The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-30
SPIRIT OF GIVING IS MASTERS THEME Attitude of Man Indicative of
 His Character
MASTER SEEKS THE NEEDY
He Finds Out the Need of the Man and Then Meets Him Upon that Ground-Start New Year
 Alright.

The Rev. Dr. James A. Duncan preached at the First Methodist church last night on the subject, "The Spirit of Giving The sermon was in the nature of an appeal to begin the new year aright, to reflect the deeds of the past year and remove the shortcomings during the year upon which we are abo)lt to enter.
 pr. Duncan opened his discourse by reading from the Bible the story of the rich young ruler who sought to enter the eternal life through some act, and upon asking the Lord what that should be, was told to sell what he had, give it to the poor and then follow Him.
 There are many ways of studying the life of the young man." said the preach CT, but there is perhaps no way as good as the manner in which he meets people. If we watch the real attitude we get the real character of the man.
 "One of the interesting characteristics of the Masters attitude was that of al- ways looking for people who needed and wanted help. He finds out the need of the man and then meets him on that ground
 "The young ruler in our text is a very interesting young man. He goes to the Master and asks Him what good thing he shall do that he may enter into the eternal life. and there he struck the keynote of men of occupation To sum all up in one thing and make one great sacrifice was his Idea, and he thought that would be all. There are very few people who would not do one great thing in order that they might enter into the eternal life.
 But instead of answering the question specifically, the Master says Keep the Commandments That was pretty high thng--to be honest in his character and straightforward in all things-but the young ruler said that he had kept the Commandments from his youth up. But, my friends, he had not done these things In the proper spirit.
 We do so many things for vanity's sake but pride is a much bigger thing. Vanity is false pride, and a man may keep the Commandments for vanity's sake just like he may do so many other things.
 This rich young ruler had never thought much of anybody save himself, but away down in his heart he was not satisfied, so he went to his Master and asked Him=w what he lacked. Then came that searching commandment: Sell what you have, give it to the poor, and fol- low me- No one thing in this life can satisfy and gain ones entrance into the eternal life, but we must be, at the start, self-forgetful That is the first step in the religious life.
 50, in reference to ourselves, we must get rid of the false pride, the vanity, and look from the outside of things, or in other words, look upon things from other peoples view. The first step in our lives Is to make the life one of service, and to see from viewpoint other than our own. We must sell what we have in that broad sense.
 But that is not all. We must give. There is certainly nothing more wretched than poverty, even though 1t may be pov- erty of ideals.
 "There is one great fault, and that is, we so often give the larger and more val uable gift to those who need it least and the lesser gift where the larger is most needed. Say, for instance, if President Roosevelt was to come to your home you would spread before him the very best you had and make things the most pleasing possible, while if the visitor were q poor suffering tramp you would prob ably give him scowl, perhaps a lec- ture, because that's easy, but there would likely be nothing good forthcoming. l have always thought that the beauty in the life of Oliver Holmes was that the great 'Autoerat' always gave beautifully. It was the man and 1t was his way in life-genial and always ready to help the needy.
 "So we should bless the unbessed life. for that was the Masters way. He poured out His life upon the lepers and the maimed, the halt and the blind.
 God told the rich young ruler to change his life and to give himself to other people, those who needed it. If we walk by the Masters sde how our life is changed.
 What shall I do to inherit the eternal life? Be unselfish, generous and follow Christ. If you are following the smooth and level way you will, at the age or 50 or 60 years, be little more than you were at 16 or r, but if you choose the higher and more lofty road you im- prove"
 Dr. Duncan closed his sermon with a plea to begin the new year alright, to re- view the past year and try to find out what things were lacking, to ask the Lord what things should be done, and then follow the instructions of the Mas ter, and not disregard them as the rich young ruler did.
 New Gusher Found.