The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-01-27


John iv, 14-Commentary Prepared
by the Rev. ID. M. stearns.
copyright, 1898, by D. M stearns.l
8. "Then cometh He to city of Sa-
maria, which is called Sychar near to the
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his
son Joseph" He is anointed with the
Holy Ghost and with power and goes
about doing good, seeking never His own
will, but always the will of His Father,
and all His steps as we'll as all His words
and actions are ordered by the Father
(Acts x, So; John vi, So; xiv, 10; Ps
xxxvii, 23). To live such a life is the bust
ness of the Christian, and Christ in us
will live that life if we yield fully to Him
6. NOW Jacobs well was there. Jesus,
therefore, being wearied with his journey,
sat thus on the we'll, and it was about the
sixth hour" As we said in a previous
lesson, probably a. M, according to
Johns way of counting He would be
Journeying early, SO as to avoid the heat
of the day. He is weary, for He is truly
man and in all points tempted like as we
are. We have not high priest who can
not be touched with feeling of our in.
frmities lie knoweth our frame; He
remembers that we are but dust.
z. "There cometh "a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her,
Give me to drink For our sakes He
put Himself in the limitations of mortal
body, liable to weariness hunger, thirst,
suffering and death. He who made all
things and upholds all things made Him
self dependent upon the ministry of 9TH
ers for the necessities of life He fed mil
lions with mama for nearly 40 years and
1crnt tbo of u
ure.
s. "For His disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat. He who said,
Come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price lisa. lv, y sends his
disciples to buy with money things neces-
sary for the body. 1t is very difficult for
us to believe the extent of His humilia-
tion. We cannot understand how rich He
was nor how poor He became for our sakes
Oh Cor. viii, 81, but we can look up CRATE
fully and say, Lord, thank thee for bear
ing it for mel
9. "How is it that thou, being Jew,
askest drink of me, which am woman of
Samarias For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans" Thus answered
the woman of Samaria How different
from Rebekah when ElieZer said, Let me
drink, pray thee (Gen. xiv, 40, 46). See
in II Kings, II, the origin of these Sa-
maritans Do good unto ALL especially to
the household of faith, and give to him
that asketh thee are good precepts to re-
member and practice, for not only is it
more blessed to give than receive, but not
even cup of cold water given in the
name of disciple shall lose it's reward
(Acts Xxx, 35; Math. x, 42).
10. "Jesus answered and said unto her,
IF tbo11 lyDaxuact tho Gift Of God a1,d w O
it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink,
thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He
would have given thee living water. "
The gift of God is the Son of God, as we
saw in last lesson (316). If the woman
had ever learned what we call lisa. lv, she
might now have thought of the words,
''Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to
the watersl' and have said, Art thou He
of whom Isaiah wrote? If she had known
Jer. ii, 10, she might have asked, Art thou
a fountain of living waterp But she
knew not these things; she was not living
unto God, yet her soul was precious in
God s sight.
IL. 1.-THE woman saith unto Him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep. From whence, them hast
thou that living water?" Whether it be
rich, religious flesh, as in Nicodemus, or
poor, sinful flesh, as in this woman, it is
in either case ignorant of spiritual things.
The well is too deep, and the natural man
has nothing to draw with. The woman
unwittingly described her own condition
in her words to our Lord She thought only
of natural water, Il rope and bucket.
She did not know the words of lisa. xii 3,
with joy shall We draw water out of the
wells of salvation He testified what
He knew and had seen. Those who be-
lieve His testimony proclaim Him as the
Truth, but those who receive not His tes-
timony make Him liar. Let us as faith
full witnesses proclaim what we have heard
and seen Il John i, 81.
49, cart thou greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us the well and drank
thereof himself and his children and his
cattlef" In chapter viii, SO, the rulers
ask Him, art thou greater than our
father Abraham Greater than Solomon
or Jonah (Math. xii, Al, 42), greater than
prophets or patriarchs, greater than angels
or archangel, one with God the Father
God manifest in the flesh, how meekly He
bore it all, to be so unknown, so misun-
derstoodl Are you, for His sake, willing
to have some one far beneath you socially
or intellectually spoken of as better than
you, and can you keep stillP Can you
bear to hear some other land or city hon
ored above yours and be meekly quiet be-
cause your city is New JerusalemY
10. Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. Both literally and flgura-
lively true The first the woman could
grasp, for she came often to draw water
but the second she understood not But
few have yet learned that the waters of
this world cannot satisfy, and the multi
tudes seek the pleasures of sin, which sat
isfy but for a season. They hew them
selves out cisterns that can hold no water
(Heb. XII 25; Jer. ii, 13).
IA. "But whatsoever drinketh of the
water that l shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that l shall give him
shall be in him well of water, springing
up into everlasting life" Christ in us,
the hope of glory IS we'll that not only
sbundantly Satisfies but is ever spring
fr1rr 18th l., 20