Anointing for martyrdom.
I. PURE LOVE RISES ABOVE THE CONSIDERATIONS OF THRIFT. Logic must give place to love. The full heart disdains the question of money expense. Habitual extravagance is one thing, the redundancy grateful affection is another. We are never safe, in conduct or in thought, except when we follow the heart's lead.
II. SYMPATHY PRESERVES THE JUDGMENT FROM ERROR, The disciples did not understand the woman's act. Christ lifted it into the light of truth. There is a narrow scale of judgment—of those who stand too close to the act, and see only its immediate bearings. To see truly we must see far. There is a perspective of acts. This Christ points out. The acts of instinctive faith and love, of obedience and loyalty, are worth more than those based upon prudence and calculation.
III. THE DEATH OF CHRIST MEASURES THE WORTH OF ACTS. This act will go down in history inseparable from his death. It was a forecast and a memento. The loving self-devotion of the Savior attracts the like from those who surround him and who know him.
IV. THE TRUEST REWARD OF GOODNESS IS TO BE HELD IN THE LOVING RECOLLECTION OF OTHERS. "The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." One great man prays, "Lord, keep my memory green!" A poet turns the wish into song, that he may be "only remembered by what he has done."—J.
Black conspiracy.
I. "THE BEST INFLUENCES FOR GOOD MAY RE RESISTED AND BECOME VAIN."
II. "HYPOCRISY PREPARES FOR DISHONESTY AND ALL WICKEDNESS" (Godwin).—J.