The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-08-20
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. DONALD D. MacL AURlN.

| Subject: The Greatest Thing in the World
The Distinguished Divine Delivers a
Sermon which is as Scholarly and
Readable as Amy OF Recent Years.
NEW YORK CITY.-Dr. Donald D. Mac
Laurip, of Rochester, preached Sunday
morning in st. Johns NJ. E. Church to
in a series on isThe Greatest Thing in the
World DR.. MacLaurin said:
| have most earnestly sought to bring
| 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 could find
no theme OF greater value, as | saw it, than
that which is suggested by the chapter
! which read to you, the thirteenth chap
ter of PauIs 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 Corin-
thians: eff | speak with the tongues of
men and angels, but have not love, I 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
diamond? Among the gems of the Lord
God is found this. chapter, and though
do not profess to be 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 it
had received in all the ages of Christian
history that more practical and valuable
appreciation which would have been ex-
peE1ienced by practice of its principles
and an acceptance OF its precepts. Ter
tullian said: 1T 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. It never
could have sprung from the brain or heart
OF even so great a man as Paul, unless hea-
ven had given him the inspiration It is,
/ dear friends, an utterance of heaven,
through Paul, a servant of God, to the
sons Of men.
It is 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
the Forty-ffth Psalm, it may be fttingly
called the Psalm of Love-" and not in
frequently your speaker will so designate
it in these Sunday morning services. 1t
has the form of poetry; it has the insnira-
ton of poetry; it has the coloring Of t .
finest poetry. And il you could read i. IN
the Greek you would catch the fullness of
do in the best English version It seems
a PROCLAMATION to attempt its exposition.
1t seems like Analysing rose or dissect-
ing nightingale to take these principles
apart one from another for the neccssary
analysis in the progress of our work. Bat
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 psalm in the booi,
in which it is found helghtens it's effect
You find it in the midst of lengthy argu-
ment. 1t reminds lis very much OF an
oasis of towering palm trees and spring
ing, flowers and running brooks in the
is argument, is tumult: and right in the
midst of all bursts forth his sublime song
It 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, better, like the very sound OF
the song of heavens choir in the pit OF
Wall Street on panicky day. We can
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 favorite possessions swept away
by the great teacher. For Paul here
shows that love is the one essential oil
Christian life. Love did you say? Love!
that soft sentiment that hard-headed men
say belongs to women and children. Dc
you mean to say that this is the spirit OIL
his language? That is precisely what the
apostle formulated. He afirms most ex
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 no,
the same as love at the beginning. It is
richer, grander, 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 love that shall engage our attention or
Sunday mornings will be a stranger to your
experience. eff I speak with the tongues
of men and angels, but have not love,
am become sounding brass or a changing
cymbal." It would seem as if alk the
Corinthian church were eloquent speakers
or at least were eloquent hearers; and Lei
me say that eloquent hearers are as essen
tial as eloquent speech The. Corfnthiar
Christians were distinguished for their gifts
in this direction; and so the apostle, know
ing it, knowing them right well, for ht
was their father in the gospel, he suppose!
them capable Of speaking in every tongue
that rose from the lips Of men or angels
That were they to have all and were des
titute of love they were nothing but sonnd
ing brass or changing cymbals. How hare
this must have been on those people wht
cherished eloquence as more easy to i'm
agine than I'd describe. for they placed
great store by their gift Of tongues ane
their eloquence of speech And do yos
know we are often placing the emphasi
at their wrong place. We are often guilt,
of that characteristic folly These CORN
| thians were often putting the emphas
where the emphais should not be. VIVA
Paul affirms and what the Gospel afirm
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; fine
than saying; finer than any expression
which it is possible for it to make of itself
So it is not speech but reality that Coo
looks for and the church waits for. ant
the world is hungry for in you and in me
Now, let us consider, if you please, il
the first place, wherein love is superior t
the. most eloquent speech. eff I speal
with the tongues of men and angels, bu
have not love, | am become sounding bras
or a Changing cymbal." What is Chris
tian love? It is more easily described thai
defined. That is precisely what tn
L Il L. L - -