This question was asked the lawyer who inquired of Christ the way of life. He was versed in the law; it was the business of his life to study it; but to know the law was not all that was necessary for eternal life. The Master did not ask, “Do you diligently read the law?” but, “How readest thou?” All depends on the how.
It is one thing to read the Bible, and quite another to read it rightly. How shall we read it aright?
First, read it just as it says. But few do this. Most people read between the lines; they read their own opinions, or what they have heard others say the text means. For illustration, five persons, members of as many denominations, will read the same text, and each get a different meaning from it. Why is this? Does the text have five contradictory meanings?—Impossible! It has but one meaning, the truth; but the readers have different opinions, and in reading, they simply read these opinions instead of what the text says. When we read the Bible, in order to get the truth, we must lay aside our own notions, or what we have heard others say, or what we have read in creeds or commentaries, and take the naked word just as God spake it through the prophets. The Lord has spoken in simple language, that all can understand; take each word just as it stands; weigh it; meditate upon it; and the Spirit of the Lord which is in the word, will instruct you.
Second, read the word as spoken to you. The Bible is a personal book. God saves us as individuals, and hence he speaks to us as such. But it is so common for people in reading what Paul wrote to read only his personal experience. It is true that he experienced what he wrote; but every Christian should experience the same. When, for example, we read in Gal. 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,” it is quite natural in our own mind to read Paul into the text. But mark the words; the text does not contain Paul, but “I,” hence if you read the text as it is, it means you; and if you read it in truth, the language of the text will be your experience.
Every promise should be read in the same way. Make it real, just as real as the God stood before you and spoke the word. Then you will find blessing and refreshing whenever you read the sacred, living word.
One reason why so many gain little from reading the Bible is because they read it as a common book. But there is just as much difference between it and common books as there is difference between God and man. If we read it as a common book, we get no more blessing than from a common book; but if we read it as God’s living, self-fulfilling word, we shall live by it. “How readest thou?”
Prayer and Christ’s Intercession
By C. Love
ALL our prayers are but ciphers till Christ’s intercession be added.—C. Love.
Forgiveness Through Repentance
“Sins may be forgiven through repentance, but no act of wit will ever justify them.”
DIVINE INTERPOSITION.
By T. D. Allen
BY T. D. ALLEN.
THE subject of divine interposition is evidential in that it affords proof of the reality of God’s care for his children, and thus refutes the contentions of atheists and agnostics. So cumulative is the evidence of God’s providences that, were it possible to blot out every record in existence proving divine care and interposition, new facts would be immediately developed, and men and women would arise with fresh experiences of providential guidance and protection. There are comparatively few who deny the existence of divine watchfulness. Let the subject be brought forward in almost any company and some one or more persons will be ready to relate some incident from personal experience, or from the experiences of others with whom they are acquainted. In “The Guiding Hand,” a collection of articles illustrating the subject of providential guidance, from the pen of H. L. Hastings, of Boston, the following account is given of an occurrence that is full of comfort and inspiration to the Christian:—
A poor Christian woman in Buckinghamshire—I believe Berkhampstead—was bereaved of her husband after a long illness, and left unprovided for, the only thing of value being a large chest of tools. The husband had only just been buried, when a neighbor, bearing no good character, called on the widow, and presented a bill for work done, altogether beyond the widow’s power to pay. The work had been done in the husband’s lifetime, was paid for by him, and the bill receipted, of which the widow had a distinct recollection. It availed not for her to assert the fact. The payment of the bill was pressed again, and longing eyes cast at the chest of tools. In great distress, the widow retired upstairs to pray; for all effort to find the receipted bill was vain.
While engaged in prayer, a butterfly flew in at the open window downstairs. The widow’s little child chased it until it flew behind the chest of tools. Just then the mother came in, and the child begged her to remove the box, that he might get the butterfly. The neighbor offered at once to do so; and while he was removing it from the wall, a piece of paper fell down behind, which the widow, taking up, found to be the lost bill, receipted as she had said. She was overcome with praise and gratitude to God, who had answered her prayer by means of the butterfly, and caused even her enemy himself to discover the missing bill.
FAITH
By H. L. Hobart
BY H. L. HOBART.
Faith is not a belief of propositions. If it were, what a Christian the devil would be! He probably knows more of the truth than many Christians; and he believes what he knows; but this is not true evangelical faith. It is not confidence in ourselves and in the perfection of our creeds, our feelings, and our actions. The old Pharisees had that. So had the world-renowned Diotrephes. It is not presumption. Presumption takes for granted what God has not promised; faith rests on his word.
Faith is confidence, or, rather, it is confiding in a personal being. To believe in God necessarily implies that we believe about him. Faith recognizes moral character. Faith in God honors him, and enlists his almighty faithfulness in our behalf. Unbelief dishonors and insults him, and leaves us, helpless and hopeless, to our ruin. “Have faith in God.”
THOSE PILLS.
By Parrie L. H. Roberson
BY PARRIE L. H. ROBERSON.
WHEN a small child I was frequently troubled with sick spells, which to my childish imagination seemed to have a knack at calling forth every bitter thing in the house to my assistance, and if there was not enough on hand to insure my recovery, the doctor was sent for; then we had bitter things in bottles, boxes, and papers. And especially do I remember the awful pills which they sometimes pounded into small pieces and mixed into a bite of baked apple or sweet syrup and presented to me with these words: “Now take this nice syrup and swallow it right down; it’s good for you and will help to make you well.”
But I very soon learned that it was not the sweet that was expected to make me well, but the bitter-tasting stuff. The sweet made the dose more bearable, but the bitter was bitter still. I also soon found out why they wanted me to swallow it quickly; for I noticed the longer I was about it the more disagreeable it tasted.
Years have passed since then, and my children and apothecaries’ pills are strangers to each other; but there is another kind of pill of which I wish to speak, and I believe it is safe to say that not a soul lives to-day, or has ever lived in ages past in the civilized world, to the years of understanding, who has not tasted it in some form. It has existed from the beginning of sin, and its use will be continued to the end thereof. It belongs to the things that are not new under the sun. In bitterness and in the uncertainty of its effect it is not unlike the apothecary’s pill. Its effect depends a great deal upon the condition of the subject to which it is given, and it is not always best to mix it with sweets; for this might prevent it from accomplishing the purpose for which it was intended. Therefore it is very necessary for one to thoroughly understand the case before attempting to administer the remedy. But it is a deplorable fact that where there is one person willing to accept and profit by the use of this pill, there are one hundred who refuse to accept it as anything better than an insult. Solomon spoke of this pill as “reproof,” and this is the name by which it is commonly known. It is a thing not to be hated or disregarded; for “he that hateth reproof shall die,” “but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.” This is what a wise king, Solomon, says of its power, and he also speaks of its effect upon children; hear him: “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Wonderful pill when properly used, but, like all other medicines, it is usually easier to give than to take!
S. Helena, Cal.
OBTAINING LONGITUDE.
WHAT it means to get the longitude of a place is shown in the following: The College of Civil Engineering at Cornell University is engaged in the determination of the longitude of Cornell. They are working conjointly with the United States Naval Survey and Harvard University. Two officers of the Naval Survey are stationed at Washington, D. C., for accomplishing this purpose. The astronomical observations at the three places must be carried on simultaneously, and great difficulty is experienced in getting nights which10are sufficiently clear at all three places. Twenty stars are to be observed, in sets of four each night, and ten nights of simultaneous observation will be required to complete the work. The Cornell observer will then go to Washington to correct his personal equation, after which all the three sets of observations will be reduced to a common standard of time, and the special relation of Cornell to the rest of the universe will be determined with final accuracy.—Selected.
TENNESSEE CRIMINALS.
By Editor
A TENNESSEE court, as we have before told our readers, sentenced to jail for 264 days a Christian man, J. W. Lewis, for the crime of doing common labor on Sunday, after observing the same Sabbath day that Jesus of Nazareth observed. The Lord wrought through Mr. Lewis in jail. Three of the prisoners were converted, and are keeping the same Sabbath that their Lord kept while on earth. Apparently to prevent more of this work (no reason is given by the authorities), his term of sentence is reduced to 141 days, expiring at the date of this writing, July 31.
However, the jail will not be without witness. As stated last week, three more criminals of the same stamp are immured in Tiptonville jail for the same crime. These men—W. S. Lowry, J. H. Dowdy, and Otto Wilson—will witness for their faith in the chain-gang; but this is not new; Tennessee has used it before to crush out faith and force conscience. The prosecuting attorney, Mr. J. H. Lewis, is reported as saying that he now proposes to drive Adventists into the Mississippi River. But he can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. The ultimate sufferers are always the persecutors. Therefore, while we remember these Christians in bonds, let us also pray for their persecutors.
SUNDAY-LAW AGITATION IN LOS ANGELES.
By W. T. Knox
During the greater portion of the present year there has been considerable agitation in Los Angeles on the Sunday question, and the plans of the State Sabbath Association to capture California for Sunday by county and municipal legislation, have been fully manifested.
In March last, the Methodist ministers' association succeeded in having the city council insert a clause in all city contracts, forbidding work on Sunday for the city. This was immediately followed by an ordinance prohibiting circus parading or exhibiting on Sunday. On June 22d a petition containing 8,000 signatures was presented to the council asking for an ordinance that would close all business houses on Sunday; exceptions were made in favor of hotels, restaurants, livery stables, and drug stores. The petitioners recited that the proposed legislation was in the interest of the clerks, in order that a day of rest might be secured to them.
A remonstrance signed by 2,600 citizens was also presented, in which it was set forth that the proposed legislation was unconstitutional, and unjust, as well as needless. The matter was referred to the Committee on Public Morals, and a hearing granted to all interested on July 1.
The petitioners were represented by an attorney, who presented the legal phase of the question, maintaining the constitutionality and propriety of the proposed law. Elder R. S. Owen represented the protestants in a clear and forcible manner, and was followed by Dr. Wilson, of the First M. E. Church, in a tirade against the Adventists so vilifying and vindictive as to require no reply.
The petition and protest have been taken under advisement by the committee. In the meantime the agitation has demonstrated that there is a class here who will not rest satisfied until Los Angeles possesses a Sunday ordinance that will cover all classes. W. T. Knox.
Railway Employees Pressured to Vote as Directed
THE Advance speaks of a railway president in the east who is reported to have said that the employees of his company will be given the chance of voting as the officials direct or of losing their job. But this is pure tyranny.
THE OTHER ONE.
By Harry Thurston Peck
BY HARRY THURSTON PECK.
Sweet little maid, with winsome eyes
That laugh all day through the tangled hair,
Gazing with baby looks so wise
Over the arm of the oaken chair,
Dearer than you is none to me,
Dearer than you there can be none,
Since in your laughing eyes I see
Eyes that tell of another one.
Here where the fire-light softly glows,
Sheltered and safe and snug and warm,
What to you is the wind that blows,
Driving the sleet of the winter storm?
Round your head the ruddy light
Glints on the gold from your tresses spun.
But deep is the drifting snow to-night
Over the head of the other one.
Hold me close as you sagely stand,
Watching the dying embers shine;
Then shall I feel another hand
That nestled once in this hand of mine:
Poor little hand, so cold and chill,
Shut from the light of stars and sun,
Clasping the withered roses still
That hide the face of the sleeping one.
Laugh, little maid, while laugh you may;
Sorrow comes to us all, I know;
Better perhaps for her to stay
Under the drifting robe of snow.
Sing while you may your baby song,
Sing till your baby days are done;
But, O, the ache of the heart that longs
Night and day for the other one!
—The Bookman.
THOUGHT NO ONE SAW HIM.
It was on a railway train, in the smoking car. He did not think there was any one on the train who knew him; so, cautiously pulling from his pocket a meerschaum pipe, he carefully filled it with tobacco and struck a match. Not many minutes elapsed before there came some one passing tracts through that car. He was a Christian, took an active part in his church work, but he did love to quietly take his smoke. It seemed as tho he could not help it, altho he thought many times he would stop this bad example.
As the tract was put into his hand, he jumped quickly, thrust the pipe under the curtain by the window, and said, upon seeing the worker a little later: “So very glad you are doing this work. I wish you God-speed.”
But the telltale smoke was curling up by the curtain, and when he was asked if that was his, with a great deal of confusion and mortification he admitted it was. He did not know anybody on the train knew him; he did not calculate to do any harm; he only hoped to have a little quiet enjoyment of this favorite habit.
How easy it is for us to think that there is no one around who knows us if we are in a strange place; and yet how hard it is for any of us to hide! Go where we will, there is sure to be some one who has seen or heard of us before; and, above all, the sharp, ever-watchful eye of the great God is watching every act.
How foolish for us to think that we can indulge in some weakness in a quiet way and no one will be hurt or hindered! Whatever we are doing, let it be possible for us to do it in the light, being able to ask God’s blessing upon it.—Union Gospel News.
Cayenne and Its Congeners
By John Harvey Kellogg
CAYENNE AND ITS CONGENERS
BY J. H. KELLOGG, M.D.
Cayenne, or red pepper, with its biting flavor, is a fair representative of the whole brotherhood of condiments, which includes a number of substances which sting and smart as they go down the throat, chief of which are mustard, ginger, black pepper, spice, pepper-sauce, and other hot sauces, horseradish, etc. None of these substances are of any value as foods. They are used only to impart to our foods such flavors as are thought to be agreeable. Whether the flavor is an agreeable one or not, depends wholly upon the habits or tastes of the individual.
The taste for condiments is wholly an artificial one. An article which is much liked in one country is often considered loathsome in another. An American palate would repel with disgust a soup flavored with asafoetida, but by a Persian or North German palate this article is considered of a most delicate and agreeable flavor. The gnappee, or rotten fish, used as a relish by the East Indian, is no more offensive to a natural taste than the rotten cheese so much enjoyed by continental epicures.
The botanist is well acquainted with the fact that poisonous plants can be distinguished by their flavor from those which are wholesome or harmless, with unerring certainty. This fact is of great use to a traveler in a strange land. Thus, when he finds a new plant, he has only to taste it, and he at once knows its character. If it has a bitter, acrid, smarting, or pungent taste, it is unwholesome or poisonous; if it has a bland or agreeable flavor, he may safely eat it, if it is a fruit or other edible substance, and will suffer no harm. Savages are acquainted with this means of judging of the properties of plants, and make constant use of it. A soldier on the frontier gave a spiced pickle to a starving Indian. The hungry savage spat it out with great vehemence, and, imagining that he had been made the victim of a cruel joke, was with difficulty restrained from executing vengeance upon his would-be benefactor.
The stinging, burning flavors which some substances contain were put into them to warn us that they are unfit for food, and are liable to do us harm if we eat them. Yet human taste has become so perverted that it demands a little of these very repulsive flavors to be added to foods in which nature has placed only those flavoring substances which are harmless and useful. A drop of pure oil of cayenne is almost as deadly as an equal amount of prussic acid or oil of tobacco.
Condiments are unnecessary. A natural taste does not need to be stimulated by things which burn and smart as they go down into the stomach. It finds in the natural flavors of good foods all that is needed to tempt the palate. The over-stimulation of the unnatural flavors given to food by exciting condiments, constantly and in a most powerful manner tends to gluttony and all its attendant ill consequences. A stomach which is served by a palate that is unperverted, is not likely to be overworked.
Such condiments are not only unnatural and useless, but they are directly harmful. All condiments are irritants. Mustard or cayenne applied to the surface will raise a blister. Will they not blister the delicate membrane of the stomach as well as the much tougher covering of the body, the skin? A little pepper or mustard in the eye will create a violent inflammation. The only reason why the same effects are not seen when these irritating substances are eaten, is that the mucous membrane of the stomach is gradually accustomed to them, so that the worst effects are not produced, just as the skin sometimes becomes so accustomed to the contact of mustard that a blister can not be produced by it.
The first effect of condiments is to excite the stomach to greater activity than is natural to it, so that it secretes a larger amount of gastric juice, and will for the time digest more food than usual; but the effect of this excessive activity is to wear out the digestive organs prematurely, so that it becomes necessary to use an increasing amount of the condiment, just as the whip is used to stimulate a tired horse. After a time, the organ becomes so exhausted that the whip fails to produce the desired response, and the individual finds himself the victim of a horrible dyspepsia that baffles the skill of many physicians. The trouble is, the poor stomach has been goaded to work until its vital resources have been completely exhausted, and the doctor's stimulating remedies are as useless as would be a whip to a poor horse whose limbs were paralyzed by overwork. The only cure for such a case lies in dispensing with condiments of all sorts, and giving tired nature a chance to recuperate her wasted energies. How much better to stop the whipping process before this unhappy period has been reached; or, better still, never to begin the use of these stomach whips which custom places upon almost every table in the land!
But the stomach is not the only organ which suffers from the use of these fiery substances. After they have been absorbed, they quickly find their way to the liver, and here they do a work of mischief which soon manifests itself in “biliousness” and all the various uncomfortable symptoms which denote a torpid liver. It has been remarked by eminent medical authorities that diseases of the liver are very much more prevalent in warm countries than in other parts of the world, and they do not hesitate to ascribe this fact to the larger use of pepper, curry-powder, and other hot spices of these countries.
Salt is one of the most generally used of all the long list of substances known as condiments. It is unquestionably true, however, that there are many millions of human beings who live healthful lives without it, as the natives of Siberia and of South Africa. Indeed, an abundance of facts are available in support of the belief that a very little salt is an abundance, and that much harm often results from the too free use of this condiment.
In conclusion, we wish to urge as a cogent argument against the use of condiments, that it is a practice which deprives us of much that nature intended us to enjoy. Those pungent substances which are commonly employed as condiments are so acrid, and so pronounced in their effects upon the sense of taste, that they obscure nearly all of those delicate but delightful flavors which nature has put into all wholesome foods, and which ought to be amply sufficient to recommend them to a healthy palate. Taste an apple after having eaten a spiced pickle or a well-peppered oyster. It seems almost devoid of flavor, whereas at another time it would have been thought to be delicious.
The best spice is hunger, and the best of all appetizers, a simple taste.
POTTERY THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
In digging out the colossal statue of Rameses II., nine feet and four inches of Nile mud had to be removed before the platform was reached. It is known that this platform was laid in the year 1361 B.C., when Rameses was still living. Therefore three and one-half inches of accumulated Nile mud represents the lapse of a century, it being known that 3,200 years have passed since the platform was put down. Under the platform was found 30 feet more of Nile mud before the original sandy soil was reached; hence many years must have elapsed from the time of the Nile's first overflow down to the time of Rameses II. Pottery and fragments of the same were found on the original sandy soil, 30 feet under the base of the statue, which would seem to indicate that the Egyptians understood the potter's art at a very early date.—Information.
WHY BEES WORK IN THE DARK.
Bees go out all day gathering honey, and work at night in the hive, building their combs as perfectly as if an electric light shone there all the time. Why do they prefer to work in the dark? is often asked. Every one knows that honey is a liquid, with no solid sugar in it. After standing, it gradually assumes a crystalline appearance, or granulates, and ultimately becomes a solid mass. Honey has been experimentally inclosed in well-corked flasks, some of which were kept in perfect darkness, while the others were exposed to the light. The result was that the portion exposed to the light soon crystallized, while that kept in the dark remained unchanged. Hence, we see why the bees are so careful to obscure the glass windows which are placed in their hives. The existence of the young depends on the liquidity of the saccharine food presented to them, and if light were allowed access to this, it would, in all probability, prove fatal to the inmates of the hive.—Information.
A CALIFORNIA VULTURE.
A VULTURE measuring six feet from the top of its head to the end of its scaly talons, and whose wings are twelve feet across when spread for flying, has recently been caught alive in San Bernardino County, Cal. It was captured by a man who lacks two inches of being as tall as the bird, and it owes its imprisonment to greediness. The despatch says that, having eaten “every particle of flesh from the bones of a dead cow, the vulture was unable to fly, however vigorously he flapped his wings,” and while in this overloaded condition, was lassoed and carried away by Richard Gird.
Apart from its red wattles the bird’s head conveys the idea of a very bald old man of miserly instincts. The back and the upper part of the wings are gray, and the tail, larger wing feathers are a glossy black. The legs and feet are of a reddish hue.
The bird is valuable as a curiosity; for the California vulture is very nearly extinct, so many traps have been set for birds of prey by settlers.—Selected.
Duty’s Daily Power
By W. E. Gladstone
Duty is a power that rises with us in the morning, and goes to rest with us at night.— W. E. Gladstone.
FINLAND
By H. P. Holser
Among the many signs given in the Scriptures to mark the near approach of the end, is the following: “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” One after another, the various nations of earth are hearing the proclamation of this Gospel of the kingdom, even to the twilight regions of the far north. The Finns, called “swamp-dwellers” from the marshy character of their country, are now hearing the glad tidings of the soon-coming Saviour.
In the twelfth century this people readily exchanged their heathenism for Christianity, under the Swedes; and, being quite religiously inclined, there is good ground for hope that many will gladly accept the advancing light of the glorious Gospel.
Finland, for six centuries under the Swedes, was annexed to Russia early in the present century. Altho under a Russian governor, the nation has its own constitution, and law-making body, part of which is appointed by the czar, and part elected by the people. In consequence, Finland enjoys more liberty than Russia. The Lutheran still continues to be the state religion.
Besides ministerial labor the message has been spread in this field by fifteen colporters, who have circulated some 14,100 books, besides numerous pamphlets in the Swedish and Finnish languages. Already there are Advent believers enough in this field to encourage the holding of a general gathering. This meeting was held at Helsingfors, the capital, during the first week of June. Swedes and Finns were present, hence the meetings were conducted in the two languages. Besides other meetings, forty-five Bible studies were held; these shed much precious light from the living Word on our times and present duties. Plans were laid for extending the message among the Finns more rapidly. These people now number over two millions; they are intelligent, orderly people, presenting in this respect a pleasing contrast with the noisy, loquacious people of Southern Europe.
January last a Swedish journal, devoted to the interests of the message, was started at Helsingfors, and is meeting fair success. A journal of like nature is now called for in the Finnish. At the close of the gathering, seven were baptized in the Bay of Finland. Thus, another mission field has been added to the many now hearing the Advent proclamation.
H. P. HOLSER.
Helsingfors, Finland, June 7.
OUR GOOD MISSIONARY SHIP.
NOTICE was given at the time of the sailing of our missionary ship Pitcairn, Tuesday, May 19, 1896. She is now on her fifth voyage in the island world of the Pacific.
We present at this time illustrations, made from photographs of the vessel as she lay at the wharf just before leaving, and of sailors and missionaries. The upper left-hand picture is that of the sailors', as they stood upon the upper deck of the vessel, or on the top of the deck-house, taken a short time before the vessel sailed. Beginning at the left they are as follows: J. E. Graham, captain; Peter Hansen, mate; Daniel Fitch, assistant cook and cabin boy; J. E. Patterson, cook and steward; the other last four are John Petersen, M. Benonisen, — Ellingsen, and Peter Rosenfeld. The boatswain, J. E. Werge, was not present.
At the right is a group of missionaries and passengers, as follows, beginning at the left and back: Joseph Green, whose wife is the lady at the left, from Michigan; William Floding, from Oregon; J. C. Whatley, whose wife is the center lady, from Michigan; W. A. Young, one of the members of Pitcairn Island Parliament; Elder Herbert H. Dexter, with his wife at his left; and Brother Arthur Young, of Pitcairn Island, at the right in front.
At the bottom of the picture is the Pitcairn, with the tug alongside, just ready to take her out into the ocean through the Golden Gate, where her white sails may catch the Pacific breezes.
The Pitcairn has been signally blessed of God. No serious accident has befallen her in the severe storms through which she has passed, or in the devious and dangerous channels she has threaded among the coral isles. She goes forth on her fifth cruise with a God-fearing crew, freighted with truth and precious souls. Not only does she carry missionaries, but the officers and crew are missionaries for the Master. May “the Master of ocean and earth and skies” go with her, and make this the most successful cruise of all.
Yes, He feedeth His flock like a shepherd,
And gathers the lambs with His arm;
He carries the weak and the weary,
That nothing may e'er bring them harm.
Are you hungry and thirsty, poor lost one?
He'll lead you by waters so still,
And make you lie down in green pastures;
Your heart with His praises He'll fill.
Then wander not far away, dear one,
To be lost in the mazes of sin,
But say to the Lord, “Thou art with me;
Thy comfort and peace are within.”
16 “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come 17 hither. The woman answered and said unto him, I have 18 no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou hast had five husbands; and he 19 whom thou now hast is not thy husband; this hast thou said truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that 20 thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men 21 ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not; we worship that which we know; for 23 salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be his 24 worshipers. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him 25 must worship in spirit and truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (which is called Christ); when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. Jesus 26 saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27 “And upon this came his disciples; and they marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? So the woman left 28 her water-pot, and went away into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I 29 did: can this be the Christ? They went out of the city, and 30 were coming to him. In the meanwhile the disciples prayed 31 him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said unto them, I have 32 meat to eat that ye know not. The disciples therefore said 33 one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to accomplish His work. Say not ye, 35 There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the 36 fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth, 37 and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye 38 have not labored; others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.”
QUESTIONS.
What turn did Jesus give to the conversation with the woman?
What statement did the woman make?
In what reply did Jesus show his knowledge of the woman’s past life?
What did this lead the woman to think?
What question about religion did she then bring up for discussion?
How did Jesus dispose of this question?
What did he say that the Samaritans worshiped? In what respect were the Jews the distinguished people?
What characterizes the worship of the true worshipers? Is such worship accepted?
What is God? How must he be worshiped?
How did the woman acknowledge her belief in a coming Messiah? What did she think he would do?
How did Jesus declare himself?
What surprised the disciples on their return? Did they give expression to their surprise?
Where did the woman then go?
What invitation did she extend to the men of the city? What suggestion did she make?
What effect did her invitation have?
After the woman had gone, what did the disciples ask Jesus to do?
What reply did he make?
How did the disciples interpret this reply?
How did Jesus then explain his meaning?
With what illustration from the world of nature did he enforce the need of prompt and earnest work?
What is the reward of the reaper in God’s harvest?
Who are thus permitted to rejoice together?
What saying was fulfilled in the work of the disciples?
