o worship." She alluded to the
temple, I suppose. But our Lord at one stroke levels every support on
which these false conceptions of him rested in her mind, by assuring
her that God is a universal Spirit, and not confined to any one place;
and that the worship which he delights in is not that of form and
ceremony, but that of the heart, in the inner man, in spirit and in
truth. The meaning of my text also lays the axe at the root of all
hypocrisy and spurious professions of religion.

In addition to all this it sets up the only true sanctuary for his
worship on earth, the sanctuary which is found in the heart of every
sincere and obedient believer in him. Paul says to the Corinthian
brethren: "Know ye not that ye are the sanctuary of God? If any man
defile the sanctuary of God, him will God destroy; for the sanctuary
of God is holy, which sanctuary ye are."

Every step the sinner takes in his return to God, and every step the
Christian takes in his walk with God, must be in spirit and truth.
Repentance is heartfelt hatred of sin. Faith is a loving acceptance of
Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. This confession includes all the ordinances of God's
house, which is the church of the living God. How men can think, as
many seem to think, that they can confess Christ in spirit and truth,
and at the same time reject the chief means by which Christ intends
this confession to be made public, I can not see. Baptism, or the
immersion of the body in water by a proper administrator, in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is either laid
aside entirely, or argued out of form, or very lightly regarded. The
ordinance of feet-washing, the salutation of the kiss, and the Lord's
Supper are entirely cast away. In love I say all this, because I burn
with desire to see the Truth accepted in the love of it and obeyed
from the heart. When man does this, like little Samuel of old, he
responds to the call of the Father who seeketh such to worship him.

WEDNESDAY, December 31. In the year that is just closing, I have
traveled 3,578 miles. This I have done mostly on horseback. I have
done what I could for God and humanity. I hope that when I come to die
I may not have cause for deep regrets, or to mourn over a misspent
life. I hope to lay my body down in peace, in the bright hope of a
glorious waking up a