Zurich Herald, 1937-01-14, Page 6LESSON !IL
JESUS THE WATER OF LIFE
(John 4: 1-64.)
Printed Text John 4: 7-26
Golden Text --Whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst. John 4:14.
The Lesson in Its Setting
Trine.—December, A.D. 27.
Place.—The discourse with the Sa-
mar.tan woman took place at Sychar
in Central Palestine between Mt.
Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The rest
of the chapter narrates events occur-
ring in Galilee, especially at Cana
and Oapernaum.
7. There cometh a woman of Sa-
maria to draw water. "A woman,
and as such, lightly regarded by the
popular doctors (cf.. v. 27): a Sa-
maritan. and as such, despised by the
Jews.
Jesus said unto her, Give me a
drink. "He opened the conversation
with a request on the human level,
the level of His own human .neces-
sity.
8. For His disciples were gone
away into the city to buy food. It is
passible that one of the disciples car-
ried a vessel for drawing water up
from the well, and that, because they
were absent, a stranger had to be
asked to draw water up for the
Lord.
9. The Samaritan woman therefore
saith unto him, How is it that thou,
being a Jew, askest drink of me?
The word here translated "askest" is
a word of petition, as from an in-
ferior to a superior; but when Christ
refers to that request of hers, He
does not take up and allow her word,
but uses the phrase, "who is it that
saith to thee." Who am a Samaritan
woman. (For Jews have no dealings
with Samaritans.) "Rabbinis pre-
cept forbade Jews to eat bread or
drink wine with the Samaritans.
The Jews despised them as a mon-
grel people with nondescript faith (2
Kings 17: 24 ff.).'
10. Jesus answeree and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God.
As far as we know, the water was
not drawn up for the quenching of
Jesus' thirst. He drops the matter
of his need for literal water, and He
turns the attention of the woman
front.:-thin-O....physical to things
spiritual.
And who it is that saith to thee,
Give me to drink. Two things then
this woman did not know, the gift of
God, and the Ldentity of the person
who stood before her. Thou wouldest
have asked of him, and lie would
have given thee living water. God's
greatest gifts are available to His
children, whatever their merits,
simply by asking (Matt. 7: 7, 8). "a
common expression for running
spring water of a cistern or reser-
voir, and used as a symbol of spirit-
ual blessings with great frequency in
the Old Testament."
11. The woman saith unto Him,
Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep: whence then
hast Thou that living water? The
woman finds it impossible to compre-
hend the spiritual aspects of our
Lord's statement. and, for the most
part, confines her attention to the
matter of drawing literal water
from the well immediately before
them; yet, .r her question, "Whence,
then, hast Thou living water?"
12. Art Thou greater than our
father Jacob, who gave us the well,
and drank thereof himself, and his
sons, and his cattle? There is noth-
ing in the Bible to substantiate the
claim of the Samaritans that they
descended from Joseph, and hence
could call Jacob their father. "When
the Samaritans asked Alexander the
Great to excuse them from tribute
in the sabbatical year because, as
true sons of Joseph they did not till
their land that year, he pronounced
their claim an imposture .and de-
stroyed Samaria."
13. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Every one that drinketh of his
water shall thirst again. The Lord
not. neither comp all the way hither
to draw. Not only has the curiosity'
of the women been aroused, but.
Christ has stirred up within her
heart a deep longing for this living
water of which He is speaking,
though she does not' fully compre-
hend what He has been saying.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy
husband, and come hither. One is
surprised at the sudden change in the
line of Jesus' conversation. At the
moment when she asked the Lord for
this living 'water, He told her to go
back to the city. He did not bestow
upon this woman the gift of eternal
life when she was keeping buried out
of His sight, and probably out of
serious consideration, the shameful
sin hi which she was living. Christ
must bring her to an acknowledg-
ment and a confession of this sin
first.
17. The woman answered and said.
unto Him, I have no husband. Ap-
parently this was an attempt to.
evade an examination of which she
was afraid. "She would rather have
these pages unturned. Jesus saith
unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no
husband: 18. For thou hast had five
husbands; and he whom thou now
hast is not thy husband; this hast
thou said truly. We must not forget
that this terrible resume of this wo-
man's life was not something which
she confessed, but was something
which. He had knowledge of and re-
minded her of.
19. The woman saith 'unto Him,
Sir, I perceive that thou art • a
prophet. The word here translated
"perceive" "marks contemplation, not
immediate perception."
20. Our fathers worshipped in this
domain; and ye say, that in Jerusa-
lem is the place where men ought to
worship. The mountain to which
this woman referred is Mount Geri-
zim, which was for the Samaritans
the holy mountain of the world.
21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman
believe me, the hour cometh when
neither in this mountain, nor in Jeru-
salem, shall ye Worship the Father.
Our Lord does not decide the ques-
tion as to the superiority of one lo-
cation over another, though, of
course, if He had spoken about it,
He would have exposed the fradulent
claims of the Samaritans; but He
simply announces to her that the
time would come when the worship
of the Father would be determined
no longer by some geographical limi-
tation.
22. Ye worship that which ye know
not: we worship that which we know;
for salvation is from the Jews. The
Samaritan religion had only the
Pentateuch for its Bible: it repudi-
ated the Psalms and the writings of
the prophets. Furthermore, it had
added many idolatrous practices and
pagan superstitions, so that the God
whom they worshipped was not the
true Jehovah of the Old Testament.
23. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Gather in spirit and in
truth. True worshippers here are
contrasted not so much with the in-
sincere .as with those who worship
imperfectly. That which is imperfect
can never be finally true. To wor-
ship "in spirit" is to commune with
God in one's spirit, for the preposi-
tion "in" has reference to the sphere
in which worship moves.
For such doth the Father seek to
be His worshippers. "The Father is
seeking in the Son for true worship-
pers, and therefore men are encour-
aged and enabled to seek Him in
spirit and truth (John 1: 17)."
24. God is a Spirit. By saying
tha God is a Spirit, Christ means
that God has no bodily form. On the
other hand, God does have substance
or essence. God is not a mere idea,
or a construction of the mind, like .a
mathematical formula.
And they that worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth. Worship
of God which is not in accordance
With Gods nature is not true wor-
ship. Answer:—(a) The Ontar ib: Agri-
25. The woman saith unto Him, 1 cultural College has been c crying
Miss Willa Magee, daughter rof ' Lieut. Co. and Mrs. Allan A. Magee of
Montreal, and social secretary to'Lady Marler, wife of Sir Herbert
Waxier Canadian Minister: to Washington, who spent Christmas in
Montreal. Miss Magea.is well known in Montreal's younger set and i'
a member of the Junior league.
New Ruling Family on Holiday
Tumbled Ruins in Madrid After Bombings
Ruins in the Plaza de Anton Martin give a striking indication of how
Spain's capital looks after the many weeks of aerial bombings and
artillery attacks by the rebel besiegers.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England, acompanied by Crown Princess Elizabeth and Prin-
cess Margaret Rose (showii^waving) drive through London crowds en route to Sandringham for Christ-
mas.
n:s
%MS,-- .Vic,
Farm
ueries;
Conducted. by;•PROFi SSOR HENRY G. RE! 1
With the Co.Operation of the Various Departments of the
Ontario Agricultural College
•4
Question:— (a) "Has there,.,been
very much experimental work car-
ried on in Ontario to determine if
the use of fertilizer in this province
is profitable? Will it pay me Ito use
fertilizer wth my spring graintcrop?
(b) I intend to grow 10 acres of
table turnips (Rutabagas) on ;a clay
loam soil which will receive, eight
loads of barnyard manure per,' acre.
What kind of fertilizer , wand be
suitable for these conditions aid how
should it bp sown?'—T. 13„ ': Yater-
loo County.
Jesus does not stop to compare Him- know that Messiah cometh (he that on fertilizer experiments in 'various
self with Jacob, but He does state a is called Christ) : when He is come, parts of the province for several
truism which she could not deny, He will declare unto us all things, year. During the last soveni'years,
a very definite campaign of testing
the suitability of various tie i)izers
on the farmers' own farms h s been
in progress. Over 6500 plo $.' have
been conducted on a total "f over
1300 forms, This work has 'proven
quite definitely that profit i '' to he
gained by wise use 'of fertil;r ers in
supplementing the fertility. , f the
soil and of manure which 1 as ac-
cumulated on the farm. Th vorage
gain in cereals that has -bee ;'obtain-
ed is from 10 to 15 bushels l r acre.
Fertilizers on potatoes, ovei,.a ,six-
year periodhave given an diverage
indroase of 55 bushels i acre.
Fertilizers en alfalfa have " educed
namely, that the water in this well
could only temporarily quench the
thirst of any who drink of it.
14. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall
never thirst. (Cf. 6: 85; Rev, 7: 16;
21: 6) Here Christ gathers to a head
innumerable promises of the Old
Testament, and thus claims them as
fulfilled in Himself; e.g., Ise. 41: 18;
48:21; 49: 10; 55:1. See also Psalm
36:9; Jer. 2, 13; 17:13. But the
water 1 shall give him shall become
in him a well of water springing up
unto eternal life. Christ received in-
to the heart by a believer imparts
eternal life. The spiritual life which
we have from Christ can never dry
up. It goes on and on for all etern-
ity.
15. The woman with unto flim,
Sit, give me this watery that I thirst
This is the only place in the New
'Testament where Christ is referred
to as the Messiah, with the single
exception of a preceding notice in
this same Gospel (1:41). The word
"Messiah means the Anointed One.
26. Jesus saith unto her, 1 that.
speak unto thee am He. These words
probably did not express a surprising
truth to the women, who had been
led to see so many great spiritual
truths this hour. It is an undeniable
acknowledgment, on the part of
Christ, that He believed Himself tel
be the Messiah sent from God. If
we do not accept His verdict about
Himself, we characterize His as one
who spoke falsely, or one who Was an a;Verage increase of eirridst two
under a delusion. ' tons per acre. All these hrercases
and similar improvement iii other
sops have been obtained £rola mod-
D-3 elate application of such as 050 lbs.
per acre nn cereals, 375 lbs. per acre
on alfalfa and 750 lbs. per acre on.
potatoes. At prices which have pre-
vailed for fertilizers and for crops,
exceeding good interest on money in-
vested in fertilizer has been realized
(b) On turnips. 2-12-10 fertilizer
has given' largest yields, at the rate
of 200 to 250 lbs. per acre, This is
a fairly heavy application to make
through the fertilizer dropper at-
tached to the turnip drill. It has
been found better practice to drill
the fertilizer over the turnip area
before the land is ridged for seed-
Question:
eed
Question: (a) "1 grow cabbage and
cauliflower for early market. My
soil is a light sandy loam and 1
would like eo know what fertilizer
and the quantity per acro should be
used to give the earliest results.
(b) 1 have an eight-year-old as-
paragus bed which produces an ex-
cellent yield so far as quantity is
concerned, but after about the third
cutting, the tips become stringy. Can
this be corrected by the use of a bal-
anced fertilizer and what analysis
would you recommend? Also, please
give me any other information which
you think would benefit the crop. Up
until now this asparagus bed has
never received anything but barn-
yard manure.
(e) Do 1 need to use fertilizer
when 1 follow a rotation in which ,a
green °rop, usually alfalfa, is plowed
under every four years and the land
receives a good application of man -
ore every four to five years."—W. S.
S., Essex.
Answer:—(a) For cabbage• and
cauliflower, good results have been
obtained from use of a 4-8-10 fertil-
izer at the rate of 1500.2000 lbs. poi
acre. • This should be worked into
the soil along the rows, before the
plants are transplanted. Part:cular..
good results are obtained also from
an additional light applieat.on of ni
trate of soda around the plants. but
not touching them, about two weeks
after the plants have been set out
and sometimes again at a period of
another two weeks. Do not apply
more than 10 lbs. per acre in one
application.
(b) Asparagus can be helped ma.
terially by the addition of fertilizes
in sprang. We would not advise a
mixed fert:l:zer, but an application
of 100-200 lbs. per acre of nitrate of
soda, or cyanamid, should give good
results This shout( be scattered
along the asparagus row before the
tips begin to show and worked into
the soil ,by light harrowing After
the asparagus is cut, the application
of such fertilizer as 4-8-10 gives
great strength to the crop for the
next year.
(c) The rotation of crc'S"P's which
includes legumes such as alfalfa and
sweet clover or common closer, adds
organic matter to the soil and makes
some addition of nitrogen. Other
crops take out nitrogen, phosphoric
acid and potash, and of course
legumes remove considerable potash
and phosphoric acid from the soil. If
manure is added,' quite a bit,of nitro-
gen will be supplied; a small amount
of phosphoric acid and a valuable
amount of Potash, so that for gen-
eral cropping systems .with good ro-
tation of crops, there is necessity for
addition of more phosphoric acid and
phtash than is retur..ed in manure
Whether or not there is need of more
nitrogen will d'epend'. entirely on
the type of farming and the soil
iv% By VIRGINIA DALR
Take the word of a New York hair -1
dresser for the fact that Mrs. Clark.
'fable "doesn't look ten years older
than anybody, much less Clark!"
Mrs. Gable dropped in the first time,.
wearing red, and a beautiful fur coat,
and captivated the entire establish
went with her good looks and chain --'
Incidentally, on her husband's re-
cent trip to New York, it was said
that he left the studio somewhat .in
oust about just where he was go-
ing when he departed for New York
—the general impression seems to
have been that he was just going on
a hunting trip. Another version was
that he hoped to settle once and for
all the matter of a divorce. however,
nothing apparently happened. Clark
spent a few days in New York and
then went back to Hollywood.
* ..
You can't accuse Frederic March of
high .fatting; his old friends. Long
ago, when he was a
young actor just try-
ing to get some-
where on the stage,
lie lived with two
othe- chaps who al-
so were just trying
to get along In their
,: � :•>;;,y�.�. professions. One of
Fredric
March
them was better off
than the others so
lie paid the rent a.nd
bought meals.
The meal -buyer is
up against 1 a r d
Mmes now. Frederic March isn't. If
he wore like some of our stare, he'd
conveniently forger the past, But
when he's in New ,York tie Looks up
that old friend and nobody'd know
by his actions that he'd climbed to
the top of the ladder. In other words,
he deserves the highest tribute that
electricians and carpenters and other
wortmell around the movie studios
can pay a mate. "13o's regular."
* * a
After his magnificent performance
"Wiuterset" Burgess Meredith de'
:serves the best that : going. And
'Wincerset," by the way, is a magna.
fcont pictu.re,,though there's one
scene that may keep you awake,
shuddering, for nights and nights.
* .1. *
ODDS AN.) i]NE't — It vest lire
vor t20,000 to visit her parents 1.0
cently; she'd have received that sum
for making a picture for au outside
studio, when she finished "(;areer
Woman" . • . The color in "'The Gar.
den .of Allah" is beautiful, and Chas.
Boyer's performance is excellent, but
Marlene Dietrich's makes you wish
olio hadn't. boon able to get the role
away from Merle Oberon . . . When
Eleanor Powell arrived in New York
some time a o she gave an exhibi-
tion of tap dancing in the railway sta-
tion to the delight of the crowds.
It is estimated that out of every
:on of coal some 20 pounds are dust,
nd in the average coal cellar this
host eccumuletes at the rate of eight
«anile per square yard every month.