The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-09
REV. j. f. STOUT TALKS ON TILE
FORCE THAT MOVES THE
WORLD.
CUPID NOT A NEcROMANCER,
TO BE COMPARED WITH THE
MAGIC TOUCH OF DIVINE
LOVE.
ETERNAL AND ALL-PERvADING.
The Tie That Binds Millions i'm the
Christian Church Through the
Centuries.

Rev. ]. F. Stout preached yesterday
at First M. e. church from the text
'Loxe--beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things."-I. Cor. xiii, Z. In part he
said:
am to. speak to you on the
Dynam1cs Of Love, as introduced in
this striking passage OF Scripture.
The Bible gives us a new revelation OF
love, not only different from all other
conceptions, but exalted above them by
as much as eternal things are above
the merely human. The apostle in this
chapter, in a moment Of spiritual ex-
altat1on, gives US a conception of this
new, this Christian view, and in our
text declares what 1t can do, gives us
a list Of its potencies We discover
that love is not the selfish greed of the
human heart, not the communion of
congenial souls, the result of Unborn
aMnities, not the haphazard placing of
our affections the creature of caprice
OF will or reason. Love as revealed in
Gods Word is on a higher plane, and
has to do with the highest endowments
of our human nature. While there is
in 1t an element of natural affection,
of reason, and %of aesthetic apprecia-
ton, there are present as we'll an
awakening Of the noblest powers,
through the agency Of Jesus, which
makes possible the domino ton in the
soul. of a spirit which is called love.
What will this love do when it is en-
shrined in the heart and given sway
over the complete man?
Paul says: "Love beareth all things"
If we are to state it's meaning in plain
er terms, we should say, love enables
one. who is controlled by 1t, to cover,
(for this is the meaning of the Greek
- - 10 l.
of sweet charity over the faults and
failures Of all the good Censorious-
ness has no place in Christianity, it is
not characteristic of love, Christ
himself put the best possible construc-
ton on all human action, and poured
forth his denunciation only when 1t
was plainly deserved and needed, not
as a punishment, but to rouse 20 duty
the sinner whose iniquity had called
forth his rebuke. 1t is Of the highest
importance that there shall be the COW
ering, the charitable spirit in all Chris
tan communities. and love only can
tame the heart so that it Is possible
for individuals easily prejudieed, to
see the beautiful and good, and for
get and overlook the bad.
Love believeth all things. Certainly
it is not the intention of the apostle to
say that love is gullible, that it easily
accepts anything that claims to be
truth, but rather that it makes it pos
sible for him who is ruled by love
to behold the great essentials that have
to do with personal Christian char
acter He who has come to love has
had the problem Of faith solved for
him He is in the closest relation to
truth, and. through the agency ofs-his
love til a eyes Of his spiritual under
standing are opened, and 10, he is in a
world of spiritual realities and can APP
0cStl n he
things that are unseen are eternal
Love hopeth all things. 1t makes it
possible for him who is ruled by it to
bring within the compass Of his eX-
pectations all the exceeding great and
precious gifts promised to the citizens
of the kingdom of God. Religious pes
simism is a possible thing, but there
is no such thing as Christian pessimism.
Encouragement and despair have
no place in divine love. The love which
makes faith real at the same time
transforms the promises from dead
things to the living words Of God, and
as such there must be no doubt as TO
their fu1fllment. Hope always follows
in the trail of faith. Love is a NEGRO
nancer of the best school, changes by
a magic touch, calamity into blessing,
storm clouds into the glorious hanging
curtains of divine promise, darkness
into monday, dirges into diapasons
Of praise, adversities into angels Of
blessing. and sullen despair into voice
full praise. Love inspires a hope that
makes all the past a reVealer of our
Fathers care, and all the future radi-
ant with the promises of everlasting
blessing.
Love endureth all things, makes POS
sible that loyal suffering which in all
ages has marked a son of God BE
thou faithful unto death, and I will
give you q crown of life is the prom
Use of the Master. PauPs climacteric sem
tence, in which he completes his testi-
mony to the world, is: CT have kept
faith" and, indeed, that is the one
thing above all others which must be
kept Enduring is, after all, the first
object of the Christian. All other
things but lead up to it; the succession
of items in the text but reveals the
steps by which the Christian mounts
up to the place of power where it is
possible to him to show supreme 10y
atty to God and the truth; he covers
all things and 50 shows forth plying
Christly spirit; he believeth all things,
and in his faith proves his possession
of that divine illumination which
makes all vital truth real and living to
him; he hopeth all things, and by his
exuIting expectation frees himself from
the despair that makes all endeavor
fruitlesS; and then is ready in the full
ness of his new experience to face ha-
tired, scorn, poverty, sickness, distress,
the sword, and even death, and in the
spirit of the Master thank God for the
privilege of fellowship in His suffer-
ings. which but go before that coming