in high places, martyrs, humble lovers of Jesus the Lamb of God: "What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are in costly apparel, and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet; this is he of whom it is written, Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee."

He was the greatest natural man that was ever born of woman, the last and the greatest of the heroic race of Israel. "For I say to you, amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist." And yet the old order, even as typified in John, yields to the new, the child of the promise to the child of the fulfilment: "But he that is the lesser in the Kingdom of God, is greater than he." Greater, that is to say, in dignity, but certainly not in personal virtue. As Moses led the children of Israel to the Land of Promise without entering it, so John leads the people to the perfection of their destiny in Christ and His Church, points it out, gazes fondly upon it, and remains in the desert to close by a glorious death the long era of God's ancient dispensation.

And yet, having given John such high praise, our Saviour was not done with him. He would still insist that the ideal Jew was John and John's type of old, the Prophet Elias; this was the stuff to make the best Christians of the true Israelite was of a manly, a daring, a warlike race, as well as one gifted with the fixed gaze of the Semitic contemplative. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent

bear it away. For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come." Then He marked His emphasis: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Meantime many Jewish leaders had rejected John, and Jesus reminded His hearers of this. Not courage but rashness, not frankness but intrigue, not humility but haughtiness were their characteristics and the qualities they sought in others. They had set themselves apart from God's Kingdom, and the result was that publicans and simple country people and rough fishermen were given their vacant places; and this began with John's baptizing in the Jordan: "And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John's baptism. But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him." If John was too austere for them, Jesus was too lax the critical spirit is content with nothing but the office of criticism. "And the Lord said, Whereunto, then, shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? They are like to children sitting in the market-place, and speaking one to another and saying: We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned, and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say: He hath a devil. The Son of Man is come eating and drinking, and you say: Behold a man that is a glutton and wine-drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners." Pride is by turns a scoffing free-liver and a fanatical ascetic-anything so as to maintain its place of censor. Wrong-hearted men would be both self-indulgent and gloomy in their religion, because they are proud; proud men cannot be happy even

when yielding to sensuality, for their best pleasure is in making other men miserable. But our Saviour ended thus: "Wisdom is justified by all her children." Penance is consistent with joy-nay, it alone gives true joy, for it generates peace of conscience and loving confidence in God. Joy is the dominant note of all godlike conduct whether jubilant or penitential, for God is love and joy. If a man is able easily

THE WOMAN THAT WAS A SINNER. And one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him. And he went into the house of the Pharisee and sat down to meat. And behold, a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and standing behind at his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ine ointment. And the Pharisee who had invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if he were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. And whereas

to weep and to laugh by turns he has learned true life.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE MAGDALEN AT THE BANQUET.
Luke vii. 36-50.

The great assemblage had broken up and the people had scattered to their homes. All but our Saviour's immediate disciples must return to

they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave daily labor and household duties,

them both. Which therefore of the two loveth him most? Simon answering said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him, Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? entered into thy house: thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss, but she, since she came in,

hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head

His lessons resting only upon the surface of some minds and sinking deep into others, all thinking and talking of Him and of His miracles and His doctrine. The Master was led by His followers to the hospitality of a prominent Pharisee named Simon, whose house was in the town of Magdala, upon whose site on the lake shore the pilgrim of our day finds the little Arab village El

with oil thou didst not anoint, but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore I say to thee, many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves: Who Megdel, its humble cottages taking

is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe; go in peace.

the place of the old-time luxurious dwellings, whose very ruins are al