The Tupelo journal., 1909-08-27
Paul on
Christian Love
Sunday School Lesson for August 2s. 1909
Specially Arranged for This Paper

LESSON TEXT Cor. 1S:1-1s. Mem
DRY verse 8.
GOLDEN TExT.-"And now abideth
faith, hope, love, these three; but the
greatest of these is love."-1 Co. 1913.
TIME.-The First Epistle to the Cor
inthians was written from Ephesus In
the spring of A. d. 81.
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
l. Love Completes All Virtues, and
Makes Perfect All the Good Things OF
Life.-Vs. 1-3. First. Eloquence, unin-
spired by real love, not seeking the
highest good of the nearer, is but
sounding brass, or a tinkling GYM
ball." mere noise without harmony,
without meaning, without the soul of
music. This is true even if we had
the gift of tongues bestowed by the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Second. knowledge is powerless to
build up character and the Christian
life, unless it is guided and filled with
love.
Third. Faith. g.. "And though !
have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains as promised in Matt.
1920; 21:21, the mightiest and most
enduring faith. One may have the
most strenuous faith in the facts and
doctrines of Christianity, without the
faith that moves and touches the
heart, faith that knows but does not
obey. And have not charity" He
does not assert that n can have
these things without love, but says if
he could: 81 am nothing" A moral
cipher, without any moral worth or
significance; weighed in the balance
and found wanting.
Fourth. Almsgiving. 8. And
though l bestow all my goods to feed
the poor" AS the Pharisees gave
aims and Ananias sold his property
from unworthy motives, without love;
while Barnabas and many others sold
theirs from love, and Jesus babe the
rich young man do the same, as an
expression of love and faith.
Fifth. Martyrdom. And though l
give my body to be burned" From
unworthy motives, from pride, for a
desire for honor or glory. There are
prosecuted Upon whom Jesus pro-
his highest blessing Matt.
5:1O-12), but they are prosecuted for
righteousness sake" Yet even of
these things, when done without love,
it must be said, lit profiteth me moth
ing" There is no virtue in it to be
rewarded. 1t does not improve the
character nor aid the cause.
II. The Spectrum of Love. The
Qualities Which Are Combined in Per-
feet Love.-Vs. At. The absolute i'm.
p~ortance of love, as an essential part
of all virtues and actions, has been
shown in the first three verses.
Our next duty is to learn what love
is. Like life, love cannot be defined,
but it can be described and recognized
by what it does, by it's fruits, by the
expression of it's qualities. 1t is like
life. The greatest scientists cannot
tell what it is in it's essence, but only
describe it by qualities and results.
All the qualities together do not make
life or love. The elements which COM
pose a mans body are all placed in
bottles, in their due proportions, in
the South Kensington museum, but
they do not form a mans body. Men
do not eat phosphorus, albumen, silica,
and the various chemical ingredients
of flesh and bone; they eat bread"
First Ingredient. Patience. a. Char
ity (love) suffereth long" Is patient
with the faults and provocations of
others, never weary of well doing"
Second Ingredient. Kindness. And
is kind" Kindness is love working,
love in action, doing "as many kind
things to as many people as possible.
Third Ingredient. Generosity.
Charity envieth not" Selfishness,
the opposite of love, is the soil in
which envy grows.
Fourth Ingredient. Humility. Char
ity ~vaunteth not ITSELF" does not
sound the praises of it's w deeds,
nor proclaim it's virtues with a
trumpet. rs not pulled up" With
self-conceit, as a soap bubble, large in
size, but mostly wind.
Fifth Ingredient. Courtesy. 5.
Doth not behave itself unseemly."
Almost all unseemly conduct flows
from pride and selfshness.
Sixth Ingredient. UnSelfiShnesS.
"Seeketh not her own" Is not look
ing out for self first of all. 1t seeks
to give more than to receive.
Seventh Ingredient. Good Temper.
"Is not easily provoked" 1t does not
lose it's temper. The popularity of i'll
temper is that it is the vice of the
virtuous. 1t is often the one blot on
an otherwise noble character. No
form of vice is more base; not world
Illness, not greed of gold, not drunken
ness itself, does more to un-Christian-
ize society than evil temper.
Eighth ingredient. Guilelessness.
"Thinketh no evil" Love puts the
best construction upon the acts of
others, instead of the worst, as
many do.
Ninth Ingredient. Sincerity. 6.
sRejoiceth not in iniquity." Is not
glad when others sin, hates to report
the weaknesses and faults of others,
refuses to e good by depreciating
others. "Rejoiceth in the truth" Bet
ter as r. ", "rejoiceth with the truth"
is in sympathy with all that is true,
rejoiceth whenever it can find a vir-
tue or good deed in others, joys in the
triumph of virtue.
1t "beareth all things" The Greek
means to protect, as a shield protects
a soldier, or the sides of a ship pro-
tect it against the thrush of the "mul-
titudinous Seas," or walls and battle