GIVING AND RECEIVING.

ACTS xx. 35.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

IS it so? then my ears belie me sadly; for I can hear a very loud mingling as of ten thousand voices, giving utterance to a sentiment of a quite contrary meaning" it is more blessed to receive than to give." Which is correct? Choose you. Jesus Christ says the one, and Mammon of the world, the other.

We have to do this morning, with the saying of Jesus Christ; the other will come in but as a contrast, to set the truth off.

It is a pity, however, rich men do not all agree ; for when some ransacking and exploring of treasures is going on, the poor standing by, it is long time, perhaps, before the dole of charity is meted out, and then done without a grace, because they who possessed the treasures had formed parties, and held controversy; one side saying, it is more blessed to give than to receive; the other saying, it is more

blessed to receive than to give. The poor gained help but from one side at last; the other clutched their treasures tight, and would not let them go.

Ah! if God had acted on this principle, it is more blessed to receive than to give, where had our world been and its furniture! Where had we been, and what? May it please Thee, gracious Saviour, help us to be of Thy opinion, and let us not fall in with mammon of the world.

We know not upon what occasion our Saviour said these words, neither does it matter, His whole life said them! When He left the throne of His glory, He said them. When He was cradled in the manger, He said them. When He fed the multitudes, healed the sick, taught the poor, raised the dead, He said them. When He hung on the cross, He said them. When Pentecost was fully come, and the Holy Ghost descended with power, He said them. He says them ever. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear the striking words of Jesus Christ" it is more blessed to give than to receive." We feel quite sure they are His words, because they are so in keeping with His character. When we say them, we cannot say them as original; we only repeat the words of another. Our selfishness, our partialities, our preferences, our covetousness, and craving for this and for that, all alike teach us, we could not have invented such a saying. No! it is invented for us by our Saviour, and let us make a right use of it. Let us admire it,

adopt it, prove it, spread it.

Let us echo it by our

acts, as well as by our sentiments and sympathies, right round the world, that all men might see there is no self-seeking in Jesus Christ.

Is

Must we not make an exception of religion? it not more blessed to receive this than to give it? What do you mean? I mean, is it not more blessed to receive the comfort, and peace, and assurance of salvation, than to confer them on others? Thou art under a mistake. Those blessings of religion, whereof thou speakest, are not in the gift of man; they are the gift of God and oh! how liberally He showers them down! Whatever thou canst give for the benefit of thy less favoured fellow-creature, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Is it money ? Is it kindness? Is it anything else to better the condition of thy neighbours? It is more blessed to give than to receive. If you have any doubt about it, make trial; test it by frequent experiments; and if, after that, thou art of a contrary opinion, it will be time enough for thee to retire from the school of Christ, and go to the other; but even then, notwithstanding thy secession, the words of the Lord Jesus would be quite true. If we could poll the world, and an immense majority should declare, that it is more blessed to receive than to give, that would not make it true. Numbers, in such a case as this, prove nothing. road to Heaven is a narrow road, having but few travel

The

lers, comparatively speaking. The road to Hell is

broad, and multitudes throng the passage. So it might be of sentiments and principles, the truer they are, the more strait; the falser, the more loose and expansive.

The words of the text form a part of that beautiful and touching address, which the Apostle Paul made to the elders of the Church of Ephesus: "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel," he says, "yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that by so labouring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Paul could say, "brethren, be followers together of me." By worldly occupation, he was a tent-maker, and oftentimes did he ply his trade, in order to supply his simple wants, and to minister to the necessity of others. The Saviour and His Apostle were men of lowly guise; the one, a carpenter, the other, a maker of tents. The great Teacher and His disciple agreed, too, in sentiments. The blessed Jesus was full of beneficence, full of alms-deeds which He did; and Paul was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles; yet he desired to glory in nothing but in the cross of his Lord.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive." The possession of power to give is a token of favour from God. You are lifted above the common level of mortality,