"SPIRIT OF GIVING."

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19448, 23 October 1928, Page 8

"SPIRIT OF GIVING."

A PLEA FROM THE PULPIT. Asserting that the present generation was "self conscious" on account of the present state of its development in the fields of Empire, science and general progress, tha»Rev. J. F. Coursey made a plea at the" Synod service in the Cathedral last evening, prior to the opening of the twenty-fifth Synod of the Diocese, for a greater recognition of God and an observance of His spirit of giving. The gospel of self-interest, he declared, was openly preached in high places, and that self-interest was an omen of destruction of the human race. We could only find our happiness and express our destiny through the belief of a giving God inspiring giving. There was no need for us to magnify our part in making the world a better place, for we had not made it so. The beginning of life was involved in sacrifice and the progress of civilisation was bound up with giving, with sacrifice. He made reference to such sacrifices for humanity as that involved in the discovery of radium and in many other fields of science where sacrifice was called for. Freely wo had been receiving from God and from the past. Were we giving as freely ? _ All the £ifts of life, whatever their immediate source, came from God ultimately, for God was the Supreme Giver. This age was apt to magnify anything God gave as its own achievements and yet this all-nonquer-ing man could be swept out of its existence by a new river, or by a tiny microbe' The kingdom on earth was God's gift, not man's creation. _ God's kingdom would come more quickly as we thought less of ourselves .and more of God. "When we begin to give recklessly,'' concluded Mr Coursey, "we should begin to achieve our destiny—the destiny of the Sons of God, giving back again to God to return, and giving to one another"