I. THE CONTRAST.

Paul begins by contrasting Love with other things that men in those
days thought much of. I shall not attempt to go over these things in
detail. Their inferiority is already obvious.

He contrasts it with _eloquence_. And what a noble gift it is, the
power of playing upon the souls and wills of men, and rousing them to
lofty purposes and holy deeds! Paul says, "If I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal." We all know why. We have all felt the
brazenness of words without emotion, the hollowness, the unaccountable
unpersuasiveness, of eloquence behind which lies no Love.

He contrasts it with _prophecy_. He contrasts it with _mysteries_. He
contrasts it with _faith_. He contrasts it with _charity_. Why is Love
greater than faith? Because the end is greater than the means. And why
is it greater than charity? Because the whole is greater than the
part.

Love is greater than _faith_, because the end is greater than the
means. What is the use of having faith? It is to connect the soul with
God. And what is the object of connecting man with God? That he may
become like God. But God is Love. Hence Faith, the means, is in order
to Love, the end. Love, therefore, obviously is greater than faith.
"If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I
am nothing."

It is greater than _charity_, again, because the whole is greater than
a part. Charity is only a little bit of Love, one of the innumerable