all things that ever I did!" "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see."

Let us close with one practical remark, the power of feeble influences. If it has been a matter of interest to us to watch the dealing of Christ with an individual sinner at the well of Jacob, more interesting still is the sequel we have been now considering-the crowd, appearing among the trees, of anxious seeking souls, coming to test for themselves the truth of the wondrous tidings, and to prefer the prayer-" Lord, give us this water that we thirst not!" But it is of further interest and significance to note, that this flocking of the men of Shechem to listen to the Divine Stranger was the result of the pleadings and urgency of one feeble woman. She herself had become, to use the beautiful figure of the Psalmist, as a dove whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. In the freshness of her heavenly plumage, this dove of Samaria flies straightway with the olive branch in her mouth to her own Shechem valley, not to seek with folded pinion some quiet perch on Gerizim, but rather to hasten her flight back again to the true Noah, the Giver of "Rest," bringing along with her a flock with weary wing and wailing cry. "Who are

these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"

Never let us undervalue feeble instrumentality. It

was the blast of rams' horns, accompanied with the shout of the army of Israel, which brought to the It was the crash of

ground the walls of Jericho. three hundred pitchers and the gleam of torches by the well of Jezreel, accompanied by the battle-cry, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," which routed the mighty host of the Midianites. It was a few pebbles from the running brook, and a sling in the hands of a shepherd boy, which laid low the giant of Philistia. Let none make the feebleness of their efforts in the Church of Christ the reason for neglecting or abandoning them. Let none make the smallness of their talent a reason for burying it in the earth; but rather put it out to interest, that when their Lord comes He may receive His own with usury. It is by small and often insignificant means He still effects the mightiest of His purposes in His Church on earth. He would make this still the motive to all exertion-the secret of all success-the watchword to every Faint-heart and Ready-to-halt in the day of battle-"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

XV.

The Heavenly Food and the
Field of Harvest.

IN THE MEAN WHILE HIS DISCIPLES PRAYED HIM, SAYING, MASTER, EAT. BUT HE SAID UNTO THEM, I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF. THEREFORE SAID THE DISCIPLES ONE TO ANOTHER, HATH ANY MAN BROUGHT HIM OUGHT TO EAT? JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, AND TO FINISH HIS WORK. SAY NOT YE, THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS, AND THEN COMETH HARVEST? BEHOLD, I SAY UNTO YOU, LIFT UP YOUR EYES, AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS; FOR THEY ARE WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST. AND HE THAT REAPETH RECEIVETH WAGES, AND GATHERETH FRUIT UNTO LIFE ETERNAL : THAT BOTH HE THAT SOWETH AND HE THAT REAPETH MAY REJOICE TOGETHER. AND HEREIN IS THAT SAYING TRUE, ONE SOWETH, AND ANOTHER REAPETH. I SENT YOU TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOUR OTHER MEN LABOURED, AND YE ARE ENTERED INTO THEIR LABOURS."-JOHN IV. 31-38.

THE HEAVENLY FOOD AND THE FIELD OF HARVEST.

THE departure of the woman of Samaria to communicate her tidings of wonder and joy to her fellow-citizens in Shechem introduces us to a second scene in the shifting drama of the narrative. Up to this point the whole interest is concentrated in the conversation between her and the Saviour. Now it is between Jesus and His returned disciples. They are once more alone.

The verses which head this chapter are so full of material for thought, that little more can be done than to give a running commentary upon them, leaving the reader to fill in with details the outline of the suggestive picture.

The adorable Redeemer, as we have previously seen, was seated on the brink of the Well, absorbed in mysterious contemplation. No one ventured to intrude on His sacred musings. "No man said, What seekest thou?" The disciples resolve to break silence. They observe His wan and weary countenance. They know that He cannot fail to be hungry, with His fast unbroken since the early morning meal, and with the long and

toilsome travel through the hot plain. With earnest imploring accents they asked Him to partake of their provided refreshment, (ver. 31,) "In the mean while His disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat." Their request was apparently disregarded. With His eye and soul still riveted in these mystic communings, He replies in the enigmatical words, (ver. 32,) “I have meat to eat that ye know not of." The disciples looked at each other in perplexity. Though they may have heard the last words of the conversation with the woman, they were in entire ignorance as yet of its results; they said one to another, (ver. 33,) "Hath any man brought Him ought to eat?" "Has His hunger been satisfied in our absence ?-has some passing wayfarer shared his scrip with Him ?--or has this Samaritan drawer of water so far overcome her sectarian scruples as to minister to His wants? Or has He departed in the present case from usual wont, and called in the exercise of supernatural means? Has He summoned, as His great prophet of Cherith, the ravens from Ebal or the silver plumaged doves of Gerizim to be His purveyors ?-or have angels, as in the Mount of Temptation, been sent to Him to strengthen Him?' Poor earthly dreamers! they had utterly failed to grasp the meaning and grandeur of His saying; the material thoughts which for the moment were occupying them, prevented them fathoming these profound musings. They had nothing to draw with, and the well was