The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-08-28
BY WILLIAM ELLIS.

OF the portentous signs OF the present
time. It affects not merely America
and Europe, but even the older nations
| Of the Orient So marked has become
the feeling OF popular restiveness In
the United States that even the far Sc
cluded United States Senate has felt
1t. Along with this social unrest, has
gone an increase Of popular power In
| government which assures to the re-
former an increased measure of ex-
preston. There are undoubtedly
serious changes impending In the social
| order. To that truth no careful
student OF the times can be blind.
But how are these changes to come.
and what will be their nature? Here
arise perplexities. Will the new order
be some one of the multiform phases
of Socialism? Il q new governmental
scheme to remedy all the ills of the
day. and to satisfy all the loudly
voiced longings of the people? Prob
ably not for the simple reason that
the deepest and most permanent fac
tor in life IL human nature. When
| royalty fell before Communism In
France, a wild orgy OF selfishness. vim
dictiveness and personal aggrandize-
| ment ensued, for human nature re-
| manned the same under the Commune
| that 1t had been under the Monarchy
Before we can hope for any successful
or permanent amelioration of human
society, there must be a change for the
better in the nature of men and
women.
The Best For The Basest.
Once again the question arises. How?
That Is a concern for the professor in
the university and for the man of the
street. 1t is no abstract and detached
theory, of no interest to the plain
people. The best means of improving
human nature lies behind every one Of
the so-called burning social questions.
Right here we link today to the apos-
tolic age in corinth. We find the
apostle Paul giving a counsel of per-
lection to the rottenest city OF his
time. Corinth, whose debasement was
q proverb, had yet been made over, in
portion of it's citizenship, by the
teachings of Christian missionaries.
Now to this city, which practiced the
basest perversions of love, Paul gives
his sublime truth of the supremacy OF
the highest form of love. This new
religion" which Paul propounded was
several leagues in advance of the latest
theories and prophecies of the most
| advanced" thinkers.
II people would give less serious
heed to the day-by-day sensations of
the news dispatches. and read their
Bibles more, they would quickly per-
ceive how tremendously its program
for a new order surpasses the latest
innovations and theories. The New
| Testament scheme of life Is not merely
religious, but reasonable as we'll 1t
| has the advantage over others In that
| 1t has been tested, and 1t has worked.
Conditions for its proving could not
be more adverse than they were In
Corinth, yet there, in that bestialized
city. this Gospel erected beautiful
-
| lived by the royal law OF Christ.
The Finest Love Poem.
The Corinthian background should
ever be kept in mind in reading Pauls
letters to his friends in Corinth. Dur
ling the year and a half of his sojourn
there. these converts had become very
dear to the apostle. In writing TO
them about the things that were most
worth while. and the gifts and graces
to he coveted earnestly, he deliberate
ly chose the. one virtue of love, and
exalted 1t in this most majestic OF all
the love poems in human speech:
"If I speak with the tongues OF men
and of angels, but have not love. am
become sounding brass, or changing
cymbal And II / have the gift OF
prophecy, and know all mysteries ana
40 as to remove mountains, but have
not love. / am nothing. And II 1
bestow all my goods to feed the poor.
and II give my body to be burned.
but have not love, 1t profiteth me
nothing. Love suffereth long, and Is
kind: love envieth not; love vauntetn
not itself is not puffed up, doth not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
its own, is not provoked. taketh not ac-
count Of evil; rejoiceth not in upright
eousness. but rejoiceth with the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things.
houeth all things, endureth all Things.
love never faileth; but whether there
be prophecies, they shall be done
away: whether there be tongues, tney
shall cease; whether there be knowl-
edge. II shall be done away. For we
know in part. and we prophesy in
mart: but when that whic his perfect
is come. that which is in part shall be
dona away. When / was a child,
spake as a child. felt as child, !
thought as q child; now that 1 am be-
come a man. I have put away childish
| things. For now we see In mirror.
,iarkiy; but then face to face; now l
know in part; but then shall know
fully even as also I was fully known.
Rut now abideth faith, hope. love.
these three: and the greatest OF these
II love-"
A New Word.
| The word which is the refrain of
| this sublime passage was new word
in Greece. The average reader does
| mt stou to consider how Christian
missionaries everywhere have to coin
new words. The languages OF the
neople to which they go do not have
the ~terminology. for the lofty senti-
ments represented by Christianity. At
| this time there is a debate among the
missionaries in China as TO what
chinese words shall be used for God"
and for Holy Spirit" 1t is sugges-
tiva 20 consider that a whole body of
ethical and spiritual conceptions have
hean given speech around the earth
Nv the teachers of Christianity. Thus
christ Introduced into human speech
a word which 1t had not possessed be-
| fore. The old English version rem
dereJ this word as charity" which
todav. of course, is utterly Inadequate
because of the narrow meaning tnat
has become attached to charity.
There were several words for love"
In the cultured Greek speech OF the
time hut that one which Jesus and
paul employed is never found In the
assical Greek authors. This loVe
which he apotheosi1ed Is the WORD
which elsewhere in the New Testament
IA used as a synonym for God. 1t is
a. great outgiving. selfless passion
T. is love without thought of self
interest. 1t is love that serves and
sacrifices. The very word is inter-
Dreted best by Paul's own treatise
| aniafla onOted This