The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-21
First Quarter, Lesson WILL; Cor.
 xiii; February 22, 1905.
Christian Love

..xyha, is the chief good of life?' is the ,,,a.,,on handed down from one age to g.aother from the beginning. It IS prop lem at which philosophers fali. Faui au- iresses himself fearlessly to the thenie, md, as result, gives us this inrhol,al "Psalm of Love- second onAy 'o t"e sermJn on the Mount.
 Paul is a past master in the use or an uthesIs. but ,owhere does he use his art with such consumrnaIe skill as In this instance. His purpose is to dinerennate love- He makes 1t appear, as II really Is. a basic principle of character. he shows 1t to be other than ana superior to the mere accidents Of eloquence anu mental insight, from the active conquests of faith and benevolence and the passive endurance of the pains of msrtyrdom'
 Now he gives us 6 spectrum analysis or love. Like prismatic colors the d'stihct elements of this essential principe or character appear. Nine of them, viz, pa tience, kindness. generosity, hhnlntS' courtesy .unseif1shness, good temper xuilelessness and sincerity. Now he shows love to be the strongest as well IS the greatest thing in the world. It nudures and uears all the tests put upon it. even the severest. It abides. and never fails. This love. which is shown to be the best thing in the world, and as i'm perishable as it is good, is affirmed to be d direct fruit of the Spirit of God. The seed of it is planted in the soul of man; Is auickened into life, nourished, pro- tected and brought to perfection by heav- enly grace.
 But in this divine process the happy subject is very far from irnpassive. He chooses and puts himself in the more excellent way which the apostle has so admirably shown. He covets earnestly the best gift, and, when received, he eX- ercises himself in it. He works out while God works in.
 Paul agrees with John and both chord with Jesus in describing love as the fund ament of religion. The apostle to the Gentiies declares love to be the fulfilling of the law. The beloved disciple says, He that dwelleth in love. dwelleth in God" Finally the Master on his part afirms that eveI may hang upon his golden, double-hooked commandment ',I.ove God" Love neighbor."
 The divinity of Christianity is in this instance illustrated by the ease with which it is epitomlzed. Other religions are inveterate in their tendency toward minutiae and their resistance to conden- sation. But Christianity excels in that it is capable of expression in compendieus form. One word suffces. It Is love.
 Here IS anOln6T HlAtOIAC instance OI BOuu coming out of evil. In the Corinthian Church there was unseemly emulation Some sought the honor attaching to elo- uuence, some to prophecy. It was to off, set this tendency that Paul wrote this immortal chapter. In 1t he shows love 10 be the only way to true and lasting emlnence. Right well does he fulfill his promise to show the Corinthians "a more excellent way
 Love insures the fulfilling of the whole law; for love will not admit rivals to Gods majesty; will not profane His holy name: will remember the day He has sanctined; will, in point of fact. instinct Neiy, unconsciously, consistently obey the whole Decalogue. If a man violates Gods law, such violation is in itself con- elusive evidence that he does not love Sod. And not loving God is the sin of sins.
 Absence of love as the dominant eIe- meRt of character and the handspring of aeticn as certainly tends to legalism and Hypocrisy today as in the days of the xcribes and Pharisees. One may easily ''lcse himself In petty details and amid the tangling routine of charity forget