and in token of her own gratitude and love towards Him. Yet this act of her's was blamed by some. Their cold hearts could not understand such costly liberality. They called it " waste." " They had indignation within them- selves/' They " murmured against her."
The spirit of these narrow-minded fault-finders is un- happily only too common. Their followers and successors
Theophylact is of opinion that there were three. For this opinion much may be said.
1. The woman spoken of in the seventh chapter of St. Luke ap- pears first in order. The city in which this anointing took place does not appear to be Bethany. The woman is spoken of as having been " a sinner." The house is described as that of a Pharisee. The anoint- ing was of our Lord's " feet," and not of His " head." There is strong internal evidence that the whole transaction took place at a compara- tively early period of our Lord's ministry. All these points should be noticed.
2. The anointing described by St. John appears next in order. This, we are distinctly told, was " six days" before the passover. The person who anointed our Lord was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. The part of Him anointed was again His " feet," and not His " head." These points ought also to be noticed.
3. The anointing described by St. Matthew and St. Mark comes third in order. This, we are told, was only " two days" before the feast of the passover. In this case wc are not told the name of the woman who anointed our Lord. But wc are told that the ointment was poured on His " head."
The question of course occurs to our minds : " Is it likely and prob- able that this event would take place no less than three times ?" In reply to that, it may be fairly said, that to anoint a person as a mark of honor and respect, was far more common in our Lord's time than we in England suppose ; and that anointing was a far more frequent practice than we in this climate can imagine. And it seems per- fectly possible that the same thing may have happened three times.
The main difficulty, of course, is the close similarity of the language used at the anointing described by John, and at that described by Matthew and Mark. This can only be explained by supposing that our Lord twice said the same tilings.
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are to be found in every part of Christ's visible church. There is never wanting a generation of people who decry what they call " extremes" in religion, and are incessantly recommending what they term "moderation" in the service of Christ. If a man devotes his time, money, and affections to the pursuit of worldly things, they do not blame him. If he gives himself up to the service of money, pleasure, or politics, they find no fault. But if the same man devotes himself, and all he has, to Christ, they can scarcely find words to express their sense of his folly. " He is beside himself." " He is out of his mind/' "He is a fanatic." "He is an enthusiast." "He is righteous over-much." " He is an extreme man." In short, they regard it as " waste."
Let charges like these not disturb us, if we hear them made against us because we strive to serve Christ. Let us bear them patiently, and remember that they are as old as Christianity itself. Let us pity those who make such charges against believers. They show plainly that they have no sense of obligation to Christ. A cold heart makes a slow hand. If a man once understands the sinfulness of sin, and the mercy of Christ in dying for him, he will never think anything too good or too costly to give to Christ. He will rather feel, " what shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits." (Psalm cxvi. 12.) He will fear wasting time, talents, money, affections on the things of this world. He will not be afraid of wasting them on his Saviour. He will fear going into extremes about business, money, politics, or pleasure \ but he will not be afraid of doing too much for Christ,
Let us observe, in the last place, how highly our Lord