Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament

⁵ But necessary it is that you have charity, that you have faith, that you have hope; that that which is given may be sweet unto you. And these same, faith, hope, charity, are three. And these too are gifts of God. For faith we have received from Him; “As God,” says he, “has distributed to every one the measure of faith.” And hope we have received from Him, to whom it is said, “Wherein You have caused me to hope.” And charity we have received from Him, of whom it is said, “The charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which has been given to us.” Now these three are likewise in some measure different; but all gifts of God. For “there abide these three, faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of these is charity.” In those loaves it is not said that any one loaf was greater than the others; but simply that three loaves were asked for, and were given.