THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and
of
angels, and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand
all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that
I could remove mountains, and have not LOVE I am nothing. And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long, and is kind;
Love envieth not;
Love vaunteth not itself is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly,
Seeketh not her own,
Is not easily provoked,
Thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the
truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth
all things, endureth all things.
Love never faileth: but whether there be
prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in
part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but
when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then
shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope,
Love, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.--I COR xiii
THE
GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD
EVERY
one has
asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world:
What is the summum bonum--the supreme good? You have life
before you. Once only you can live it. What is the noblest object of
desire, the supreme gift to covet?
We have
been
accustomed to be told that the greatest thing in the religious world is
Faith. That great word has been the key-note for centuries of the
popular religion; and we have easily learned to look upon it as the
greatest thing in the world. Well, we are wrong. If we have been told
that, we may miss the mark. I have taken you, in the chapter which I
have just read, to Christianity at its source; and there we have seen,
"The greatest of these is love." It is not an oversight. Paul was
speaking of faith just a moment before. He says, "If I have all faith,
so that I can remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. "So
far from forgetting, he deliberately contrasts them, "Now abideth
Faith, Hope, Love," and without a moment's hesitation, the decision
falls, "The greatest of these is Love."
And it
is not
prejudice. A man is apt to recommend to others his own strong point.
Love was not Paul's strong point. The observing student can detect a
beautiful tenderness growing and ripening all through his character as
Paul gets old; but the hand that wrote, "The greatest of these is
love," when we meet it first, is stained with blood.
Nor is this letter to the Corinthians
peculiar in singling out love as the summum bonum. The
masterpieces of Christianity are agreed about it. Peter says, "Above
all things have fervent love among yourselves." Above all things.
And John goes farther, "God is love." And you remember the profound
remark which Paul makes elsewhere, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Did you ever think what he meant by that? In those days men were
working their passage to Heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, and
the hundred and ten other commandments which they had manufactured out
of them. Christ said, I will show you a more simple way. If you do one
thing, you will do these hundred and ten things, without ever thinking
about them. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfil the whole law.
And you can readily see for yourselves how that must be so. Take any of
the commandments. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." If a man
love God, you will not require to tell him that. Love is the fulfilling
of that law. "Take not His name in vain." Would he ever dream of taking
His name in vain if he loved Him? "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy." Would he not be too glad to have one day in seven to dedicate
more exclusively to the object of his affection? Love would fulfil all
these laws regarding God. And so, if he loved Man, you would never
think of telling him to honour his father and mother. He could not do
anything else. It would be preposterous to tell him not to kill. You
could only insult him if you suggested that he should not steal -.how
could he steal from those he loved? It would be superfluous to beg him
not to bear false witness against his neighbour. If he loved him it
would be the last thing he would do. And you would never dream of
urging him not to covet what his neighbours had. He would rather they
possessed it than himself. In this way "Love is the fulfilling of the
law." It is the rule for fulfilling all rules, the new commandment for
keeping all the old commandments, Christ's one secret of the Christian
life.
Now
Paul had
learned that; and in this noble eulogy he has given us the most
wonderful and original account extant of the summum bonum. We
may divide it into three parts. In the beginning of the short chapter,
we have Love contrasted; in the heart of it, we have Love analysed;
towards the end we have Love defended as the supreme gift.
THE CONTRAST
PAUL
begins
by contrasting Love with other things that men in those days thought
much of. I shall not attempt to go over those things in detail. Their
inferiority is already obvious.
He
contrasts
it with eloquence. And what a noble gift it is, the power of playing
upon the souls and wills of men, and rousing them to lofty purposes and
holy deeds. Paul says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal." And we all know why. We have all felt the brazenness of words
without emotion, the hollowness, the unaccountable unpersuasiveness, of
eloquence behind which lies no Love.
He contrasts it with prophecy. He
contrasts it with mysteries. He contrasts it with faith. He contrasts
it with charity. Why is Love greater than faith? Because the end is
greater than the means. And why is it greater than charity? Because the
whole is greater than the part. Love is greater than faith, because the
end is greater than the means. What is the use of having faith? It is
to connect the soul with God. And what is the object of connecting man
with God? That he may become like God. But God is Love. Hence Faith,
the means, is in order to Love, the end. Love, therefore, obviously is
greater than faith. It is greater than charity, again, because the
whole is greater than a part. Charity is only a little bit of Love, one
of the innumerable avenues of Love, and there may even be, and there
is, a great deal of charity without Love. It is a very easy thing to
toss a copper to a beggar on the street; it is generally an easier
thing than not to do it. Yet Love is just as often in the withholding.
We purchase relief from the sympathetic feelings roused by the
spectacle of misery, at the copper's cost. It is too cheap--too cheap
for us, and often too dear for the beggar. If we really loved him we
would either do more for him, or less.
Then
Paul
contrasts it with sacrifice and martyrdom. And I beg the little band of
would-be missionaries and I have the honour to call some of you by this
name for the first time--to remember that though you give your bodies
to be burned, and have not Love, it profits nothing--nothing! You can
take nothing greater to the heathen world than the impress and
reflection of the Love of God upon your own character. That is the
universal language. It will take you years to speak in Chinese, or in
the dialects of India. From the day you land, that language of Love,
understood by all, will be pouring forth its unconscious eloquence. It
is the man who is the missionary, it is not his words. His character is
his message. In the heart of Africa, among the great Lakes, I have come
across black men and women who remembered the only white man they ever
saw before--David Livingstone; and as you cross his footsteps in that
dark continent, men's faces light up as they speak of the kind Doctor
who passed there years ago. They could not understand him; but they
felt the Love that beat in his heart. Take into your new sphere of
labour, where you also mean to lay down your life, that simple charm,
and your lifework must succeed. You can take nothing greater, you need
take nothing less. It is-not worth while going if you take anything
less. You may take every accomplishment; you may be braced for every
sacrifice; but if you give your body to be burned, and have not Love,
it will profit you and the cause of Christ nothing.
The Greatest Thing in the
World
by Henry Drummond
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