anoint; but this woman he.th anointed my other words,•• I eay unto thee, Her many Bins feet with ointment. "It never entered thy o.re forgiven, and thou, must infer from tlti• tboughte to pa.y me the homage-11.nd yet that ehe loved much, or, she loves much, I ha.d helpecl thee, too, a little-of pouring for (that is, because) her sins are forgiven." oil on my bead" (this Wl\8 by no means an Stier gives another axample of thfl meo.ning mmeua.l mark of respect in the caee of an of "for" (3T<) in this place: "The sun is honoured guest : to one who, under the risen [it must have risen], for it is day" •~uming sun of Pa.lestine, had walked, per- (Stier, 'Words of the Lrird ,Jesus:' Luke haps, some distance, tbie pouring oil over vii. 47). Borne may ask-What great amount the head wa.s a great comfort and refresh- of ein ie necessary in or,ler to loving much 1 ment): "but she hath anointed, not my Godet well ans were, "We need add nothing head, she shrank, poor soul I from doing this: to what each of us already haa, for the sum but my feet. And, too, it was no common of the whole matter is-to the noblest anrl oil which ehe ueecl, but precious, fragrant pnrest of us, what is wanting in order to ointment. A cold, loveless welcome, indeed, love much is not Bin, but the knowledge of my Pharisee friend, w,e thine I Thou U. But to whom little ie forgiven, the same thinkest it honour enough the Mere admit- loveth little, This saying refers to Simon ting the carpenter's Son to th'.,i' table; no the Pharisee: the first saying (in the former need of these special tokens of friendship part of the verse) which we have been con- for thy Guest-the water for the feet, the sidering refers to the woman. The same kise for the fa.ea, the oil for the head. It principle exactly is presented as in the first were a pity, smely, for the great world at instance, and viewed from the other sicle- Jerusalem to look on thee e.s the friend of lhe le,e forgi-oenas, the less looe results. Our the Nazareth Teacher, as on the one Pha- Lord is very tender in all this to Simon risee who loved to honour the Galilman e.nd men like Simoo. Thie Pharisee had Reformer." evidently tried to live up to his light, Ver. 47.-Wherefore I say unto thee, Her though hi& life was disfigured with censo- Bins, whioh are many, are forgiven. Again, riousness, narrowness, harshness, and pride e.s in the synagogue, and no doubt on many -the many faults of hie cle.as. He too other occasions, when theee words were had heard Jesus, and bad been moved and uttered, 11 thrill would run through the struck by bis words, and, e.fter a fashion, company present. Who was this, then, one loved him: only the world-his world-came would ask the other, who with this voice between him e.nd his love, eo that it was and mien dared to utter suob things? Only only II poor, pale reflection nf the real feel- One could forgive eiDB I Was, then, the ing after o.11. But our Lord gives him full Nazareth Rabbi, the great Physician, the credit for that little love. He even excuses Worker of awful miracles--was he the One its poverty by saying that he, Simon, had whose Name was lost, but the echo of whose only received a. little forgiveness, and there- '70ice still lingered, they hoped, in that fore only a little love was the result. Though. desecrated Holy Land? For she loved muoh, the Lord implies in his sad irony that the Are we, then, to understand by this that little forgiveness which he had received ""s her love for Jesus was the cause of forgive- Simon's own fault, for he did not think, in ness? Many Roman and some Protestant his self-righteowmess, that he had any need expositors have believed this is the meaning to be forgiven. "0 Pharisree, pa.rum diligis, of the Lord's words. But at once II contra- quia parum tibi dimitti suspicaris; non qui"' diction is given to this interpretation by 11 parum dimittitur, sed quia parnm putrui reference to ver. 42, where, after the remis- quod dimittitur" (St. Augustine, 'Sem1.' aion of the two debts-the great and the xoix.). Godet has B deep reflection on this little-Jesus aeks, "Whfoh of these will state of Simon's. He asks, "llfay forgiveness love him moat ? " But had love been the be only partial? Then there would be me11 cause of II forgiveness of either or both of half-saved., half-lost. . . . The real forgive- the debts, the queijtion should have run, ness of the least sin certainly contains in "Which of the two loved him most?" germ II complete salvation, but only in germ. not "will love him moat." In ad,lition to If faith ie maintained a..nd grows, this for- which the Mnster guards against e.ny view giveness will gradually extend to e.11 the of this kind being entertained, by his con- sins of e. m,m's life, just as they will then cluding words (ver. 50), "Thy faith hath become more thoroughly known and ac- saved thee; go in peace." The principle knowledged. The first forgireness is tl,e on which forgiveness we.e grunted to the pledge of all the rest. In the contr:iry woman wns faith, not love. Stier, in hie case, the forgiveness alrea,!y granted will comment here, writes that the expression be withdrawn, just as represcnte,l in tl1fl of the Lord, "Her sine, which a.re manv parable of the wicked clebtor (llfat.t. xviii.): are forgiven; for she loved much," is a~ and the work of )!;race, iustea<l of becoming arqumentum, non a causa, aed ab e.ffeclil ; in oomplete, will prove abortive." IRO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [on. vn. 1----60,
Ver. 4~.-And he ■aid unto her, Thy einl Ver. 50.-And he BBid to the woman, Th:, are forgiven. Then, turning again to the faith bath saved thee; go in peaoe, Then, woman, in her deep penlteuoe, aud at the with just one solemn word reminding the same time in her deep joy-joy springing people aRscmbled in that ~nest-chamber of from her newly found peROe-he formBlly faith, thitt firm trust in tho goodness and renPws to hflr the a•suranoo of thBt pardon mercy of God upon whioh her forgiveneBB which she Blroody was oonsoious of; but in rested, he dismi@eed the woman, rousing hor renewing it the Lord mentioned no more at onoe from her dreamy ecsto.sy, sending " her many 11ins,'' M in the fint place (ver. her from his presence back ngain into the ii), ~ut simplv, •• thy sins," thus reducin~, ordinary lire of the busy world, but bearing e.s Stier remarks, at Jut both her and Simon along with her now his mighty priceless gif& to a oommon level. of a peace which p&llll8th understanding.