January 5

3 And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head

4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble

ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying

9 Verily I say unto you, Whensoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, that also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

The conduct of this woman was the result of overpowering love. May not this narrative teach us that God above all things values love to Himself, that one outgoing of the soul to Himself is worth hundreds of acts of duty apathetically rendered!

Jesus Christ deserves to be served after an extraordinary manner. It is really wonderful, when we consider what the Saviour has done for us, that we are content to be such every day nothings as the most of us are.

"Ah! if we did but think of His glory, and of what He deserves—if we did but think of His sufferings, and of what He merits at our hands, surely we should do something out of the common; we should break our alabaster box, and pour the pound of ointment on His head again."—C. H. Spurgeon.

"I have heard persons say that they seemed to themselves to be doing nothing in life. No man and no woman who is faithfully following the Lord Jesus Christ can be said to be doing nothing. It is not the eloquent tongue that speaks the most. It is not the heroic action which men sound forth that is, after all, the most potential in the affairs of men. The symmetrical example of holy souls has a voice which sounds out further and reaches forth a hand that is felt further than more positive and more declarative influences."—H. W. Beecher.

Closet Promise.—If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.—John xiv. 23.

"If suddenly upon the street My gracious Saviour I should meet, And He should say: 'As I love thee, What love hast thou to offer Me?' Then what could this poor heart of mine Dare offer to that heart divine?

"His eye would pierce my outward show; His thought my inmost thought would know; And if I said, 'I love Thee, Lord,'

He would not heed my spoken word, Because my daily life would tell If verily I loved Him well.

"If on the day or in the place Wherein He met me face to face My life could show some kindness done, Some purpose formed, some work begun, For His dear sake, then it were meet Love's gift to lay at Jesus' feet."