the alabaster box of His pure body was broken, the whole house of
humanity was filled with the odour of the ointment.

So the great paradox becomes a blessed truth, that man's deepest sin
works out God's highest act of Love and Pardon.



THE HEALING POWER OF THE NAME

'And His name through faith in His name hath made this man
strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'
--ACTS iii. 16.

Peter said, 'Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own
power or holiness we had made this man to walk?' eagerly disclaiming
being anything else than a medium through which Another's power
operated. Jesus Christ said, 'That ye may know that the Son of Man
hath power on earth to forgive sins, I say unto thee, Arise, take up
thy bed, and walk'--unmistakably claiming to be a great deal more
than a medium. Why the difference? Jesus Christ did habitually in His
miracles adopt the tone on which Moses once ventured when he smote
the rock and said, 'Ye rebels! must _we_ bring the water for you?'
and he was punished for it by exclusion from the Promised Land. Why
the difference? Moses was 'in all his house as a servant, but Christ
as a Son over His own house'; and what was arrogance in the servant
was natural and reasonable in the Son.

The gist of this verse is a reference to Jesus Christ as a source of