Breviaries.

Paul's Psalm of Love. (1) The Supremacy of Love.

"BUT COVET EARNESTLY THE BEST GIFTS AND YET SHEW I UNTO YOU A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. AND NOW ABIDETH FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY, THESE THREE; BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS CHARITY."-1 Cor. xii. 31. and xiii. 13.

AN analysis of this Psalm of Love-or, as Canon Farrar calls it, "This glorious hymn to Christian Love," may be desirable for the purpose of its continuous and thorough study. It demands such study for practical purposes to-day, for it is emphatically true of this exhortation to Love, as Conybeare says about much else in this Epistle; "Let us not forget to thank God who so inspired His apostle that in his answers to questions of transitory interest he has laid down principles of eternal obligation. Let us trace with gratitude the providence of Him who 'out of darkness calls up light,' by whose mercy it was provided that the unchastity of the Corinthians should occasion the sacred laws of moral purity to be estab lished for ever through the Christian world; that their denial of the resurrection should cause these words to be recorded whereon reposes, as upon a rock that cannot be shaken, our sure and certain hope of immortality." And may we not add that their strife amongst themselves for superiority in the possession of gifts led to this great utterance about the supremacy of love. Paul indicates I.-LOVE'S SUPREMACY OVER ALL THE GIFTS OF THE OUTWARD LIFE. He shows that it is supreme in contrast (1) with the church gifts of "helps, prophesyings, tongues," &c., and in contrast (2) with the personal gifts of almsgiving, martyrdom, &c. Love is supreme over both these two classes of gifts. First: Because the

many may not have these, but all may possess this. Some can never prophesy, or heal, &c., but all may love. Second: Because the possession of outward gifts may exist without the highest life, but where love is, all else is ensured. Where the under root of love is, all these virtues will be developed. Third: Because they are transient, love is eternal. "Knowledge vanishes, troubles cease. IL-LOVE'S SUPREMACY OVER THE CHIEF

GRACES OF THE INWARD LIFE.

What are they? Faith and Hope. They are not disparaged! They are abiding. But Love is their superior. Why? (a) Because they are for ourselves, love is for others. (b) It is the root of the other two. (c) Because neither in faith, nor in hope is entire fruition of heaven, but only in love. EDITOR.

Paul's Psalm of Love. (2) The Indispensableness of Love.

"THOUGH I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN And of AngeLS, AND HAVE NOT CHARITY, I AM BECOME AS SOUNDING BRASS, OR A TINKLING CYMBAL. AND THOUGH I HAVE THE GIFT OF PROPHECY, AND UNDERSTAND ALL MYSTERIES, AND ALL KNOWLEDGE; AND THOUGH I HAVE ALL FAITH, SO THAT I COULD REMOVE MOUNTAINS, AND HAVE NOT CHARITY, I AM NOTHING. AND THOUGH I BESTOW ALL MY GOODS TO FEED THE POOR, AND THOUGH I GIVE MY BODY TO BE BURNED, AND HAVE NOT CHARITY, IT PROFITETH ME NOTHING."-1 Corinthians xiii. 1-3.

THE apostle is here dwelling on a case-real or imaginary it might be, but since it concerns himself, his biography warrants us in saying it was imaginary, a pure hypothesis-in which there is much seeming virtue without love as its mainspring and life. He insists, in view of such a case, on the Indispensableness of Love. We gather L-LOVE IS INDISPENSABLE, THOUGH MANY EXTERNAL VIRTUES MAY SEEM TO EXIST WITHOUT IT. There might be (a) great gifts of speech, "tongues of men and of angels"; (b) great grasp of understanding, "prophecy and knowledge"; (c) great fulness of faith, "all faith so as to remove mountains"; (d) great almsgiving, "bestow all my goods to feed the poor"; (e) great martyr enthusiasm, "give my body to be burned,"-yet with all this if a man has not love he is a spiritual "nothing," a moral "nobody," a nonentity in the great realm of being, where whosoever dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. II.-LOVE IS INDISPENSABLE BECAUSE IT INSPIRES, ENSURES, AND ENERGISES ALL SUCH VIRTUES. The virtues described are desirable. "Covet them." But they are only ensured by Love, and are certain to be found, and to be found in their fulness where Love is. It is

the true inspiration and energiser. Without Love such virtues are (a) Mere sound-a mere piece of metal which when struck will merely produce noise. (b) Mere appearance; "I am nothing"; there is the semblance of moral manhood, but only semblance. (c) Mere abortive effort; "it profiteth me nothing." It is "labour in vain." Whereas not one of these virtues but will in greater or less degree flourish where Love is. For Saint Augustine's great saying, "Love and do what thou wilt," is warranted by Holy Scripture, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."

EDITOR.

Paul's Psalm of Love.

(3) The Features of Love.

"CHARITY SUFFERETH LONG, AND IS KIND; CHARITY ENVIETH NOT; CHARITY VAUNTETH NOT ITSELF, IS NOT PUFFED UP, DOTH NOT BEHAVE ITSELF UNSEEMLY, SEEKETH NOT HER OWN, IS NOT EASILY PROVOKED, THINKETH NO EVIL; REJOICETH NOT IN INIQUITY, BUT REJOICETH IN THE TRUTH; BEARETH ALL THINGS, BELIEVETH ALL THINGS, HOPETH ALL THINGS, ENDURETH ALL THINGS. CHARITY NEVER FAILETH."-1 Cor. xiii. 4-8.

PAUL's eye rests now on the glorious landscape of Love, Paul gazes now into the dear face of Love, and of the features of that landscape, of that face he sings to us in this Psalm. As we listen we learn I.-The features of Love are MANIFOLD. There are some landscapes that are almost tame; some faces not featureless but ordinary, features there, but not marked and vivid. Not so with Love. It is the landscape of Devonshire rather than Lincolnshire; of Switzerland rather than Holland. Read the description here there is no monotony, eye bright, brow clear, lips strong and defiinite. II.-The features of Love are HARMONIOUS. (1) There is the presence of all that could complete character. Patience, kindness, joy, fortitude. "Strength and beauty are in the sanctuary." There is the full diapason of the music of morals here. (2) There is the absence of any element that could be disfigurement or discord. "Envieth not, is not puffed up," &c. III.-The features of love are all BEAUTIFUL. There is not one virtue in this description that is not like a splendid Corinthian column. Nothing deforms the landscape, nothing disfigures the face. Rather every element heightens the loveliness. There is not only a

wealth, but a wealth of the beauties of Love. IV. The features of Love are PERMANENT. "The grass withers, the flowers fade;" even the human face divine" grows old, the brow wrinkled, the eye dim, the mouth weak. The beauty of Love is imperishable. "Love never faileth." The word faileth pictures either a flower whose petals never fall off, or an actor "who is never hissed off the stage, has its part to play on the stage of eternity." This Psalm of Love describes not an abstract picture, but indeed and in truth the personal form of Love as it is in Jesus Christ. "God is Love." Christ is "God manifest in the flesh,"-and, therefore, Incarnate Love. The way to Love is knowledge of The Christ, intercourse with The Christ, fellowship with The Christ, feeding on The Christ, following The Christ. He is the Way to Love, the Truth about Love, the Life of Love. EDITOR.

Grieving the Holy Spirit.

"AND GRIEVE NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD.”—Eph. iv. 30.

SACRED Scripture teaches that God is not impassive, but impressible. I.—IN WHAT WAYS MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD BE GRIEVED? (a) By denying His works. (b) By doubting His word. (c) By resisting His influences. This may occur before conversion; when the soul becomes deeply impressed with Divine truth, is convinced of sin, and righteousness, and judgment, and yet holds back from a full surrender to Christ. It may occur after conversion; when the means of grace are neglected, prayer restrained, secret sins indulged in, backslidings allowed. If we misrepresent the religion of Jesus, become hypocritical and worldly, the Holy Spirit is grieved, our piety injured. II.-WHAT RESULTS ENSUE WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS GRIEVED? (a) He will withhold His smile. (b) He will withdraw His presence.

CLIFTON.

FREDERICK W. BROWN.

Selected Acorns from a Stalwart Oak,

ERNEST RENAN.

"The smallest living acorn is fit to be the parent of oak-trees without end." -Carlyle.

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CHILDLIKENESS AND RESTFULNESS.-"The brain parched by reasoning thirsts for simplicity, like the desert for spring water. The candour of a child, unconscious of its own beauty and seeing God clear as the daylight, is the great revelation of the ideal."

WOMEN AND GOODNESS.-"When reflection has brought us to the last limit of doubt, the spontaneous affirmation of the good and the beautiful which is to be found in the female conscience delights us and settles the question for us. . . . This is why religion is preserved to the world by woman alone."

TRUTH UNFETTERED." The true has great power when it is free; the true endures; the false is ever changing and decays. Thus it is that the

true always rises to the surface and in the end prevails."

LIFE AND DUTY.-"I still believe that life is the most frivolous of things unless it is regarded as one great and constant duty. . . . . Life is only of value by devotion to what is true and good. The aim of a life worth living should be ideal and unselfish."

POLITICS AND PRAYER.- "When the student had finished reading the extract from the debate, the old superior (M. Duclaux) said, 'It is very clear, my lad, that these men do not say their orisons.' What a light is let in upon many points by the fact that M. Clémenceau does not probably say his orisons."

the experience derived I feel that in reality my

FERTILITY OF FAITH.- "I know what faith is from the days of old is very precious to me. existence is still governed by a faith which I no longer possess, for one of the peculiarities of faith is that its action does not cease with its disappearance. . . . . After Orpheus, when he had lost his ideal, was torn to pieces by the Thracian women, his lyre still repeated Eurydice's name."

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TRIFLING WITH TRUTH.-"No attenuation of the dogmas of Scripture was allowed at St. Sulpice. . . . . They never thought that the dogma had any need to be toned down, veiled, or dressed up to suit the taste of modern France. . . . . The conversions of this kind do not make Christians. There is nothing so mischievous as the vague; it is even worse than what is false."

SELF-ANNIHILATION.-"He felt that he had been highly gifted in an infinite capacity for loving, and then he set to work, in a sort of blind fury, to annihilate himself. It seemed as if he discerned Satan in those graces which God had so liberally bestowed upon him. . . . . He was like a shell within which a puny evil genius was ever busy in crushing the inner pearl." THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BRISTOL. T. BROUGHTON KNIGHT.