Charity Benignant
J. Angell James. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity braggs not itself, is not puffed up,… In things lawful and things indifferent it bends to the partialities and predilections of others, studying to please all for their good to edification. It would not needlessly crush the wing of an insect, much less inflict upon a rational and immortal being an evil remediless and everlasting. It is eminently pacific and conciliatory; as far as possible without any compromise of the Christian law, endeavouring to live peaceably with all men, and labouring in many ways to promote the harmony of human society. As the sea is composed of drops, and the earth is compacted of atoms, and the daylight is only a profusion of inappreciable rays, and forest and field are refreshed and beautified by millions of imperceptible particles of dew, so it is the aggregate of little things that makes the happiness or unhappiness of domestic and social life; and charity is attentive to the minutest circumstance that can affect the comfort and welfare of mankind, planting here a lily and there a rose where she cannot convert the whole desert into a paradise, pouring in a thousand tiny rivulets to swell the great ocean of human blessedness, and thus impressing the universal conviction of her kindness. (J. Angell James.) Parallel Verses KJV: Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, WEB: Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud,