The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-29
Giuing, Not Getting
 Divine Principle Of Life

Ny Rev. Stewart Meo.ee.. Psste'
 of Church of the Holy Comforter.
 "Give. and It shall be given unto
 you" St. Luke vl:s0.
 These eight words of our Redeemei
 are few and simple. Nevertheless. they
 teach vast deal. He says In ehect
 "Give and you shall get" What does
 He mean? Does He mean our purpose
 in giving should be getting? Does He
 mean we should give merely in order
 to get? Certainly not. for such would
 be selashness. We cannot possibly
 conceive of Christ teaching that. To be sure. if we give we shall get This
 Is fact, but 1t Is not the same thing as saying we should give with the motive to get, should make getting the object of our giving. We must go deeper. and we shall see the Master Is principle of life when He says Give and 1t shall be given unto you" or Give and you shall get" The point primarily, you see, Is not the getting but the giving. That Is the main thing. In word. we are not to con- cern ourselves about the getting but only with the giving. If we do that, the getting will take care of itself.
 This principle Is seen at work in almost any sphere of life. It Is illus trated in the very tilling of the earth beneath our feet, for instance. A farmer undertakes to raise a crop of some sort. What must he do? Why, he begins by givins-giving his work, his care, his thought. Next. he gives his seed grain, by burying 1t in the soil. Suppose he withholds it, or sells 1t. or eats It. Will he get anything when harvest time comes? No. for having given nothing cit necessarily follows he will get nothing.
 Look at business affairs. Does a business man desire to prosper. desire large returns In his business? Why, then. he must put forth enterprise. He must make liberal expenditures. Hb- eral in proportion to the scope of his undertaking. In a word he must give In order to get. He puts money into advertisements. into trade, into ,finan- cial ventures of one sort or another. What is all that but the giving of bis capital or . portion thereof? Sup pose he does not do this? Why, he will never have any more than he has. Or suppose he lives on his capital? Why he will steadily grow poorer ev- cry day. In word not having given not any thing will be given to him. He does not give and he does not get.
 Consider that most wonderful mi crocosm, the human body. We do not know all about 1t by any means, but there is one fact about that blood- pumping station. the heart. which H. illustrates beautifully and strikingly the truth enunciated by our Savior: Give and you shall get" Now, what is the function of the heart with re- gard to the blood? Does 1t receive It fin order to store 1t up? Does 1t act on the principle only of getting and not giving? No, quite the contrary, for while it pumps blood in at one valve 1t gives 1t forth at the other. It is always giving out blood, and so 1t Is always getting blood.
 This truth of Christ Is illustrated also in the case of the fluids in healthy body. As we are taught by our instructors in Ach matters. those expenditure, that is of giving forth. A cell may store up for a short time, It's peculiar secretion. It does so, however. only for the purpose of fit ting 1t for it's appointed task in the body. and then 1t goes on. Further. we are told that should a cell continue any great while to store up It's se- cretion, that Is to say. cease to give, the stored-up secretion would soon DoCoHlo tno lu0NltdDld cause OL QlbeaSc Moreover, unless it gave forth Of It's products, the organ would eventually lose its power to secrets at all.
 Indeed. the whole of the human sys- tenn lives by giving. St. Paul was entirely right when he taught of the eye, for instance. that 1t cannot say to the foot, T have no need of thee and will not guide thee." For. suppose the eye refused to heed its duty of watch. fulness, what would ensue? The whole man would soon be in the ditch and the eye itself covered with mud and filth. Suppose the several members of the body refuse to contribute their re- spective services to the general stock. what results? Why, 1t would not be very long before the whole body suf- fers and disease set in. which. If not checked. is followed by death.
 Look at the upbuilding. the develop ment of character. Here. too. we see this Divine principle of life. Give and it shall be given unto you" Give and you shall get" It is ever present and 1t is ever at work. How do we live, how do we grow. how do we increase. in noble manhood and womanhood? Why. in the highest and truest sense. 1t Is done in one way. and In one way only. and that Is by what we sacrifice. And what. pray. Is sac rihce but giving in some form or other? We are to give conside ration and cour- tesy to others, for instance. We are to give sympathetic words 70 the sor- rowing, the unhappy. the discouraged. We are to give loving deeds to the poor and to the unfortunate. In return. we get blessedness. which is infinitely more than 'happiness-the ignis fatu. us which so often ends in utter self ishness and not a few times in misery and despair. In return for hate we are to give love. And we get the peace of God and only so. For where there Is no love. there is no peace. We are to give our talents to help uplift tho to help soften the lot of our neighbors and make them better; In a word, give our talents in service to others. Thus shall we get, day by day the unselfish pleasure. the un- failing inspiration, which comes from putting our noblest faculties to the nobiest use-that of lifting humanity the children of the Heavenly Father unto the light of eternal things, un- 10 the light which flashes and flames from the Great White Throne upon which is seated the Ancient of Days so you see this Divine principle oper- ates with supremest power In the highest of all spheres of life, and that Is in the spirit of man.
 Let us understand then. as this prin- ,iple so clearly teaches in all it's work ngs, that we can never grow better by selfishly hoarding our virtues and not spending them for others: understand thav can never come to us through