The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-15
"A WOMAN'S CONTRIBUTION"
ANOTHER NOTABLE SERVICE AT HOWARD AYE. BAPTIST CHURCH.

Temperance Apostle w. H. Spear Speaks and Draws Some Graphic and Practical Lessons from the Text-Rev. D. W. Stod- dard Leads an Y xperience Meeting.
 The second meeting in the series of gospel meetings at the Howard ave- nue Baptist church was held Monday night. The usual fifteen minutes song service preceded the regular meeting, The attendance was good and already a deep spiritual interest has begun to avenue people.
 w. H. Spear had charge of the ser vice Monday night and he spoke on "A Womans Contribution" taking for his text the words of Jesus to the multitude at the feast of Simon, when the wo- man came in and broke the alabaster box and turned the ointment of spike- nard upon the head of Christ. "She hath done what she could," he told the story of this woman whose love LOl Sl+lloI Wd oO 5Ilpl5 sbliA oO VI oC and so sacrificing that she invested every dollar she had on earth in this costly perfume with which to anoint the object of her souls idolatry.
 It was a gift of love, pure and sim pie. This woman expected nothing else in return. She brought the best she had and she gave it freely and Christ accepted the gift, and when the multi Ind orif tro silenced the rebuke of the envious tongues by the bestowal upon this wo- man of those words of praise "she hath done what she could"
 The trend of MT. Spears discourse was that nothing is too good for Christ's service. The great trouble is to-day that humanity is actuated by selfish motives. Too many Christians are eating the best of the feast them- selves and bringing the fragments to Christ and then expect the Divine ben ediction, upon the gift of their selfish ness when they have retained the boxes of alabaster themselves they have anointed themselves with the pre- cious ointment and given the old, worthless broken outer box that con- tained the alabaster casket to Christ, ctIlu GAptCt LlC Will dCCGpL It, ctuu JuG1l they go and shake hands with them selves and congratulate themselves on their piety and their wonderful good- ness of heart and their generosity in bringing gift of this kind to Christ, who knows that in their heart of hearts they are deceiving Him and have kept the best gifts for themselves.
 Not only did this woman bring to .l<s4 ', +I.o ket afforded, but she brought the best casket money would buy to place it in as fitting receptacle for so costly gift.
 Some of the critics stood around and bemoaned the loss of so much money that might have been given to the poor and bought bread for the starving, when If collection box had been sud- denly passed among them for dona- ton to that same benevolent object nearly every mothers son of them would have had business outside or would have remembered very press ing engagement which required imme- diate attention, and the few growlers that remained would have dropped a penny in the charity fund, but before so doing, would have squeezed the neck OI Iu0 lHJuu uIttll LIIGIG were tGttIS III the eyes of the graven image, because of their regret to part with so large Q sum.
 Yet they were ready to see this Wo- wan sacrifice all she had if she would only contribute to the poor fund in their way and let some of the Judases carry the bag and have the distribu- tion of the poor fund and have nobody 4< fl,, ,J; ure
 Away with such shallow pretense If you have gift to bring to Christ let it be the best gift you are capable of bringing. Don't be a glutton and eat the feast yourself and invite Christ in to eat the leavings. Don't come with a sycophantic whine, and toss an old piece of broken earthenware at the feet of Christ and try to make the Lord believe it's the best you have to give Him. The infinite eye which searched the secrets of-a11 hearts knows whether the gift you are bringing is the best your means afford and the great, kindly heart that received and blessed the mite of the widow, small though it was, and who commended the gift of the vase of alabastron will recieve your SllL dlld pii IL dCCOIulLS u lLS NdluCs based upon the sincerity of the giver.
 Monuments of the world have been shattered and crYmbled to dust, men of all ages who worked for self may have attracted attention for time in the brief age in which they lived, but to-day they are forgotten and their very resting place is unknown, while the memory of goodly deeds and noble works lives throughout the ages and like the gift of this poor woman are re- corded as a memorial for all time. Acts done for self perish and are forgotten; deeds done for Christ are immortal and live on through all the eternities.
 MT. Spear closed an interesting dis course with 8 fervent appeal to all present to consecrate their hearts to Christ's service
 At the close of Mir. Spears discourse Rev. D. w. Stoddard conducted the after meeting for experience and testi- monies with his usual fervor and im- pressiveness.
 This evening the subject at the revi- val services will be Shattered Lives. ' and William H. Spear will again be the speaker.
 TEACHERS LECTURE COURSE.