The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-10-26
FREELY GIVING
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON
An Eloquent Discourse Delivered by
Bishop Leonard.

Brooklyn. n. Y.-At Holy Trinity
Church the Rt. Rev. William \. Leon
ard. Bishop of Ohio. preached Sunday
morning on the subject. "Giving Free
ly" from the text Matthew KS:
Freely We have received. freely give.
The preacher said:
On: blessed Lord had just endowed
His apostles with some Of His power.
Ee had granted them authority to
preach. 10 heal the sick. to baptize
converts and to lay the foundation of
His church. As all power in heaven
and on earth had been conferred upon
Him, so now He imparts the ire
mendous donation to them. This is
what is meant by the divine origin
Of the ministry. But this power and
those gifts must be utilized: they can
not be retained or buried: they must
be dispersed abroad TLey are given
only for service. Freely ye have re-
ceived. freely give In some measure
We must generously give 10 the world.
These words. however. may be ta-
keu from their primary place. so that
they have 4 general reference and ap-
plcation for every child of the king
dom. and thus we use them to-day for
our instruction and guidance This
text. Freely We nave received. freely
give is classic in its clear expression
and in lis worldwide application to
literature, science. muSic-in the art
of centuries: and many races find their
ideal in This fact. for Christ. the In
caruate. is Himself God. Christ is
here in oUr human nature since the
period OF His incarnation. You can
not drive Him forth. for He has found
room for residence in the very heart
of this old world. 1t is OF this con-
scious liberalty of God to us that |
want to speak. and of the SINCERE and
willing response which we ought 10
make to him for His gifts to us: Free
" We have received. freely give The
gospel Of our Father has this word
give written all through. Its first
letter is the initial of His own name.
Its first introduction in the Garden or
Eden and a picture Of the Divine Pa
rent. whose hand is ever outStretched
with loving intention to us, and it is
His desire that we should realize this.
His giving and our receiving. Read
your Bible this year with this thought
IT. your minds. Recall what God has
given to His children. and you will De
amazed at the sum: it will be such
great one that at least you will be
constrained to sing a benedicite. to
praise God for His goodness: you will
cordially begin to appreciate how free
" We have received Is it not well to
make some sort of tally. to run up
our account with God? We who take
so much for granted and simply accept
tha blessings He gives us without a
word of thanks. We think of them
and use .hem as if they were ours
and are sometimes angry if we happen
to miss or lose them. We have re-
ceived so much and so freely from
Him that we have omitted Him and
His relationship from our calculations.
VIC have credited Him only with our
spiritual blessings-our religious priv
ilegeS. the church and sacraments. of
course. our salvation. But what about
the ordinary things that He never for
gets. that He never neglects? He
the year. while we, like the children
of our modern time. are satiated with
luxury. We are aroused sometimes.
as at Christmas time, to realize how
good God is.
Freely We have received. freely
give Thus He gave ont of His gen.
erous heart the very creation itself:
the world ard all in it, at the very
hour of its conception. its power of
production. teeminS life. vegetable and
animal We take possession Of it:
we bargain and barter its fields and
f1ockS and herds: we call it ours: we
call the land after our own name. But
these things are not ours. They are
His. He controls. He directs and per-
mits: we are but the tenants of His
will.
"Thpn consider in the next place His
providence. That is. the continuous
remembrance of our needS-food. raj
ment. climate. and so on. The seasons
that God only swings round in their
course: the Sunshine-think Of the sun
shine. that is Gods gift. Suppose he
covers over the sun for one day! Man
cannot. with all his genius. manufac-
ture another. Suppose it stops shining
for twenty-four hours. Such a chill Of
fec would result that all l;fe would
go out DO yon ever thank God for
the sunshine: No. We take it for
Sranted-it belongs to uS-we consider
it our inherent right.
God gives us power rs we'll as crea-
tion to utilize. So laviShly spread
that ali man has to do is to pluck the
fruits of it. We dig mines. sail ships.
write books. paint pictures: it is only
the exercise Of power which God
gives. Wealth. competency. wages. all
the capacity of power-God grants it
all. He gives the brains. the ingenu-
ity. the business. the opportunity for
every advj ssssRent and all You and 1
have to q .siss<o utilize all the power
He gives us. Some other men use
these and prosper: other men waste
them and are failures IN life: but
those who are opportunistS in the best
sense gain rewards. Do YOU ever real
ize that God could becioud and OBJ
scure your faculties of reason SO ,hat
you would become insane in mo-
ment? He might be excused from so
doing because of your ingratitudc.
your neglect of Him. for all these
things you call yours are His. often
wonder how many successful men can
retain their self respect. can make
their treatment Of Sod agree with
their ethics. They never enter His
house to thank Him and yet He asks
them to do so. They are getting OH