Elihu Burritt, speaking of the power of kindness, says, "There is no power of love so hard to get and keep as a kind voice. A kind hand is deaf and dumb. It may be rough in flesh and blood, yet do the work of a soft heart, and do it with a soft touch. But there is no one thing that love so much needs as a sweet voice to tell what it means and feels; and it is hard to get and keep it in the right tone."
BIBLE SUBJECTS FOR EACH SUNDAY IN OCTOBER.
Oct. 7. Commit to memory Rom. ix. 25.
Oct. 14. Commit to memory Rom. ix. 26.
Oct. 21. Commit to memory Rom. ix. 27.
Oct. 28. Commit to memory Rom. ix. 28.
PRIZE ESSAY.
Charity.
Paul says (1 Cor. xiii. 4) that "charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up"; and in the thirteenth verse, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
Now, this shows that charity is a very great and good thing, and that we ought to desire to have charity above all things. "If we have not charity, we are nothing."
Charity means "love," and that is the greatest of all good gifts. Love supplies all other wants, however hard they may be; and so, if we have not it, we are not by any means complete, for "above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness" (Col. iii. 14). This teaches us that charity is perfect above all things, and that we are to "love our enemies, and pray for those that despitefully use us"; also, we are exhorted to "let brotherly love continue."