Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-08-13
GREATEST THINGIN WORLD
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon BY Kew.
Daniel MacLa urin.
The Distinguished Divine Delivers q Sermon
Which Is as Scholarly and Reada.
bic as Any of Recent Years.

in q series on The Greatest lnlng Ill Ihe
World" Dr. MacLaurin said:
/ have most earnestly sought TO pr1n9
you on successive Sundays the best min
istry / have yet been able to give, you,
that your lives may be broadened and
deepened and lifted up into higher realms
of spiritual achievement; and l could lind
no theme of greater value, as saw 1t, than
that which is suggested by the chapter
which l read to you, the thirteenth chap.
ter of PauPs first epistle of the church at
Corinth. And so for eight weeks, we shall
have our texts from this chapter; and this
morning you will find our text in the first
verse Of the first chapter of First CORN:
thians: at | speak with the tongues OF
men and angels, but have not love, l am
become sounding brass or a Changing
cymbal." ~,
Nor must we not think that we shall be.
come tired of this wonderful theme. DID
you ever know any one to become weary OF
a diamond? Among the gems of the Lord
God is found this. chapter, and though l
do not profess to be a skillful lapidary to
bring out its flashing facets, / think, with
the aid of the divine spirit, we shall find
in each service something fresh and helpful
and new.
This chapter has been in all ages of the
church especially admired; would that 1t
had received in all the ages Of Christian
history that more practical and valuable
appreciation which would have been ex.
and an acceptance of its precepts. Ter.
tulian said: ut is uttered with all the
force of the spirit" and the great thinker
is right. As have pondered it for several
years with ever growing interest, ! have
come to feel that indeed, mortal faculty
could never have written it. 1t never
could have sprung from the brain or heart
of even so great man as Paul, unless hea'
ven had given him the inspiration. 1t is,
dear friends, an utterance of heaven,
through Paul, servant of God, to the
sons of men.
1t is a glorious hymn or pean, in honor
OF Christian love, sung, as we have init.
mated, by the Apostle Paul when soaring
up on the wings of inspiration into the
very heights of Christian eloquence. Like
the Forty-ffth Psalm, it may be. fittingly
frequently your speaker will so designate
it in these Sunday morning services. 1t
has the form of poetry; it has the inspira.
ton of poetry; it has the coloring of the
finest poetry. And if YOU could read it in
the Greek YOU would catch the fullness of
its imagery, as it is impossible for you to
do in the best English version. 1t seems
PROCLAMATION to attempt its exposition.
1t seems like analyznS rose or dissect.
ing a nightingale to take these principles
apart one from another for the necessary
analysis in the progress of our work. But
it is so full of the very heart of the gospel
message that we would be cowardly were
we not to attempt the exposition.
The position of the nsalm in the book
in which it is found nelghtens its effect.
You find it in the midst of lengthy argu'
mcnt. 1t reminds us very much OF an
oasis of towering palm trees and spring
ing flowers and running brooks in the
midst of desert of sand. On either side
is argument. is tumult: and right IN the
midst of all bursts forth his sublime song.
1t is very much like the song of the sweet.
voiced school children in the midst of
their hard work and the babel of their
games. Or, letter, like the very sound of
the song of heavens choir in the pit of
easily IMAGINE the deepening hush that
must have fallen on the Corinthian church
as they read this chapter, and We can
imagine. too, the CONSERVATION produced
in the minds of those Christians as they
discovered one after another their favorite
gifts or favorte possessions swept away
by the great teacher. For Paul here
shows that love is the one essential of
Christian life Love did YOU say? Love!
that soft sentiment that hard.hcaded men
say belongs to women and children. DO
YOU mean to say that this is the spirit of
his language? That is precisely what the
apostle formulated. lie aflirms most cX-
plicitly the absolute worthlessness of life
without love. Love at the beginning of it;
love at the end of it; love filling the whole
space between. Love at the end is not
the same as love at the beginning. 1t is
richer, rrander, nobler, diviner. But
without the first love the other could never
be- The Blossom and the fruitage be-
speak the rootage, and the seed and the
flower and the tree. And unless you have
the FIRST love--love for God-in your heart,
the owe that shall engage our attention on
Sunday mornings will be stranger to your
experience. "If speak with the tongues
of men and angels, but have not love. |
cymbal 1t would seem as if all the
Corinthian church were eloquent speakers,
OF at least were eloquent hearers and let
me say that eloquent hearers are as essen.
tial as eloquent speech The Corinthian
Christians were distinguished for their gifts
in this d ircction; and so the apostle, know
ing it, knowing them right well, for he
was their father in the gospel, he supposes
thcm capable OF speaking in every tongue
that rose from the lips of men or angels.
That were they to have all and were des.
tituto of love they were nothing hut sound.
ing brass or changing cymbals. How hard
this must have been on those people who
cherished eloquence as more easy to i'm.
agine than to describe, for they placed
great store by their gift of tongues and
their eloquence of speech. And do you
at their wrong place. We are often guilty
of that characteristic folly. These Corin'
thans were often putting the emphasis
where the emphais should not be. What
Paul affirms and what the Gospel affirms
over and over again is that it is not speech,
that it is not doing but being, that God re.
| CARDS. Being is finer than doing; finer
than saving; finer, than any expression
which it is possible for it to make of itself.
So it is not speech but reality that God
looks for and the church waits for, and
the. world is hungry for in you and in me.
Now, let us consider, if you please, in
! the first place, wherein love is superior to
the. most eloquent speech. IF | speak
with the tongues of men and angels, but
have not love, | am become sounding brass
or a changing cymbal." What is Chris.
defined. That is precisely what the
| apostle has done in this great psalm of
| love. He nowhere defines it. He simply
| describes it, giving some fifteen character.
stics of it. Indeed, / do not know where
| love is defined in the entire Bible, nor do
| know definition for it. You have heard
| the story of the teacher of psychology who
upon RECEIVING new ciasS dC tne OeRlH-
ming of the term, instead of giving them a
lecture, he asked one of the members of
the class to define the. human soul; and
| the young man rose and said: "The human
soul is that faculty that thinks and feels
| and determine;" another member of the
class added that the soul is immaterial.
And then he said, will you tell me what
| the soul is not and the young man had
| the sense to say, II do not know" and
| the great professor, whose familiarity with
the subject. is felt throughout the contin-
ent, replied, "Nor more do l." And |
were he asked to define love, and if he was
honest and candid as the teacher of psy-
chology he would say, "No more do J."
That which comes nearest to being de.
fntion of love is the summary Of the di-
vine law of the Old Testament and the
New Thou shalt love the Lord thy God