Vers. 2, 3.-Man-worth. "Though I have the gift of prophecy," etc. 1. The greatest thing in the universe is m1:nd. All material systems would lack completeness and meaning were there no mind to observe, study, and worship the great Invisible. 2. The greatest thing in mind is love. Here the apost.le teaches that whatever a human intelligence may be, if it is destitute of love it is nothing. What is this love without which humanity is nothing? It is not the gregarious sentiment which links us to and gives us an interest iu our species. This is an instiuct common to animal existence. Vve regard this element as a blessing, not a virtue. Nor is it theological love-the affection which one has for his own faith and sect, but which will look coldly antl hardly on ail besides. This is a demon working under the mask of an angel. It reduces the gospel to a dogma and man to a bigot. Nor is it sacerdotal love-the love which speaks from ecclesiastical chairs, consecrated altars and seats of political power, but whispers no accents of sympathy for the physical aod social woes of the race. We call this priestly selfishoess, not manly lol"e. What, then, is love? We may describe it-for we cannot defioe it-as a generous moral sympathy for the race spri11y- i11g from love to the Creator. This is, in fact, the love that only can confer real worth on humanity. We observe-- I. That man without this love is nothing spiritually in relation to NATURE. ,ve say spiritually; for we assume, of course, that the spiritual is the man. \V hatcver ,loes not minister to this, does not minister to him. Nature has three kinds of pleasure le, imP9-rt-the sensuous, the iotellectual, and spiritual. The last is the highest io the scale, and arises from a warm and living sympathy with the being, cliaracter, and purpose of the Creator of all. It is nature looked at through the heart, through the self. It is not sensation, but inspiration; not philosophy, but poetry; not the letter of a science, but the spirit of life. These are the highest joys of oaturc and the ooly real joys for man as man. To impart these is nature's highest function. llut are th,•y not coofincd entirely to the children of love? As nature would be nothing to the bo,ly of a. man were his senses sealed up, and nothing to the intellect of o. man whose reflective faculty was paralyzed, so it is nothing to the soul of a man who has nut a loving heart. To the sensuo.l nature is gratificat-ion, to the thinker it is theory, to the loving it b hectven. True it is, then, that without love "I am nothiog" io relation to the spiritual enjoymeot of nature. II. '!'hat man without this love is nothing spiritually in relation to the raovrnENCE THAT 1s OVER us. If I have not love, I am nothing to provideuce. It ministers no •real good to me as a spiritual existent-as a man. As the mortally disease,l must sa_v, "I am nothing to the health-giving economy of nature," so the unloving may truly say, "I am nothing in relation to the spiritual blessiogs of providence." llut love in the heart makes providence a minister for good, and for good only. Like the bee, it trans- mutes the bitterest fruit into honey. "All things work together for good." III. That man without this love is nothiog spiritually in relation to CHRISTIANITY. Love alone can interpret love. Christianity is a revelation of love, and none but tho loving can rise to its meaning. Theology is one thing, Christianity is another, the one is a "letter," the other is a "spirit." Love is the single eye of the soul, and it fills the whole body with the ligl;it of life. Still more that which reuders us incapable of entering into its meaning, nufits at the same time from applying its provisions. It is a system of great and precious promises. Ilut of all the sons of the earth is there oue 4:28 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [en. xm. 1-13.
who, nninspired with love, <lare apply a single promiHe? They are for the children ot love, and them only. Without love, then, I am nothin .. in relation to Christianity. IV. 'l'hat man without this love is nothing spiiitually ii relatiou to the coMMtJNI'l'Y OP THE GOOD. There is a great social system in the universe-a city, a Church, -a family. There are myriad~ of bc)ngs who mingle together as citizens, fvllow- rnembers of one Church, a family. ,v herever they exist they have the same boud of union, the same conditjon ~f frieudship, the same principle of inspiration, and the same standard of worth. What 1s that? ln the great community of the good love is every- .thing. "If I have not love, I am nothing to this community. Tl\on art learned, but -though thou shouldst speak with the tongues of men and of all,gels, and have not charity, thou art as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Thou a~·t "ifted; prophet.ic genius is thine; thou art conversant with the arcana of science: tho~ hast faith too, orthodox, Yigorons, and ea._rnest; but though thou hast the "gift of prophecy," and understande,t "all mysteries and all knowledge," and thongh "thou hast all faith, so that thou couldst remove mountains, and hast not love, thou art nothing." Thou art liberal; but" though thou bestowest all thy goods to feed the poor, and though thou givest thy body to be burned, and hast not charity, it profiteth thee nothing." (Extracted from Homilist, vol. viii. p. 433.)