THE CONTRAST
PAUL begins by contrasting Love with other
things that men in those days thought much of. I shall not attempt to go over
those things in detail. Their inferiority is already obvious.
He contrasts it with eloquence. And what a noble
gift it is, the power of playing upon the souls and wills of men, and rousing
them to lofty purposes and holy deeds. Paul says, "If I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal." And we all know why. We have all felt the brazenness of words
without emotion, the hollowness, the unaccountable unpersuasiveness, of
eloquence behind which lies no Love.
He contrasts it with prophecy. He contrasts it
with mysteries. He contrasts it with faith. He contrasts it with charity. Why
is Love greater than faith? Because the end is greater than the means. And why
is it greater than charity? Because the whole is greater than the part. Love is
greater than faith, because the end is greater than the means. What is the use
of having faith? It is to connect the soul with God. And what is the object of
connecting man with God? That he may become like God. But God is Love. Hence
Faith, the means, is in order to Love, the end. Love, therefore, obviously is
greater than faith. It is greater than charity, again, because the whole is
greater than a part. Charity is only a little bit of Love, one of the
innumerable avenues of Love, and there may even be, and there is, a great deal
of charity without Love. It is a very easy thing to toss a copper to a beggar
on the street; it is generally an easier thing than not to do it. Yet Love is
just as often in the withholding. We purchase relief from the sympathetic
feelings roused by the spectacle of misery, at the copper's cost. It is too
cheap--too cheap for us, and often too dear for the beggar. If we really loved
him we would either do more for him, or less.
Then Paul contrasts it with sacrifice and
martyrdom. And I beg the little band of would-be missionaries and I have the
honour to call some of you by this name for the first time--to remember that
though you give your bodies to be burned, and have not Love, it profits
nothing--nothing! You can take nothing greater to the heathen world than the
impress and reflection of the Love of God upon your own character. That is the
universal language. It will take you years to speak in Chinese, or in the
dialects of India. From the day you land, that language of Love, understood by
all, will be pouring forth its unconscious eloquence. It is the man who is the
missionary, it is not his words. His character is his message. In the heart of
Africa, among the great Lakes, I have come across black men and women who
remembered the only white man they ever saw before--David Livingstone; and as
you cross his footsteps in that dark continent, men's faces light up as they
speak of the kind Doctor who passed there years ago. They could not understand
him; but they felt the Love that beat in his heart. Take into your new sphere
of labour, where you also mean to lay down your life, that simple charm, and
your lifework must succeed. You can take nothing greater, you need take nothing
less. It is-not worth while going if you take anything less. You may take every
accomplishment; you may be braced for every sacrifice; but if you give your
body to be burned, and have not Love, it will profit you and the cause of
Christ nothing.