The Greatest Thing In the World | Page 2

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 fulfill all these laws regarding God.
And so, if he loved man, you would never think of telling him to honor
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 neighbor. 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 neighbors 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 has 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 _analyzed_;
toward the end, we have Love defended as the supreme gift.
I. 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 these 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 sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal." 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. "If I have all
faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."
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. Hence, "If I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, but have not love it profiteth me
nothing."
Then Paul contrasts it with sacrifice and martyrdom: "If I give my body
to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Missionaries
can take nothing greater to the heathen world than the impress and
reflection of the Love of God upon their own character. That is the
universal language. It will take them years to speak in Chinese, or in
the dialects of India. From the day they 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,