6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

ness, to experience his helplessness, to measure the strength of his temptations. He has to cast himself down into the stream of his brother's heredityto learn the power

of long-seated corruption, to estimate the force of an impure fountain. That is why Christian love is not easily provoked. Before it sees the fault it feels the frailty." - George Matheson.

6. Rejoiceth not in unrighteousness. Love has no fellowship with iniquity, even though the evil may seek to be its friend and to load it with benefits; for love knows that no good ever comes out of evil. But rejoiceth with the truth. Love is sincere. Love insists on uprightness and honor, in itself and others; for only thus can blessings come. The more we love others, the more strict we shall be in insisting that they shall be and do what is right.

7. Beareth all things. Carries all burdens of loving service, endures even affronts and indignities patiently, except of course when the good of the loved one requires notice to be taken of them. Believeth all things. Not that love will be blind, as it is fabled to be; not that a loving person is to be credulous, easily tricked and cheated; but love always puts the best construction on the acts of others, and believes evil of them only when compelled to do so in the interest of others, for their good. Hopeth all things. Love not only believes the best for the present, but hopes the best for the future. Endureth all things. Love not only believes and hopes, but keeps on believing and hoping, in spite of repeated disappointments and hardships. "Love an everlasting crown receiveth,

"These are the virtues which will enter into any true description of the grace of charity. They presuppose the fact of difference. They are awakened in the Christian soul by the presence of disagreement.' Dean George Hodges, D.D.

"Love hopeth all things. Think of the father with his prodigal son, how he still hopes in the teeth of all the evidence. Think of the wife of an unworthy husband, how she still hopes for him, although he be a beast. For love remembers as nothing else remembers, and love can see when other eyes are blind, and love can cling with a divine tenacity when other hands are loosened in despair." Rev. George H. Morrison.

8. Love never faileth, literally, falls down, as in a faint, or like a defeated soldier. But whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away. In this and the following verses Paul exalts love by contrasting it with the lesser spiritual gifts upon which the Corinthian Christians set so much store. The power to prophesy will be useless when prophecies are all fulfilled, the most inspired of earthly utterances will seem feeble in the rapture of heaven, our present insight into spiritual mysteries will appear crude when eternity has thrown its clear light upon them; for this earthly life is a partial, fragmentary life at best, the life of a child, life that is blurred and dim like an image in the imperfect mirrors of polished metal which were all the world had in Paul's day. But there is coming a glorious life that is complete, perfect, like full-grown manhood, like things seen face to face and no longer in distorted reflections, a time when we shall know all truth as fully as God now knows us. Into this life love extends. Love is eternal. Love is of these perfections. Love never faileth.

"How can a man know God? Ask the little bird how it knows that the soft air will bear it up on its flight amid the living green of rustling woods and the glint of laughing waters! By the same token, we know Him whom we love by yielding to His promptings, by surrendering to His will, by trusting ourselves to His 'love that will not let us go.' Rev. Joseph Fort Newton, D. Litt.

Henry Drummond has told us how in the heart of Africa, among the great lakes, he came 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

-

9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

II. 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.

12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

dark continent, men's faces light up as they speak of the kind doctor who passed three years ago. They could not understand him; but they felt the love that beat in his heart."" Hastings.

Wendell Phillips deeply loved his invalid wife. On a cold, sleety November night the great orator had finished a lecture in a town near Boston. His friends urged him not to return, for he would be obliged to drive all the way. "There will be twelve miles of rough riding," they urged. But at the end of them," he answered, "I shall find Anne Phillips."

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THE WORK OF LOVE ILLUSTRATED. Christ's parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) beautifully illustrates the work of love. The poor man who fell among thieves, on the lonely, wild, robber-infested road leading down the steep way from Jerusalem to Jericho, called loudly for the practical service of love. He was stripped of clothing, he was covered with bleeding wounds, he lay there half dead. The priest and Levite knew mysteries, had much knowledge, were very religious "; but they were only sounding brass and clanging cymbals, for they vaunted themselves, were puffed up, were not kind, and failed miserably. On the other hand the Samaritan, member of a despised race, was not provoked, took no account of the evil that had been done him, bore the burden of the injured man, and did not fail. The Samaritan proved that he belonged to the eternal kingdom of love, that is, to the kingdom of heaven.

"One of the last, slowly murmured sayings of Whit

Eastern Inn.

tier as he lay dying was this: 'Give my love to the world.' And this is the world's supreme need to-day; more than our eloquence, or our knowledge, or our wealth, or all else besides, it needs our love." George Jackson. III. THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE, v. 13. an absolutely complete and satisfactory formula hope, and love, with love in the place of honor

In this verse St. Paul has found for the Christian character. Faith, - is not this Christianity in a nut

--

shell ? " Hastings. Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three. These are the permanent things in life, and they will endure through all eternity. Wealth vanishes, fame is a bubble, much earthly knowledge will be useless in other worlds; but the powers and graces of the spirit are of lasting worth. In heaven faith in the unseen becomes trust in the seen. In heaven hope for coming joy becomes confident expectation of its continuance. Both faith and hope take other forms in heaven, but love is changeless, shining through all eternity with a steady ray.

"These three exhaust among them the possibilities of grace; there is no virtue and no beauty which one of the three is not or makes not; nothing pure and true, nothing just and honest, nothing lovely and of good report, which does not flow naturally out of faith, hope, and love." Dean C. J. Vaughan.

And the greatest of these is love. "Because faith and hope are our own love diffused among others." Calvin. Moreover, faith and hope are enlarged and exalted by love, and freed from the trammels of self. God cannot be said to be faith or hope, but God is love; by love God is perfectly defined. Love therefore is, as Drummond called it in his famous address," the Greatest Thing in the World."

"So Faith shall build the boundary wall,
And Hope shall plant the secret bower,
That both may show magnifical

With gem and flower.

"While over all a dome must spread,

And love shall be that dome above;
And deep foundations must be laid,
And these are Love."

Lyman Abbott.

"Religion is the life of love. It is the spirit which fires with zeal a Mrs. Ballington Booth and sends her to gather saints out of prison cells. It is the spirit that sends a George Kennan into the wilderness of Siberia, a Jacob Riis to learn how the other half lives, a Wyckoff to intermingle his own life with that of the outcast and the wretched. It is the spirit which sends the Red Cross with our armies. It is the spirit which inspires the great army of missionaries." "It is sometimes said that love is blind.' Cupid has been imaged with shaded eyes. No greater mistake can be made. Love has microscopic eyes to see both the faults and excellencies of the beloved object. What a world this would be if mothers could see in all children the divine attractions and worth which they do see in their first-born; and if lovers could see in all persons the wonderful lovableness they easily discern in one another! It is only the lover of truths, of persons, countries, of great causes and principles, who` really and veritably knows them. Principal Henry R. Reynolds, D.D.

of

"We may say of faith, that it is apprehensive, for it reaches out and lays hold on God and the sure promises of his word; of hope, that it is possessive, for it appropriates the promises and makes them its very own; but of love, that it is comprehensive, for it gathers in all that faith and hope severally bring within its range, and adds to the rest the lovingness of God in Christ." President Martyn Summerbell, D.D., LL.D.

LOVE AND LIFE. It is no wonder that the beloved disciple, who came closest to the mind and heart of Christ, exalted love in all his writings. Indeed, he made love synonymous with life (1 John 3: 14-18). Hatred is murder, slaying others in desire and often in reality. Love is life, for the one who loves and for those whom he loves. Why do you want to live to-morrow? It is because there is some one who loves you, and whom you want to see to-morrow, and be with, and love back. There is no other reason why we should live on than that we love and are beloved. Be it but the love of a dog, it will keep a man in life; but let that go and he has no contact with life, no reason to live. Love never faileth, and life never faileth, so long as there is love." Henry Drummond.

IV. OTHER BIBLE TEACHINGS ABOUT LOVE. THE MEASURE OF LOVE. This is given in one of the most ancient writings in the world, in Lev. 19: 18, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Christ repeated the rule when the lawyer asked him for a summary of the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22: 35-40). Again the Master laid down his commandment for his disciples, "Love one another, as I have loved you (John 15: 12, 13). All our heart -as ourselves as Christ has loved these make up the threefold measure of love. Surely all three are great measures, and Christ's love is the greatest measure of all. It includes the readiness to die for those we love.

"Our souls are all afire with love with love our hearts are glowing,
The mystic peace that Jesus gives our joyous strains are showing;
For lo! our love cannot be hid - our brimming love outflowing
To God, and our neighbor, and our enemy."— - Margaret Blaikie.

THE COMPLETENESS OF LOVE. In considering whether our love reaches the standard set for it by the Bible we must consider not only its intensity but its completeness. We are to love God, says the Old Testament, with all our heart, soul, and might (Deut. 6:4, 5); and the command is echoed in the New Testament (Luke 10:27). Love is most fittingly symbolized as a ring; it is a perfect circle, nothing is left out of it. Whatever we have or are that is not devoted to God and to our fellow men is a flaw in that divine circle. The test of love is complete surrender. Complete surrender is also love's richest crown.

THE ORIGIN OF LOVE. When we think how much is expected of love, and when we remember that it is greater than genius, greater than the power of an Alexander or a Napoleon, greater than gold and stronger than armies and governments, we may well despair of obtaining this wonderful strength and blessing for ourselves. Indeed we cannot obtain it, nor do we need to; for "love is of God" (1 John 4: 7-21), God's free and most precious gift to men. "We love, because he first loved us.' If we would live lives of love, we have only to live lives full of God.

"It was for me that Jesus died, for me and a world of men

Just as sinful, and just as slow to give back his love again;

And he didn't wait till I came to him, but he loved me at my worst;

He needn't ever have died for me if I could have loved him first." - Dora Greenwell.

"Edward Irving went to see a dying boy once, and when he entered the room, he just put his hand on the sufferer's head, and said, ' My boy, God loves you,' and went away. And the boy started from his bed, and he called out to the people in the house, God loves me ! God loves me !' One word; one word! It changed that boy. The sense that God loved him had overpowered him, melted him down, and had begun the making of a new heart.” - Hastings.

THE MYSTERY OF LOVE. It sounds mysterious, this insistence that we cannot live lives of love unless God abides with us. It is a mystery, the fundamental mystery of all religion. Faith alone solves the_mystery. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith," wrote Paul (Eph. 3: 14-19). Then the Christian will "know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. We have only to believe Christ's word, as millions have believed it, and love will flood our lives, doing for us what it has done for millions of believers before us.

THE CERTAINTY OF LOVE. Those who through faith make trial of the mystery of divine love find that, though mysterious in its origin, it is the most certain and stable thing in all the world. Paul cannot find words enough to express his sense of love's sureness : "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 38, 39). The witness of those who have tried it is unanimous though everything else fails, God's love never fails; though everything else is uncertain, God's love is ever sure.

we have

"Charles Kingsley had put on his grave, which was to be his wife's, loved, we love, we shall love.' Death does not put an end to love. We love the dead because they are the living." Hastings. Nothing is more certain than love, in time and in eternity.

THE CLIMAX OF LOVE. The chief proof of God's love was the gift of Christ to men. At the same time that is the chief means by which God's love comes into human lives to-day and abides there. The more we enter into the spirit of Christ's life, the more we shall be filled with the spirit of God, who is love. Therefore the climax of all thought about love is John 3: 16:

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should

not perish, but have eternal

life.

REVIEW: RESPONSE TO GOD'S LOVE.

SELECTION FOR READING: Phil. 3:7-14.

GOLDEN TEXT.—I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.-Ps. 86:12.

Primary Topic: SHOWING OUR LOVE TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

Memory Verse: If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. John 14: 15.

Junior Topic: SOME THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT God.

Memory Verse: John 3:16.

Intermediate Topic: THE MARKS OF A CHRISTIAN.

Senior and Adult Topic: SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF FAITH AND PRACTICE.

Various forms of reviews are here described, suited to classes of different ages and to the likings of different teachers. Some of these reviews may be combined.

I. A QUESTION-BOX REVIEW.

The teacher will write a series of questions on the lessons, at least three questions on each lesson. Make the questions independent of one another, each being clear when read by itself. Also let the questions be comprehensive, so that much ground will be covered. Questions of the following sorts will be useful: "Give an Old Testament illustration of obedience." "What need is there for faith in our daily life?" "How can we get the spirit of love in our hearts ? " "What are some of the blessings that come from prayer ? " "Repeat a Bible verse on the grace of God." "What is one difficulty in the way of repentance?" These questions will be written on separate slips of paper, which will be placed in an attractive box. Make an opening in the lid just large enough for a hand, and have the pupils take turns inserting their hands and pulling out questions. The pupil will read his question aloud and then answer it before another question is drawn.

II. AN ESSAY REVIEW.

The subjects of the quarter's lessons are so distinct and varied as to make fine themes for essays, and the members of some classes may prefer an essay review. Let the pupils choose their subjects, as far as possible; but if many want the same subjects, assign them by lot. No essay is to be more than two minutes long; insist on that. Suggest that the essays on qualities such as obedience, faith, love, be written in the first person, the essayist personifying Obedience, Faith, Love, and telling what he accomplishes in the world.

III. A MEMORY REVIEW.

Ask the pupils several weeks in advance, if possible, to commit to memory at least one Bible verse for each lesson, illustrating the subject of the lesson. All that can will commit to memory two verses or more for each lesson. If you have been making memory work a feature of the quarter, as you well may, then have the pupils review at home what they have memorized and add other verses to their repertoires. In the recitation you will take up each lesson in turn and hear all the verses on that lesson, commenting on them and asking questions on the subject of the lesson to bring out its central teaching. It may be thought wise to offer a reward, perhaps a suitable book or a framed Bible picture, to all who commit to memory a certain number of

verses or more.

IV. A PICTURE-BOX REVIEW.

This form of review, which is for the younger classes, is conducted by means of a set of the beautiful lesson pictures published by the publishers of this book. Hide the subject of each picture by a strip of cardboard fastened by paper-clips which can later be removed. Attach a string to the upper edge of each picture and place the pictures in a box, the strings hanging out so that the pupils can take turns in selecting a string, and pulling up a picture. An empty frame will be placed before the class, and each picture in turn will be put into the frame. The pupil who drew out the picture will then tell the class all he can about it, and about the lesson to which it belongs. The teacher will bring out all necessary additional points by questions, then passing to the next picture. Make a present of each picture to the pupil who has described it.