The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-23
TAINTED MONEY Is PASTORS SUBJECT Rev. pr. A. J. Dickinson Thinks lt Should be Accepted CITES SCRIPTURE LESSON Words of Jesus at Banquet of Simon Are Construed to Settle Posi-
 lively "Tainted" Money
 Question.

lively "Tainted" Money
 Question.
 The Rev. Dr. A. J. Dickinson, pastor
 of the First Baptist church, in a ser
 mon preached at that church yesterday,
 interpreted certain passages of the scrip
 ture to bear directly on the question or
 tainted men and tainted money. and said
 that it was the will of Jesus that tainted
 money and tokens from tainted men be
 accepted, if devoted to good cause.
 He said that the Pharlsee, Simon,
 would say that the wicked people and
 their il-gotten gains should be spurned. but the Lord looked at the matter diff ferently The speaker cited as his text the banquet of Simon when the Lord was neglected by the host, but nameless and tainted woman washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair kissed his feet and annointed them with the ointment. The subsequent eonversa- ton of Jesus with Simon was construed by Dr. Dickinson to express the views | of the Lord on the subject of tainted men and tainted money.
 | The speaker took his text from Luke | 7:S7:3S, And behold woman, sinner, 1 brought an alabaster cruse of ointment | and standing behind at his feet weeping, | she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her | head and kissed his feet and annointed | them with the ointment"
 | He said in part:
 Jesus had accepted an invitation to dine t,, i | in and reclined at his table, According | to the custom of the day, many who | desired to hear his table talk came in and stood around to witness the banquet. Among these was a woman, nameless, | yet well known in the town a sinner. | What brought her hither? Did she have | to see the Lord honored and did she de- | sire to share his company at the table? If | so, why not like Mary of Bethany, invite | him to her own home and sit at his feet | and hear his words? The answer Is she | was tainted woman and her home and | effects were ill-gotten gain.
 She could not dare invite the prophet | to her home whlther to go was worth the | reputation of anyone But there she stood | a tainted woman, whom none permitted l to touch them, with her tainted ointment | with which none permitted her to min ister unto them.
 The Lord Neglected.
 As the Lord came in and reclined she l noticed that His reception was cold and | He was greeted with no kiss, was incon- | sderate, and no water was given Him for l His feet, was neglectful and no ointment | was given for Ills head. Such an honor | able and respectable host as Simon dis l dained to proffer the common eourteses | to the lowly prophet of Nazareth. But the | tainted woman with the tainted oint- l 1iffpTe0tlV p0nPpiN90 | her heart that Simon's neglect was her | opportunity.
 | So she came forward and standing be- | hind him weeping wet his feet with her | tears and wiped them with her dishev eled hair and kissed his feet and an- nointed them with the cooling, fragrant | ointment.
 | When Simon saw that his neglect had l thus been supplied from such a source, | he said to himself This man cannot be
 as much of a prophet as he has the rep
 ulation of being or he would know that | this Is a tainted woman with tainted 1 ointment who touches and honors him. l Surely prophets of God would not receive | tainted substance from tainted men"
 Jesus. desiring to answer these ques- | tionings in Simon's mind on tainted men, | and their tainted money, asked to say | something to him. The Pharasee bade him proceed. and Jesus said: "A certain | lender had two debtors. the one owed | him ten times as much the other but
 neither had wherewith to pay and so he | freely forgave them both. Which one be- | cause of that free forgiveness will love | him most?'
 | Simon answered, He, of course to
 whom he forgave most" Jesus answered, | You have rightly judged the matter. The | more tainted the sinner the more effec- | tive his love for his saviour. You see | this tainted woman how her love Is more | effective In serving me than yours You | were content to omit me the usual court | esies of life and gave me no water for | my feet; but she hath wetted them with ! her tears and wiped them with her l hair. You gave me no kiss for greeting l but she hath not ceased to kiss my feet My head with oil you did not anont | but she hath anointed my feet with olnt- | ment. Such effective love should assure
 that her sins her many more sins than l yours, are forgiven for little forgiveness | only effects but little love- You thought | that l should not receive tainted love- | tokens from tainted men, but the oppo- | site is true. the more tainted the man | and the more will he be disposed to give | of his tainted substance In ministering | to his saviour. And turning to the woman n
 he said, Thy sins are forgiven thee thy l faith hath saved thee. Go in peace" l Now from this lesson let us learn some | more lessons about tainted men and | tainted money. simon thought that they ought both to be ostracised and such is l the logical conclusion from Phariseeism l Have nothing to do with wicked people and their ill-gotten gains but spurn both | Is the voice of the Pharisee But let us | see what Jesus has to say about it. All Men Tainted.
 | CD. All men are more less tainted
 and so is their money. The creditor had
 two debtors; both simon the respectable l gentlemen of wealth and standing, and | the namesless sinner of the town. Both are in debt to God, both are tainted, both 1 have tainted money. What is more both
 are unable to pay
 | We are all religious bankrupts in some
 sum and religiously insolvent All men
 are tainted men and all money is tainted | money. There may be different shades | in the scarlet taint but it Is everywhere | enough to render the soul and it's posses sions unable to vindicate itself If the | recording angel should render an ac- | count against us it would miss us both | in soul and goods. Some one has said | that God Is no respector of persons be- cause he knows that there are no respect | able persons. So there We are wrong when we try to classify men and money as tainted and untainted. All of 1t will go into the first-class as sufficiently tainted to be missed. This is a great universal truth Simon and l,fS ,podor,,