There is, perhaps, no test of character more decisive than this: in what is the chief pleasure of life placed? Where is satisfaction of the soul? Whence does joy proceed? If Christianity is indeed a revolutionary religion, it will effect a change here - in this vital respect. Even in St. Paul's time, it appeared that with Christianity a new force - the force of love - had been introduced into humanity, a force able to direct human delight into another and purer and nobler channel than that in which it had been wont to flow.

I. JOY NO LONGER FLOWS FROM THE PRESENCE AND PREVALENCE OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. It seems to attribute a fiendish spirit to human beings to suppose that they can anywhere and at any time be found to rejoice in wrong doing and unrighteousness. Yet it is, alas! possible for sinful men to take a malignant pleasure in the prevalence of sin; for it is the proof of the power of the moral forces with which they have allied themselves, of the victory of their own party. The iniquity of others serves to support and justify their own iniquity. And it must be borne in mind that there are cases in which designing men profit by deeds of unrighteousness, take the very wages of iniquity. Against such dispositions Christian love must needs set itself; for when iniquities prevail, happiness and hope take wings and fly away.

II. JOY FLOWS TO THE CHRISTIAN HEART FROM THE PROGRESS OF TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. Truth is the intellectual side of righteousness, and righteousness the moral side of truth. There is, accordingly, a real antithesis between the two clauses of the text.

1. This joy is akin to the joy of God. The Father rejoices over the repenting and recovered child, the Shepherd over the restored, once wandering, sheep. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And they who themselves are enjoying peace and fellowship with a reconciled God cannot but participate in the satisfaction with which that holy Being views the progress of truth and religion among men.

2. It is sympathetic with the gladness of the Saviour in the accomplishment of his gracious purposes. As Christ sees of the travail of his soul, he is satisfied; for the joy set before him, i.e. in the salvation of men, he endured the cross. And all who owe salvation to what Jesus did and suffered for man must needs experience a thrill of gratification when a rebel is changed into a subject by the grace of God.

3. It springs from the triumph of that cause which of all on earth is the greatest and most glorious. Every noble soul finds satisfaction in witnessing the advance of truth from the dim dawn towards the full meridian day for which he, in common with all God's people in every age, is ever toiling, hoping, and praying. - T.

I. INIQUITY expresses unevenness or inequality — a want of rectitude or moral principle. In its largest comprehension, as here used by St. Paul, it is the great falsehood brought in by the father of lies, antagonising the goodness of the Creator, and working infinite evil to His creatures. Warring against the love of God, it tends to subvert His authority and spread disorder and anarchy throughout His empire. How, then, can charity rejoice in iniquity? Desiring the welfare of an intelligent universe, how can she rejoice in that which must result only in wretchedness and ruin?

II. THE TRUTH is the exact opposite of iniquity, and therefore the legitimate object of charity's rejoicing. it indicates that which is fixed, settled, solid, certain, constant, according to fact or reality, to be confidently believed and relied upon. The truth by pre-eminence is God's gracious revelation to man contained in His written Word. The truth in human practice and human character is conformity of heart and life to the principles and requirements of that revelation.

(J. Cross, D.D.)

I. IT HAS NO PLEASURE IN SIN.

1. In the commission of it.

2. In the contemplation of it in others.

3. In the sufferings it occasions.

II. ITS JOY IS IN THE TRUTH (righteousness).

1. In the practice of it.

2. In the triumph of it.

3. The effects of it.

(J. Lyth, D.D.)

Some are never content till they have arrested somebody's career of usefulness or honourable success, or cast a blight over some unblemished reputation, or marred the peace of stone harmonious family, or inflicted a wound upon some unsuspecting heart. For these ends they pry into your business matters, your social relations, your domestic concerns, the sacred privacy of your chambers, with a diligence worthy of the highest virtue, and an impertinence not unworthy of the lowest vice. They whisper a scandalous surmise, and enjoin the strictest secrecy, well knowing that they are giving it to every bird of the air, and sowing it broadcast on the winds of heaven. With a baseness of which Satan himself might be ashamed, they write an anonymous letter, rank with the poison of false kindness; making the postmaster an unconscious partner in their despicable enterprise, and converting the ever-welcome letter-carrier at your door into a messenger of hell. In their cowardly ambuscade they sit concealed, and by proxy play their masked batteries upon their victim, who knows not whither "to turn, nor which way to escape, nor whose the hand that wounds him. With what a fiendish satisfaction do they enjoy the mischief they have done! with what an under-chuckle of infernal glee watch the writhings of the anguish they have caused. The Comanche is more humane in his warfare; the rattlesnake is more honourable in its attack. Such a one could laugh at chains, dance in dungeons, jest over guillotines, amuse himself with inquisitorial engines, enjoy his orgies on battle-fields reeking with blood, and with his boon companions — as my own eyes have seen — make a gambling-table of his brother's grave! He could trifle at the death-bed of a Paine or a Voltaire, frolic merrily around the Saviour's Cross, and find his sweetest music in the dirge of ruined souls.

(J. Cross, D.D.)

Erasmus tells of one who collected all the lame and defective verses in Homer's works, but passed over all that were excellent. So these, if they can spy anything defective and evil, they observe it, and gather all they can together, but will take no notice of that which is good and praiseworthy; like the kite who flies over the fair meadows and flowers, and lights only upon the carrion, or like flies that love only to be upon the sore, galled places of the horse's back.

(Jeremiah Burroughs.)

The gospel is the truth of God because it is the absolute wisdom, the Divine philosophy, of which all the efforts of the human intellect, and all the partial lights that had broken from heaven, were but the dawn (cf. Galatians 2:5; Ephesians 1:13; 3 John 1:3; all an echo of John 14:6). This revelation of God bursts upon man with the fulness of joy. The Son of Man Himself has been anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, and He appoints also unto the mourner beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Abraham saw the day of Christ and was glad. The gladness of the early Church attracted the notice of the historian (Acts 2:46). We may conjecture that it was her joy that created song and broke forth even in ecstatic utterance. Who is not struck with the profound sadness of the later paganism of Greece and Rome? A Christian apostle alone can address to his readers without irony the exhortation to "rejoice evermore." In this hymn to love St. Paul personifies the gospel, and represents it as rejoicing. The truth rejoices in its power to create love; for as says, "the victory of truth is love." Then love created by the truth rejoices in the loveliness of the truth and rejoices with the truth in its love creating energy. It is the joy of the shepherd when he has found the lost sheep; the joy of the father when the prodigial has returned; of holy angels and of God over one sinner that repenteth.

(Principal Edwards.)

Charity does not only rejoice in the possession of truth, for that would be selfishness, but rejoices with it whenever she finds it in others. Possessing the whole truth herself, and yet being too humble and too loving to be arrogant in the possession of it, she rejoices as a part of herself, as it were very grains of truth in masses of error, by attracting them to herself by the truth which they hold, or seem to hold, or that remnant of a righteousness, which is, or seems to be, still left in them: remnants of righteousness even in the life of the unrighteous. Just as a magnet draws to itself grains of true metals out of a mass of sand, so she draws others to the whole truth.

(J. B. Wilkinson, B.A.)

Negatively, the apostle declares that charity is opposed to all wickedness, or evil practice; and, positively, that it tends to all righteousness, or holy practice.

I. SOME ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF THE DOCTRINE.

1. Holy practice is the aim of that eternal election which is the first ground of the bestowment of all true grace (Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 2:10; John 15:16).

2. That redemption, by which grace is purchased, is to the same end (John 17:19; Colossians 1:21, 22; Titus 2:14).

3. That saving conversion in which grace is commenced in the soul is to the same end (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:7).

4. That spiritual knowledge and understanding, which are the inward attendants of all true grace in the heart, tend to holy practice.

5. From the more immediate consideration of the principle of grace itself, from which the same will be seen. And here —(1) Because the faculty which is the immediate seat of it is the faculty of the will, which is the faculty that commands all a man's actions and practice. The will is the fountain of the practice, as truly as the head of a spring is the fountain of the stream that flows from it.(2) It is the definition of grace, that it is a principle of holy action. What is grace but a principle of holiness in the heart? And if grace be a principle, what is it a principle of, but of action?(3) The nature of a principle of grace is to be a vital principle.(4) Grace is an exceedingly powerful principle (2 Timothy 3:5).

II. THE TRUTH OF THE DOCTRINE WITH RESPECT TO THE PARTICULAR CHRISTIAN GRACES. This is the case —

1. With respect to a true and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:6; James 2:18).(1) The conviction of the understanding and judgment, which is implied in saving faith, tends to holy practice. If men are really convinced of the truth of the things they are told in the gospel, about salvation and an eternal world, it will act in such a manner as will tend to their obtaining this salvation.(2) So does that act of the will which there is in saving faith. He that, by the act of his will, does truly accept of Christ as a Saviour, accepts of Him as a Saviour from sin, and not merely from the punishment of sin.(3) So does all true trust in God. And herein a true trust differs from all false trust. A trust in God in the way of negligence, is what in Scripture is called tempting God; and a trust in Him in the way of sin, is what is called presumption, which is a thing terribly threatened in His Word. But he that truly and rightly trusts in God, trusts in Him in the way of diligence and holiness.

2. All true love to God. Love to our fellow-creatures always influences us in our actions. He that loves money is influenced in his practice by that love, and kept by it in the continual pursuit of wealth. And so he that truly loves God is also influenced by that love in his practice.

3. All true repentance. In the original, the word signifies a change of the mind; and men are said to repent of sin when they change their minds with respect to it.

4. All true humility. He that is sensible of his own unworthiness, will be disposed, by a sense of it, to carry himself accordingly both before God and man.

5. All true fear of God. which is a holy solicitude or dread lest we should offend God by sinning against Him.

6. The spirit of thankfulness, and praise, which leads us to render again according to the benefits received.

7. Christian weanedness from the world, and heavenly-mindedness.

8. The spirit of Christian love to men. If the spirit of love to man be sincere, it will tend to the practice and deeds of love (Romans 13:9, 10).

9. A true and gracious hope. A false hope tends to licentiousness — to encourage men in their sinful desires and lusts, and to flatter and embolden them even when they are in the way of evil. But a true hope tends to stir men up to holiness of life, to awaken them to duty, and to make them more careful to avoid sin, and more diligent in serving God (1 John 3:3).Conclusion:

1. We may see one main reason why Christian practice and good works are so abundantly insisted on in the Scriptures as an evidence of sincerity in grace (Matthew 7:16-20; John 14:21-24; Ephesians 5:6, 6).

2. In view of this subject, let all examine themselves, whether their grace is real and sincere.(1) Has your supposed grace such influence as to render those things in which you have failed of holy practice, loathsome, grievous and humbling to you?(2) Do you carry about with you, habitually a dread of sin (Genesis 39:9)?(3) Are you sensible of the beauty and pleasantness of the ways of holy practice?(4) Do you find that you do particularly esteem and delight in those practices that may, by way of eminence, be called Christian practices, in distinction from mere worldly morality?(5) Do you hunger and thirst after a holy practice?(6) Do you make a business of endeavouring to live holily, and as God would have you, in all respects?(7) Do you greatly desire that you may know all that is your duty?

(Jon. Edwards.)

There is a bold double personification — Charity is one person; Truth is another. Truth is rejoicing, and charity, or Christian love, rejoices with her. Truth is by definition reality, or the thing that is; and for St. Paul the sum of all reality, the embodiment of all that is, the revelation of God in Christ. Moral truth, intellectual truth, all meet and harmonise in truth revealed. There is nothing in nature, there is nothing in thought, there is nothing in virtue outside and apart from Him who calls Himself in so many words " the Way, the Truth, and the Life." "Charity rejoiceth not at iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth." It is not needful to dwell at any length on the negative statement, "Charity rejoiceth not at iniquity." It can be no charity to take pleasure in unrighteousness. St. Paul makes it the very climax of wickedness to do so. But there are, at least, two cautions on this subject which ought never to be left unspoken. Records of crime solemnly judged, and terribly punished, if in any sense capable of corrupting us, carry with them their formidable lessons of consequence and of retribution. Even these, in all journals fit for circulation, are records not of offensive particulars, but of reserved and reticent generalities. What shall we say, then, of fictitious narratives of vice, vulgar or fashionable, of tales of which the very point of interest lies in their immorality, of novels presupposing and taking for granted a state of opinion in which profligacy is the rule, and virtue is the exception, in which modesty is made silly and ridiculous, and vice interesting, heroic, and charitable? Can any reprobation be too strong for the writers of such fiction, or any prohibition be too positive of its tolerance in Christian homes? The second caution needs to be spoken. Take heed how ye hear, and how ye read, in what spirit you look upon the crimes and vices of the sinful, what mind and heart you bring to the contemplation, whether it be the "considering thyself lest thou also be tempted," or the proud feeling which thanks God that he (the beholder) is not as other men are; whether it be the wicked sympathy which gloats over the sin, or the Christian which bewails and weeps over the sinner. "Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth." Other texts tell, as we have seen, of the struggles and hardships here below, of the truth which is the gospel. This one passage, perhaps almost alone tells of its joys. Then truth sometimes rejoices. It is a delightful thought. Let us give it room. Have we seen no triumphs of the gospel? By the nature of the ease they will come, on different evidence than that by which the victories of earthly conquerors are decided. There will be no assaults, no bombardments, no smoking ruins, and no blood-stained battle-fields to show where the gospel has taken an onward step towards that universal reign which is not the dream nor the vision, but the sure word of prophecy for the Christian. And yet the gospel triumphs have not been few. Traceable directly to the influence, slow, but sure, of Christian principles — of principles which had no place and no existence until Christ died — there have been such results as these: the elevation of women; the emancipation of the slave; the higher conception of the sanctity of life, whether shown in the diminution and greater mercifulness of war, or shown in the mitigation of a Draconic statute-book; the amelioration of the lot of the pauper, the lunatic, the prisoner, and the captive; the institution of hospitals for every form of disease, and associations for every enterprise of benevolence; the advance, let none gainsay it, of public opinion in its estimate of honour, humanity, and virtue; the improvement of habits, domestic and national; and the gracious and generous sacrifices by which education has become the enthusiasm of senate and people — its promotion recognised as a primary duty; its condition made a very test of a standing or falling State. Surely all these things, and a thousand others not included in that enumeration, show that the truth has rejoiced, and charity has rejoiced with her. But it is, no doubt, in her more through and more secret workings that the words of the text are more strikingly justified. It is but a tentative and distant approach that we can make to St. Paul's feeling, while we speak only of the triumphs of the gospel in a wide field and on a large scale. It is in the individual life that truth exercises the most salutary and saving of her influences. It is there that the light is kindled that is to shine before men to the Father's glory. Oh! it is not by magnificent attempts of a feeble or shallow conviction, aiming at great things in proportion to its neglect of the smaller, that the real cause of the real gospel is promoted, and made honourable.

(Dean Vaughan.)

Corinthians, PaulCorinthDelight, Doesn't, Evil, Finds, Iniquity, Injustice, Joy, Joyfully, Pleasure, Rejoice, Rejoices, Rejoiceth, Sides, Takes, Truth, Unrighteousness, Wrong, Wrongdoing1. All gifts,
3. however excellent, are of no worth without love.
4. The praises thereof,
13. as love is greatest before hope and faith.

1 Corinthians 13:6

     1462   truth, in NT
     5691   friends, good
     5830   delight

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

     3209   Holy Spirit, and love
     5765   attitudes, to people

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

     8773   jealousy

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

     8296   love, nature of

1 Corinthians 13:6-7

     8330   receptiveness

What Lasts
'Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three....'--1 COR. xiii. 8, 13. We discern the run of the Apostle's thought best by thus omitting the intervening verses and connecting these two. The part omitted is but a buttress of what has been stated in the former of our two verses; and when we thus unite them there is disclosed plainly the Apostle's intention …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Great Duty of Charity Recommended
1 Corinthians 13:8, "Charity never faileth." Nothing is more valuable and commendable, and yet, not one duty is less practiced, than that of charity. We often pretend concern and pity for the misery and distress of our fellow-creatures, but yet we seldom commiserate their condition so much as to relieve them according to our abilities; but unless we assist them with what they may stand in need of, for the body, as well as for the soul, all our wishes are no more than words of no value or regard, …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The Future State a Self-Conscious State.
1 Cor. xiii. 12.--"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The apostle Paul made this remark with reference to the blessedness of the Christian in eternity. Such assertions are frequent in the Scriptures. This same apostle, whose soul was so constantly dilated with the expectation of the beatific vision, assures the Corinthians, in another passage in this epistle, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Now, and Then
There are some things which we count very precious now, which will soon be of no value to us whatever. There are some things that we know or think we know, and we pride ourselves a good deal upon our knowledge; but when we shall become men we shall set no more value upon that knowledge than a child does upon his toys when he grows up to be a man. Our spiritual manhood in heaven will discard many things which we now count precious, as a full grown man discards the treasures of his childhood. And there …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Love's Labours
What does this teach us at the outset, but that a salvation which leads to this must be of God, and must be wrought in us by his power? Such a comely grace can never grow out of our fallen nature. Shall such a clean thing as this be brought out of an unclean? This glorious salvation unto pure love must be grasped by faith, and wrought in us by the operation of the Spirit of God. If we consider salvation to be a little thing, we bring it, as it were, within the sphere of human possibility, but if …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881

1 Corinthians xiii. 11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Taking the Apostle's words literally, it might appear that no words in the whole range of Scripture were less applicable to the circumstances of this particular congregation: for they speak of childhood and of manhood; and as all of us have passed the one, so a very large proportion of us have not yet arrived at the other. But when we consider the passage …
Thomas Arnold—The Christian Life

The Greatest Thing in the World And Other Addresses
THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD AND OTHER ADDRESSES BY HENRY DRUMMOND (LONDON - HODDER & STOUGHTON LTD) Undated Edition c1920, 390,000 prior copies. First Published c1880. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as a 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 LOVE …
Henry Drummond—The Greatest Thing in the World And Other Addresses

Drummond -- the Greatest Thing in the World
Henry Drummond, author and evangelist, was born at Stirling, Scotland, in 1851. His book, "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," caused much discussion and is still widely read. His "Ascent of Man" is regarded by many as his greatest work. The address reprinted here has appeared in hundreds of editions, and has been an inspiration to thousands of peoples all over the world. There is an interesting biography of Drummond by Professor George Adam Smith, his close friend and colaborer. He died in 1897. …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10

Charity.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.--1 COR. xiii. 13. It must be a precious thing to be greater than faith, and greater than hope--it must, indeed, be precious!--and, just in proportion as things are valuable and precious amongst men, so much trouble and risk will human speculators take to counterfeit them. I suppose that in no department of roguery in this roguish world, has there been more time and ingenuity expended, than in making counterfeit …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Charity and Rebuke.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.--1 COR. xiii. 13. The second main point of difference between a true and a false Charity, we want to remark, is, Divine Charity is not only consistent with, but it very often necessitates, reproof and rebuke by its possessor. It renders it incumbent on those who possess it to reprove and rebuke whatever is evil--whatever does not tend to the highest interests of its object. This Charity conforms in this, as …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Charity and Conflict.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.--1 COR. xiii. 13. Another characteristic of this Divine Charity is, that it OFTEN INVOLVES CONFLICT. It was so with our Lord. He was the very personification of it. He was love itself, and grace and truth poured from His lips incessantly. His blessed feet went about doing good, and His hands ministering to the necessities and happiness of His creatures, yet His whole course through this degenerate world was one …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Charity and Loneliness.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.-I COR. xiii. 13. The possession of this Divine Charity often necessitates walking in a lonely path. Not merely in opposition and persecution, but alone in it, and here, again, Jesus, who was the personification of Divine lore, stands out as our great example. He was emphatically alone, and of the people there was none with Him. Even the disciples whom He had drawn nearest to Him, and to whom He had tried …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Revival in the Home
Thousands of years ago, in the most beautiful Garden the world has ever known, lived a man and a woman. Formed in the likeness of their Creator, they lived solely to reveal Him to His creation and to each other and thus to glorify Him every moment of the day. Humbly they accepted the position of a creature with the Creator--that of complete submission and yieldedness to His will. Because they always submitted their wills to His, because they lived for Him and not for themselves, they were also completely …
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

A Word to Workers
Some time ago I read this expression in an old author: --"The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to ask of God that all that he wants done in his hearers should first be truly and fully done in himself." These words have stuck to me ever since. What a solemn application this is to the subject that occupied our attention in previous chapters--the living and working under the fullness of the Holy Spirit! And yet, if we understand our calling aright, every one of us will have to say, That is the one …
Andrew Murray—The Deeper Christian Life

The Greatest of These is Love.
"The greatest of these is Love."-- 1 Cor. 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 of Love. Faith, Hope, and Love are God's most precious gifts; but Love far surpasses the others in preciousness. Compared with all heavenly gifts, Faith, Hope, and Love stand highest, but of these three Love is the greatest. All spiritual gifts are precious, …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Christ or Satan.
"But the greatest of these is Love." --1 Cor. xiii. 13. However fearful the Scripture's revelation of the hardening of heart, yet it is the only price at which the Almighty offers man the blessed promise of Love's infinite wealth. Light without shadow is inconceivable; and the purer and the more brilliant the light, the darker and the more distinctly delineated the shadows must be. In like manner, faith is inconceivable without the opposite of doubt; hope without the distressful tension of despair; …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Whence the Greatness of this Service, unto the Undertaking of which we have According...
31. Whence the greatness of this service, [2101] unto the undertaking of which we have according to our strength exhorted, the more excellent and divine it is, the more doth it warn our anxiety, to say something not only concerning most glorious chastity, but also concerning safest humility. When then such as make profession of perpetual chastity, comparing themselves with married persons, shall have discovered, that, according to the Scriptures, the others are below both in work and wages, both …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

The Climax of Ecclesiastes' Exercises Seems to have Been Reached in the Previous Chapter. ...
The climax of Ecclesiastes' exercises seems to have been reached in the previous chapter. The passionate storm is over, and now his thoughts ripple quietly along in proverb and wise saying. It is as if he said "I was altogether beyond my depth. Now I will confine myself only to the present life, without touching on the things unseen, and here I can pronounce with assurance the conclusion of wisdom, and sum up both its advantages and yet inadequacy." The proverbs that follow are apparently disjointed, …
F. C. Jennings—Old Groans and New Songs

But if Moreover any not Having Charity, which Pertaineth to the Unity of Spirit...
23. But if moreover any not having charity, which pertaineth to the unity of spirit and the bond of peace whereby the Catholic Church is gathered and knit together, being involved in any schism, doth, that he may not deny Christ, suffer tribulations, straits, hunger, nakedness, persecution, perils, prisons, bonds, torments, swords, or flames, or wild beasts, or the very cross, through fear of hell and everlasting fire; in nowise is all this to be blamed, nay rather this also is a patience meet to …
St. Augustine—On Patience

Wherefore it Now Remains to Consider, in what Manner we Ought not to Follow...
25. Wherefore it now remains to consider, in what manner we ought not to follow these, who profess that they will lead by reason. For how we may without fault follow those who bid us to believe, hath been already said: but unto these who make promises of reason certain think that they come, not only without blame, but also with some praise: but it is not so. For there are two (classes of) persons, praiseworthy in religion; one of those who have already found, whom also we must needs judge most blessed; …
St. Augustine—On the Profit of Believing.

The Christian Graces. --1 Cor. xiii. 13
The Christian Graces.--1 Cor. xiii. 13. Faith, Hope, and Charity,--these three, Yet is the greatest Charity! Father of lights, those gifts impart To mine and every human heart:-- Faith, that in prayer can never fail, Hope, that o'er doubting must prevail, And Charity, whose name above Is God's own name, for "God is love." The morning star is lost in light, Faith vanishes at perfect sight; The rainbow passes with the storm, And Hope with sorrow's fading form:-- But Charity, serene, sublime, Beyond …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Could I Command with Voice or Pen
Gifts.--I Cor. xiii. Could I command with voice or pen The tongues of Angels and of men, A tinkling cymbal, sounding brass My speech and preaching would surpass; Vain were such eloquence to me Without the grace of Charity. Could I the martyr's flame endure, Give all my goods to feed the poor; Had I the faith from Alpine steep To hurl the mountain to the deep, What were such zeal, such power to me Without the grace of Charity? Could I behold with prescient eye Things future as the things gone by; …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Obedience Entire.
The government of God accepts nothing as virtue but obedience to the law of God. But it may be asked, Why state this proposition? Was this truth ever called in question? I answer, that the truth of this proposition, though apparently so self-evident that to raise the question may reasonably excite astonishment, is generally denied. Indeed, probably nine-tenths of the nominal church deny it. They tenaciously hold sentiments that are entirely contrary to it, and amount to a direct denial of it. They …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Introductory Notice
By the Editor. St. Augustin speaks of this book in his Retractations, l. ii. c. 63, as follows: "I also wrote a book on Faith, Hope, and Charity, at the request of the person to whom I addressed it, that he might have a work of mine which should never be out of his hands, such as the Greeks call an Enchiridion (Hand-Book). There I think I have pretty carefully treated of the manner in which God is to be worshipped, which knowledge divine Scripture defines to be the true wisdom of man. The book begins: …
St. Augustine—The Enchiridion

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