of the religious sentiment, Jesus loved to eat with those who suffered from them;[2] by his side at table were seen persons said to lead wicked lives, perhaps only so called because they did not share the follies of the false devotees.  The Pharisees and the doctors protested against the scandal.  “See,” said they, “with what men he eats!” Jesus returned subtle answers, which exasperated the hypocrites:  “They that be whole need not a physician."[3] Or again:  “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it?  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing."[4] Or again:  “The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost."[5] Or again:  “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners."[6] Lastly, that delightful parable of the prodigal son, in which he who is fallen is represented as having a kind of privilege of love above him who has always been righteous.  Weak or guilty women, surprised at so much that was charming, and realizing, for the first time, the attractions of contact with virtue, approached him freely.  People were astonished that he did not repulse them.  “Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him:  for she is a sinner.”  Jesus replied by the parable of a creditor who forgives his debtors’ unequal debts, and he did not hesitate to prefer the lot of him to whom was remitted the greater debt.[7] He appreciated conditions of soul only in proportion to the love mingled therein.  Women, with tearful hearts, and disposed through their sins to feelings of humility, were nearer to his kingdom than ordinary natures, who often have little merit in not having fallen.  We may conceive, on the other hand, that these tender souls, finding in their conversion to the sect an easy means of restoration, would passionately attach themselves to him.

[Footnote 1:  Matt. ix. 10, and following; Luke xv. entirely.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. ix. 11; Mark ii. 16; Luke v. 30.]

[Footnote 3:  Matt. ix. 12.]

[Footnote 4:  Luke xv. 4, and following.]

[Footnote 5:  Matt. xviii. 11; Luke xix. 10.]

[Footnote 6:  Matt. ix. 13.]

[Footnote 7:  Luke vii. 36, and following.  Luke, who likes to bring out in relief everything that relates to the forgiveness of sinners (comp. x. 30, and following, xv. entirely, xvii. 16, and following, xix. 2, and following, xxiii. 39-43), has included in this narrative passages from another history, that of the anointing of feet, which took place at Bethany some days before the death of Jesus.  But the pardon of sinful women was undoubtedly one of the essential features of the anecdotes of the life of Jesus.—­Cf.  John viii. 3, and following; Papias, in Eusebius, Hist.  Eccl., iii. 30.]