tion to the one at Jerusalem: contending that the law in Deut. xxvii. 11-13 directed that the temple should be built there; and they rejected all the Scriptures of the Old Testament, except the five books of Moses.

This woman came "to draw water; and she had to tramp a long weary way in that hot sun from the city, about two miles, for the purpose. She came to get some of the wants of the body supplied: but she had a far deeper need in her soul, of which she was as yet unconscious: and Jesus "sat thus on the well," for the very purpose of supplying her need. How restless is the human heart, and how unsatisfied; and yet it is ever "drawing," drawing, drawing; and all to no purpose! The soul can never rest, until it finds its rest in God; and we have not to "draw" for "the water of life." It is a free gift from God. It is a free gift from God. "Let him that And whosoever will, let

is athirst come. water of life freely."

Him take the

"Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink. (For His disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.)"

Here again is a wonderful paradox! "The fountain of living waters," asking His creature for a drink! What wondrous self abasement! What marvellous condescension! Ah! perhaps you may think, "Oh, if I had only been in the position of that woman, how gladly would I, like those women of old, who knew and loved Him, have 'ministered unto '3 His necessities: but such can never be my case!" Oh, yes it can; and often has been; and perhaps you have frequently missed the opportunities thus afforded you for Jesus Himself has said of His poor and needy ones, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

When we are told that the disciples had "gone away into the city to buy meat," we see at once that Jesus must have sent them on that errand, in order that He might have this precious soul all to Himself; for their prejudices against the Samaritans would have interfered with His dealings with

1 Rev. xxii. 17.

2 Jer. ii. 13.

3 Luke viii. 3. 4 Mat. xxv. 40.

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her. For even James and John on another occasion asked Him, if they might "command fire to come down from heaven to consume a village of the Samaritans," in consequence of their not having "received Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem." And has not our Blessed Lord frequently to do this even now? Has He not frequently had to remove even ministers away from anxious souls; in order that He might deal with them Himself: because they were marring the work in their souls, through their misdirected efforts and misguided zeal? Several years ago, I was speaking upon this very subject, at a religious meeting in a village in Cheshire, when a young married clergyman came up to me at the close of the address, and said to me, "Oh, Mr. Brown you have hit me hard to-night: for I now see that this has been my very case more than once!"

"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans "—rather, familiar intercourse with them: for "dealings" occasionally they had, as we see for the disciples had just gone away" to buy meat to buy meat" of them. But they had no familiar intercourse with them for the Pharisees taught, that "no Jew ought to borrow anything of the Samaritans, or receive any kindness from them, nor drink of their water, or eat of their bread." Hence the surprise of this woman at our Lord's question as she knew this, and had probably read also what the Son of Sirach had said of her nation, "There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation they that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people which dwell in Sichem !"'2

"Thou, being a Jew!" a Jew!" Yes: Jesus was a Jew. He was of the tribe of Judah,3 "the Son of David, the Son of Abraham," "a minister of the circumcision for the truth

1 Luke ix. 52-54.

Ecclus. i. 25, 26.

3 Heb. vii. 14. 4 Mat. i. 1.

1

of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy"; as this woman, and many of her fellow citizens were also about to do. And perceiving that our Lord was a Jew, her surprise was the more intense, that He should ask a favour of her, a Samaritan, and more especially of a Samaritan woman: for they were even more opposed to the Jews than the men. And this opposition has been continued down to this day; for the Rev. O. Monro, when travelling through Samaria several years ago, encountered a woman of Samaria, drawing water from this very well, and asked her for a drink; when she replied, "Shall I give water to a Christian, and make my pitcher filthy, so that I cannot use it any more for ever?"

And yet in many cases, where prejudices prevail among people, a marked condescension on one side, under certain circumstances, often paves the way for a mutual understanding between the two. And this seems to have been the intention of our Lord in this instance: for, independently of His infinite condescension as the Son of God, it was, speaking after the manner of men, a great condescension on His part, as a Jew, thus to address this woman: and her reply shews, not only that she felt it so to be, but that it also raised her curiosity to know why He should thus have addressed her-as if the thought of her heart had been, "You are a very singular Jew: for you seem to have none of the prejudices of your own nation! I wonder why you asked me!" And herein our Lord holds Himself forth as an example to us: for the Word tells us that we are to "condescend to men of low estate: "2 and such condescension often, under God, opens the heart, as it did this woman's, in the end, to the reception of the truth.

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Why, he speaks to me as a brother. This is kind of him!" Yes, love begets love: as God's love, when apprehended by us, does ours. "We love Him, because He first

loved us. 193

1 Rom. xv.

8, 9.

2 Rom. xii. 16.

3 1 John iv. 19.

"Law and terrors do but harden,

All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon,

Soon dissolves a heart of stone."

Not replying directly to her question, Jesus still further awakens her curiosity, by addressing her thus:-" If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water."

"If thou knewest." "All things," said Jesus, "are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no one," oudeìs, "knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any one," ris, "the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Yes: this is a matter of revelation. "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; What canst thou do? deeper than Sheol; What canst thou know?" No: "No one," ovdeìs, "hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He Himself,” èkêivos, “hath made Him known," nynoаTо,3 unfolded His character, revealed Him. "It pleased God," said the Apostle, "Who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me.' Yes this is the true knowledge: for "this is life eternal," said Jesus to His Father, "that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."5

"The gift of God." Yes: this is matter of revelation also: for unenlightened man always seeks salvation by works; and endeavours to work out a righteousness in, or of himself, wherewith to appear before God. But it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to

1 Mat. xi. 27.

4 Gal. i. 15, 16.

2 Job xi. 7, 8.
5 John xvii. 3.

3 John i. 18.

the hope of eternal life." For "to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." And it is "the gift" pre-eminently, God's "unspeakable gift." "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” And "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.'

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Ah! yes "if thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." How simple it seems! Knowing-asking-giving-receiving -having! And yet it needs the infinite power of the Divine Spirit before such effects can be produced! "I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."8 "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive." But as yet this poor woman knew nothing of these things for her reply shews, that her "understanding" was "darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that" was in her "because of the blindness of" her "heart."10 And being still in her "natural" state, she "received not the things of the Spirit of God for they " were " foolishness unto" her: "neither" could she as yet "know them, because they are spiritually discerned." And so she utterly misconceives our Lord's

1 Titus iii. 5-7.
5 John iii. 16, 17.
9 Mat. xxi. 22.

3 Rom. vi. 23.

2 Rom. iv. 5.
6 Rom. viii. 32.
10 Eph. iv. 18.

7 Ezek. xxxvi. 37. 11 1 Cor. ii. 14.

42 Cor. ix. 15. $ Mat. vii. 7, 8.