Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-24
WITH THE WORSHIPPERS.

Al the South Ha8nldnuS 9feSDy leildA
 church Rev John Barbour preached from
 l Cor. xiii. 13: But the greatest of these
 is charity
 He said. So long as there are taste
 and discernment of the beautiful among
 men, so long will this chapter rank at
 the very top of human literature. If
 you could conceive men giving up the
 doctrines of Paul. you could hardly con
 ceive. their surrendering such passage
 as this. How wonderfully 1t exhibits the
 breadth and reach of Pauis mind! You
 may call him apostle, missionary, theo-
 logian. greatest of preachers, most ar
 dent of patriots, and you have not fully described him. Paul was the poet of the New Testament. What is the Epistle to
 the Ephesians but the great epic of re-
 demption? The same mind has com posed this descant upon charity-so del-
 icate, so idylie in it's beauty.
 Paul was poet-as Milton. as Dante, were poets Their work was surCharged with the patriotic struggles of their day, and Pauls letters rang with his conYic-
 tions l doubt if Paul ever sat down, as if to say, Now, I am about to write something" The greatest work is not done before the mirror. As out of the tremendous heat and pressure of geo
 logic times comes the diamond, PauPs mind coined truth into beautiful forms by the very intensity of his convictions. for the beautiful is the vernacular of the true.
 Now Paul afIirms the superemnence of charity among the graces Love is the true orthodoxy. How dare we prate | of our creed and of our confession if we have not the spirit of true orthodoxy? 1 have heard some of the greatest theo- | logical debates of the times; 1 have seen l the great doctors triumphing and drag | ging off the slain as Achilles dragged l Hector around the walls of Troy-and | all the while the Veriest child standing l by, simple and loving-hearted, was great l CT than them all; he was more open to l the truth-more expository of it. Love is the true succession from the 1 apostles. We all have to come down 1 from somewhere, but what did you l bring down with you? Was it Peters | sword? Is it the prosecuting spirit of the l Boanerges? Is it the ambition of fall- l ble men to have a great church estab- l ltshment swaying the consciences and l destiny of all? Is it not better to have come down from a loving Savior, or is it 1 not better not to have come down at 1 all but to have come up from nothing l ness and misery by the power of an ever 1 present Christ, who every moment de- scends into our heart and life?
 Then love is the edifying grace. It l is the key of knowledge. The greatest <Seniuses have been men of the loveliest | character Raphael, Mozart, Mendels- | sohn, Burns and our own dear Long, 1 fellow, from whose lips proceeded moth l ing base" they were big-hearted men. | men who loved that of which they sang. l Why do you not know more of Heavenly l things? Because you do not love Heavenly things. If our hearts were more open to the skies we could receive 1 more of the revelations of Heaven. The l loving heart finds the truth it yearns for l Likewise love is the pledge of growth Knowledge puffeth up, while love build l eth up. It. is the secret of happiness 1 We have to love and serve our fellows
 in the spirit of Jesus to find our truest 1 happiness. Moreover, love is the win ming grace. The church had nothing l else to begin with. She entered the l world hated of all men for Christs sake. l but she won because she had the good of l humanity at heart Men cannot fight 1 love They may ridicule your doctrines. l They may repel your churchliness, your | selfish impotent Christianity, and they | ought, but whenever the church or any | small portion of il brings love and sym | pathy down to a sorrowing world it | wins.
 | Francis Murphy was in a Maine jail. | The ministers had failed with him, the | temperance workers had failed. Finally. | some one took his little child with him, who, putting his arms about him, cried | out: ~"Oh, papa, we are so homesick at | home without you" 1t was the touch
 of love that reached his heart and won | him to sobriety and to the great tenn | perance work
 Love is the healing grace. When | things get wrong it is the only thing
 that can set them right. It is the grace | of successful administration in church.
 makers. It makes us judge the motives | of our brethren alright. It picks then. up
 after their grievous falls. It furnishes | an atmosphere in which gifts can be | nurtured and properly developed. Very | | thing is done as that somebody who is | doing nothing should do it. What diff | ference does it make whether wel-com- | posed prayers are offered in the prayer | meeting. Why. prayer Is not per | formance The great concern is to ad-
 vance the spiritual life and gifts of the | membership And this must be done by | actual service and not by listening to | a beautiful service led by others. Love | can work miracles here. It is wonderful
 what can be made of people by belieVln9 | in them and working patiently with | them It is this which breeds a spirit of
 hopefulness. To hear some people talk | you would suppose that everything was | going to the bad. What, has Christ died | in vain?
 Charity is the test of every gift. It
 is the grace of every grace. It is the | heart of all true charity.
 Though I spoke with the tongue of
 angels--though l have all the gifts. and 1 by my faith could remove mountains.
 and thought give my body to be burneS If I have not charity am nothing.
 The apostle in this chapter imputes
 every excellency to charity. It comes to
 this: Love is the very essence of reli- | gion There are duties, ordinances. | helps, doctrines: but when you get down
 to the thing itself, is it not love?
 I bought at the street corner the
 other day an orange. Il was large. rich | colored and plump. but when I began to
 tear away the peeling l came to little
 bit of an orange. contemptible in size | and sour as a lemon. It's picture of
 many a profession. When you tear off |. the profession and the style and the | unctuousness, there is nothing there but
 a little fellow shrivelled and sour. God l preserve us from a loveless Christianity l Love only can endure.
 | s'The nigh. has a thousand eyes, l The day but one:
 | But the light of the whole world dies | .. With the setting sun.
 | s'The mind has n thousand eyes
 And the heart but one,
 Itttf1 1a lipb of t \