The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 578

XXIII.

The

Greatest of These Is Love. "The I

gp-eatest of these is

Cor.

Love."—

xiii. 13.

That the shedding abroad of Love and the glowing of its fire through the heart is the eternal work of the Holy Spirit, is stated by no one so pithily as by St. Paul in the closing verse of his hymn Faith, Hope, and Love are God's most precious gifts, of Love. but Love far surpasses the others in preciousness. Compared with Hope, and Love stand highest, but of these All spiritual gifts are precious, and with holy jealousy the apostle covets them, especially the gift of prophesying; but, among the various paths of obtaining spiritual gifts, he all

heavenly

three Love

gifts. Faith,

the greatest.

is

knows a way

still

more

We know that some teenth verse life faith

;

but with

and hope,

excellent, viz., the royal road of Love.

deny us the right thus little effect.

mean

If faith is

we

and especially

of St. Paul's course of

In his Epistle to the Corinthians, he opposes faith to

sight, saying, "

not

to interpret the thir-

assert that in the heavenly

like Love, will abide forever, opposes the gen-

eral teaching of the Scripture,

reasoning.

To

We

walk by

faith,

not by sight"; wherefore he can

when turned into sight. how can it continue when

that after all faith shall continue

the evidence of things not seen,

How

shall see face to face?

is it

possible to maintain that St.

Paul represents faith as an eternal gift when in the twelfth verse he says, " Then we shall know even as we are known " ? And he makes the same representation with reference to hope, " For we is no hope, for viii. 24). (Rom. what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for?" and abiding as represented Wherefore faith and hope can not be hope nor faith Neither enduring elements in our spiritual treasure.

are saved by hope," adding,

"

Hope which

is

seen

belongs to the inheritance bequeathed to us by testament. They are springs of spiritual life and joy to us now, because we do not yet possess the inheritance

;

but when once the inheritance

is

ours,

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