CHAPTER III.

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 money, especially bank notes. Just as wicked men have
tried to imitate the most valuable of human productions for their own
profit, so the devil has been trying to counterfeit God's most
precious things from the beginning, and to produce something so like
them that mankind at large should not see the difference, and,
perhaps, in no direction has he been so successful as in producing a
_Spurious Charity_.--I almost think he has got it to perfection
in these days. I don't think he can very well improve on the present
copy. This Charity--this love--is God's most precious treasure; it is
dearer to His heart than all the vast domains of His universe--dearer
than all the glorious beings He has created. So much so, that when
some of the highest spirits amongst the angelic bands violated this
love, He hurled them from the highest Heaven to the nethermost hell!
Why? Not because He did not value those wonderful beings, but because
He valued this _love more_. Because He saw that it was more