than Simon the Pharisee; and our Lord might say to us, "I have somewhat to say unto thee."

We see, in the next place, in this passage, that grateful love is the secret of doing much for Christ. The penitent woman, in the story before us, showed far more honour to our Lord than the Pharisee had done. She "stood at His feet behind Him weeping." She "washed His feet with tears." She "wiped them with the hairs of her head." She "kissed His feet, and anointed them with costly ointment."-No stronger proofs of reverence and respect could she have given, and the secret of her giving such proofs, was love. She loved our Lord, and she thought nothing too much to do for Him. She felt deeply grateful to our Lord, and she thought no mark of gratitude too costly to bestow on Him.

More "doing" for Christ is the universal demand of all the Churches. It is the one point on which all are agreed. All desire to see among Christians, more good works, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ's commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing, nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ till there is more hearty love to Christ Himself. The fear of punishment, the desire of reward, the sense of duty, are all useful arguments, in their way, to persuade men to holiness. But they are all weak and powerless, until a man loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a man, and you will see his whole life changed.

Let us never forget this. However much the world may sneer at "feelings" in religion, and however false or

unhealthy religious feelings may sometimes be, the great truth still remains behind, that feeling is the secret of doing. The heart must be engaged for Christ, or the hands will soon hang down. The affections must be enlisted into His service, or our obedience will soon stand still. It will always be the loving workman who will do most in the Lord's vineyard.

We see lastly, in this passage, that a sense of having our sins forgiven is the mainspring and life-blood of love to Christ. This, beyond doubt, was the lesson which our Lord wished Simon the Pharisee to learn, when He told him the story of the two debtors. "One owed his creditor five hundred pence, and the other fifty." Both had "nothing to pay," and both were forgiven freely. And then came the searching question: "Which of them will love him most?" Here was the true explanation, our Lord told Simon, of the deep love which the penitent woman before Him had displayed. Her many tears, her deep affection, her public reverence, her action in anointing His feet, were all traceable to one cause. She had been much forgiven, and so she loved much. Her love was the effect of her forgiveness, not the cause, the consequence of her forgiveness, not the condition, the result of her forgiveness, not the reason, the fruit of her forgiveness, not the root. Would the Pharisee know why this woman showed so much love? It was because she felt much forgiven.-Would he know why he himself had shown his guest so little love? It was because he felt under no obligation,-had no consciousness of having obtained forgiveness,-had no sense of debt to Christ.

For ever let the mighty principle laid down by our Lord in this passage, abide in our memories, and sink down into our hearts. It is one of the great corner-stones of the whole Gospel. It is one of the master-keys to unlock the secrets of the kingdom of God. The only way to make men holy, is to teach and preach free and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The secret of being holy ourselves, is to know and feel that Christ has pardoned our sins. Peace with God is the only root that will bear the fruit of holiness. Forgiveness must go before sanctification. We shall do nothing till we are reconciled to God.-This is the first step in religion. We must work from life, and not for life. Our best works before we are justified are little better than splendid sins. We must live by faith in the Son of God, and then, and not till then, we shall walk in His ways. The heart which has experienced the pardoning love of Christ, is the heart which loves Christ, and strives to glorify Him.

Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of our Lord Jesus Christ's amazing mercy and compassion to the chief of sinners. Let us see in His kindness to the woman, of whom we have been reading, an encouragement to any one, however bad he may be, to come to Him for pardon and forgiveness.. That word of His shall never be broken, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Never, never need any one despair of salvation, if he will only come to Christ.

Let us ask ourselves, in conclusion, What we are doing for Christ's glory? What kind of lives are we living? making of our love to Him who

What proof are we

loved us, and died for our sins? These are serious questions. If we cannot answer them satisfactorily, we may well doubt whether we are forgiven. The hope of forgiveness which is not accompanied by love in the life is no hope at all. The man whose sins are really cleansed away will always show by his ways that he loves the Saviour who cleansed them.

NOTES. LUKE VII. 36-50.

36.-[And one of the Pharisees desired him.] We know nothing of this Pharisee, except his name, Simon. There is no proof that he was the same as "Simon the leper," mentioned in Mark xiv. 3. He certainly was not Simon Peter, or Simon Zelotes.

We are not told the place at which the circumstances here recorded took place. It is highly probable that it was Nain, where the widow's son was raised.

Our Lord had just been saying, that He was called "the friend of publicans and sinners." St. Luke proceeds at once to show, that He was so indeed, and was not ashamed of the name.

[He went into the Pharisee's house.] Our Lord's conduct in eating at the Pharisee's table, is quoted by some Christians in defence of the practice of keeping up intimacy with unconverted people, and going to dinner parties and entertainments at their houses.

Those who use such an argument would do well to remember our Lord's behaviour on this occasion. He carried his "Father's business" with Him to the Pharisee's table. He testified against the Pharisee's besetting sin. He explained to the Pharisee the nature of free forgiveness of sins, and the secret of true love to Himself. He declared the saving nature of faith. If Christians who argue in favour of intimacy with unconverted people, will visit their houses in the spirit of our Lord, and speak and behave as He did, let them by all means continue the practice. But do they speak and behave at the tables of their unconverted acquaintances, as Jesus did at Simon's table? This is a question they would do well to answer.

Bucer's note on this point is worth reading.

[Sat down to meat.] The Greek word so translated, means literally "reclined," according to the custom of the country. It is important to note this, in order to understand the remaining part of the passage.

37.-[And behold a woman in the city.] The questions, who this

woman was, and at what time in our Lord's ministry the transactions here described took place, have occasioned much discussion, and called forth much variety of opinion among commentators. On one point only almost all are agreed She had been a notorious sinner against the seventh commandment.

The Romish writers, Maldonatus and Cornelius á Lapide maintain strongly that this woman was Mary Magdalene, and that the anointing here recorded is the same as that which took place at Bethany, and is described by Matthew, Mark, and John. Both these opinions seem untenable.

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There is not the slightest evidence in Scripture that the woman who was a sinner" was Mary Magdalene. Chemnitius says there is no authority for the opinion but tradition, and that this tradition began with Gregory the First, and was unsupported by the earlier fathers, Chrysostom, Origen, Ambrose, and Jerome.-There is no evidence that Mary Magdalene was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and lived at Bethany.Above all, there is not the least. proof in Scripture that Mary Magdalene had ever been "a woman that was a sinner" against the seventh commandment.

On the other hand, there is strong internal evidence that the event here recorded by St. Luke, took place at an entirely different time and place from that recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John. Granting that St. Luke does not always relate events in regular chronological order, it seems asking too much to suppose that an event which all the other evangelists agree in placing at the end of our Lord's life on earth, should be so entirely dragged out of its place by St. Luke as to be brought in at this early period of His ministry.-Moreover, the expressions which St. Luke reports in this passage, appear very unlikely to have been used at the end of our Lord's ministry, and at the house of friends in Bethany. The question, "who is this that forgiveth sins also?" sounds like a question that would be asked at a comparatively early period of his ministry, and not like one that men would ask at the end of three years, and just before His death.

The true account I believe to be, that the events here recorded by St. Luke are entirely distinct from those recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John, and that the woman here mentioned is one whose name is, for wise and kind reasons, withheld from the Church. This is the view maintained by the great majority of all Protestant commentators.

It is a curious fact, that John Bunyan, in his famous sermon called "The Jerusalem sinner saved," maintains the strange view that the woman here described by St. Luke was Mary the sister of Martha, though he confeses that he got the picturesque story he founds on it, from a book which he saw twenty-four years before. For once the good man seems to have made a mistake.