Should not Christ be praised?
2. It is a manifestation of personallove.
3. It has clear views.
4. It is acceptable to Christ.
5. It receives the largestblessing.Inconclusion:
1. Let us learn from all this to put praise in a high place. Let us think it as
greata sin to neglectpraise as to restrain prayer.
2. Next, let us pay our praise to Christ Himself.
3. Lastly, if we work for Jesus, and we see converts, and they do not turn out
as we expected, do not let us be castdown about it. If others do not praise our
Lord, let us be sorrowful, but let us not be disappointed. The Saviour had to
say, "Where are the nine?" Ten lepers were healed, but only one praised Him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
God looks after"the nine
J. M. Sherwood, D. D.
I. CHRIST HAS A PERFECTKNOWLEDGE OF ALL UPON WHOM HE
CONFERSSPECIALGRACE AND BLESSING, AND A PERFECT
RECOLLECTION OF THE KIND AND MEASURE OF HIS
BESTOWMENTS.
II. WHILE THE SOLITARY GRATEFUL SOUL WILL BE AMPLY
REWARDED BYJESUS, THE MULTITUDE OF INGRATES WILL BE
INQUIRED AFTER AND DEALT WITH BY HIM.
(J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
But where are the nine

S. Cox, D. D.
I. There are many men even now who, like the nine thankless lepers, have
FAITH ENOUGHFOR THE HEALTH OF THE BODY, or even for all the
conditions of outward comfort and success,but have not faith enough to
secure the health and prosperity of the soul. That is to say, there are many
who believe in so much of the will of God as can be expressedin sanitary laws
and in the conditions of commercialsuccess,but who do not believe in that
Will as it is expressedin the laws and aims of the spiritual life. St. John's wish
for his friend Gains (3 John 1:2) is a mystery to them; and it may be doubted
whether they would care to have even St. John for a friend if he were
constantly beseeching Godto give them health of body only in proportion to
their health of soul, and prosperity in business only in proportion to their
growth in faith and righteousness andcharity.
II. If we look at the case ofthese nine lepers a little more closely, we shall find
only too much in ourselves and our neighbours TO EXPLAIN THEIR
INGRATITUDE, or, at least, to make it both credible and admonitory to us.
1. They may have thought that they had done nothing to deserve their
horrible fate, or nothing more than many of their neighbours, who yet passed
them by as men accursedofGod; and that therefore, it was only just that they
should be restoredto health.
2. They may have thought that they would at leastmake sure of their
restorationto health before they gave thanks to Him who had healed them.
3. They may have put obedience before love. Yet nothing but love can save.
4. The nine were Jews, the tenth a Samaritan; and it may be that they would
not go back just because he did. No sooneris the misery which had brought
them togetherremoved, than the old enmity flames out again, and the Jews
take one road, the Samaritan another. When the Stuarts were on the throne,
and a stedfastendeavourwas made to impose the yoke of Rome on the
English conscience, Churchmenand Nonconformists forgottheir differences;
and as they laboured in a common cause, andfought againsta common foe,
they confessedthat they were brethren, and vowedthat they would never be

parted more. But when the danger was pastthese vows were forgotten, and
once more they drew apart, and remain apart to this day.
5. Finally, the nine ungrateful, because unloving, lepers may have said within
themselves, "We had better go on our way and do as we are bid, for we canbe
just as thankful to the kind Masterin our hearts without saying so to Him;
and we can thank God anywhere — thank Him just as well while we are on
our way to the priests, or out here on the road and among the fields, as if we
turned back. The Masterhas other work to do, and would not care to be
troubled with our thanks; and as for God — God is everywhere, here as well
as there." Now it would not become us, who also believe that Godis
everywhere, and that He may be most truly worshipped both in the silence of
the heart and amid the noise and bustle of the world, to deny that He may be
worshipped in the fair temple of nature, where all His works praise Him. It
would not become us to deny eventhat some men may find Him in woodand
field as they do not find Him in a congregationora crowd. But, surely, it does
become us to suggestto those who take this tone that, just as we ourselves love
to be loved and to know that we are loved, so God loves our love to become
vocal, loves that we should acknowledge ourlove for Him; and that, not
merely because He cares for our praise, but because our love grows as we
show and confess it, and because we canonly become "perfect" as we become
perfect in love. It surely does not become us to remind them that no man can
truly love God unless he love his brother also;and that, therefore, the true
lover of God should and must find in the worship of brethren whom he loves
his bestaid to the worship of their common Father. He who finds woods and
fields more helpful to him than man is not himself fully a man; he is not
perfect in the love of his brother; and is not, therefore, perfect in the love of
God.
(S. Cox, D. D.)
Impediments to gratitude
Canon Mozley.

The moment when a man gets what he wants is a testing one, it carries a trial
and probation with it; or if, for the instant, his feeling is excited, the after-time
is a trial. There is a sudden reversion, a reactionin the posture of his mind,
when from needing something greatly, he gets it. Immediately his mind can
receive thoughts which it could not entertain before; which the pressure of
urgent want kept out altogether. In the first place, his benefactoris no longer
necessaryto him; that makes a greatdifference. In a certainway people's
hearts are warmed by a state of vehement desire and longing, and anybody
who can relieve it appears like an angelto them. But when the necessityis
past, then they can judge their benefactor — if not altogetheras an indifferent
person, if they would feelashamed of this — still in a way very different from
what they did before. The delivery from greatneed of him is also the removal
of a strong bias for him. Again, they canthink of themselves immediately, and
their rights, and what they ought to have, till even a sense ofill-usage, arises
that the goodconferred has been withheld so long. All this class ofthoughts
springs up in a man's heart as soonas he is relieved from some greatwant.
While he was suffering the want, any supplier of it was as a messengerfrom
heaven. Now he is only one through whom he has what rightfully belongs to
him; his benefactorhas been a convenience to him, but no more. The
complaining spirit, or sense of grievance, whichis so common in the world, is
a potent obstacle to the growth of the spirit of gratitude in the heart. So long
as a man thinks that every loss and misfortune he has suffered was an ill-
usage, so long he will never be properly impressed by the kindness which
relieves him from it. He will regardthis as only a late amends made to him,
and by no means a perfect one then. And this querulous temper, which chafes
at all the calamities and deprivations of life, as if living under an unjust
dispensationin being under the rule of Providence, is much too prevalent a
one. Where it is not openly expressedit is often secretlyfostered, and affects
the habit of a man's mind. Men of this temper, then, are not grateful; they
think of their owndeserts, not of others'kindness. They are jealous of any
claim on their gratitude, because, to ownthemselves grateful would be, they
think, to acknowledgethatthis or that is not their right. Nor is a sullen temper
the only unthankful recipient of benefits. There is a complacencyresulting
from too high a self-estimate, whichequally prevents a man from entertaining
the idea of gratitude. Those who arc possessedwith the notion of their own

importance take everything as if it was their due. Gratitude is essentiallythe
characteristic ofthe humble-minded, of those who are not prepossessedwith
the notion that they deserve more than any one can give them; who are
capable of regarding a service done them as a free gift, not a payment or
tribute which their own claims have extorted. I will mention another failing
much connectedwith the last-named ones, which prevents the growth of a
grateful spirit. The habit of taking offence attrifles is an extreme enemy to
gratitude. There is no amount of benefits received, no length of time that a
person has been a benefactor, which is not forgottenin a moment by one
under the influence of this habit. The slightestapparent offence, though it
may succeedeverso long a course of goodand kind acts from another,
obliterates in a moment the kindnesses ofyears. The mind broods over some
passing inadvertence or fancied neglecttill it assumes gigantic dimensions,
obscuring the past. Nothing is seenbut the actwhich has displeased.
Everything else is put aside. Again, how does the mere activity of life and
business, in many people, oustalmost immediately the impression of any kind
service done them. They have no room in their minds for such recollections.
(Canon Mozley.)
Gratitude is a self-rewarding virtue
Canon Mozley.
How superior, how much strongerhis delight in God's gift, to that of the other
nine who slunk away. We see that he was transported, and that he was filled
to overflowing with joy of heart, and that he triumphed in the sense of the
Divine goodness. It was the exultation of faith; he felt there was a God in the
world, and that God was good. Whatgreaterjoy canbe imparted to the heart
of man than that which this truth, thoroughly embraced, imparts? Gratitude
is thus speciallya self-rewarding virtue; it makes those who have it so far
happier than those who have it not. It inspires the mind with lively
impressions, and when it is habitual, with an habitual cheerfulness and
content, of which those who are without it have no experience or idea. Can the
sullen and torpid and jealous mind have feelings at all equal to these? Can

those who excuse themselves the sense ofgratitude upon ever so plausible
considerations, andfind ever such goodreasons why they never encounter an
occasionwhich calls for the exercise ofit, hope to rise to anything like this
genuine height of inward happiness and exultation of spirit? They cannot;
their lowernature depresses themand keeps them down; they lie under a
weight which makes their hearts stagnate and spirit sink. They cannotfeel
true joy. They are under the dominion of vexatious and petty thoughts, which
do not let them rise to any large and inspiriting view of God, or their
neighbour, or themselves. Theycan feel, indeed, the eagernessandurgency of
the wish, the longing for a deliverer when they are in grief, of a healer when
they are sick; but how greatthe pity I how deep the perversity! that these
men, as it were, canonly be goodwhen they are miserable, and can only feel
when they are crushed.
(Canon Mozley.)
Instances of ingratitude
D. Moore, M. A.
What then, brethren, is the conclusionfrom the whole subject? Why, that the
man who contents himself with one act of dedication to God's service, however
sincere, and there stops; one who is content with a few proofs of obedience
and faith, however genuine, with a few tears of godly sorrow, however
penitent — content with such things, I say, and there stops; such an one will
neither have the approval of his Saviour while he lives, nor the comforts of his
religion when he comes to die. Time will not allow me to enlarge on the signs
of this spiritual declension, too often, it is to be feared, the forerunner of a
final falling awayfrom God. Of such perilous condition of soul, however, I
could not point out a surer sign than ingratitude. Every day we live gives back
to activity and life some who had been walking on the confines of the eternal
world, who had well-nigh closedtheir accountwith this present scene;and
here and there we behold one resolving to perform his vows, coming back to
glorify God, and determined henceforth to live no more unto himself, but unto
Him that died and rose again. But why are these instances ofa holy dedication

to God's service aftera recoveryfrom sickness so few? "Were there not ten
cleansed? but where are the nine?" Again, sometimes we witness .the
spectacle ofa highly privileged Christian family. In the life of the parents is
seena holy and consistentexhibition of Christian character;the incense of
prayer and praise burns brightly and purely on the family altar, and every
arrangement of the household seems designedto remind us that Godis there.
We look for the fruits of this. The parents are gone to rest; they are safe and
happy, and at home with God; and of the children, perhaps, there are one or
two that follow their steps, viewing religion as their chief concern, making the
glory of God the aim of all they say or do, and the promises of God more than
their necessaryfood. But why are the rest of the children living, as it were, on
their parents' reputation, content with reaching a certain point in the
Christian race, and that point not a safe one — one which leaves them to be
savedonly by fire, only rescuedas brands from the burning — ten indeed
were cleansed;"but where are the nine?" Again, we look upon an assemblyof
Christian worshippers. They listen with interestedand sustainedattention;
the breath from heaven seems to inspire their worship; and wings from
heaven seemto carry the messagehome:here and there is a heart touched, a
reed bruised, a torpid consciencequickened into sensibility and life, but the
others remain as before, dead to all spiritual animation, immortal statues,
souls on canvas, having a name to live but are dead. Whence this difference?
They confessedto the same leprosy, they cried for the same mercy, they met
with the same Saviour, and were directed to the same cure, and yet how few
returned to their benefactor. One, two, or three in a congregationmay come
and fall at the feet of Jesus, but there were thousands to be cleansed;where
are the ninety times nine? But take a more particular illustration. Once a
month, at least, in every church, passing before our eyes, we look upon a
goodly company of worshippers; they have been bowing with reverence before
the footstoolofthe Redeemer;they have been singing their loud anthems to
the praise of the greatMediator;they have been listening to the word of life
with all the earnestnessofmen who were ignorant, seeking knowledge;guilty,
desiring pardon; hungry, wanting food; dying, imploring life; but, mark you,
v/hen the invitations of the dying Saviour are recited in their ears, when the
commemorative sacrifice of Christian faith and hope is offered to them, when
mercy in tenderestaccents proclaims to every penitent worshipper, "Come

Jesus was amazed at ingratitude

Jesus was amazed at ingratitude

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