The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-10-26
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BI
BISHOP LEONARD.
Subject: Giving Freely

morning on the subject. "Giving Free
IT," from the text Matthew X:S;
Freely ye have received, freely give
The preacher said:
Our blessed Lord had just endowed
His apostles with some Of His power.
Ee had granted them authority to
preach, to heal the sick. to baptiZe
converts and to lay the foundation of
His church. AS all power III heaven
and on earth had been conferred upon
Him. so now He imparts the trc-
mendous dona ton 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 he retained or buried: they must
be dispersed abroad. They are given
only for service. Freely We have re-
ceived. freely give III some measure
we must generously give to the world.
''These words. however. may be Ia
ken from their primary place. so that
they have a general reference and ap-
plication for every child of the king
dom. and thus we use them to-day for
our instruction and guidance. This
text. Freely ye nave received, freely
give is classic in its clear expression
and in its worldwide application to
literature. science, inusic-in the art
Of centuries; and many races find their
ideal in this fact. for Christ. the In
carnate, is Himself God. Christ is
here in our human nature since the
period Of His incarnation. You cam
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 liberality Of God to rs that l
want to speak. and of the sincere and
willing response which we. ought to
make to Him for His gifts to us: Free
~ ye 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 OF
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.
The Bible is replete with the story OF
His giving and our receiving. Read
your Bible this year with this thought
ir your minds. Recall what God has
given to His children. and you will be
amazed at the sum: it will be such a
great one that at least you will he
constrained to sing a benedicite, to
praise God for His goodness: you will
cordially begin to appreciate how free
u We have received Is it not we'll to
make some sort of tally to run up
our account with God? We who take
so much for granted and simply accept
tna blessings Ee gives us without
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.
We have credited Him only With our
spiritual blessings-our religious priv
iieges. the church and sacraments. OF
course. our salvation. But what about
the ordinary things that He never for
gets. that He never neglects! He
keeps His work going OF every day III
the year. while we. like the children
of our modern time. are satiated with
luxury. We are aroused sometimes.
as at Christmas time. tc realize how
good God is.
"sFreely We have received. freely
give Thus He gave out Of His gen
erous heart the very creation itself;
the world and all in it. ut the very
hour Of its conception. its power OF
production. teeming life. vegetable and
animal. We take possession of 1t:
we bargain and barter its fields and
flocks 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
'Then 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 III 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 chill of
ice would result that all life would
20 out. DO you ever thank God for
the sunshine? No. We take it for
granted-it belongs to us-we consider
it our inherent right.
"God gives us power as we'll as crea-
ton to utilize. So lavishly spread
that all 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 advancement and all you and l
have to do is to utilize all the power
He gives MS. 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 becloud and OBJ
scure your faculties Of reason so that
you would become insane in mo-
ment? He might Be excused from so
doing because of cour ingratitude.
your neglect of Hin, for all these
things you call yours ere His. l often
wonder how many successful men can
retain their self respect. can make
their treatment of God agree with