ived--would not in any wise be cast out. Whoever was
athirst was bidden to come and drink.

Some teachers are not so good as their teachings. They proclaim the
love of God for every man, and then make distinctions in their
treatment of men. Professing love for all, they gather their skirts
close about them when fallen ones pass by. But Jesus lived out all of
the love of God that he taught. It was literally true in his case,
that not one who came to him was ever cast out. He disregarded the
proprieties of righteousness which the religious teachers of his own
people had formulated and fixed. They read in the synagogue services,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," but they limited the word
neighbor until it included only the circle of the socially and
spiritually _elite_. Jesus taught that a man's neighbor is a
fellow-man in need, whoever he may be. Then, when the lost and the
outcast came to him they found the love of God indeed incarnate in him.

At one time we read that all the publicans and sinners drew near unto
him to hear him. The religious teachers of the Jews found sore fault
with him, saying, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them."
But he vindicated his course by telling them that he had come for the
very purpose of seeking the lost ones. On another occasion he said
that he was a physician, and that the physician's mission was not to
the whole, but to the sick. He had come not to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance. A poor woman who was a sinner, having heard
his gracious invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden," came to his feet, at once putting his preaching to the test.
She came weeping, and, falling at his feet, wet them with her tears,
and then wiped them with her dishevelled hair and kissed them. Then
she took an alabaster box, and breaking it, poured the ointment on his
feet. It was a violation of all the proprieties to permit such a woman
to stay at his feet, making such demonstrations. If he had been a
Jewish rabbi, he would have thrust her away with execrations, as
bringing pollution in her touch. But Jesus let the woman stay and
finish her act of penitence and love, and then spoke words which
assured her of forgiveness and peace.

"She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair
Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch;
And he wiped off the soiling of despair
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much."

This