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Thus if a Man, a worthy & excellent Person, should from mere Generosity and Goodness, exceedingly lay out himself, and should with great Expense and ⟨p. 91⟩Suffering, save another's Life, or redeem him from some extreme Calamity; and when he had done all, that other Person should never thank him for it, or express the least Gratitude any way; this would be a negative Expression of his Ingratitude and Baseness; but is Equivalent to an Act of Ingratitude, or positive exercise of a base unworthy Spirit; and is truly an Expression of […], and brings as much Blame, as if he by some positive Act, had much injured another Person. And so it would be, (only in a lesser Degree,) if the Gratitude was but very small, bearing no Proportion to the Benefit and Obligation; as if for so great and extraordinary a Kindness, he should express no more Gratitude than would have been becoming towards a Person that had only given him a cup of Water when thirsty, or shown him the Way in a Journey, when at a loss, or had done him some such small Kindness: If he should come to his Benefactor to express his Gratitude, and should do after this manner▪ he might truly he said to act unworthily and odiously; he would show a most ungrateful Spirit: And his doing after such a Manner might justly be abhorred by all: And yet the Gratitude, that little there is of it, most simply considered, and so far as it goes, is good. And so it is with respect to our exercise of Love, and Gratitude, and other Graces towards God, they are defectively corrupt and sinful, and take 'em as they are, in their Manner, and Measure, might justly be odious, and provoking to God, and would necessarily be so, were we beheld out of Christ: For in that this Defect is Sin, it is infinitely hateful; and so the hatefulness of the very Act, infinitely out weighs the Loveliness of it; because all Sin has infinite hatefulness and heinousness; but our Holiness has but little Value and Loveliness, as has been elsewhere demonstrated.

Thus if a Man, a worthy & excellent Person, should from meer Generosity and Goodness, exceedingly lay out himself, and should with great Expence and ⟨p. 91⟩Suffering, save another's Life, or redeem him from some extream Calamity; and when he had done all, that other Person should never thank him for it, or express the least Gratitude any way; this would be a negative Expression of his Ingratitude and Baseness; but is Equivalent to an Act of Ingratitude, or positive exercise of a base unworthy Spirit; and is truly an Expression of , and brings as much Blame, as if he by some positive Act, had much injured another Person. And so it would be, (only in a lesser Degree,) if the Gratitude was but very small, bearing no Proportion to the Benefit and Obligation; as if for so great and extraordinary a Kindness, he should express no more Gratitude than would have been becoming towards a Person that had only given him a cup of Water when thirsty, or shewn him the Way in a Journey, when at a loss, or had done him some such small Kindness: If he should come to his Benefactor to express his Gratitude, and should do after this manner he might truly he said to act unworthily and odiously; he would shew a most ungrateful Spirit: And his doing after such a Manner might justly be abhorr'd by all: And yet the Gratitude, that little there is of it, most simply considered, and so far as it goes, is good. And so it is with respect to our exercise of Love, and Gratitude, and other Graces towards God, they are defectively corrupt and sinful, and take 'em as they are, in their Manner, and Measure, might justly be odious, and provoking to God, and would necessarily be so, were we beheld out of Christ: For in that this Defect is Sin, it is infinitely hateful; and so the hatefulness of the very Act, infinitely out weighs the Loveliness of it; because all Sin has infinite hatefulness and heinousness; but our Holiness has but little Value and Loveliness, as has been elsewhere demonstrated.