“Charity doth not behave itself unseemly” (I. Cor. xiii. 5).
In the dress of a Hindu woman, her graceful robe is fastened upon her
person entirely by means of a single knot. The long strip of cloth is
wound around her person so as to fall in graceful folds like a made
garment, and the end is fastened by a little knot, and the whole thing
hangs by that single fastening. If that were loosed the robe would fall.
And so in the spiritual life, our habits of grace are likened unto
garments; and it is also true that the garment of love, which is the
beautiful adorning of the child of God, is entirely fastened by little
_nots_.
If you will read with care the thirteenth chapter of I. Corinthians, you
will find that most of the qualities of love are purely negative. “Love
envieth not, love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
herself rudely, seeketh not her own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil.”
Here are “_nots_” enough to hold on our spiritual wardrobe. Here are
reasons enough to explain the failure of so many, and the reason why they
walk naked, or with rent garments, and others see their shame. Let us look
after the _nots_.