slowly, though wisely and surely, along the road. (Read Luke vii. 47-50.) 47-50.) Perhaps a cautious prudence, a hesitation to commit himself by too pointed courtesies to the Saviour, is the worst that we can lay to the Pharisee's charge. But that sinner's passionate love had already outstripped him far. He was grovelling among his cautious calculations, she was already soaring upwards to Heaven and to God. That glow of love in her heart was a nascent glory. That pulse of life which it had quickened within her could never be lost or killed. She went forth from the Saviour's presence already a saint in spirit; she is standing now before her Saviour's throne, a saint in glory and in bliss. It was of the kindred deed of a kindred spirit that the Saviour declared, "Wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached in the whole world: there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her." Art has selected this act as the very type of tenderness and devotion, and the angels cherish its memory, and celebrate it in their songs in Heaven. And now, LORD?" "She loved much for she had much for "HOW MUCH OWEST THOU UNTO MY : given." Man! woman! how much lovest thou? How much owest thou? Life, intellect, friends, love, the broad creation, the splendour of the universe, all are there, freely poured forth by His bounty at thy feet. And shall I not say unto thee how thou owest unto Him thine own soul also? Canst thou sum in full that debt? A burden of guilt lifted which else had crushed thee; a prison-house of Satan shattered which else had held thee a captive in eternal pain; a grisly terror conquered, destroyed, which else had made thy life a spectre-haunted night! And how much hast thou paid? Hast thou paid even a word? Hast thou even confessed His name? Has He ever heard a word of public homage and honour from thy lips? Is not the time come to have done with this trembling, calculating neutrality, and to fling yourself, like this poor sinner, with a flood of passionate tears at His feet. "Now I am thine, for ever thine, Nor shall my purpose move; Thy hand hath loosed my bonds of pain, And bound me with thy love. Here in thy courts I leave my vow, And thy rich grace record; Witness, ye saints, who hear me now, And then go on to fathom the deeper meanings of this woman's sacrifice. Understand what he meant, who said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Her tears meant all that her life we may be sure expressed it. "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace," dismissed her to a life which was no feeble or partial sacrifice. The words would have been no mockery on her lips, "Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small, Love so amazing, so Divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all." N VIII. The Sin that hath never Forgiveness. "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?”—MATT. XXIII. 33. I THINK that the most awful word which has ever been written by a human pen is "the wrath of the Lamb." The prelude to its out-pouring is here. Once only was that tender and merciful spirit stirred to vehement and scathing denunciation; and then it uttered the most terrible anathema which is on record in the Book of God. Of all wrath, the wrath of the Lamb must be the most awful, because the most hopeless. When He who would give the best blood of His heart to save, rises up to judgment, Divine patience and hope are fruitless; the glow |