constitution; he loves him as the brightness of his own glory, and the express image of his person, with an essential, natural, and necessary love; and he loves him as Mediator, for undertaking our cause, and interposing for our peace. Learn hence, That God the Father had a special love and affection to Christ, not only in regard of his eternal sonship, but with respect to his office and mediatorship: The Father loveth the Son. It follows, He hath given all things into his hand; that is, he hath entrusted him with all things necessary to our salvation. Lord! what a privilege is this, that our happiness is in Christ's hand, not in our own, without his. O wonderful goodness, to put our concerns into the sure hands of his Son, which were lost by the weak hands of Adam ! 36 He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. Learn, 1. That though all power be given to Christ, to dispense grace here and glory hereafter, yet none must expect to enjoy it, but upon condition of believing in him, and obeying him; for the original word signifies both. No faith is acceptable to Christ, nor available to our salvation, but that which is the parent and principle of obedience. Learn, 2. That final unbelief renders a man infallibly an object of the eternal wrath of God; He that believeth not the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. The unbeliever now lies under the sentence of God's wrath, hereafter he shall lie under the full and final execution of it. Lord! how sad is it to be here in a state of condemnation! but how intolerable will it be in hell, to continue eternally under the power of condemnation to lie for ever in that mysterious fire of hell, whose strange property is always to torture, but never to kill; or always to kill, but never to consume: for, after millions of years are expired, still 'tis a wrath to come; and though the unbeliever has felt and endured never so much, yet still the wrath of God abideth on him. Every word carries dread and terror with it. The wrath, not the anger; and the wrath of God, not of man, at whose rebukes the devils tremble. And this wrath of God not only flashes out like lightning, but abides, dwells, and sticks fast, upon him; that is, on his person, the whole man, soul and body. CHAP. IV. WHEN therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. The former part of this chapter acquaints us with our Saviour's removal from Judea into Galilee. The occasion of it was this: Christ hearing that John was cast into prison, and understanding how the Pharisees were enraged at the increasing of the number of his disciples; to decline their fury, and to prevent danger to himself, be leaves Judea, and departs into Galilee for his own preservation. Hence learn, That when the faithful ministers of Christ do meet with eminent success in their master's service, they must expect to meet with a mighty shock of malice and envy from Satan and his wicked instruments. Christ himself experienced it; let his ministers expect it, and prepare for it. 2. That it is neither unlawful nor unbecoming for the ministers of Christ to flee when persecution threatens them; their Lord and Master having fled before them; and commanded also, When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with and it was about the sixth hour. his journey, sat thus on the well; Here observe, 1. How wonderfully the wisdom of God overrules the malice of men for his own glory, and the good of others. The malice of the Pharisees in Judea drives Christ into Galilee, and in his passage through Samaria, the firstfruits of the Gentiles are called, and particularly the woman of Samaria. Observe, 2. How in every step of Christ's way he was doing good to the souls of men. In his passage through Samaria into Galilee, a poor woman is brought to know him to be the true Messias. Observe, 3. Our holy Lord, in his journeying from place to place, did travel usually on foot; and the weakness of his body, upon travelling, shows him to be truly and really man, and in all things like unto us, sin only excepted. Our blessed Lord did not only take upon him our nature, but the infirmities of our nature also. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 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.) Observe here, 1. How all our motions and actions are under the direction and government of God, and how divine Providence doth sometimes dispose of small matters to become occasions of great good. This poor woman's coming to the well to draw water, became the means of her conversion. Observe, 2. Christ speaks to, and seeks after, this poor woman, before she takes any notice of him; God is found of those that seek him not, and makes himself manifest to them that enquire not after him: Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink. Observe, 3. The great poverty of our Lord's outward condition; he wanted a draught of water for his refreshment, and a meal's meat now at dinner-time, to refresh his wearied nature. O! what contempt did Christ cast upon the world when he was here in it; He would not honour it so far as to keep any part of it in his own hand. Yet observe, 4. That though Christ had neither house nor land, nor money of his own, yet he lived not by begging, or upon mere alms. The disciples were now gone into the city to buy (not to beg) meat; for there was a bag required a bearer, John xii. 6. And our Saviour's friends and followers supplied him with money for his necessary occasions: His disciples were gone to buy bread. Observe, lastly, How bitter is the enmity which differences in religion, and diversities of opinions, do occasion: they do not only alienate affections, but even violate the bonds of civil society and common conversation. The Jews had no dealings with the Samari tans; would neither eat nor drink with them. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, 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. The Samaritan woman had refused Christ a draught of water in the former verse: he offers her the water of life in this verse. O! how kindly doth Christ deal with those that deal unkindly with him! If thou knewest the gift of God, &c. Here observe, 1. The mercy which Christ had for, and was so deit was the gift of God; that is, himself, sirous to bestow upon, this poor woman: his holy Spirit, in the sanctifying gifts and saving graces of it. All which are compared to water, in regard of their effects and operations, which are to purify the unclean, and to satisfy the thirsty. Observe, 2. The way and course which this woman, and every lost sinner, ought to take, in order to the obtaining of this inestimable gift; and that is, by asking it: Thou wouldest have asked, and he would have given thee living water. Learn hence, That Christ himself, his holy Spirit, with all the sanctifying graces of it, must be earnestly sought of God and such as do unfeignedly seek them, shall certainly obtain them. Observe, 3. The true cause and reason assigned, why sinners ask not for, and seek not after, Jesus Christ, and the graces of the Holy Spirit; and that is, ignorance of the worth and want of them. If thou knewest the gift of God, thou wouldest have asked. Learn hence, That it is ignorance of the worth of Christ, and insensibleness of the want of him, that makes persons so indifferent in their desires after him, and so remiss in their endeavours for the obtaining of him. O, sinners! did you but know who and what Christ is, that is offered to you, did you but see his beauty, fulness, and suitableness, and were you but sensible of the worth and want of him, all the world could not keep you from him; you would break through all difficulties and dangers, through all sufferings and reproaches, to come unto the enjoyment of him. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. : Observe here, 1. How ignorant persons are of spiritual things, till enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. This poor woman's question, Whence hast thou the living water? looks much like that of Nicodemus, John iii. 9. How can these things be? A natural person cannot perceive the mind of Christ when speaking to him about spiritual things. Spiritual objects must have a spiritual eye to discern and behold them, 1 Cor. ii. 14. The natural man perceiveth_not_the things of the Spirit. Observe, 2. With what great humility and condescension our holy Lord treats this poor woman, pitying her ignorance, and pardoning her infidelity; he tells her, That the water of that well which she was about to draw, could not give an abiding satisfaction; but the thirst, quenched for the present, would certainly return again but he that should drink of the water which he had to give, that is, be made partaker of the graces of his Spirit, shall find such refreshing satisfaction therefrom, that all inordinate desires after earthly things will be quenched and extinguished, and will be like a well of water springing up, till he come to eternal glory. Learn hence, 1. That as the body of man is subject to a natural, so is the soul of man subject to a spiritual, kind of thirst. 2. That no creature-comfort, or earthly enjoyment, can quench this thirst which the soul of a man is subject unto. 3. That the spirit of grace (which our Saviour here calls the water of life) is able fully and perfectly to quench the thirst of the soul: and where it is once savingly received, shall never be totally nor finally lost. It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life; that is, the graces of the Spirit shall be in believers as permanent habits, as fixed principles, that shall not decay. Hence St. Peter calls it incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever, 1 Pet. i. 23. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. These words set forth unto us, 1. What manner of person this woman was, whose conversion Christ sought so industriously after. 2. The means he used in order to that end. Observe, 1. What manner of person this woman was; beside that she was an idolater, as being a Samaritan, she was also an adulteress, and lived now in the sin of uncleanness with one that was not her husband, after she had had five husbands before. Whence we learn, that the ice of old age will not quench the fire of lust, Concupiscentia non senescit; such is the pollution of our nature, that lust will be insatiable, if grace doth not restrain it. This woman, after five marriages, yet lives in the sin of uncleanness. Observe, 2. The way and manner our Lord takes, the method and means our Lord uses, in order to her conversion. 1. He deals very tenderly and gently with her; he uses no roughness or tartness of speech with her; he doth not call her whore, nor upbraid her for her impudent lewdness, in living with a man that was none of her husband, but only gives her to understand that he knew the sin she lived in; yet this he did likewise with all imaginable privacy, whilst his disciples were away, and nobody by but they two only. Hence learn, 1. That private sins are not to be reproved publicly. 2. That in reproving sin, all sharpness and bitterness of expression must be avoided; the pill of reproof must be wrapped up in sugar; for if they to whom it is given taste the bitterness of gall and passion mixed with it, they will certainly spit it out before, it may be, upon, our faces. Our Lord's practice here instructs us, that sin is to be so reproved, as that the credit and estimation of the sinner may be preserved as much as may be. Note, 2. That as Christ dealt with this woman tenderly and gently, so he discovers her sins to her particularly, and sets her secret sin before the face of her conscience distinctly. If ever the ministry of the word works upon the minds of men to their conversion, it must be by a particular and close application of the word to every man's conscience: generals will not affect. Note, 3. What the particular sin is, which Christ charges home upon the conscience of this woman; it is the sin of uncleanness, that the man she kept with was not her husband. Learn hence, That, amongst all sin, the sin of uncleanness will lie heaviest upon the conscience, and wound the soul most deeply, when the Spirit of God once effectually discovers it, and charges it home upon the conscience. For there is no sin so directly opposite to sanctification and holiness as this sin; no sin that quenches the Holy Spirit of God like this. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 1. In these verses the evangelist declares a threefold effect and fruit of the grace of conversion that appeared in this woman. She neither denied, nor excused, nor extenuated this sin, which Christ had charged her with, but tacitly owns, and implicitly confesses it. 2. She doth not only own, and confess what she was charged with, but she doth profess reverence to our Saviour's person, and pays honour to him as an extraordinary prophet: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 3. She desired instruction and solution from him concerning the worship and service of the true God, how she might seek him, and where she might serve him most acceptably; whether at Jerusalem, or upon mount Gerizim ? Our fathers worshipped in this mountain: but ye say, Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Where observe, How ready and forward persons of a false religion are to ascribe too much to antiquity, and to the example and custom of their forefathers. Whereas it is not the continuance of a thousand or two thousand years that can make any thing truly ancient in religion, except it has been from the beginning nothing is truly ancient in matters of religion, but that which can derive its original from Him that is truly called the Ancient of Days. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the not what: we know what we worship; Father. 29 Ye worship ye know for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Here we have our Saviour's answer to the foregoing question, which consists of two parts. 1. Concerning the place of worship. 2. Concerning the worship itself. As to the place of worship, our Saviour tells her, That though the Jews had heretofore by warrant of God's word regularly worshipped at Jerusalem, and the Samaritans superstitiously worshipped at mount Gerizim, yet the hour was coming, namely, at his death, when all difference of places for God's worship should be taken away, and therefore she need not trouble herself about the place of God's worship to know whether of the two places were holier, and the better to serve God in; for ere long the service of God should not be Learn hence, 1. That, since the death of confined more to one place than another. Christ, the religious difference of places is taken away, and the worship of God not confined to any one particular place or nation. 2. Our blessed Saviour resolves her, concerning the worship itself, namely, That the ceremonial worship, which the Jews and Samaritans used, should shortly be abolished, and instead thereof a more spiritual form of worship should be established, more suitable to the spiritual nature of the great and holy God, and containing in it the truth and substance of all that which the Jewish ceremonies prefigured 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is a Spirit; that is, he hath no spiritual substance; but a pure and perfect body, nor bodily parts: he is not a bare Spirit: and therefore his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth: where spirit is opposed to the legal ceremonies, and truth to the Jewish rites, not to hypocritical services; for the old patriarchs did worship God in spirit and in truth. As truth is taken for sincerity, they served him with a sincere conscience, and with a single heart. But our Saviour's business is to show, That a worship, without legal rites and Jewish ceremonies, is proper to the times of the gospel. In the words, Observe, 1. The nature of God declared: God is a Spirit. 2. The duty of men inferred: therefore they that worship him, must_worship him in spirit and in truth. From the whole note, 1. That God is a pure spiritual Being. When bodily parts, hands, and eyes, &c. are ascribed to him, it is only in condescension to our weakness, and to signify those acts in God, which such members do perform in us. Note, 2. That the worship due from the creature to God is spiritual worship, and ought to be spiritually performed; that is, we must worship him from spiritual principles, sincere love, and filial reverence; for spiritual ends, that we may please him, and promote his glory; and after a spiritual manner, with the whole heart, soul, and mind, and with a fervency of spirit. We must have awful apprehensions of him, suitable to the nature of his being but above all, we must endeavour to resemble him. Then is God best worshipped by us, when we are most like to him. The Jewish ceremonial worship was abolished, to promote the spirituality of divine worship; yet must not this be so understood, as if God rejected bodily worship, because he requires spiritual under the gospel; for Jesus Christ the most spiritual worshipper, worshipped God with his body. Besides, God has appointed some parts of worship, which cannot be performed without the body, as Sacraments. In a word, God has created the body as well as the soul; Christ has redeemed the body as well as the soul, and he will glorify the body as well as the soul: therefore it is our duty to worship and glorify God with our bodies, and with our spirits, which are his. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. Observe here, 1. What a general expectation there was in the minds of all persons (at the time of our Saviour's appearing) of one whom the Jews call the Messiah. I know that Messiah cometh. This woman, though a Samaritan, yet knew that the Messiah should come, and that he was now expected. Observe, 2. What the work and office of the Messias was apprehended and believed to be, namely, to reveal the whole mind and will of God to a lost world: When the Messiah is come, he will tell us all things. Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised and true Messiah, being called and appointed by God to be the great Prophet of his church, hath fully and perfectly revealed all things needful to be known for our salvation, John xv. 15. All things that I have heard of the Father, I have made known unto you. Observe lastly, How freely and fully Christ reveals himself to this poor woman; he tells her plainly, that he was the Messias. When the Jews asked him, John x. 24. If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly; Christ did not in plain terms tell them who he was; nay, when John Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask him, whether he were He that should come? he gave them no direct answer: yet, behold, he makes himself plainly known to this poor woman; he discerning her humility and great simplicity, that she was willing to be instructed by him, and did not come to him as the Jews and Pharisees did, captiously, with a design to entangle and ensnare him. Hence learn, That the Lord Jesus Christ delights to reveal himself, and make known his mind and will, to such as with an humble mind, and an honest simplicity of heart, do desire to know him, and understand their duty to him. 27 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? 28 The woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. Observe here, 1. How the providence of God so ordered and disposed of things, that the disciples did not return to Christ, till he had finished his discourse with this |