The superstition of the Samaritan woman gave occasion to the utterances by Christ of his sublime revelation regarding the spirituality of worship. There was competition between the Samaritans, who performed their devotions upon the summit of Gerizim, and the Jews, to whom Jerusalem was the holy city and the temple the house of God. Jesus put aside this controversy and rivalry, and passed from it to the enunciation of specially Christian truth.

I. THERE IS A NATURAL TENDENCY IN MEN AND IN NATIONS TO REGARD CERTAIN PLACES AS SACRED. Where is the country in which there have not been consecrated mountains, valleys, and groves? Where the religion which has not boasted its sacred oracles, its solemn temples, its spots hallowed by memorable, by awful associations? Devotion, at all events of a kind, is stimulated by local assistance. The buildings where one has experienced unusual emotions acquire sanctity and elicit reverence.

II. THE SATISFACTION OF THIS TENDENCY OFTEN OBSCURES THE SPIRITUALITY OF TRUE WORSHIP. The means are mistaken for the end; the place for the purposes it is intended to promote. Hence it has often come to pass that those who are most employed about sacred places, and who become most familiar with them, have less than others of the sentiment of true devotion. There is a proverb, "The nearer to Rome, the further from God."

III. DURING THE PREPARATORY DISPENSATION, IT PLEASED GOD IN HIS WISDOM TO MAKE USE OF THIS TENDENCY TO PROMOTE EDUCATIONAL ENDS. The temple at Jerusalem actually was the house of God; in it was the holiest place; its beauty was the beauty of holiness. Such a provision was adapted to the religious childhood of humanity. Thus reverence was inculcated, the consciousness of a Divine presence was elicited, and the minds of men were drawn on to more elevated and spiritual conceptions.

IV. THE INCARNATION SUPERSEDED ALL LOCAL SANCTITY. Our Lord Jesus became the true Tabernacle, the true Temple. In him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The temple of his body was taken down, but in three days was reared again. On the other hand, the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed, never to be replaced.

V. THE TENDENCY OF TRUE RELIGION IS NOT SO MUCH TO DECONSECRATE ANY PLACE AS TO CONSECRATE ALL PLACES. Doubtless, as our Lord declared, spiritual worship is independent of localities. Yet all places where Christians meet, and where the Master is spiritually present, become "holiness unto the Lord."

"Jesus, where'er thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy seat;
Where'er they seek thee thou art found,
And every spot is hallowed ground!" T.

I. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE SAMARITANS AND THE JEWS.

1. Samaritan worship was offered in ignorance. They were little better qualified than the Athenians. Rejecting the prophets, their faith rested on tradition, and was given up to superstition. As they were ignorant of the object so they were of the form of worship which God had appointed. "Will worship," however costly and apparently honouring, is rejected. So the Saviour brought home to the woman the sad fact that she had never worshipped. This is just the case of those who only repeat the words of prayer taught them in childhood.

2. The true worshipper's worship with knowledge.(1) The Spiritual Israel. Christ was a worshipper of God not only as Mediator but as man. As High Priest He gives to His people His informing Spirit, through whom they have an intelligent knowledge of God's character and will, and the form by which to approach Him.(2) The literal Israel to whom were committed the oracles of God, and such worshippers as Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna.

3. A special relation existed between the Jews and the great Salvation.

(1)Its author was a Jew.

(2)Its first messengers were Jews.

(3)And as Salvation so the true worship was of the Jews. To that all the Old Testament worship pointed.

II. THE TRUE WORSHIP.

1. Who are the true worshippers? Those

(1)Who have Spiritual knowledge of God;

(2)Who worship with grace in the appointed way;

(3)Who are opposed to all false worship;

(4)Who apprehend the true medium of worship and so have admission into the holiest.

2. What is it to worship the Father?

(1)Not as the judge and avenger.

(2)With the fellowship of children, not the penance of bond servants.

3. What is worship in Spirit?

(1)Not mere outward worship.

(2)Not mere intellectual worship.

(3)But "praying in the Holy Ghost" in that new nature He has given and with-the help He has promised.

4. What is worship in truth?

(1)That which corresponds with the nature of the God of truth.

(2)Through Him who is full of grace and truth, by whom alone we have access to God.

5. What is "the hour?" —

(1)As coming it is the object of Divine appointment.

(2)As come, the era foretold, the dispensation of the Spirit had actually arrived.

(3)Is there not a personal hint of that supreme moment which the woman made the crisis of her spiritual history! Only then can true and Spiritual worship begin.

III. ONLY THE TRUE WORSHIP IS PLEASING TO GOD. The Father has a right to determine this and has done so.

(A. Beith, D. D.)

I. THIS REVELATION INCLUDES THREE THINGS.

1. God is real — not a dream or picture, a thought or an abstraction. The living God is. Thou art born of Him, and thy power to think of Him is proof of His existence.

2. God is Spiritual — not a material substance or a physical force. These cannot create thought, feeling, and free will. I am greater than mountains, rivers, gravitation, electricity; I reason, love, hope, will. The object of my worship must be like me and far above me.

3. God is personal —(1) Positivism tells us that He is abstract and general. "A Being immense and eternal — Humanity" (Comte). But adoration fixes itself on a single person.(2) Pantheism tell us that He is everything, the Eternal substance which appears as conscious in our thought and unconscious in nature (Hegel). But we can no more worship this than a leaf can a tree, or a wave the ocean.(3) Agnosticism tells us that He is unknowable, "the Power not ourselves which makes for righteousness" (M. Arnold). But behind the power we seek the Will, behind the law the Giver.(4) From these vague abstractions the soul flies to God the Father with an eye to pity and an arm to save.

II. THE INFERENCE is swift and inevitable.

1. Our worship must correspond to the reality of God's nature.

2. The text does not condemn outward forms. Christ used and instituted them. But all forms are dead and meaningless without reality.

3. In the temple there must be a spiritual altar; on the altar a living fire — the motion of the heart towards God. As fire is manifest in light and heat so is worship in praise and prayer. Without the intercourse of the two spirits it is only a painted fire.Lessons:

1. When you are bewildered in your religion remember that the most adorable attributes are not metaphysical but spiritual. Our Father brings Him near to us.

2. True worship is no light thing. It is not found in a careless sleepy hour; not possible to a divided frivolous mind.

3. This text does not unconsecrate the Church; it consecrates the world.

(H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)

? —

I. CHRIST SPEAKS OF GOD the Father, the God of salvation, God the Spirit, IN A TONE OF INTENSE AND UNFALTERING CONVICTION. "We know" — not guess, dream, desire. He knows Him not as an empty name, or a key to interpret creation, or as a central sun of the philosophy of Providence. At least, then, Jesus is not an agnostic, but knew God as God knew Him. Christ is our example as thinker and knower. Can we then climb to the height of His full assurance of understanding?

II. THIS QUESTION, ALWAYS INTERESTING, IS JUST NOW CHARGED WITH EXTRAORDINARY URGENCY. These are days of the revision and reconstruction of religious knowledge.

1. The word God is so overwhelming and vast that some thoughtful souls shrink from declaring their belief in Him. Atheism has done us this service: that it has forced on us what a great thing it is to maintain the existence of God.

2. Others occupying a different standpoint infer that we have not the faculties requisite for grasping this revelation.

3. It is essential to manhood, conduct and character that we do not trifle with this question. Either God can be known or He cannot, and we ought to settle what the facts really are and be sure that there is no chance of knowing God, or else search for Him with all the heart; for what a man knows and is sure of is the measure of His peace, power and growth. For the world's regeneration God must be more than an enigma, He must be known.

III. THE ANSWER TO THIS INQUIRY IS NOT SO DIFFICULT AS IT SEEMS. It is not dependent upon the range of our information, but upon the use of the right organs and methods of verification. Though we know little we need not be less positive and assured about it. We may rejoice in the boundless expanse and be sure of the patch of blue above us, and of the ray of truth that shines through it: though we cannot embrace its illimitable sketches of beauty and glory. A real agnosticism is for ever being married to a practical and life-enriching positivism. Though we cannot be sure of anything, it does not follow that we can be sure of nothing. "We cannot by searching find out God." Even Moses could only catch a glimpse of the glory of His goodness. Who of us knows his friend in his totality, much less God. Christ's knowledge was limited and yet He knew the Father so well that He took the plan of His life from Him as a boy of twelve, and never lost it till He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." This is the secret of human progress. Men built in certitute have been creators of new epochs and saviours of men. Paul's "I know" was the inspiration of His "One thing I do."

IV. If God then cannot be fully known, WHAT IS THE KNOWLEDGE WE MAY HAVE, HOW MAY WE GET IT AND TEST ITS VALIDITY? Christ gives the answer, "for salvation is of the Jews." We Jews know God because we are the depositaries of salvation for ourselves and for all men. Salvation is life, character, ethical stability, enthusiasm for righteousness, God. We are gloriously and divinely saved, and therefore divinely and surely taught.

1. This tells us that nothing assures like life and fortifies like experience. Truth is set in the clear radiance of our deliverance from false thoughts, base passions, wrong aims, and mean deeds.

2. The case cited by Christ proves His principle. From the Jews salvation has gone forth. They were a people saved of the Lord and knew Him through their salvations.(1) Where will you find a people so completely freed from mental perplexity about God?(2) To what people will you go for evidence of a more persistent ethical stability?(3) Nor is there a literature of hope so rich as the Old Testament.

3. It follows that our assurance of God does not depend upon our speculative faculties, but on our practical powers which every marl can and must use.(1) Intuition, the direct gaze of the soul on creation and life, compelling the recognition of a presence and power as the clearest and most real of all facts. Life sees life, and in life sees law, order, mind and heart.(2) Science shows that this idea of God is the deepest and most essential of all that get a place in human thought. The total results of human inquiry is to prove —

(a)The existence of an energy, infinite and omnipresent, underlying and comprehending all the phenomena of the universe.

(b)That it works for righteousness.

(c)That it is personal, a living and holy will.(3) History is a revelation of God. "Salvation of the Jews" is only part of God's redeeming work. Redemption is the pivot on which the entire human story turns.(4) Life. You will derive your largest aids from personal devotion to Christ, acceptance of His discipline, and effort to do all His will.

(J. Clifford, D. D.)

The writer asked an aged negress if she had known Washington. She answered by asking, "Do you know God? I hope I know something of Him, ma'am." "How, then, may one know God, sir?" "We may learn something about His goodness and handiwork from what we see in yonder garden, and in these beautiful trees." "You are right, massa; but is there no other way of knowing him?" "Yes, ma'am, we may also learn something of Him from His dealings with the sons of men, the history of nations, and the lives of individuals." "Can we? But in no other way?" "From the Bible we gain more knowledge of God than from all the other sources put together." "Yes, indeed! and is there no other way?" "By experience." Laying her hand upon her heart, and lifting her bleared eyes to heaven, she exclaimed, "Ah, now you have it, massa!"

(New Cyclopaedia.)

The Dowager-Duchess of Richmond went one Sunday with her daughter to the Chapel-Royal, at St. James's, but being late, they could find no places. After looking about some time, and seeing the case was hopeless, she said to her daughter, "Come away, Louisa; at any rate, we have done the civil thing."

(Raikes' Diary.)

A Thug at Meirut, who had been guilty of many murders; was arrested, and cast, heavily ironed, into prison. There a missionary visited him, and preached Christ to him with such success, that he professed conversion. As he was brought before the judge, and confronted by many witnesses, he said, pointing to them, "No need of these; I am ready to avow the crimes of my dreadful life." He then proceeded to declare, that, having been brought up among the Thugs, he fully believed, that, by the shedding of the blood of each victim, he had not only pleased the dreadful goddess Kali, but procured her favour for himself. And he recounted murder after murder in which he had been engaged, some of them attended with such cruelty, that those present who had begun to feel some pity for him again shrunk back; the judge himself lifting up his bands, and exclaiming, "How could you be guilty of enormities like these!" The only reply the poor man made to the judge was to place his hand in the bosom of his linen vest to take forth a little book; then, holding it up in his hand, he "said, "Had I but received this book sooner, the book of Jesus, my Saviour and my God, I should not have done it."

Isaac's closet was a field. He went out to meditate in the field at the eventide. David's closet was his bedchamber. "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." Our Lord's closet was a mountain. "When he had sent the multitude away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come, He was there alone." Peter's closet was upon the house-top. Peter "went upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour." Hezekiah's closet was turning his face towards the wall, and praying unto the Lord.

(E. Bakersteth.)

I. THE WHOLE PRIDE OF MODERN WISDOM IS THIS: "SALVATION OF MAN IS FROM MAN." This has been differently understood.

1. Human nature formerly was each individual man.

2. Latterly human nature has been considered one person or society.

3. However, at no time could man have regarded himself merely as an individual being, for society is to man what the soil is to the plant.

4. Between the two man found a resting place in nationality, a beneficent idea when we place it in the line where individuality and humanity meet. But so far from this individuality lost its finest character. Personal religion, by being made national property, was merged in the community and humanity was almost entirely effaced.

II. HISTORY IS FROM ONE POINT OF VIEW THE CHRONOLOGY OF NATIONALITIES, AND GOD HAS RECTIFIED AND CONSECRATED THE IDEA OF NATIONALITY TO THE TRIUMPH OF THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIVIDUALITY AND HUMANITY.

1. Thus the Christian can accept Christ's statement that Christianity is of the Jews. Non-Christians, however, object.(1) One would not deny that salvation in a sense is of, say, the French.(2) Others refuse to allow a particular people to be the dispenser of common felicity. But none but a Christian wishes it to come from the Jews.

2. About the term salvation there is no dispute. It is the welfare of human nature and the fulfilment of its destinies. Christ came to save humanity as well as man.

3. In what sense, then, can it come from the Jews? No one will, of course, mistake the channel for the source (Revelation 7:10). In its ignorance ancient poetry represented certain countries as the abode of the sun. This is false in physics but true in morals. In the world of grace the rising sun has a home. Salvation is of the Jews. How? Not because Christ was born and lived in Palestine, spoke its language, chose Jews as disciples, or was crucified by Jews. Salvation is of the Jews as the water of stream comes from the basin in the rock at the top of the mountain. There the water is collected and from thence it flows, but the water is from heaven.

4. This being established, let us avail ourselves of the doctrine that each people is the bearer and representative of an idea, and that each idea in order to fix itself in the world has need of a people. This truth is invariably cultivated at the expense of other truths, and thus becomes exaggerated, and is never more than part of the truth. Now if this be the case, might not a whole people in conformity with this great law be the apostle of the truth which contains all truth! Now God has dealt with a certain people in a manner favourable to the discharge of this function. The Jews were a Theocracy, a people amongst whom God lived, whom God governed, to whom He spake, and whose law was His worship, a people elected for this very purpose.

5. But why confine this truth to the Jews? Was it the whole truth? How is this national deposit reconciliable with the doctrine that salvation is personal acceptance of Christ? Let us see. Christ and your soul have met! But at what cost? You are dying with thirst; a drop of water from the river revives you. It was only a drop, not the river, but the whole volume of water was necessary to carry along the drop. The river therefore saved you. In the same way the Church saved you because it gave you the knowledge of Christ whom you savingly received. The Church by its volume and might carries forward that element by which you are renewed. How has that current been formed? Look well at those waves red with human blood and dark with martyr ashes. Your Christianity, however individual it may be, is extracted from the Christianity of sixty generations.

6. Why, then, since each of us proceeds from the Church, should not the Church proceed from the Jews. As everything ends with the individual, so everything begins. The Church was within the Jewish nation, this whole nation was in the loins of Abraham the father of us all. So the ancient posterity of Jacob find a place in the work of individual salvation.

III. OUR PROPOSITION WOULD BE TOO EASILY DEFENDED IF WE COULD SAY THAT CHRIST IS ONLY THE LAST DEVELOPMENT OF THE WISDOM OF THE JEWS. It is not because He is a Jew, but because He is God manifest in the flesh, that He is our salvation. Yet —

1. The Jewish race from which He came fulfilled an important function in preparing for His advent. The Old Testament is a progressive instruction that leads us gradually up to Him. The law in the letter is succeeded by the law in the Spirit, a ritual worship by the worship of the heart, legislation by prophecy, Abraham by Moses, Moses by Isaiah, so that when the King arrives there is a people ready to receive Him.

2. This people, which will be the first fruits of a universal Father, could only be drawn from the Jewish people.

3. But apart from the spiritual Israel, the Jewish people as a whole received from God the education necessary to be the forerunner of Christ among the nations, and when Christianity, after having collected in Judaea all that belonged to it, finds Jewish colonies which Divine Providence had scattered which became the first Christian churches.

4. The Jews also carried their history with them which became an immortal lesson for the human race, viz., the manner in which God interposes in human affairs, just as a specimen of a plant explains the whole species.

5. Here we must turn to Romans 11:12. As a political society and race, the Jews had to fall away, because the new economy appealed to individuals. But the falling away is not to be for ever. It must, is, and will be gathered anew according to the principle of individuality and the law of liberty. The world will yet see its fulness, and what will that fulness be? (Isaiah 49:16-19).

(A. Vinet, D. D.)

The assertion of this, as the great calamity of the Samaritan — that he knew not what he worshipped — is abundantly borne out by history. It was in all times a country of superstition, the early home of Baal worshippers, the later home of enchanters and fanatics, and of sects putting forward pretensions to all kind of spiritual powers. The Jew, on the contrary, clung to a distinct object of adoration. He was a protestant against the worship of spiritual fantasies. This poor shadow showed what the substance was which the Jew had inherited, and which was his distinction among all nations. Salvation was to go forth from his land. And salvation, so our Lord teaches us, consists in knowing what we worship; for that knowledge saves men from slavery to the world's idols, and to the idols of their own hearts, which is their great curse and misery.

(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

In speaking here to a Samaritan, He indicates some points in which the Jews were superior, and in which her nation might well follow them: while to the Jews, on the other hand (as in the case of the parable of the good Samaritan, and in His remark after the miracle of healing ten lepers), He takes occasion to notice some superiority in the conduct of Samaritans, wherein their nation might well follow them. Thus He corrects the failings of each by pointing out some superiority in the other: reproving each to their own face, but commending them to others: exactly the converse of that conduct which is too common among those who profess to be His disciples, who, on the contrary, are often in the unchristian habit of flatter. ins people in their presence and slandering them behind their back: keeping their faults from themselves, but making them known to others.

(G. J. Brown, M. A.)

Our Saviour always had in view the posture of mind of the persons whom He addressed. He did not entertain the Pharisees with invectives against the open impiety of their Sadducean rivals; nor, on the other hand, did He soothe the Sadducee's ear with descriptions of Pharisaical pomp and folly. In the presence of the Pharisees, He preached against hypocrisy;to the Sadducees He proved the resurrection of the dead. In like manner, of that known enmity, which subsisted between the Jews and Samaritans, this faithful Teacher took no undue advantage to make friends or proselytes of either. Upon the Jews He inculcated a more comprehensive benevolence; with the Samaritan He defended the orthodoxy of the Jewish creed.

(Archdeacon Paley.)

Jacob, Jesus, John, JosephCana, Capernaum, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, SycharJews, Nothing, Salvation, Worship, Worshipping1. Jesus talks with a woman of Samaria, and reveals his identity to her.
27. His disciples marvel.
31. He declares to them his zeal for God's glory.
39. Many Samaritans believe on him.
43. He departs into Galilee, and heals the ruler's son that lay sick at Capernaum.

John 4:22

     1403   God, revelation
     6183   ignorance, of God
     7560   Samaritans, the

John 4:4-29

     8428   example

John 4:4-30

     7560   Samaritans, the

John 4:7-26

     8497   witnessing, approaches

John 4:7-30

     5745   women

John 4:19-22

     7505   Jews, the

John 4:19-24

     5381   law, letter and spirit

John 4:20-24

     8626   worship, places

John 4:21-24

     5832   desire

John 4:22-24

     8752   false worship

August 23 Morning
I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.--JER. 31:3. We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.--God . . . hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 18 Evening
En-hakkore. (Or, The well of him that cried.)--JUDG. 15:19. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.--If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 29 Morning
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.--I JOHN 3:16. The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.--Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.--Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.--Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 24 Morning
Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.--EPH. 4:30. The love of the Spirit.--The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.--In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 16 Morning
The Lord pondereth the hearts.--PROV. 21:2. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.--The Lord will shew who are his, and who is holy.--Thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.--There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 1 Morning
Whom having not seen, ye love.--I PET. 1:8. We walk by faith, not by sight.--We love him, because he first loved us.--And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.--In whom ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.--God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 1 Morning
The fruit of the Spirit is love.--GAL. 5:22. God is love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.--The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.--Unto you . . . which believe he is precious.--We love him, because he first loved us.--The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 17 Evening
Draw me, we will run after thee.--SONG 1:4. I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.--I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.--I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.--Behold the Lamb of God.--As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 6 Morning
He will rest in his love.--ZEPH. 3:17. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you.--We love him, because he first loved us.--You . . . hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 5 Morning
We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.--I JOHN 4:16. God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 22 Morning
Praying in the Holy Ghost.--JUDE 20. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.--We . . . have access by one Spirit unto the Father. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. The Spirit . . . helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 17 Evening
Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.--MATT. 6:13. The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty: thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The Lord is . . . great in power.--If God be for us, who can be against us?--Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us.--My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.--Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 8 Evening
The children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.--I KGS. 20:27. Thus saith the Lord, because the Syrians have said, the Lord is a God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys; therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And they pitched one over against the other seven days; and so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 30 Morning
The king held out . . . the golden sceptre. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.--ESTH. 5:2. It shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 13 Morning
Pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.--I TIM. 2:8. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.--Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.--When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any. Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 23 Evening
Who knoweth the power of thine anger?--PSA. 90:11. From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?--The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.--Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.--Christ hath redeemed …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 25 Morning
The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.--TIT. 3:4. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 1. "A Well of Water Springing Up" (John iv. 14).
"A well of water springing up" (John iv. 14). In the life overflowing in service for others, we find the deep fountain of life running over the spring and finding vent in rivers of living water that go out to bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish it grows larger. The water in the heart is only a well, but when reaching out to the needs of others it is not only a river, but a delta of many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. This overflowing …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Gift and the Giver
'Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.'--JOHN iv. 10. This Gospel has two characteristics seldom found together: deep thought and vivid character-drawing. Nothing can be more clear-cut and dramatic than the scene in the chapter before us. There is not a word of description of this Samaritan woman. She paints herself, and it is not a beautiful …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Springing Fountain
'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.'--JOHN iv. 14. There are two kinds of wells, one a simple reservoir, another containing the waters of a spring. It is the latter kind which is spoken about here, as is clear not only from the meaning of the word in the Greek, but also from the description of it as 'springing up.' That suggests at once the activity of a fountain. A fountain is the emblem of motion, not of rest. Its motion is derived …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Second Miracle
'This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judaea into Galilee.'--JOHN iv. 54. The Evangelist evidently intends us to connect together the two miracles in Cana. His object may, possibly, be mainly chronological, and to mark the epochs in our Lord's ministry. But we cannot fail to see how remarkably these two miracles are contrasted. The one takes place at a wedding, a homely scene of rural festivity and gladness. But life has deeper things in it than gladness, and a …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Wearied Christ
'Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.... He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.'--JOHN iv. 6,32. Two pictures result from these two verses, each striking in itself, and gaining additional emphasis by the contrast. It was during a long hot day's march that the tired band of pedestrians turned into the fertile valley. There, whilst the disciples went into the little hill-village to purchase, if they could, some food from the despised inhabitants, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Give Me to Drink'
'... Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink.... Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.'--JOHN iv. 7, 26. This Evangelist very significantly sets side by side our Lord's conversations with Nicodemus and with the woman of Samaria. The persons are very different: the one a learned Rabbi of reputation, influence, and large theological knowledge of the then fashionable kind; the other an alien woman, poor--for she had to do this menial task of water-drawing in the heat of the day--and of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

August the Third Changing Asking into Thirsting
"Go, call thy husband!" --JOHN iv. 16-30. I never supposed that the transformation would begin here. I thought that there were some words which would remain unspoken. But here our Master speaks a word which only deepens the weariness of the woman, and irritates the sore of her galling yoke. What is He doing? He is seeking to change the sense of wretchedness into the sense of sin! He is seeking to change weariness into desire! He wants to make the woman thirst! And so He puts His finger upon …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

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