SERMON XVII.

BY REV. J. M. SHER WOOD,

EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN AND THEOLOGICAL REVIEW,

MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."-Acts 20: 35. THIS statement is in direct conflict with the most cherished sentiments and the almost universal practice of mankind. The great mass of men repudiate the doctrine; they do not believe a word. of it; and they base life and action on the very reverse principle. And yet the Bible is clear and explicit in its teachings on this point.

The doctrine of the text is one of the fundamental principles of God's economy; it has its foundation in the divine nature, and pervades the whole system of the divine government. It is simply the law of benevolence; and if men would universally recog nize the claims of this divine law, and render obedience to it, it would convert this world into a paradise.

Sin is selfishness. It arrays man against this divine law. It puts self irefore the brotherhood; makes self the center and end of life; viserts that the highest duty of man and the greatest good consist in receiving and enjoying. And herein lies its enormity. The glory of God, the general good, the divine law of happiness, are all sacrificed to the demand of an all-engrossing selfishness.

The doctrine of the text is, that it is better to impart good than to receive it, better to give away than to hoard, better to serve than to be ministered to, better to seek out and relieve the poor and care for the afflicted and perishing, than to have supreme regard for self, and to study and seek, as the end of life, self gratification; in other words, that there is a higher and purer happiness, and a surer and more blessed prosperity, resulting from the practice of Christian benevolence than from the indulgence of selfishness.

It is a blessed experience to receive good at the hands of our fellow-men. The sympathy of friends, in times of joy and of sor

row, is sweet; and help rendered in the day of need, is most grateful. It is a blessed experience to enjoy the favors of a bountiful Providence-to receive into our souls the light and love and grace of God our Saviour. No one doubts this. But the text affirms that it is more blessed still to bestow upon others; to enrich our fellow-men with the affluence of our sympathy and love and kind services; to serve God and the world in the exercise of a lofty Christian benevolence; to be one's self a living center of light and good and blessed influence to our fellow-men.

This is the principle. Let us apply it in a few particulars.

1. It is more blessed to communicate useful knowledge of any kind than merely to acquire it. There is a love of knowledge for its own sake. A Newton finds rational and sublime enjoyment in piercing the thick vail which envelops nature, in grasping and controlling the most subtle of her elements, in measuring and weighing the worlds and systems which roll through infinite space, and ascertaining the laws which govern the material kingdom of God. A Bacon finds rational delight in exploring the secret chambers of the mind; in pushing investigation into new fields of thought and inquiry, exposing false theories in mental science, shedding fresh light on the human mind, and demonstrating the harmony of philosophy with the teachings of the Scriptures. A Cuvier finds a lofty and ennobling pleasure in delving among the fossil remains of former life, and, by study and comparison and patient and thorough investigation, refuting the theories of infidel science in regard to the antiquity of man's creation, and establishing the truth of the Mosaic account. And so of Hugh Miller, and our own Hitchcock, in collecting testimony from the rocks, from ocean caverns and river beds, from mountain and valley, from living and from extinct animal tribes and types of life, to illustrate the infinite wonders of God's creation, and the essential harmy of Geology and Revelation.

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Such men find a high and a real pleasure in the pursuit of their favorite studies. The mental excitement connected with it; the expansion and ennobling of the mind by means of it; the discovery of new truths, new harmonies, and new evidences to confirm the faith; and especially the enlarged capacity to understand and appreciate God-the sum of all the philosophies, and the end of all being and all economies-are an abundant reward for all the toil bestowed.

But such men are not satisfied with knowledge simply acquired. Knowledge is not the end they seek-only the means. To enrich the world with the fruit of their superior wisdom, to open new fountains in the desert to refresh and gladden the race, to hold forth the torch of truth in order to dispel the ignorance and superstition of mankind and lift them up into a higher intelligence

and virtue, is their ambition and ultimate aim. This it is that cheers the student at the midnight lamp, that lifts him above the mere desire for gain and applause, that makes him strong and heroic in his task of climbing the mountains of human thought and study. Those serene and lofty heights he would reach, not to gratify a selfish vanity and dream away an isolated existence, but that he may carry down into the plain the lessons learned on the mount, and impart to others his inspired visions and choicest treasures.

Newton, we are told, "held it as his highest glory, not simply that he had gone farther than any other man in his researches, and enlarged the boundary of his knowledge, but to have made the evidence of God's existence, and the dispensations of his power and wisdom, better understood by men." Noble sentiment! That great mind found it more blessed to give forth its wonderful treasures of knowledge than to drink in the truth.

There is a pleasure in giving from our choicest stores of wisdom and knowledge for the benefit of others, slowly and painfully as we have acquired them, which is denied to the man who would hoard them, and use them only for selfish ends. There is a peculiar, a divine satisfaction felt in teaching rational mind; in kindling the divine intelligence with the fire of immortal thought. Do you doubt it? Take that ignorant and degraded boy out of the street; teach him knowledge; wake up and guide that immortal principle which now sleeps in his soul; fill his mind with God and with the noble lessons of Bible wisdom, and make of him, with God's blessing, a wise, thinking, virtuous, and useful man-and you will find a reward in doing it which no wealth can purchase.

Now, the highest and most important of all knowledge is that which the Bible contains. Here are treasured the riches of God's infinite mind. Here life and immortality are brought to light. Here are the "deep things" of wisdom-the knowledge which makes wise unto salvation. This is the end of all philosophies, the sum of all the sciences. To fear God and keep his commandments, is the highest virtue: and the making known of this divine word to men who are perishing in the ignorance and guilt of sin, is the highest happiness we know any thing of. The angels of heaven would gladly vacate their seats for the privilege of doing it. There is no work which brings man so nigh to God as this. There is no blessing so divine as that which comes upon one from souls reached by the gospel and saved through his means. Such trophies form a "crown of rejoicing" such as no warrior or victor in the race for earthly good ever won.

Oh, if it is blessed to feel and know that one's self is forgiven and accepted; to have the divine favor freely imparted to the soul; to taste of the love of God, and the joy of his salvation, and the preciousness of Christ, from day to day-it is more

blessed still to impart of our experience to others; to tell friends and neighbors what God has done for us; to hold forth the Word of Life to our fellow-sinners, and strive to kindle in their hearts the joys and hopes which animate our own. The Christian who puts his "light under a bushel," who confines his religious knowledge and experience to his own breast, who lives for his own salvation solely, rather than for Christ and the salvation of others, acts a part as unwise and injurious to himself as it is unworthy of his profession, and contrary to the spirit and principles of Christianity. A Christian never has so much light in his own mind as when he is shedding most light on the minds of others. His own experience of Christ is most precious when he is doing most to make him known to others. If he comes to act on the selfish principle which is dominant in the world, all his satisfaction in the service of Christ will quickly be lost. Failing to minister to others, his own soul will become barren. Absorbing all the light of God's grace, instead of reflecting it, his own mind will become darkened, and his confidence and integrity will slip away from him.

2. It is far more blessed to honor God with our substance than to acquire it for its own sake, or to spend it in self-gratification. There are men whose sole anxiety is to make money. Life's one end and great struggle with them, is to accumulate riches. Their only happiness is the sordid one of adding dollar to dollar, house to house, farm to farm. They are dissatisfied and miserable unless they are every day adding to their earthly gains. They never spend, willingly, never give away, never put to benevolent use, what, through God's blessing, they have acquired. Gather together and hold on to it-this is their disposition and the sum of life.

There are others who lavish their all on self-gratification. They are free and generous in spending, but it is only in the line of selfishness. They indulge their tastes and appetites, gratify pride and ambition, and aggrandize their family; and this is all the benefit they derive from wealth. They take no higher view of their stewardship than this. They toil and win only to squander it in a way that is most offensive to God, and injurious to themselves They have no conception of the true end of wealth.

As a means of usefulness, wealth is a blessing. It is an ennobling work, in which we do find men engaged, trading, toiling, and giving their time and energy to business, that they may devote the fruits of it to Christ and his cause. Such men acquire money for a benevolent end. And they find it blessed to toil for it, and blessed to disburse it. Thus sought and thus expended, it becomes one of the choisest means of happiness as well as of good. There is no man really so poor as he who multiplies the means

of life and knows not how to use them, so as to make himself and others happy. His wealth is all in dust, which will one day be scattered to the winds, when it might be converted by him into the blessings of many ready to perish, and a name which is as ointment poured forth. The life of such a one is as barren of good as the heath which drinks in the rain and the sunshine, but gives back no verdure or fertility. With the means of making himself and others happy, he lives only to be despised and useless. He does nothing to enrich the earth; he only encumbers it. His mission has no mercy in it, no sympathy, no ministries of good; it is only and utterly selfish. The poor never bless him. The fatherless never look up to him. The widow's tears and thanks never reward him. His name, which he might have embalmed in a thousand grateful hearts, is spoken and remembered only in sorrow, if not with execration. And though his wealth may rear a splendid monument over his ashes, and emblazon on it a highsounding epitaph, yet will it only serve to invite the finger of scorn, and posterity will pronounce him:

"Creation's blank-creation's blot."

That man is truly rich and happy who has a heart to give freely of what he hath to the cause of human happiness. He may of his abundance, be able to give his thousands and tens of thousands. (Oh, blessed privilege! may God raise up many such in these times!) But if you have only the poor widow's two mites to give, you shall have the reward. No man was ever the poorer for what he gave, from a benevolent feeling, to promote God's glory on the earth, and advance human happiness. And it is only when we give so as to feel it; give so as to call the spirit of selfdenial into action; give so as to bring the soul into sympathy with the Cross, that we experience the full luxury of giving-the value of property as a means of noble happiness. Then it is that the increase, a thousand fold, returns into our own heart, and the two mites of pious sacrifice swell into a great blessing and a precious memorial.

3. The principle of the text holds good in its application to personal forts for the salvation of souls. In religion as in other things God has ordained that if we will not work, neither shall we eat; if we fail to sow, we shall not reap; if we will not do our duty, we shall not be blessed. The Christian who never loses sight of self; whose chief anxiety is about his own hopes and welfare; who puts forth no earnest efforts, and is willing to make no sacrifices to save others-will find religion very barren of comfort, and will have abundant occasion to exclaim, "Oh, my leanness! my leanness!" "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to pov