solemn admonition. "Out of the mouth of babes," God's Spirit moved within him. He was driven to his closet, and a friend calling upon him found he had been weeping over the Dairyman's Daughter. Although only forty years of age, he abandoned politics and law for the ministry of the Gospel. For thirty years he was the beloved rector of St. George's Church, Philadelphia, the predecessor of the venerated Dr. Tyng.

Dear mothers and fathers, let us in simple faith bring our children to Christ. He is the same to-day as when He took them in His arms and said : "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

I may not do much with all my care,
But I surely may bless a few ;
The loving Jesus will give to me,
Some work of love to do;

I may wipe the tears from some weeping eyes,

I may bring the smile again

To a face that is weary and worn with care,

To a heart that is full of pain.

I may speak His name to the sorrowful,
As I journey by their side;
To the sinful and despairing ones
I may preach of the Crucified.

I may drop some little gentle word
In the midst of some scene of strife;
I may comfort the sick and the dying
With a thought of eternal life.

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM.

CHAPTER VII.

"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD."

In the gospel by Mark we read! "After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death. But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. 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. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work for Me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.""

John tells us in his Gospel who this woman was, "Then Jesus, six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which would betray Him: 'Why was not this ointment sold

for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?' This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, 'Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not always.'

This is the last time we have a glimpse of the family at Bethany. It was Christ's last week there, and here we have the last recorded interview between Christ and that lovely family.

Speaking of Martha and Mary, some one has said: "They were both dear to Jesus, and they both loved Him, but they were different. The eye of one saw His weariness and would give to Him; the faith of the other apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him; Martha's service was acceptable to the Lord and was acknowledged by Him, but He would not allow it to disturb Mary's communion. Mary knew His mind; she had deeper fellowship with Him; her heart clung to Himself."

I want to call your attention specially to one clause from this fourteenth chapter of Mark, "She hath done what she could." If some one had reported in Jerusalem that something was going to happen at Bethany on that memorable day, that should outlive the Roman Empire, and all the monarchs that had ever existed or would exist, there would have been great excitement in the city. A good many people would have gone down to Bethany that day to see the thing that was going to happen, and that was to live so long. Little did Mary think that she was going to erect a monument which would outlive empires and kingdoms. She never thought of herself. Love does not think of itself. What does Christ say: "Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preachad throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her."

This one story has already been put into three hundred and fifty different languages, and it is now in circulation in every nation under heaven. Day by day this story is being printed and published. One society in London prints, every working hour of the day, five hundred records of this act that took

place at Bethany. It is being spread abroad in all the corners of the earth. It will be told out as long as the Church exists. Matthew speaks of it; so does John; and so does Mark.

Men seek to erect some monument that will live after they are dead and gone. This woman never thought to erect a monument; she simply wanted to lavish her love upon Christ. But the act has lived and will continue to live while the Church is on earth. It is as fresh to-day as it was a hundred years ago; it is fresher than it was five hundred years ago. In fact there never was a time when it was so well known as today. Although Mary was herself unknown outside of Bethany when she performed the act, now it is known all over the world. Kings have come and gone; empires have risen and crumbled. Egypt, with its ancient glories, has passed away. Greece, with its wise men and mighty philosophers and its warriors, has been almost forgotten. The great Roman empire has passed away. We do not know the names of those who are buried in the Pyramids, or of those who were embalmed in Egypt, with so much care and trouble, but the record of this humble life continues to be an inspiration of others.

Here is a woman whose memory has outlived Cæsar, Alexander, Cyrus, and all the great warriors of the ancient world. We do not know that she was wealthy, or beautiful, or gifted, or great in the eye of the world. What we do know is that she loved the Saviour. She took this box of precious ointment and broke it over the body of Christ. Some one has said it was the only thing He ever received that He did not give away. It was a small thing in the sight of the world. If there had been daily papers in those days, and some Jerusalem reporter had been looking out for items of news that would interest the inhabitants, I suppose he would not have thought it worth putting into his paper. Yet it has outlived all that happened in that century, except, of course, the sayings and the other events connected with the life of Christ. Mary had Christ in her heart as well as in her creed. She loved Him and she showed her love in acts.

Thank God, everyone of us can love Christ, and we can all do something for Him. It may be a small thing; but whatever it is it shall be lasting; it will outlive all the monuments

66
"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD."

on earth. The iron and the granite will rust and crumble and fade away, but anything done for Christ will never fade. It will be more lasting than time itself. Christ says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away." Look again and see that woman in the temple. Christ stood there as the people passed by, and cast their offerings into the treasury. The widow had but two mites and she cast it all in. The Lord saw that her heart was in it, and so He commended her. If some nobleman had cast in a thousand dollars Christ would probably not have noticed it, unless his heart had gone with it. Gold is of little value in heaven. It is so plentiful there that they use it to pave the streets with; and it is transparent gold, much better gold than we have in this world. It is when the heart goes with the offering that it is accepted of Christ. So He said of this woman : "She hath cast in more than them all." She had done all she could. I think this is the lesson we are to learn from these Scripture incidents. The Lord expects us to do what we can. can all do something. In one of our Southern cities a few Christian people gathered together at the beginning of the war to see what could be done about building a church in a part of the city where the poor were very much neglected. After they had discussed the matter, they wanted to see how much could be raised out of the congregation.

We

One said he would give so much, others said they would give so much. They only got about half the amount that was needed, and it was thought they would have to abandon the project. Away back in the meeting there sat a washerwoman. She rose and said that her little boy had died a week before. All he had was a gold dollar. She said: "It is all I have, but I will give the dollar to the cause.' Her words touched the hearts of many of those who heard them. Rich men were ashamed at what they had given. The whole sum was raised within a very short time. I have spoken in that church, and I know it to be a centre of influence in one of our great cities. This poor woman did what she could; perhaps she gave more in proportion than anyone in the city.

When we were in London, eight years ago, we wanted the whole city to be canvassed; we called for volunteers to go