The

is, when 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. woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 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 saith 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 reoice 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.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.-John IV. 1–42.

HEALING AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA.

If we could walk together through the streets of Jerusalem we should see many strange things. The gates of the city are interesting. They are archways in the wall which are closed with heavy wooden doors. They all are named, some of them for the towns to which the roads from the gates lead, the Jaffa Gate, the Damascus Gate. The streets are very narrow, often arched over, and with steps where the way is steep. The shops are small. Many of them you would not try to enter, but would make your bargain standing in the street. There are also outdoor markets for fruit and other things. And everywhere people who by their faces and dress and manners take us back to Bible days.

There is a place in the city where, if we should look from the roofs of the houses or from the back windows of the shops, we should see a large pool of water, shut in by the walls of the buildings. It is a reservoir to which the water comes from outside the city walls. It is called the

In

"Pool of Hezekiah." other parts of Jerusalem there are other such pools, but most of them are now dry.

Not far from the eastern gate of the city, in the yard of the church of St. Anna, is a pool that is called still by a name which means the same as Bethesda, "house of mercy." The pool is cut almost wholly in the rock, and is double, like the pages of an open book. About the sides and between the two halves of the pool were porches supported by pillars. Many sick people lay in the shade of these porches, some of them on their light beds or mats, "waiting for the moving of the water." There was a beautiful tradition that at certain times an angel troubled the water and gave it healing power. On the wall of this pool has been found a painting of the angel coming down to the water.

There was a feast at Jerusalem. It was perhaps the Passover after that when the Lord drove the traders from the temple, or a feast which was held a little earlier in the spring. The temple courts and the squares of the city were filled with pilgrims. There was a multitude by the pool of Bethesda as the Lord came among them on a Sabbath day.

After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great

multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

And on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to

carry thy bed.

He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him

in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.-John V. 1-16.

IN THE SYNAGOGUE AT NAZARETH.

WE remember the town of Nazareth with its little meadow high up among the hills of Galilee. There was the village spring, and near by, the streets and houses clustered on the sunny hill-side. This was the Lord's home from the time when He was brought back from Egypt as a little child. From here He went to the Passover when He was twelve years old, and returned to be subject to Mary and Joseph. Here He worked with Joseph as a carpenter, and day by day, all unknown to those about Him, He brought the Divine love and power down into the world. From Nazareth, when the Lord was about thirty years old, He went to the Jordan to be baptized by John. And now on a Sabbath day He came back to the town which had been His home, to the people who had seen Him so often but known Him so little.

There was a synagogue in Nazareth, a Jewish church, where the Scriptures were read on Sabbath days, and per

haps on other days the synagogue was used as a school. On the Sabbath morning the people hurried through the street, for they were taught to go quickly, not stopping to speak by the way. They left their sandals at the door, and each man bound

Phylactery for the forehead width of his phylacteries on his fore

box two inches.

head and arm,-little boxes in which were folded away strips of parchment with verses from the law. This was the way they kept the command to bind the law for a sign upon their hands, and to make it as frontlets between their eyes. Inside, the synagogue was a plain, large hall, with a flat roof supported on rows of columns. At one end was a case where the rolls of the Bible were carefully kept in their covers. Before it hung an ever-burning lamp. At this end, facing the rest of the people, those who loved the chief seats in the synagogue took their places. Near the middle of the room was a platform

on which stood a reading-desk, and around this the men were sitting on the stone-paved floor. The women had a part to themselves, perhaps in a gallery at the end of the room.

The services were opened by a reader standing at the desk on the platform, who read certain prayers followed by verses from the law and by more prayers. During the prayer the people stood. The rest of the time they sat on the floor. They all joined in some sentences of praise, and often responded "Amen" to the reader's words. Later in the service a sacred roll was reverently taken from the case

by the keeper of the synagogue and its covers tenderly removed. It was a roll of parchment or of soft leather written very neatly by hand. It was as if the pages of a book were written only on one side and were fastened together edge to edge in one long strip. A stick was attached to each end, and as the reader found his place he unrolled the scroll from one stick and rolled it up on the other. Some one from the company was invited to read the lessons for the day, and afterwards the reader usually sat down upon the platform to teach the people from what had been read.

On that Sabbath in Nazareth the keeper took from the case the roll of the Prophet Isaiah, and it was given to the